Which players are the most efficient going inside 50?

The ability to use the ball efficiently in attack is so important in the modern game.

Finding a target inside forward 50 is vital to assisting your team score and executing it frequently is an invaluable skill to have.

With help from Champion Data, we’ve identified the players who are the best in the competition at forward 50 retention - which their criteria states is either scoring or finding a teammate with a kick from midfield to inside 50.

Brisbane captain Dayne Zorko is the player who retained the ball with the most regularity in 2019, either finding a teammate or scoring on 67 occasions from 118 kicks inside 50 at almost 57%.

One of the competition’s best users by foot, Collingwood skipper Scott Pendlebury once again proved his efficiency and creativity by producing the best retention rate of almost 59%. He comes in second with 60 times retained from 102 attempts.

Richmond star Dustin Martin and Geelong gun Patrick Dangerfield are the two other players who had 50 or more attacking kicks result in either hitting a target or a score.

From an efficiency viewpoint, Fremantle’s Michael Walters finds a forward 50 target with almost 57% regularity slightly ahead of Western Bulldogs accumulator Jack Macrae and Port Adelaide youngster Sam Powell-Pepper.

And it’s easy to see why St Kilda went so hard for Bradley Hill and his elite use by foot as he retained the ball almost 55% of the time for the Dockers last year.

Of the players who retained the ball at least 30 times last season, Melbourne’s Clayton Oliver could only muster a 34.9% hit rate while new West Coast skipper Luke Shuey was one of four players with 110 or more attempts only to hit the mark 41 times at 37.3%.

Essendon’s Dylan Shiel was below par on 40% from 92 attempts with a similar strike rate to Lions duo Hugh McCluggage and Jarryd Lyons.

See the table below:
Minimum 30 kicks retained

Player	Club	Kicks inside 50	Times retained	Retain %	Mark %	Goal %	Score %
Scott Pendlebury	COL	102	60	58.8	24.5	22.5	41.2
Dayne Zorko	BRI	118	67	56.8	21.2	21.2	39.8
Michael Walters	FRE	74	42	56.8	28.4	14.9	40.5
Jack Macrae	WB	87	49	56.3	24.1	20.7	37.9
Sam Powell-Pepper	PA	71	40	56.3	4.2	19.7	39.4
Bradley Hill	FRE	86	47	54.7	24.4	26.7	41.9
Jared Polec	NM	77	42	54.5	26	18.2	37.7
Dom Sheed	WCE	90	49	54.4	26.7	17.8	40
Gary Ablett	GEE	81	44	54.3	24.7	23.5	39.5
Adam Treloar	COL	72	39	54.2	26.4	25	37.5
Jacob Hopper	GWS	70	37	52.9	22.9	22.9	34.3
Brodie Smith	ADE	78	41	52.6	17.9	17.9	38.5
James Harmes	MEL	81	42	51.9	18.5	9.9	28.4
Dustin Martin	RIC	107	55	51.4	21.5	17.8	29.9
Andrew Gaff	WCE	77	38	49.4	23.4	27.3	40.3
James Worpel	HAW	89	43	48.3	16.9	23.6	34.8
Patrick Dangerfield	GEE	110	53	48.2	17.3	17.3	37.3
Isaac Smith	HAW	85	41	48.2	15.3	14.1	36.5
Ricky Henderson	HAW	81	39	48.1	19.8	24.7	38.3
Jack Billings	STK	75	36	48	20	16	30.7
Nat Fyfe	FRE	85	40	47.1	22.4	16.5	28.2
Oliver Florent	SYD	70	33	47.1	14.3	17.1	35.7
Tim Kelly	GEE	75	35	46.7	20	21.3	34.7
Jaeger O'Meara	HAW	71	33	46.5	16.9	16.9	32.4
Marc Murphy	CAR	70	32	45.7	14.3	11.4	27.1
Brayden Fiorini	GCS	75	34	45.3	16	18.7	29.3
Marcus Bontempelli	WB	111	49	45	16.2	22.5	36
Elliot Yeo	WCE	94	42	44.7	13.8	22.3	30.9
Jade Gresham	STK	83	37	44.6	15.7	13.3	26.5
Zach Merrett	ESS	100	44	44	16	25	31
Dion Prestia	RIC	87	38	43.7	16.1	13.8	31
Nathan Jones	MEL	71	31	43.7	16.9	11.3	31
Sebastian Ross	STK	85	37	43.5	17.6	14.1	32.9
Lachie Neale	BRI	70	30	42.9	15.7	22.9	31.4
Lachie Hunter	WB	89	38	42.7	18	13.5	29.2
Travis Boak	PA	87	37	42.5	13.8	13.8	27.6
David Mundy	FRE	71	30	42.3	23.9	15.5	29.6
Mitch Robinson	BRI	98	41	41.8	13.3	11.2	25.5
Brad Crouch	ADE	77	32	41.6	11.7	18.2	36.4
Hugh McCluggage	BRI	73	30	41.1	15.1	12.3	26
Jarryd Lyons	BRI	81	33	40.7	13.6	16	25.9
Dylan Shiel	ESS	92	37	40.2	13	16.3	32.6
Luke Shuey	WCE	110	41	37.3	12.7	20	30
Clayton Oliver	MEL	86	30	34.9	10.5	9.3	16.3

From a smaller portion size, exciting Richmond youngster Sydney Stack is the premier player of those with a minimum of 20 kicks inside 50. From his 30 attempts, Stack hit the target on 23 occasions, allowing his side to retain the ball or score over 76% of the time.

Brisbane’s Allen Christensen is a close second, from 10 less kicks, while St Kilda speedster Nick Hind also possesses some forward 50 efficiency.

A slightly larger portion size tells us that Adelaide link man Tom Lynch, Essendon’s dashing Irishman Conor McKenna and Western Bulldogs rebounder Jason Johannisen are quite reliable when delivering inside 50.

Two players no longer in the game - Brett Deledio and Chris Masten - as well as banned Eagle Willie Rioli were also efficient in 2019.

See the table below:
Minimum 20 kicks inside 50

Player	Club	Kicks Inside 50	Times retained	Retain %
Sydney Stack	RIC	30	23	76.7
Allen Christensen	BRI	20	15	75
Nick Hind	STK	23	17	73.9
Brett Deledio	GWS	34	25	73.5
Tom Lynch	ADE	49	35	71.4
Conor McKenna	ESS	45	31	68.9
Jason Johannisen	WB	65	44	67.7
A.McDonald-Tipungwuti	ESS	45	30	66.7
Cam Rayner	BRI	33	22	66.7
Chris Masten	WCE	26	17	65.4
Luke Davies-Uniacke	NM	31	20	64.5
Tom Hawkins	GEE	33	21	63.6
Jarrod Berry	BRI	63	40	63.5
Christian Salem	MEL	30	19	63.3
Willie Rioli	WCE	27	17	63

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