GigStats Rounds 13 & 14: Striking statistics

STATS ENTERTAINMENT ROUNDS 13 AND 14

by Andrew Gigacz

STRIJK ONE

It might have passed by many footy fans, but the Round 13 clash between marked a VFL/AFL first. With Andrew Strijk making his debut, he not only became the first player in history with that surname but his first-up effort marked the first ever appearance of a player with a surname containing the 9th, 10th and 11th letter of the alphabet – IN ORDER!

The first half of his surname happens to contain the 18th, 19th and 20th letters, though sadly not in order. Had his name been Andrew Rstijk, that really would have been something.

STRIKE TWO.TWO

The Curse of the 2.2 shows no signs of being lifted, having claimed to more victims over the last couple of weeks. First up was Geelong who, despite being 1 point ahead of St Kilda at quarter time of their Round 13 clash, succumbed to the Saints by four goals. Looking back it was an inevitable loss, as the Cats were 2.2 at quarter-time.

A week later it was Geelong’s opponents, North Melbourne who suffered the misfortune hitting the first change at 2.2. They went on to lose by 35 points.

Since St Kilda beat Collingwood in Round 3 (after being 2.2 at quarter-time) in the infamous “Riewoldt hamstring” match, there have been 11 teams that have turned at the first change with a score of 2.2. All 11 of those teams have lost.

Perhaps the curse will only be lifted when St Nick returns…

STRIKE THREE

With Hawks pipping the Dogs by half a goal on Friday night, this season has now seen five games ending in three-point margins. All five have had the winning score ending in 9 and the losing score ending in 6.

Three-point results in 2010:

Round 2:            Port Adelaide 89 def West Coast 86

Round 6:            St Kilda 49 def Western Bulldogs 46

Round 7:            Port Adelaide 109 def Essendon 106

Round 8:            Hawthorn 89 def Richmond 86

Round 14:            Hawthorn 79 def Western Bulldogs 76

That’s two 3-point wins each to Port Adelaide and Hawthorn and two 3-point losses to the Western Bulldogs.

Had those results been reversed, the Bulldogs would currently be in the top four, Hawthorn would be a game outside the 8, Richmond would only be two games outside the 8, and Port Adelaide would be stone, motherless last on the ladder.

STRIKE THREE SQUARED

Three squared is nine, and that number has been important in both of the last two rounds:

Firstly for Stevie Baker. For him it was important in a bad way, as he will be on the sidelines for 9 weeks.

And for Richmond it’s also an important number, because if their current good form continues, they have a big chance of finishing in their most coveted ladder position: Ninth.

MORE SQUARED

Earlier this season, Melbourne Uni’s mathematical madman, Peter Flynn (who so endeared himself to the science and technology world that they named the top row of the mainframe keyboard – the PF keys – after him) astutely observed that Hawthorn’s first three losing margins this year were all square numbers (1, 36 and 64).

The Hawks were back at it again in Round 13, although this time they were dishing out the square punch, not receiving it. Their 16 point win started a run of four Round 13 games that were all decided by margins that were square numbers. Fremantle beat Carlton by 9 points, North accounted for Port by 36 points and Collingwood’s winning margin over Sydney was 25.

And this week, the Tigers got in the act as well, pipping the Swans by 4 points.

LOOPY LADDER

As mentioned earlier, Richmond’s mid-season revival means they are in the mix for a ninth-placed finish. Which got me thinking. Everyone knows that the Tigers have finished 9th more than any other side since the introduction of the top 8. But how have the other sides fared?

Here’s a ladder based on the number of 9th placed finishes each side has had since 1994, when the top 8 was first introduced:

6 RICHMOND

3 HAWTHORN

1 ST KILDA

1 WESTERN BULLDOGS

1 FREMANTLE

1 GEELONG

1 PORT ADELAIDE

1 MELBOURNE

1 COLLINGWOOD

0 ADELAIDE

0 BRISBANE

0 ESSENDON

0 NORTH MELBOURNE

0 SYDNEY

0 WEST COAST

0 CARLTON

What does this ladder tell is? Well apart from Richmond’s (and to a lesser extent Hawthorn’s) amazing run of ninth-placed finishes, not much. But, gee it’s good to see a ladder in which Collingwood is a long way behind Richmond.

35 POINTS TWICE – TWICE!

A strange little repeat of recent history in Round 14. Prior to last weekend, 35 points had been registered as a margin only twice this season. Both occurrences were in Round 9, when Essendon cleaned up the Tigers on the Saturday night, before St Kilda finished off the round by beating West Coast by 35. In Round 14 it was Geelong coasting home against North in the early Sunday game before St Kilda finished off the round by beating Melbourne by 35.

Two rounds? Two margins of 35 in each? Both rounds ending with a 35 point St Kilda win? OK, maybe it’s not quite Twilight Zone material but I happened to notice it and that’s good enough for me.

THE MARGINAL MEDAL

And on the topic of margins, 9 and 36 jumped the lead in Round 13 but, not to be outdone, 3 hit back this week. Those three margins have each turned up 5 times this year, with 38, and the aforementioned 35, one behind.

SCORE WARS

Things are pretty tight in this battle also. 100, 93, 63 and 83 (twice) have all registered as final scores in the last two rounds. All four scores head the Score Wars ladder on 6, with 89 nipping at their heels, having been registered 5 times this year, including Richmond’s final tally against the Swans.

1000 APOLOGIES

Though they probably didn’t realise it, Geelong had a party of sorts spoiled by the Saints when they went down to them in Round 13. The date of their clash marked exactly 1000 days since Geelong broke their premiership drought in 2007.

LATE-BREAKING RIDICULOUS FOOTY ANAGRAM

As I type this news is filtering through that tonight’s game against Collingwood will be the last for Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams. It seems the ongoing rows and arguments between “Choco” and the Port powerbrokers has resulted in his demise. Perhaps not surprising, then, that MARK “CHOCO” WILLIAMS is an anagram of ROWS MAIM, KILL COACH

About Andrew Gigacz

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

Comments

  1. Steve Healy says

    Nice work as usual Gigs

  2. Danielle says

    Gigs i don’t like that ladder! :(
    Can’t you make a Collingwood friendly one (at least with us in the top 4)? :(

    Danni

  3. Easy Danni,

    finish 9th this year and you will be in Gig’s top four.

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