Gigs’ Stats: Round 11 Stat Declaration

 by Andrew Gigacz

As most footy fans would know, round 11 was declared by the AFL to be Women’s Round. The final scores, however, suggest that naming it the Bill Collins Round would not have been inappropriate either. And by Bill Collins, I don’t mean the film buff (though there’s no shortage of good acting on the field when there’s a potential free kick in it), I mean the late great race caller. That Bill Collins was known as “The Accurate One” and round 11 produced one of the most accurate displays of goal-kicking ever seen.

 

The highlight was the Essendon v Adelaide match at Etihad with the two sides scoring a combined total of 39.10 (Ess 18.6 v Adel 21.4), a goal success rate of 79.6%. This makes it the most accurate match in VFL/AFL history, eclipsing the previous mark of 76.1 set in round 20, 1984 when Essendon 22.6 defeated St Kilda 13.5.

 

History’s Accurate Six matches are now:

 

79.6% – 39.10 – Essendon 18.6 (114) v Adelaide 21.4 (130), 7 June 2009, Docklands

76.1% – 35.11 – Essendon 22.6 (138) v St Kilda 13.5 (83), 18 August 1984, Windy Hill

75.9% – 44.14 – Essendon 27.8 (170) v Melbourne 17.6 (118), 19 April 1986, Windy Hill

74.5% – 35.12 – Essendon 20.9 (129) v Geelong 15.3 (93), 27 June 2003, Docklands

74.4% – 32.11 – Melbourne 17.3 (105) v Footscray 15.8 (98), 31 May 1947, MCG

74.3% – 52.18 – Essendon 27.9 (171) v North Melbourne 25.9 (159), 22 July 2001, MCG

 

Amazingly, five out of the six most accurate games in history involve Essendon, always as the home team.

 

More specifically, Adelaide’s final score of 21.4 (130) was also one of the greatest sharp-shooting efforts of all time. The top 10 accurate individual team scores (min. goals 18) are:

 

90.0% – 18.2 – St Kilda v Adelaide, Round 18, 1994

87.0% – 20.3 – Sydney v Fremantle, Round 15, 2000

85.2% – 23.4 – Geelong v Carlton, Round 14, 2006

84.0% – 21.4 – Hawthorn v Essendon, Round 15, 1970

84.0% – 21.4 – Adelaide v Essendon, Round 11, 2009

83.3% – 20.4 – Sydney v Port Adelaide, Round 1, 1998

82.4% – 28.6 – Essendon v Collingwood Preliminary Final, 1984

82.4% – 28.6 – Port Adelaide v North Melbourne, Elimination Final, 2005

81.8% – 18.4 – Hawthorn v Carlton, Round 2, 2000

81.8% – 18.4 – Footscray v Sydney, Round 7, 2008

 

WAS IT?

 

The above stats are the result of Gig Dig No. 4. The question still to be answered is: “Was Round 11 the most accurate of all time?” Certainly with a success rate of 60.8%, it was easily the best of 2009. The object of Gig Dig No. 5 will be to find the all-time record accurate round. Stay tuned.

 

AND ALSO

 

Reader’s of last week’s Stat. Dec. (http://footyalmanac.com.au/?p=1875) will remember that fellow Knacker Peter Flynn wondered whether a side had ever achieved an identical score in all four quarters of a match. The results of Gig Dig No. 3 are in and the answer is YES – just once. In Round 8, 1934, Collingwood scored 12.12 at Victoria Park to defeat the Saints by 9 points. The total score was made up of four quarters of 3.3. Never happened before or since. (Interestingly, in three other games that year the Magpies scored 13.13, 16.16 and 16.16 again.)

 

THE OMEN

 

Adelaide’s amazing 21.4 was only the second time in history that score has been achieved. Its only previous occurrence was by Hawthorn in 1970. In a bad omen for Crows fans, history shows that the Hawks missed the finals that year, ending with a 10-12 record. But, in a better omen for the Crows, they went on to take the flag the following year. Be patient Crows fans.

 

THE MARGINAL MEDAL.

 

The deadlock has been broken. For the second time in three weeks the Subiaco margin was 22 points. This gives 22 the outright lead (4 occurrences) with a plethora of margins in hot pursuit. Having registered three times are 4, 5, 8, 17, 19, 38 and 43. Still no one-point or 100-plus margins thus far.

 

SCORE WARS – Round 11 Update

 

90 still leads on six with 116, 111, 104 and 86 all one behind.  Making their first appearances for the season were 89 and 130.

 

POSTCODE OF THE WEEK

 

Has anyone seen Terry Wallace since he made his last slow walk off the field at Docklands last Friday night? Knowing Terry (as I don’t), he’ll be heading somewhere far, far away in search of a way to improve his suntan. His boys may have left us with a little clue as to where during the game, kicking 4,8,0 and 2 goals in each quarter. 4802 just happens to be the postcode of the Whitsundays…

 

THIS WEEK’S RIDICULOUS FOOTY ANAGRAM:

 

But it’s not just Terry who’s been having a bad time of it lately. With the grumblings about dud stadium deals increasing almost as rapidly as his waistline, Andrew Demetriou is under the pump. And if you were to ask him what he thinks of the stadium formerly known Telstra Dome, his answer could well be an anagram of his own surname: “DOME? RUE IT!”…

About Andrew Gigacz

Well, here we are. The Bulldogs have won a flag. What do I do now?

Comments

  1. Peter Flynn says

    Great dig Gigs.
    Well done on Coll 12.12 in 1934 and good pick up re the accuracy match.
    The Dons will be rueing their inaccuracy.
    Cheers,
    Peter

  2. Steve Healy says

    Gigs,

    What is the least accurate game in the History of the AFL/VFL?

  3. Now that IS a good question Jeremy. I don’t know off the top of my head but will get to work on it. I do remember seeing a Fitzroy score from a long long time ago where they kicked 2.27!! But I’m not sure what the other team kicked in that match. I’ll try and have the answer to that one ready for Round 12.

    Thanks

    Gigs

  4. Sorry Steve. Don’t know why I called you Jeremy!

  5. Steve Healy says

    It was Fitzroy V Geelong, Round 6 1928 at Corio Oval. Geelong kicked 19.8 122.

  6. Thanks Steve. So that would be a combined total of 26.35. There would have been a lot of less accurate games than that. I’ll see what I can come up with over the weekend.

  7. What percentage would Adelaide get for its effort against Essendon, Round 10, 2005? They kicked 30.8.188.

  8. 30.8 is pretty good Josh. That’s an accuracy of 79.8% which puts it close to the top 10 but not quite in there. Gigs

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