With all the talk surrounding kicking efficiency and even the state of the Sherrin, which is allegedly impacting the skills, we thought it's time to take a look at some numbers.
Below are three different ladders to give some sort of picture as to who are the most and least efficient players by foot in 2020.
To qualify we’ve looked at a minimum of 30 kicks, which is just six per game (so not many), while offering Essendon and Melbourne players just 24 kicks to be considered due to both sides playing one less game than the rest.
The three ladders are: most efficient, least efficient and the most frequent kickers.
Most efficient by foot
It is evident that the most efficient players by foot, when simply looking at effective kicks numbers, are defenders. They generally execute under much less pressure by kicking safely to short or free options.
So it comes as no surprise that the most efficient kicks in the competition are mainly made up of defenders led by West Coast pair Brad Sheppard and Shannon Hurn, with Hawthorn’s Blake Hardwick, Fremantle’s Luke Ryan and St Kilda’s Callum Wilkie making up the top five.
| Player | Club | Kicks | Effective | Efficiency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brad Sheppard | WCE | 54 | 49 | 90.7 |
| Shannon Hurn | WCE | 63 | 57 | 90.5 |
| Blake Hardwick | HAW | 31 | 28 | 90.3 |
| Luke Ryan | FRE | 62 | 55 | 88.7 |
| Callum Wilkie | STK | 44 | 39 | 88.6 |
| Jordan Ridley | ESS | 47 | 41 | 87.2 |
| Jayden Short | RIC | 60 | 52 | 86.7 |
| Dylan Grimes | RIC | 30 | 26 | 86.7 |
| Luke Brown | ADE | 52 | 45 | 86.5 |
| Trent McKenzie | PA | 52 | 45 | 86.5 |
| Tom Clurey | PA | 43 | 37 | 86 |
| Darcy Moore | COLL | 33 | 28 | 84.8 |
| Mark Blicavs | GEE | 33 | 28 | 84.8 |
| David Astbury | RIC | 39 | 33 | 84.6 |
| Tom Stewart | GEE | 45 | 38 | 84.4 |
| Steven May | MEL | 43 | 36 | 83.7 |
| Callum Mills | SYD | 48 | 40 | 83.3 |
| Dougal Howard | STK | 36 | 30 | 83.3 |
| Brayden Maynard | COLL | 72 | 60 | 83.3 |
| Robbie Tarrant | NM | 60 | 50 | 83.3 |
Least efficient by foot
Unlike his two efficient Eagles colleagues, Nic Naitanui sits at the top of the least efficient table. This is mainly due to him winning contested footy after a hit out and quickly slapping the ball forward.
Melbourne’s Bayley Fritsch is also ineffective by foot, largely down to his inaccurate goal kicking (4.7), while Gold Coast’s Hugh Greenwood, Richmond’s Jack Riewoldt and surprisingly, Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli are among the least effective kicks this season.
| Player | Club | Kicks | Effective | Efficiency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nic Naitanui | WCE | 35 | 12 | 34.3 |
| Bayley Fritsch | MEL | 31 | 12 | 38.7 |
| Hugh Greenwood | GCS | 48 | 19 | 39.6 |
| Jack Riewoldt | RIC | 31 | 13 | 41.9 |
| Marcus Bontempelli | WB | 39 | 17 | 43.6 |
| David Swallow | GCS | 43 | 19 | 44.2 |
| Tom Scully | HAW | 38 | 17 | 44.7 |
| Isaac Smith | HAW | 62 | 28 | 45.2 |
| Andrew McGrath | ESS | 42 | 19 | 45.2 |
| Noah Anderson | GCS | 44 | 20 | 45.5 |
| Jacob Hopper | GWS | 44 | 20 | 45.5 |
| Sam Walsh | CAR | 50 | 23 | 46 |
| Luke Shuey | WCE | 56 | 26 | 46.4 |
| Jake Stringer | ESS | 28 | 13 | 46.4 |
| Jordan De Goey | COL | 47 | 22 | 46.8 |
| Tim Kelly | WCE | 63 | 30 | 47.6 |
| Oliver Florent | SYD | 69 | 33 | 47.8 |
| Trent Cotchin | RIC | 50 | 24 | 48 |
| Jamie Cripps | WCE | 31 | 15 | 48.4 |
| Sam Frost | HAW | 33 | 16 | 48.5 |
Most frequent kickers
And finally, we must place the spotlight on those players who kick it most frequently and how they rate on the efficiency scale.
We’ve looked at every player who is averaging 12.5 or more kicks per game, ranking them in order of efficiency percentage.
Hurn again lands on top, buoyed by his safer style, with Magpies defenders Brayden Maynard and Jeremy Howe second and third.
Once again, it’s mainly the defenders who get to keep their efficiency levels high with the on-ballers and wingers among this lot generally going at less than 65% because of their need and want in attempting to execute tougher kicks.
| Player | Club | Kicks | Effective | Efficiency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shannon Hurn | WCE | 63 | 57 | 90.5 |
| Brayden Maynard | COL | 72 | 60 | 83.3 |
| Jeremy Howe | COL | 66 | 53 | 80.3 |
| Daniel Rich | BRI | 75 | 59 | 78.7 |
| Jake Lloyd | SYD | 67 | 51 | 76.1 |
| Sam Docherty | CAR | 87 | 65 | 74.7 |
| Nick Haynes | GWS | 73 | 53 | 72.6 |
| James Sicily | HAW | 63 | 45 | 71.4 |
| Ed Langdon | MEL | 56 | 38 | 67.9 |
| Mitch Duncan | GEE | 69 | 46 | 66.7 |
| Taylor Adams | COL | 65 | 43 | 66.2 |
| Brandon Ellis | GCS | 53 | 35 | 66 |
| Mitch Robinson | BRI | 64 | 42 | 65.6 |
| Andrew Gaff | WCE | 84 | 53 | 63.1 |
| Lachie Neale | BRI | 74 | 46 | 62.2 |
| Christian Salem | MEL | 44 | 27 | 61.4 |
| Zach Tuohy | GEE | 75 | 44 | 58.7 |
| Dylan Shiel | ESS | 63 | 37 | 58.7 |
| Hugh McCluggage | BRI | 65 | 34 | 52.3 |
| Jared Polec | NM | 64 | 33 | 51.6 |
| Luke Parker | SYD | 63 | 32 | 50.8 |
| Jarryd Lyons | BRI | 79 | 40 | 50.6 |
| Brad Crouch | ADE | 65 | 32 | 49.2 |
| Oliver Florent | SYD | 69 | 33 | 47.8 |
| Tim Kelly | WCE | 63 | 30 | 47.6 |
Overall, not taking quantity into the equation and only looking at quality, there are eight players in the league yet to miss a target by foot.
They are: Jayden Laverde (ESS - 8 kicks), Neville Jetta (MEL - 6), Will Schofield (WCE - 5), Bailey Scott (NM - 4), Tom Murphy (NM - 3), Ryan Clarke (SYD - 3), Harry Jones (HAW - 3), Adam Kennedy (GWS - 1).
And there are four players with a kicking efficiency of less than 25 percent.
They are: Toby Bedford (MEL - 2 kicks at 0%), Charlie Spargo (MEL - 6 kicks at 16.7%), Josh Rotham (WCE - 5 kicks at 20%) and Mason Wood (NM - 4 kicks at 25%).
Stats courtesy of AFL.com.au