3 hours ago, Doug Reemer said:

Did he grow up in Glen Waverley?

No haha. But ended up becoming a teacher & eventually a principal himself

Some interesting tidbits from Daniel Hoyne on radio tonight.

1. We are apparently the third fastest ball movement team in the competition, with the main reason being because we get it and go quickly (i.e. playing on), with short forward movements

2. Our ability to move from one end of the ground to the other is the 5th best in the competition, but we're awful at scoring from these transitions - scoring from 1 in 4 of these chains, when AFL average is 1 in 2

3. We are apparently +26 in first possession across the first five games, but -36 in clearances - the 62 point swing is the biggest ever recorded after five games

4. Gawn, Oliver and Viney are all bottom 5 in the competition for converting a first possession into a clearance

I'd hazard a guess that no one is surprised about points 2-4, but point 1 will raise a few eyebrows on here.

We've heard Goodwin talk about getting "good looks" but not converting them. Point 2 above backs that up.

We've also heard Goodwin talk about our method at stoppage being bad. Points 3 and 4 back that up.

3 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

Some interesting tidbits from Daniel Hoyne on radio tonight.

1. We are apparently the third fastest ball movement team in the competition, with the main reason being because we get it and go quickly (i.e. playing on), with short forward movements

2. Our ability to move from one end of the ground to the other is the 5th best in the competition, but we're awful at scoring from these transitions - scoring from 1 in 4 of these chains, when AFL average is 1 in 2

3. We are apparently +26 in first possession across the first five games, but -36 in clearances - the 62 point swing is the biggest ever recorded after five games

4. Gawn, Oliver and Viney are all bottom 5 in the competition for converting a first possession into a clearance

I'd hazard a guess that no one is surprised about points 2-4, but point 1 will raise a few eyebrows on here.

We've heard Goodwin talk about getting "good looks" but not converting them. Point 2 above backs that up.

We've also heard Goodwin talk about our method at stoppage being bad. Points 3 and 4 back that up.

So ostensibly, our skills are terrible...

5 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

Some interesting tidbits from Daniel Hoyne on radio tonight.

Interesting indeed, but perhaps the sample size is still a bit too small to be making real generalisations? e.g., we did better with clearances against Essendon after a few catastrophic weeks.

For me though, all these stats, including the more positive ones, point to a real breakdown up forward. If only Ben Brown hadn't broken down, he's not all that old and should have been good for a couple more seasons. We have no KPF at the moment, not one who can reliably either mark or bring the ball to ground/a contest.

We need the next great white hope Stat!

It all that sustains this club

I have introduced some new stats this week, including five transition stats and two first possession stats. Melbourne is ranked 17th for converting first possession to a clearance this season, but performed much better today.

The transition stats show that Melbourne were able to transition the ball well from the back half (33% of D50 chains and 40% of defensive half chains resulted in an inside 50, although didn't capitalise), but struggled to prevent Fremantle scoring when they transitioned from the defensive half (24% of defensive half chains resulted in a score, compared to the AFL average of 13%).

These stats (for the season overall) are also available on the website.

Melbourne v Fremantle (Round 6, 2025)

https://www.wheeloratings.com/afl_match_stats.html?ID=20250604

Key Team Stats

Stats in bold were won by Melbourne.

Stat	For	Against	Diff	AFL
Disposal Efficiency
Disposal Efficiency	78.1	77.9	+0.1	72.7
Kicking Efficiency	74.7	75.1	-0.5	66.5
Territory/Attack
Time In Forward Half	51.5	48.5	+3.0
Inside 50s	56	49	+7
Shots At Goal	30	28	+2
Scores Per Inside 50	48.2	55.1	-6.9	45.5
Goals Per Inside 50	28.6	28.6	+0.0	24.7
Marks Inside 50	7	12	-5
Transition
Chain To Score %	26.7	27.0	-0.3	21.4
Defensive 50 To Forward 50 %	33.3	17.9	+15.4	22.9
Defensive 50 To Score %	15.2	15.4	-0.2	10.2
Defensive Half To Forward 50 %	40.0	32.8	+7.2	30.8
Defensive Half To Score %	14.5	23.9	-9.3	13.4
Contest
Contested Possessions	134	116	+18
Ground Ball Gets	88	83	+5
Post Clearance Contested Poss	85	70	+15
Post Clearance Ground Ball Gets	63	47	+16
Contested Marks	6	5	+1
Clearance
Total Clearances	38	33	+5
Centre Clearances	20	11	+9
Stoppage Clearances	18	22	-4
First Possessions	40	37	+3
First Possession To Clearance %	82.5	73.0	+9.5	75.6
Defense
Intercepts	53	59	-6
Intercept Marks	8	9	-1
Tackles	59	46	+13
Tackles Inside 50	27	4	+23
Def One On One Loss %	15.4	38.9	-23.5	26.1
Ruck
Hitouts	37	25	+12
Hitouts To Advantage	7	5	+2

Transition stats measure how often chains result in a score or an inside 50. Chains include all kick-in chains, all clearances, and intercepts with at least one disposal in the chain.

• Chain To Score %: proportion of all chains that resulted in a score.

• Defensive 50 To Forward 50 %: proportion of all chains starting in the defensive 50 that resulted in an inside 50.

• Defensive 50 To Score %: proportion of all chains starting in the defensive 50 that resulted in a score.

• Defensive Half To Forward 50 %: proportion of all chains starting in the defensive half that resulted in an inside 50.

• Defensive Half To Score %: proportion of all chains starting in the defensive half that resulted in a score.

Player Ratings

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Match	TOG
Kysaiah Pickett	4.3	5.9	5.1	6.5	21.8	88%
Jack Viney	6.9	5.9	5.5	1.7	19.9	87%
Trent Rivers	11.7	3.7	1.8	−0.4	16.8	82%
Harvey Langford	−0.2	8.7	3.6	4.0	16.0	86%
Jake Bowey	7.7	7.2	−0.7	1.5	15.7	85%
Christian Petracca	5.7	3.7	2.4	3.6	15.3	83%
Harrison Petty	6.0	4.2	3.4	0.2	13.8	83%
Max Gawn	5.9	−1.2	8.1	0.5	13.4	86%
Tom McDonald	0.0	3.8	0.3	7.3	11.4	100%
Kade Chandler	0.4	7.8	2.8	−1.1	9.9	90%
Clayton Oliver	4.9	0.2	1.9	2.1	9.0	72%
Ed Langdon	4.2	−1.4	2.7	2.2	7.7	75%
Daniel Turner	3.0	4.2	0.0	0.0	7.2	46%
Charlie Spargo	1.7	2.7	1.7	0.7	6.9	83%
Caleb Windsor	4.8	1.7	0.1	0.2	6.8	79%
Tom Sparrow	0.8	1.3	2.9	1.9	6.8	89%
Xavier Lindsay	1.4	3.4	−0.2	0.2	4.8	80%
Blake Howes	0.2	2.0	1.2	1.3	4.7	88%
Christian Salem	0.8	2.6	0.7	0.6	4.7	85%
Koltyn Tholstrup	−0.5	3.1	0.3	1.1	3.9	68%
Jake Melksham	0.3	1.8	1.1	0.6	3.8	65%
Harry Sharp	0.0	0.0	3.4	−0.6	2.9	40%
Tom Fullarton	−1.2	4.4	0.0	−0.4	2.8	60%

Contested Possessions

	For	Against	Diff
Melbourne's Defensive 50
Hard Ball Get	1	4	-3
Loose Ball Get	10	2	+8
Contested Mark	3	1	+2
Ruck Hard Ball Get	1	0	+1
Gather From Hitout	2	0	+2
Contested Knock On	1	0	+1
Free For	0	3	-3
Total	18	10	+8
Melbourne's Forward 50
Hard Ball Get	11	3	+8
Loose Ball Get	8	17	-9
Contested Mark	1	2	-1
Ruck Hard Ball Get	2	0	+2
Gather From Hitout	0	2	-2
Contested Knock On	0	1	-1
Free For	4	4	0
Total	26	29	-3
Post clearance
Hard Ball Get	21	19	+2
Loose Ball Get	42	28	+14
Contested Mark	6	5	+1
Contested Knock On	3	5	-2
Free For	13	13	0
Total	85	70	+15
Pre clearance
Hard Ball Get	9	9	0
Loose Ball Get	16	27	-11
Ruck Hard Ball Get	9	1	+8
Gather From Hitout	6	5	+1
Contested Knock On	1	1	0
Free For	8	3	+5
Total	49	46	+3

• Official data on pre- and post-clearance contested possessions are not available. These have been estimated by Wheelo Ratings and should be indicative.

• Ground ball gets are inclusive of hard ball gets and loose ball gets.

• 'Free For' does not include free kicks to advantage or free kicks while in possession of the ball as these are not counted as contested possessions.

Expected scores

	xScore	Score	xWin %	xMargin	Margin	Swing
Melbourne	102.9	107	69%	+9.2	+10	+0.8
Fremantle	93.7	97	31%

	Shots	Score	Accuracy	xScore	+/-	xSc. / Shot	Shot Rating
Overall
Melbourne	30	16.11 107	53.3%	102.9	+4.1	3.43	+0.14
Fremantle	28	14.11 95	50.0%	92.7	+2.3	3.31	+0.08
General Play
Melbourne	18	10.6 66	55.6%	60.4	+5.6	3.35	+0.31
Fremantle	11	4.6 30	36.4%	30.8	−0.8	2.80	−0.07
Set Position
Melbourne	12	6.5 41	50.0%	42.5	−1.5	3.55	−0.13
Fremantle	17	10.5 65	58.8%	61.9	+3.1	3.64	+0.18

• xWin %: win probability based on expected scores.

• Swing: difference between expected margin and actual margin.

• xScore: total expected score from all shots taken.

• +/-: total score above or below expected score.

• xSc. / Shot: average expected score per shot. This represents the average shot difficulty.

• Shot Rating: average score above or below expected score per shot at goal.

Notes: Expected scores are calculated by Wheelo Ratings. Each shot at goal is assigned an expected score based on the distance from goal, shot angle, and type of shot (e.g. set shot, general play following contested possession, general play following uncontested possession, ground kick, etc) as a proxy for pressure. The model does not take into account factors like the player, whether the ball was kicked with their preferred or non-preferred foot, and pressure on the player when taking the shot. Rushed behinds are excluded from actual and expected scores.

Pressure

Will aim to post tomorrow.

Territory (time in zones)

Region	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Match	Season
Half
Forward	56%	52%	50%	48%	52%	50%
Defensive	44%	48%	50%	52%	48%	50%
Region
Forward 50	24%	24%	23%	24%	24%	23%
Attacking Midfield	32%	28%	27%	24%	28%	27%
Defensive Midfield	21%	27%	24%	28%	25%	25%
Defensive 50	23%	21%	26%	24%	24%	25%

Source: Calculated by Wheelo Ratings.

Score Sources

Summary

Score Source	Score	Against	Diff
Kick-in	1.0 6	1.1 7	-1
Centre Bounce	5.2 32	1.2 8	+24
Stoppage (Other)	1.5 11	4.3 27	-16
Turnover	9.4 58	8.7 55	+3

Score Source	For		Against
	Match	Season	Match	Season *
Kick-in	6	3.5	7	5.5
Centre Bounce	32	13.8	8	17.0
Stoppage (Other)	11	16.8	27	24.8
Turnover	58	34.5	55	52.7

* Against season average represents average points conceded by Melbourne across the season, not average points scored by Fremantle.

Chain start region

Note: region is from the scoring team's perspective.

Region	For		Against
	Match	Season	Match	Season *
Defensive 50	25	12.5	31	19.8
Defensive midfield	18	12.0	30	19.0
Centre bounce	32	13.8	8	17.0
Attacking midfield	17	19.8	21	27.7
Forward 50	15	10.5	7	16.5

* Against season average represents average points conceded by Melbourne across the season, not average points scored by Fremantle.

Points from defensive half

For		Against
Match	Season	Match	Season *
43	24.5	61	38.8

* Against season average represents average points conceded by Melbourne across the season, not average points scored by Fremantle.

Centre Bounce Attendances

	CBAs	CBA %	2025 %	2024 %
Max Gawn	30	88%	85.7%	85.0%
Jack Viney	28	82%	67.3%	69.1%
Christian Petracca	28	82%	63.7%	55.8%
Kysaiah Pickett	23	68%	57.3%	33.0%
Clayton Oliver	21	62%	70.8%	70.7%
Tom Fullarton	4	12%	11.8%
Ed Langdon	2	6%	10.7%	0.7%
Harvey Langford	0	0%	27.0%
Tom Sparrow	0	0%	22.6%	37.7%
Trent Rivers	0	0%	10.1%	29.9%
Kade Chandler	0	0%	4.2%	0.0%
Jake Melksham	0	0%	0.9%	0.0%
Charlie Spargo	0	0%	0.0%	4.2%
Christian Salem	0	0%	0.0%	12.3%
Daniel Turner	0	0%	0.0%	0.3%
Harrison Petty	0	0%	0.0%	7.5%
Koltyn Tholstrup	0	0%	0.0%	5.7%
Aidan Johnson			10.9%
Jacob van Rooyen			10.4%	17.8%

Ruck Contests and Hitouts

Ruck Contests

	Ruck Contests	RC %	2025 %	2024 %
Max Gawn	74	86%	81.5%	81.1%
Tom Fullarton	12	14%	14.0%
Daniel Turner	0	0%	0.8%	3.1%
Harrison Petty	0	0%	0.0%	7.9%
Aidan Johnson			19.7%
Jacob van Rooyen			11.3%	17.6%

Hitouts

	Ruck Contests	Hitouts	To Adv.	To Adv. % (2025)	To Adv. % (2024)
Melbourne
Max Gawn	74	31	4	28.1%	27.9%
Tom Fullarton	12	6	3	50.0%
Daniel Turner	0	0	0		50.4%
Harrison Petty	0	0	0		24.4%
Jacob van Rooyen				40.0%	24.7%
Aidan Johnson				30.0%
Opposition
Sean Darcy	61	20	5
Oscar McDonald	25	5	0

Thanks for this. How is Gawn's last quarter only rated at 0.5? He had 10 disposals, 6 contested at 60% efficiency. 3 marks, a goal assist and 5 clearances as well as 9 hitouts and got two frees. From the ground he appeared by far the most influential player on the ground in the final quarter.

2 hours ago, Swooper1987 said:

Thanks for this. How is Gawn's last quarter only rated at 0.5? He had 10 disposals, 6 contested at 60% efficiency. 3 marks, a goal assist and 5 clearances as well as 9 hitouts and got two frees. From the ground he appeared by far the most influential player on the ground in the final quarter.

The Player Rating system can penalise missed shots at goal quite heavliy. From my calculation of the expected score for Gawn's two shots in the last quarter, he would have been penalised roughly 5 points from those two missed shots. My aim (at some point) is to try to replicate CD's Player Rating system so that I can provide a more detailed breakdown of the ratings. I would like to be able to separate ball winning, ball use, and shots at goal.

9 hours ago, WheeloRatings said:

The Player Rating system can penalise missed shots at goal quite heavliy. From my calculation of the expected score for Gawn's two shots in the last quarter, he would have been penalised roughly 5 points from those two missed shots. My aim (at some point) is to try to replicate CD's Player Rating system so that I can provide a more detailed breakdown of the ratings. I would like to be able to separate ball winning, ball use, and shots at goal.

Thanks Wheelo. It seems you have exposed a major flaw in the rating system.

Melbourne v Fremantle (Round 6, 2025)

https://www.wheeloratings.com/afl_match_stats.html?ID=20250604

Pressure

Team pressure

Quarter	For	Agn	Diff
1	189	174	+15
2	185	159	+26
3	179	160	+19
4	195	163	+32
Match	187	164	+23

Source: Herald Sun

Most Pressure Points

Note: pressure points are the weighed sum of pressure acts. Physical pressure acts are worth 3.75 points, closing acts are worth 2.25 points, chasing acts are 1.5 points and corralling are 1.2. ( https://www.championdata.com/glossary/afl/ )

Player	Pressure Acts	Pressure Points	Season Average
Jack Viney	25	64	44.5
Clayton Oliver	23	54	53.5
Jake Bowey	15	39	30.7
Tom Sparrow	15	37	33.5
Christian Petracca	13	35	33.2
Charlie Spargo	14	33	23.5
Trent Rivers	10	31	28.0
Harvey Langford	14	31	20.0
Koltyn Tholstrup	10	28	28.0
Kysaiah Pickett	10	27	33.7
Kade Chandler	10	26	38.2
Ed Langdon	10	24	31.5
Harrison Petty	11	24	21.7
Harry Sharp	11	24	19.3
Xavier Lindsay	10	23	28.6
Christian Salem	7	17	22.8
Caleb Windsor	10	16	24.5
Jake Melksham	5	15	18.0
Tom Fullarton	7	14	14.0
Max Gawn	5	9	17.0
Blake Howes	4	9	15.2
Tom McDonald	4	7	17.3
Daniel Turner	2	3	16.3

Source: Herald Sun

36 minutes ago, Swooper1987 said:

Thanks Wheelo. It seems you have exposed a major flaw in the rating system.

As a player rating system, I agree that it penalises missed shots too much. But the rating system is entirely based on how much a player's actions directly impact the scoreboard or impact the two teams' chances of scoring next. While actions around the ground can increase or decrease your chances of scoring, nothing has a bigger impact than kicking a difficult goal, or missing an easy one. Let's be honest, all football supporters lament bad goalkicking and there's a thread here about Melbourne's. In some respects, the player rating system does pretty well reflecting that.

Daniel Hoyne on SEN's full on footy analysis talks about "ball winning" and "ball use" and he's referring to the breakdown of player ratings into those two aspects. I suspect Max's ball winning was rated very highly yesterday.

Getting access to that breakdown and separating out goalkicking from other "ball use" would greatly assist in assessing a player's impact.

@WheeloRatings is 134 for CPs a club/AFL record?

6 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

@WheeloRatings is 134 for CPs a club/AFL record?

No, 134 CPs isn't actually that high. The AFL average this season is 131 and Melbourne's most (since 1999) is 187 against GWS in R16 2023.

Round 6, 2025 MCG - Demons vs Dockers

Happy Easter fellow minions and a hip hip hooray! Finally on the board for 2025. Bit of a relief for all i'm sure.

Our best Team Rating since Rnd 23, 2024 vs The Suns (72.13)

Three players cracking the big 5.0 is something special and that's what the boys finally delivered.

A 35% improvement by the 'best 6' players on our 2024 best 6 average.

Vintage Maxy, Bowey proving his recent uptick in form is no fluke with a gritty but classy output and then our super star Kozzy starting the spark and setting the MCG and the Demon faithful alight.

Max heads the player ratings but imho it's hard to go past Kozzy as BOG with that outstanding performance.

For a small forward to crack a rating of 5.0 doesn't come easy, especially given the degree of difficulty attached to this specialist role and the limited opportunities given. Yes Koz does play mid minutes but the energy required to do both in such a manner makes this effort even more outstanding imv. A Wizard esque performance. Let's take a look at some of his output on the day...

19 effectives @ 79.2% efficiency (AFL ave roughly 74%), 1 contested speccie over Petty, 2 marks inside 50, 2 one percenters, 4 clearances, 1 rebound, 6 inside 50s, 3 tackles (2 of those i50), 10 score involvements (only bettered by Max & Bolton with 12 a piece), 2 intercepts, 475 meters gained, 3 turnovers and the most goals on the day with 5.

Anzac Eve awaits against a Tiger outfit that's up and about.

Demons

< Subbed out TOG %

> Subbed in TOG %

Dockers

Combined Player Ratings

Stats courtesy of footywire.com and wheeloratings.com

4 hours ago, WheeloRatings said:

No, 134 CPs isn't actually that high. The AFL average this season is 131 and Melbourne's most (since 1999) is 187 against GWS in R16 2023.

Jeepers, I thought I heard the TV commentators say that this was some sort of record. I must have misheard. Thanks @WheeloRatings

On 15/04/2025 at 22:11, titan_uranus said:

Some interesting tidbits from Daniel Hoyne on radio tonight.

Gawn, Oliver and Viney are all bottom 5 in the competition for converting a first possession into a clearance

This interests me the most. Prior to Yze coming to the club we always got it first but had no method or strategy.

I thought Oliver showed patches of his sublime best against Freo. Particularly early on he seemed to float in at the feat of Gawn and release it to advantage before you even knew he had it. Some were off but I noticed a real difference.

I'd love to see he and Viney's breakdown of first touch leading to a clearance.

On 15/04/2025 at 22:15, The Stigga said:

So ostensibly, our skills are terrible...

No, it's decision making mostly. As evidenced by yesterday.

Key stats.

16 goals. 56 entries. 28% efficiency. Fast ball movement created opportunities. Needs still to be better. Missed 6-7 goal chances that needed ti be kicked. Gawn. Trac. Sparrow. Spargo. Missed sitters.

Clearances 38-33. Last 2 games, Freo destroyed us at clearances. Our mids stood up

59 tackles. 27 in forward50. The pressure was huge as we locked it in. A little reminder to us of 2021.

Bounces 7. Not often covered. We typically have 1-2. This showed our run.

Individual stats

Bowey 649 metres gained (Trac 529 metres gained, but Clarry 81 metres gained )

Max Gawn 10 Clearances (Trac 6, Clarry 5, JV 5)

Max Gawn 18 contested possessions (Clarry 13)

Viney 8 tackles (Clarry 6, Trac 5)

Kozzzzy. 5 goals 10 contested possessions, 24 possessions, 475 metre gained

Pressure acts. Viney25 Clarry 23 Bowey 15.

Most important stat

Melbourne 16.11.107 defeated Dockers 14.13.97.

The pressure points were a bit lower than expected, still sub 200, which means it can be even better.

5 hours ago, Wrecker45 said:

This interests me the most. Prior to Yze coming to the club we always got it first but had no method or strategy.

I thought Oliver showed patches of his sublime best against Freo. Particularly early on he seemed to float in at the feat of Gawn and release it to advantage before you even knew he had it. Some were off but I noticed a real difference.

I'd love to see he and Viney's breakdown of first touch leading to a clearance.

Oliver, Gawn, Viney and Petracca are all below 70% of their first possessions have been converted to a clearance. Melbourne overall this year is 69.6%. Langford, Pickett, Bowey and Rivers are all close to 80% or higher (with their lower counts of first possessions).

	First Possessions	Won Clearance	%	2021-2025
Clayton Oliver	59	39	66.1	72.3
Max Gawn	54	34	63.0	74.5
Jack Viney	28	19	67.9	73.7
Christian Petracca	25	17	68.0	76.1
Harvey Langford	14	11	78.6	78.6
Kade Chandler	9	4	44.4	68.4
Kysaiah Pickett	8	8	100.0	79.8
Jacob van Rooyen	8	6	75.0	71.8
Jake Bowey	7	6	85.7	79.6
Tom Sparrow	7	5	71.4	80.4
Trent Rivers	6	5	83.3	82.1
Ed Langdon	6	4	66.7	69.7

Here are the numbers from yesterday where we won a much higher 82.5% of clearances following first possession.

	First Possessions	Won Clearance	%
Max Gawn	14	11	78.6
Jack Viney	6	5	83.3
Christian Petracca	6	6	100.0
Clayton Oliver	6	4	66.7
Kysaiah Pickett	3	3	100.0
Charlie Spargo	1	1	100.0
Jake Bowey	1	1	100.0
Tom Fullarton	1	0	0.0
Caleb Windsor	1	1	100.0
Xavier Lindsay	1	1	100.0

Team & Player Ratings to Rnd 6, 2025 vs H&A Season 2024

That result pushes us just ahead of our Season 2024 Team Rating

Now we just need to get Melk, Spargo, Windsor, Tracc & Viney back to or fairly near to their very best on a consistent basis from here.

A great bounce back from Vines against the Dockers is a good start from him.

CP5 still a power of work ahead to get back to his 2024 levels but is improving week by week.

Big Max close to his best form.

Fabulous start to the season from Bowsa, Chandler, Petty & Langdon.

The two rookies in Lindsay & Langdon tracking nicely 🤞🏻

McVee back soonish. May a possibility?

Culley could be a surprise packet at some point.

* Played less than two full matches

< Subbed out at least once or more

> Subbed in at least once or more

Stats courtesy of footwire.com & wheeloratings.com

Edited April 20Apr 20 by Demon Dynasty

On 20/04/2025 at 12:33, Demon Dynasty said:

Round 6, 2025 MCG - Demons vs Dockers

Happy Easter fellow minions and a hip hip hooray! Finally on the board for 2025. Bit of a relief for all i'm sure.

Our best Team Rating since Rnd 23, 2024 vs The Suns (72.13)

Three players cracking the big 5.0 is something special and that's what the boys finally delivered.

A 35% improvement by the 'best 6' players on our 2024 best 6 average.

Vintage Maxy, Bowey proving his recent uptick in form is no fluke with a gritty but classy output and then our super star Kozzy starting the spark and setting the MCG and the Demon faithful alight.

Max heads the player ratings but imho it's hard to go past Kozzy as BOG with that outstanding performance.

For a small forward to crack a rating of 5.0 doesn't come easy, especially given the degree of difficulty attached to this specialist role and the limited opportunities given. Yes Koz does play mid minutes but the energy required to do both in such a manner makes this effort even more outstanding imv. A Wizard esque performance. Let's take a look at some of his output on the day...

19 effectives @ 79.2% efficiency (AFL ave roughly 74%), 1 contested speccie over Petty, 2 marks inside 50, 2 one percenters, 4 clearances, 1 rebound, 6 inside 50s, 3 tackles (2 of those i50), 10 score involvements (only bettered by Max & Bolton with 12 a piece), 2 intercepts, 475 meters gained, 3 turnovers and the most goals on the day with 5.

Anzac Eve awaits against a Tiger outfit that's up and about.

Demons

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Dockers

Combined Player Ratings

Stats courtesy of footywire.com and wheeloratings.com

Thanks DD that was a huge team improvement on our previous five weeks, we looked and played like the Team that we had become used to watching. Huge confidence booster when you consider no May, McVee or Rick then losing Disco before half time through that reckless knee in the head when he was playing so well really put us under pressure down back. TMac really mustered the backline magnificently.

16 hours ago, Demon Dynasty said:

Team & Player Ratings to Rnd 6, 2025 vs H&A Season 2024

That result pushes us just ahead of our Season 2024 Team Rating

Now we just need to get Melk, Spargo, Windsor, Tracc & Viney back to or fairly near to their very best on a consistent basis from here.

A great bounce back from Vines against the Dockers is a good start from him.

CP5 still a power of work ahead to get back to his 2024 levels but is improving week by week.

Big Max close to his best form.

Fabulous start to the season from Bowsa, Chandler, Petty & Langdon.

The two rookies in Lindsay & Langdon tracking nicely 🤞🏻

McVee back soonish. May a possibility?

Culley could be a surprise packet at some point.

* Played less than two full matches

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Stats courtesy of footwire.com & wheeloratings.com

So Oliver is our most highly rated player? Why doesnt it feel like that?

Also Windsor suffering 2nd year blues..but with the injury interrupted pre-season, one can be forgiven. Hopefully he builds up some form.

Many thanks @WheeloRatings . You're a superstar

👏

21 minutes ago, GS_1905 said:

So Oliver is our most highly rated player? Why doesnt it feel like that?

Also Windsor suffering 2nd year blues..but with the injury interrupted pre-season, one can be forgiven. Hopefully he builds up some form.

Good question GS. Possibly a combination of things.

Expectations are high for him as watchers remember his Pre 2024 levels. Which were mostly off the chart B&F all Australian type performances.

Anything substantially below those levels and he ain't looking like the Clazz we once knew (at his peak).

For his usual standards, no he isn't.

From there people are judging and saying he is so far off. Yes he is off those levels. But that doesn't mean he isn't producing a level that still has him just ahead of some of our best. Keeping in mind that until Freo, with a few exceptions, many have been well below their best also. Which might make Clarry's player ratings appear like he's rating super well or in this case, over rated as you are suggesting.

To give some idea, his 2025 rating is 7% below season 2023 (5.00), 13% below 2022 (5.32) and 12% below 2021 (5.26).

2025 is (so far) right on par with his 2019 Rating of 4.64

This Rating punishes turnovers. And while Clazz does appear to be turning it over a fair bit in some games, believe it or not, he appears to have cleaned that part up a little vs prior seasons (see his turnover average below).

Less turnovers does help lift his player rating a tad and might be giving a bit of a false reading vs his actual impact on the game vs seasons prior to 2024.

Average Turnovers by Season

2025 - 3.3

2024 - 4.4

2023 - 5.7

2022 - 5.5

2021 - 5.3

2020 - 4.6

2019 - 4.7

This rating doesn't cover things like two way running and pressure acts either. Amongst other factors! He might be off vs prior years here?

Tackles and 1 percenters are quite good vs 2021 - 2023

Contested possessions are still about 3 down on average vs his best years from 2021 - 2022 as per below...

2025 14.3

2024 11.2

2023 14.5

2021 - 2022 17.7

Combine this with the fact that he is having a reasonably good year vs 2024 and that may explain why his rating appears a tad high. Coming off a low base! Still a fair way off 21 - 23 levels though. However an 'ok' Clarry in terms of output and impact may well still be better than most.

In the end my ratings are not all encompassing and far from perfect. Everyone also sees the game differently. Some are better at this than others too.

Stats are only a rough record of some limited aspects of what happens on the field. No matter how comprehensive, they can't cover all aspects and nuances and a big caveat always hangs over them.

A classic example is someone putting in a hard tag. I doubt stats will ever highlight a good job done on that front. Another is the fat side winger. So much two way running that goes unrewarded but it remains an integral part of the team's success regardless.