STATS ENTERTAINMENT – ROUND 18
by Andrew Gigacz
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY SLIPS THROUGH KANGAROOS’ FINGERS
North Melbourne will be lamenting missing a golden opportunity that slipped through their fingers on Sunday afternoon. A win over the Bulldogs by 257 points (depending on the scoreline) would have been enough for the Kangas to grab a spot in the eight at Carlton’s expense. However, the Roos fell an agonising 328 points short, losing to the Dogs by 71 points.
North coach Brad Scott will be ruing a few costly errors from Sunday’s game that could have made all the difference.
GAME = CAREER
While on the topic of the Bulldogs-North Melbourne game, two of the Doggies players achieved an interesting milestone in this match. Tom Williams and Brodie Moles both kicked as many goals in this match as they had previously done in their entire AFL careers – one.
RETURNED MAIL
Meanwhile Williams’ and Moles’ new teammate, Liam Jones, kicked infinity times as many goals as he had previously in his career. Liam capped off his debut match with a goal in the last quarter.
2.2 HOODOO UPDATE
The 2.2 hoodoo streak has stretched to thirteen. On Saturday night it was Brisbane’s turn. Having reached quarter-time with a score of 2.2 (14), the Brisbane Lions went on to become the 13th consecutive team to reach that quarter-time score and then lose the match. Rumour has it that, if a side is 1.2 when the quarter-time siren sounds, and a player is having a post-siren shot at goal, coaches are instructing that player to MISS AT ALL COSTS!
SCORE WARS
A great win by the Tigers yesterday, turning a 21-point third quarter deficit into a 20-point win. Word on the street – or more specifically, the road (Punt) – is that the Richmond hierarchy still have designs on finishing 9th.
More significant, though (to some of us) was the fact that Richmond’s total was 100, making it the 10th occasion this season that 100 has been a final score. That’s equal to last year’s winning scores (94 and 67). Incidentally, 94 has been registered just the once this season, emphasising how much of a difference one goal can make.
100 now has a huge lead over 63, which has come up seven times this year. In equal third spot on six are 93, 86, 85 and 76.
THE MARGINAL MEDAL
Port’s 19-point win over Adelaide last week took that margin to the equal third-most registered of this year, along with 9. They have each occurred five times so far this year. The leaders, on six, are 3 and 36. With 144 games played so far this year, we have not yet had any 5-point or 6-point margins.
LOOPY LADDER OF THE WEEK
We all now how important percentage can be at this time of year. A goal here and a point there – they could be the difference between making the eight and not.
Percentage could become super-important if the following results pan out over the next four rounds:
| R19 | ESS | HAW | NM | GEEL | BRIS | STK | RICH | WB |
| R20 | ESS | RICH | FREM | WB | WCO | BRIS | (Haw-Mel) DRAW | STK |
| R21 | GEEL | RICH | HAW | ADEL | WB | PORT | BRIS | WCO |
| R22 | ADEL | HAW | WCO | PORT | FREM | MELB | BRIS | WB |
The significance of this combination of results becomes apparent when one looks at the ladder below, paying particular to positions 7 to 15:
| Pos | Team | Pts | |
| 1 | WESTERN BULLDOGS | 64 | |
| 2 | GEELONG | 64 | |
| 3 | COLLINGWOOD | 58 | |
| 4 | ST KILDA | 58 | |
| 5 | FREMANTLE | 56 | |
| 6 | HAWTHORN | 52 | |
| =7 | NORTH MELBOURNE | 36 | |
| =7 | RICHMOND | 36 | |
| =7 | CARLTON | 36 | |
| =7 | SYDNEY | 36 | |
| =7 | MELBOURNE | 36 | |
| =7 | ADELAIDE | 36 | |
| =7 | ESSENDON | 36 | |
| =7 | PORT ADELAIDE | 36 | |
| =7 | BRISBANE | 36 | |
| 16 | WEST COAST | 28 |
What does this ladder tell us? It tells us that supporters of those NINE teams need to ride EVERY score home for their team, because percentage could be the difference between a spot in the eight and finishing ahead of only West Coast.
And it also tells us that the dream scenario of nine teams ending up on equal points, with all teams having a percentage of exactly 100 is still possible.
And it tells us that every team other than West Coast can still win the flag…
POSTCODE OF THE WEEK
If you take a look at Collingwood’s first half against Carlton on Saturday, you’ll see that they were 3.5 at quarter-time and 9.9 at half-time. Put those two scores together and you get 3599, the postcode of a little place called “Boundary Bend”. I’m not sure if that location has any direct link to the Magpies but it’s nice to know there’s a town out there somewhere that celebrates one of the little quirks of our great game.
RIDICULOUS ANAGRAM OF THE WEEK
In Monday’s Age, mention is made of Fremantle’s first-gamer, Justin Bollenhagen, being given a baptism of fire, thrust into a derby to help the Dockers overcome their shocking form of the previous week.
But really, I would have thought Justin wouldn’t have expected anything BUT a baptism of fire, given that…
BOLLENHAGEN is an anagram of GONNA BE HELL…
About Andrew Gigacz
Well, here we are. The Bulldogs have won a flag. What do I do now?
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Funny how this loopy ladder just so happens to have Doggies on top, Gigs …
You’d have to be loopy to envisage THAT happening ;-)
Gigs,
both Carlton and Geelong can’t lose in Rd 21 and both Collingwood and Adelaide can’t win.
You haven’t been cooking the books. You know what happened to Melb Storm.
We may have to let you contribute for the remainder of the season but you won’t get any points.
Phantom, those bogus results were inserted as part of an elaborate test of your observational skills.
I will shortly update the table with the correct results, now that you have demonstrated that you were equal to the challenge (and as soon as I figure out where I stuffed up).
Re comments 3 and 4. Fortunately the damage was minor. The first Round 21 result should have listed Geelong, not Collingwood as the winner.
The ladder has now been corrected but the magnitude of Geelong’s losses will be such that their percentage will slip below that of the Dogs and they will finish second. But above Collingwood, so that should keep Phantom, Susie and the other meowing Cats happy.
(Hey! I’m the one putting in the hard stats yards here; let me have at least a LITTLE bit of fun with my Bulldogs!)
And I should say thanks to Phantom for pointing out my error.
So I will.
Thanks, Phantom.
I will ensure you get a mention in dispatches Gigs.
It was neither a critisism of your wonderful work or your love of the Doggies.
It was all about openness, fair play, truth and justice, because after all, that is the AFL way.
Rounds 19 and 21 will be key, Gigs, in determining the Real Contenders. At the moments, Doggies have me shaking in my boots. Scary form. Jason who?
(love it when arrogance is repaid like this!)
As for the “Boundary Bend” – perhaps we can use it to name Collingwood’s avoid-the-corridor-at-all-costs-just-hope-not-to-kick-it-OOF style of play? They bend it along the boundary more frequently and consistently than any other team I’ve ever seen.
Gigs,
My task for you is to put Waaia in a Postcode Of The Week before the season’s end. (3637)
Josh, would love to do it. I’ll do my best but it’s up to one of the 16 teams to come up with the goods. Or maybe I’ll have to become a bit more creative with my searching (e.g. behinds in the first half, goals in the second half…)
Good spotting with North’s score too. I actually texted a friend at half-time to say that North were on world-record pace. (For those who are wondering what I’m talking about, North scored 3.3 in both the first and second quarter. They slipped in the second half, kicking 2.2 in both the 3rd and final quarters.)
Gigs, #4
I learned last night when I came home from my son’s netball grand final (icy Tasmanian night) that the best way to stop the cat meowing and getting under your feet is crank up the wood heater and give it (the cat) a feed.
Phantom.