After five rounds of the season, we’re starting to see some leaders emerge at the top of the stat packs.
With that comes a few oddities worth making a note of.
Here are eight quirky statistical facts from the first five rounds of the season.
1. Patrick Cripps’ clearance dominance
Patrick Cripps has won 10 more clearances than any other player in the competition.
Cripps sits at 51, with Lachie Neale behind him on 41.
He’s won seven more centre clearances than anyone else, with the new rules and less bodies around him in the midfield working in his favour.
2. Brodie Grundy stuck in limbo
Is Brodie Grundy an umpire’s pet? He’s won 17 free kicks so far in 2019, the most in the competition.
Do the umpires hate Brodie Grundy? He’s given away 12 free kicks so far in 2019, the equal most in the competition with Tom Bellchambers and Mark Baguley.
You could draw many conclusions from both of those sentences in isolation, but together, it probably just tells you the state of free kicks in the ruck contest.
3. Brad Ebert’s reinvention
Brad Ebert’s transformation from midfielder to damaging medium forward has been incredibly impressive.
He ranks first in the competition for tackles inside 50 and he’s kicked eight goals so far this year.
Ebert’s sacrificed some of his ball winning, averaging 19.8 disposals this year, down from 20.4 last year and 24.7 in 2017, in order to have a greater presence inside 50.
4. Harry McKay the contested king
Stats GOAT @SirSwampThing on Twitter revealed a few weeks ago that Harry McKay had taken more contested marks across the first three rounds of the season than any player in the 21st century.
McKay is currently ranked first in the competition for contested marks with 22, five ahead of Ben McEvoy in second place.
Pretty impressive for a guy who’s played 20 games.
5. The one hit-out club
With the removal of the third-man-up rule, the players winning hit-outs as become a mostly exclusive group.
Here are the players who have won one hit-out this year: Brennan Cox, Josh Dunkley, Isaac Heeney, Marcus Bontempelli, Jesse Hogan, Jack Gunston, Patrick Dangerfield, Jack Riewoldt, Josh J Kennedy and Mitchell Lewis.
Richmond’s Kamdyn McIntosh has won two hit-outs and Jeremy McGovern has won three.
6. Pies forward line dominating
Collingwood’s forward line has been rightly hyped up, but they have also met those expectations.
Of the top 25 players for marks inside 50, the Pies have five in that category.
Jordan de Goey is ranked second in the comp (16), Jamie Elliott eighth (12), Mason Cox (10), Jaidyn Stephenson (10) and Brodie Mihocek (9) all in the top 25.
The Bulldogs have three (Aaron Naughton, Tory Dickson and Billy Gowers), but no team comes close to the Pies.
7. Sam Walsh has no issues winning the ball already
Of players between 18 and 20 years old, no one has won more of the ball than Sam Walsh (131 disposals).
Behind the first-year player sits James Worpel (128), Alex Witherden (123), Zac Fisher (107), Andrew McGrath (105) and Oliver Florent (105).
Walsh is averaging 26.2 disposals per game at 68.7% disposal efficiency.
8. The Marathon Men
These are the players who have played at least four games this year and spent more than 95 per cent of game time on the ground across the entire season:
Ben Brown (98.1%), Mitch Brown (97.7%), Jacob Weitering (96.7%), Sam Collins (96.2%), Zaine Cordy (96%), Mark Blicavs (96%), Alex Pearce (95.7%), Tom Jonas (95.1%) and Liam Jones (95.1%).
Of course, they’re all key position players. Of midfielders, Cripps has spent 91% of game-time on the ground, Lachie Hunter 90.9% and Jack Steele 90%.
