- Aug 25, 2011
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Rookies.
Ask anyone who knows me, and they’ll tell you I’ve always said rookies are the lifeblood of our competition. They are extremely very important and relevant to me and moreso the league and deserve centre stage in the Sweet FA arena.
And I’ve always said that.
And yes, this is a TiFmedia stats thread. And no, I probably haven’t done a stats thread before. Not a proper one anyway.
But TiF, shouldn’t this be a “TiF Stats Production” or something like that? Like all the other stats media threads? Well the answer to that my friends is...
Well yeah probably. But no, no it’s not that type of thread folks.
Now it goes without saying, this piece wouldn’t have come about without the tireless work and incredible gift of Sweet FA+(plus) that Hate has bestowed on all of us to make almost any analytical statistics heavy media these days. But it should be said over and over because Hate is a king amongst men and should be thanked in every single media piece that leverages his resource. Thank you Hate, you superstar you.
Where was I? Yes, stats. AND rookies.
Also clubs, and seasons. And the league. Retention, maybe a pinch of expansion, and graphs. Lots and lots of graphs. Mostly bars. And numbers, but mainly, graphs. Bar graphs to be precise.
Now when I started this bit, I set out wanting to see if there was a correlation between an increase in rookie fascination and celebration via the Rising Star Award grandiosity, and a decrease in said rookies’ loyalty to the clubs who recruited them courtesy of their newfound celebrity status. It looked to me like it was becoming ‘a thing’ but then the Rising Star ded and then there wasn't, and now it wasn’t. Well, not worthy of a media piece dissecting & scrutinising it anyway.
So where I’ve kinda ended up with this now is actually something strikingly similar to Dav’s rookie retention piece a few seasons back, which I guess is part homage, part tribute... all stats. And graphs. Lots of graphs.
So I’ve compiled some data on recruitment in the modern era (post S24), to take a closer look at rookie retention primarily, whether it be to the league and/or to their club. I think you’ll find this may discount some long held urban myths regarding certain clubs i.e Bombers & Bears recruit too many and keep too few, the Gumbies do neither well at all etc. The league - i.e a dramatic increase in rookie recruitment and interest in the league that demanded expansion, that the Rising Star Award has been a key driving force behind rookie retention and so on and so forth.
Oh and these are real numbers. Not shit stirring numbers. I could have used shit stirring numbers which would have the same effect, but I didn’t think of that until now did I?
Welcome to my TiF Talk.
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