Breggsy

Nice thread idea.

Injury List

I think we have benefited from a much smaller injury compared to other years. From the weekend maybe only Harmes? missing from our best 22. Not sure how long this can continue but the important thing is we can bank as many wins now so that if we do end up having a patch where we are missing a few key players, we aren't in the position where we need to keep winning to play finals.

Confidence and letting players play to their strengths

I feel like sometimes coaches can shift players around too much to fill a gap somewhere on the field and somewhere along the way they can lose touch.  I remember Richmond having similar issues back in 2016, trying to play small forwards out of position, back flankers in centre bounces and I firmly believe Carlton are going through it now.

All these players are drafted for a reason and will have some quality or skill to set them apart from your local footballer. I find it no surprise that players like Neal-Bullen, Spargo, Hunt are all playing good roles for the team. Neal Bullen is a great example. He has always been a great runner and great pressure player. He's not going to have 30 and kick 5 but as long as he's playing to his strengths then it's going to be a pro for the team.

Game style and pressure

I heard on Purefooty about round 3 where they described the difference in our game plan compared to previous years. We are playing a more uncontested brand where in other years there was a real mentality to just win the hard ball and force it forward.  We have now had more centre clearances against us than we have won despite having gawn/trac/oliver in there. This was our whole game  only a few years ago and while we are still ahead in overall contested possession, we are currently ranked 5th for uncontested possession diff, 2nd for marks inside 50 differential, 1st for inside 50s and amazingly 18th for turnovers diff per game (something I would never have thought possible with some of our kicks).  This game plan is either really flourishing due to the new stand rule, or was we adopted it because of the new rule? Win the ball back and rather than just surging it forward with ala 2018, keep the ball out of the other teams hands, hit up lower risk kicks and then once we are in that wing to half forward space being able to find a player inside 50.  My only knock on this would be where these shots are coming from. Is it that we are able to generate set shots in poorer positions because we are happier to find options there or are we unable to generate targets in high look spots.

This is our set shots until round 5 leading to an overall conversion under 50%

6 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Some of the defensiveness on here is hilarious. Do people really think Champion Data rank players based solely on possessions? Pick up the Prospectus when it comes out and have a read, the game and stats are way more advanced than that.

Agreed. The player rating system is different from fantasy points. SuperCoach measures possession and is scaled by things like effectiveness whereas player ratings try to apply chains to evaluate a players importance to a game

Over the past few years world wide there has been a push in sports statistics to move away from traditional 'static' statistics (in afl terms kicks marks handball etc) and towards a more dynamic statistics in the form of chains (possession chains). The idea is that these together these chains describe a match better than just kicks, marks etc and I agree this is the way to go.

unfortunately for cd, they are stuck halfway between, providing misleading stats like differentials and their plater ratings needs work. It is far too favourable for players in a position who's game is unconventional think nicnac getting a lot of ground ball or rance getting a lot of possessions in d50.

2 hours ago, Emerald said:

After this year's Census and reading this,I'm beginning to think that statisticians are [censored] in the head.

Yeah we are a special breed

i wouldn't worry about any article based on the afl player rankings. It's a flawed system and the afl and champion data are really pushing hard for the public to show interest in it 

I actually rate Rockliff. Play him as a mid resting forward in a real team and he could kick 30 for a season 

8 minutes ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

Care to elaborate?

Don't really have much sympathy for the club but jees I feel for the supporters. Losing him after two years would be heartbreaking 

6 minutes ago, Cards13 said:

Was listening to bits and pieces of SEN just before and I am pretty sure Watson said he didn't think and Ess don't think contracted players will be able to walk from Ess. Any players wanting out ie Hurl and Hibb, will have to request a trade.

The arrogance of that club.

Can't stand that [censored]. 

When the hibberd news came out that he wanted to leave Watson said he wasn't even sure hibberd was in their best 22 but then went on to say he was worth a first rounder a few sentences later 

Good job mate - and good work just read whites been elevated 

31 minutes ago, dieter said:

Don't you worry about Clarrie, he's as much of a gun as Petracca.

No worries here I love what he's about

Didn't mind his game yesterday. 5 clearances, 8 tackles and 10 CP is a great return for a 9 gamer.

 Not sure on his Centre bounce attendances but it seemed every time there was a goal kicked he would be coming off the bench straight into the centre. Stats might show we are most potent with him in there 

1 hour ago, Nasher said:

Cue Redleg: "and some people on here wanted him delisted last year".

I'm one who thought he would be delisted (deliberate omission of the word "want") last year, and probably picked up on the rookie list, purely because that's what usually happens to players who don't look close after two years on the list.

Glad to have been wrong and that he's managed to stay fit and tie it all together so far this year.  His dash off half back is impressive and he's got strength in the air that I didn't expect.  I look forward to seeing what he can do over the next few years.

Spot on. Project player taken with a late pick who plays a handful of underwhelming vfl matches due to form and injury. Probably 100 players have had the same story and after their two years are up they're delisted and never heard of again 

Very happy for him 

Love watching him play. Not only is he a tackling  clearance machine but he's also quite agile and is great above his head

I remember being impressed with Tyson in his first year how he would get the ball and then get separation using his hips but this guy just knows where he's going to dish it before he even gains possession 

Which seating will a Melb membership/GA get you into today

Reckon watts is benefitting from quicker ball movement. Would rather us move it down the ground and have him one out rather than chipping is down slowly and watts having to take a pack mark

Seems like every Essendon game has special comments by tim Watson 

1 hour ago, DemonDan83 said:

Dare I say we are becoming the 'come from behind' specialists! 4 times in a row we have come from behind to win. I think this can be attributed to our inproved fitness to run out games! 

On top of which we had only used 80 interchange compared to their 90

The list analysis from champion data is based upon the afl ranking points system available on the afl website. This is a different rating system that dream team and SuperCoach. I'm pretty sure karl Jackson at CD is the one who implemented it as a way compare a full forward who touches it 8 times a game to a loose back flanker who touches it 20 times a game. The afl is the one who is backing this system that attempts to measure impact and influence rather than just stats with a hope that in a few years it will be a huge point of interest within afl fans.

i can't remember how the system is scored but I'm pretty sure the magic number is 40 games whether it be accumulation or a rolling average.

Nothing against the two on the radio.  They don't come from a background like  dr Jackson or  Crusoe but I think they do a good job. Hoynes main area is maintaining the data of junior comps and luff is more the running of the day to day. 

2 hours ago, CBDees said:

Was there any training yesterday (Wednesday 2nd December)?

I'm hoping someone went down because there was vision on the news of petracca or somebody similar playing badminton

I blame the 2009 draft on the fact that they raised the draft age to 18, limiting the amount of players available we could pick to about a 9 month window?

If only they changed the rule a year before and we would have had another year to look at watts and Dangerfield would have been available in 08 ?

Is that paleo?

Oliver's TAC season courtesy of champion data's twitter.

Ranking points are equal to supercoach points.

Personally, not sold on oliver at pick 3 as it seems a stretch, however; if the club see something and pick him at 3 I'll get around him like any other player.

Daniel Hoyne on 3AW last night said Parish is the sane choice at 3 and Ryan Burton is worth a gamble at 7.

There is 50 lanes that I could see, plus the additional lanes on the RHS. It escapes me why motorists aren't travelling on the empty three lane road on the LHS however?

Stone cutters

Iv heard Cameron o'shea is thinking about returning to melbourne

I like him as an ibbotson type player

Damo also goes on to say that bennell will probably win a brownlow at his next club. It's going to be pretty hard with josh kelly dominating the award for the next decade

You've sold me on him AngryAtCasey - sign him up!