What unpopular AFL opinions do you have? (Part 1 - cont in Part 2)

[blaisee]

Jason Castagna will end up a champion

 

[Hard Ball Get]

It can not be overstated how good Brodie Grundy is.

 

[Marmozet]

The best team defences are the ones without household names


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i.e Port Adelaide

Most opposition fans wouldn't be too familiar with Tom Clurey, Jack Hombsch, Darcy Byrne-Jones, Dan Houston and Dougal Howard.

 

[Damon_3388]

It can not be overstated how good Brodie Grundy is.

This shows the immense impact and influence of Grundy (and Naitanui - a shame he's only playing 55.80% gametime at the moment!) around ruck and stoppage situations, after 5 rounds of play:

Ruckmen Average of Clearances + Inside 50s + Tackles + 1%ers by 85% Gametime (actual per game averages in parentheses)
(Minimum 3 Games Played / 10 Hitouts Per Game)

Nic Naitanui - 22.54 (14.80)
Brodie Grundy - 16.03 (16.60)
Jarrod Witts - 16.03 (15.80)
Justin Westhoff - 15.49 (15.60)
Callum Sinclair - 14.75 (14.40)
-----
Toby Nankervis - 14.54 (14.20)
Matthew Kreuzer - 14.10 (12.00)
Scott Lycett - 13.59 (11.80)
Max Gawn - 11.83 (12.00)
Rhys Stanley - 11.38 (10.67)
-----
Stefan Martin - 11.11 (12.00)
Tim English - 10.63 (10.40)
Todd Goldstein - 10.40 (10.20)
Tom Bellchambers - 10.01 (9.80)
Charlie Dixon - 9.94 (10.60)
-----
Ben McEvoy - 9.35 (9.20)
Rory Lobb - 8.98 (8.67)
Sam Jacobs - 8.70 (8.60)
Aaron Sandilands - 8.44 (8.20)
Levi Casboult - 8.21 (8.60)
-----

People overrate disposals, marks and goals (which don't actually have a whole lot to do with ruck and stoppage work) and raw hitout numbers (readily available hitout-to-advantage numbers would be ideal!) when judging ruckmen. A strong, physical bull to win the ball, get it forward, protect the other mids and do their bit defensively is what's needed, rather than a cheap kick-gatherer.

 

[Scotland]

Ruckmen Average of Clearances + Inside 50s + Tackles + 1%ers by 85% Gametime (actual per game averages in parentheses)(Minimum 3 Games Played / 10 Hitouts Per Game)

This is possibly the most convoluted stat I have ever seen.

 

[Hoops]

It can not be overstated how good Brodie Grundy is.

Brodie Grundy is the best player ever to lace up a boot. There will be s new honour higher than Legend in the AFL Hall of Fame named after him that he and only he will reach.

How did I go?

 

[Damon_3388]

This is possibly the most convoluted stat I have ever seen.

Totalling clearances, inside 50s, tackles, and 1%ers simply distills important aspects of actual ruckwork into measurables.

Extrapolating it over 85% gametime might be a bit of a wank, but it highlights just how impactful some are, and others aren't.

If there were readily available hitout-to-advantage numbers, we'd be able to put together an ultimate "five factors of ruckwork" measurement. It might kill off the "Dean Cox = Great Ruckman" myth once and for all though (considering he would measure very poorly in such a metric)

 

[Hard Ball Get]

Brodie Grundy is the best player ever to lace up a boot. There will be s new honour higher than Legend in the AFL Hall of Fame named after him that he and only he will reach.

How did I go?

Apart from displaying a lack of maturity?

 

[adammania9]

i.e Port Adelaide

Most opposition fans wouldn't be too familiar with Tom Clurey, Jack Hombsch, Darcy Byrne-Jones, Dan Houston and Dougal Howard.

The ladder prediction thread saw many people evaluate Port’s back like as their weakness and as a reason they won’t go on to great things. Ha! It’s their strongest area.

Down here at the Pies, our back line is flying high with soldiers doing their thing every week with no one carrying a huge individual load. Dunn, Crisp, Scharenberg and Langdon have all been incredible recently but none are huge names.


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[Damon_3388]

The ladder prediction thread saw many people evaluate Port’s back like as their weakness and as a reason they won’t go on to great things. Ha! It’s their strongest area.

Down here at the Pies, our back line is flying high with soldiers doing their thing every week with no one carrying a huge individual load. Dunn, Crisp, Scharenberg and Langdon have all been incredible recently but none are huge names.

The Pies are currently fielding a back six of pretty much the same size, with only one true key position defender (who most would consider a little undersized height-wise):

Lynden Dunn - 192cm, 102kg
Matthew Scharenberg - 191cm, 90kg
Jack Crisp - 190cm, 91kg
Jeremy Howe - 190cm, 88kg
Tom Langdon - 190cm, 83kg
Brayden Maynard - 189cm, 90kg

People have been on about smaller forward lines being the "thing" recently, but are smaller (or at least more evenly-sized and versatile) defences being successful a product of that, or are they a "revolution" in themselves? Chicken or egg?

Admittedly, Hawthorn and Geelong during their recent premiership years probably started and saw success with this model first.

 

[Partridge]

Alex Rance is, by some considerable distance, the most staggeringly overrated player the game has seen in twenty years.

Considering his career has been parallel with Cyril Rioli that is impossible.

Plus, Rance is actually a gun. The commentators may be annoying, but it doesn’t make him any less a player.

 

[Xtreme]

I'm delighted that AFL got higher ratings on 7Mate than anything AFLW could manage!

 

[Kram]

I'm delighted that AFL got higher ratings on 7Mate than anything AFLW could manage!

You remind me of that tooth fairy dude from Red Dragon.

 

[Feraligatr]

My unpopular opinion is that as a female I don't like women's footy and I have no interest in it.

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

My unpopular opinion is that as a female I don't like women's footy and I have no interest in it.

I am also a female and I share your unpopular opinion.

I will add that, apart from kick to kick, as a girl I never had any desire to play Aussie Rules although I played other sports.

 

[MrDanggazz]

Tippanwoody (spelling?) was so overhyped that it became painful to my ears, nowhere near as good as people make him out to be

 

[Mr Magic]

All AFL custodians, including media personalities need to be drug tested for illicit substances around the clock to ensure rationale interactions!!!!

 

[Buzzasto DaSilva]

Jeremy Howe is an incredibly average footballer who's the beneficiary of not having an opponent and opposition team's recognising that he's not an elite kick (rarely takes a risk) or a gamechanger with ball in hand, so are happy to let him play as a loose man.

On the other hand, Treloar is among the best half a dozen players this year. I've seen him chase incredibly hard and run both ways for the first time that I can remember. He's also cleaned up his kicking on the run and is super dangerous when running through the middle of the ground. Definitely a strong Brownlow and MVP candidate.

 

[Luv_our_club]

No one ever talks about Michael Johnson. He has been an underrated player, and still playing good footy in his thirties. His skills are elite. Would have loved him at the Hawks.

 

[Wargreymon90]

Football was shit in the 90s. Having key forwards kick 100+ regularly is embarrassing for the game. I’m glad coaches actually putting strong are defensive set ups to stop this happening.

As a result now it takes real acts of brilliance to kick a bag. Which i think is much better

 

[Luv_our_club]

Football was shit in the 90s. Having key forwards kick 100+ regularly is embarrassing for the game. I’m glad coaches actually putting strong are defensive set ups to stop this happening.

As a result now it takes real acts of brilliance to kick a bag. Which i think is much better

That is the most unpopular opinion I have read in this thread. Well done sir!


I totally disagree.

 

[iluvparis]

20 touches and 2 goals wasn't it? Haven't seen many better from an individual.

Not sure how many touches (I'm guessing a fair few) he had but Tom Mitchell also kicked 2 goals in the first half.

How many touches did Lenny Hayes have in the first quarter in 09?

 

[Quivorir]

Saying that you don't like AFLW is not an unpopular opinion.

 

[Scotland]

Totalling clearances, inside 50s, tackles, and 1%ers simply distills important aspects of actual ruckwork into measurables.

Extrapolating it over 85% gametime might be a bit of a wank, but it highlights just how impactful some are, and others aren't.

If there were readily available hitout-to-advantage numbers, we'd be able to put together an ultimate "five factors of ruckwork" measurement. It might kill off the "Dean Cox = Great Ruckman" myth once and for all though (considering he would measure very poorly in such a metric)

Any statistical measure that determines Dean Cox was not a great ruckman is not worth a pinch of shit.

 

[adammania9]

Jeremy Howe is an incredibly average footballer who's the beneficiary of not having an opponent and opposition team's recognising that he's not an elite kick (rarely takes a risk) or a gamechanger with ball in hand, so are happy to let him play as a loose man.

On the other hand, Treloar is among the best half a dozen players this year. I've seen him chase incredibly hard and run both ways for the first time that I can remember. He's also cleaned up his kicking on the run and is super dangerous when running through the middle of the ground. Definitely a strong Brownlow and MVP candidate.

I’ve come around to agreeing that Howe was not AA last year. He didn’t play on a man and his kicking was sub par but this year he’s detracted from uncontested marks and rebound 50’s by playing far better one-on-one. He’s not as flashy now but he’s doing more defensively which is great. His kicking is still very inconsistent and until that is fixed, he’ll be a good player at best.

Treloar has been absolutely incredible since his round two, he’s definitely in the Brownlow conversation.


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