It was recently suggested that counting a disposal from a kick-in is distorting statistics in the modern game.
Players are able to play on from the goal square and gain a stat in the process. It seems like the easiest way to pick up a kick.
There are some players in the competition who are much better than it than others and there are numbers to back it up.
Coaches put their faith in a specific few to bring the ball back into play and it’s more often than not a defender with nice skills.
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin trusts his side’s most important key defender Steven May implicitly.
The premiership backman has taken the most kick-ins in the competition with 65. On all bar two of those occasions, May has played on, leading to a free 63 touches.
The Demons have had 74 total kick-ins this year, with May taking a massive 87 per cent of restarts. The former Suns captain has racked up over 38 per cent of his total disposals from playing on from kick-ins, comfortably the most from the top 20 of kick-in takers.
Second on the list is Brisbane’s Daniel Rich, who has taken 52 kick-ins for 50 possessions, with Sydney’s Jake Lloyd third on 46 kick-ins for 44 touches.
Western Bulldogs half-back flanker Bailey Dale has played on 43 times from 45 kick-ins and West Coast veteran Shannon Hurn has taken 54 kick-ins - the second most behind May - and has played on 41 times leading to 24 per cent of his total disposals.
We are basing this all on the assumption that every kick-in leads to a disposal. There is the odd occasions where a kick-in does not lead to a disposal, namely when Richmond’s Rhyan Mansell was pinged for running too far against Collingwood on the weekend.
Check out the top 45 below:
| PLAYER | CLUB | KICK-INS | PLAY-ONS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steven May | MEL | 65 | 63 |
| Daniel Rich | BRI | 52 | 50 |
| Jake Lloyd | SYD | 46 | 44 |
| Bailey Dale | WB | 45 | 43 |
| Shannon Hurn | WCE | 54 | 41 |
| Jayden Short | RIC | 46 | 39 |
| Isaac Cumming | GWS | 44 | 36 |
| Riley Bonner | PA | 31 | 30 |
| Zac Williams | CAR | 31 | 29 |
| Alex Witherden | WCE | 30 | 29 |
| Nick Blakey | SYD | 28 | 28 |
| Lachie Weller | GCS | 29 | 27 |
| James Sicily | HAW | 29 | 27 |
| Ryan Burton | PA | 30 | 27 |
| Luke Ryan | FRE | 37 | 26 |
| Jordan Ridley | ESS | 29 | 25 |
| Caleb Daniel | WB | 27 | 25 |
| Blake Hardwick | HAW | 32 | 23 |
| Aaron Hall | NM | 25 | 23 |
| Darcy Moore | COL | 22 | 22 |
| Jordan Dawson | ADE | 25 | 19 |
| Tom Stewart | GEE | 24 | 18 |
| Wil Powell | GCS | 25 | 18 |
| Mason Redman | ESS | 20 | 17 |
| Zach Tuohy | GEE | 23 | 17 |
| Lachie Whitfield | GWS | 17 | 16 |
| Luke McDonald | NM | 16 | 16 |
| Daniel Rioli | RIC | 18 | 15 |
| Brodie Smith | ADE | 18 | 14 |
| Adam Saad | CAR | 16 | 13 |
| Jimmy Webster | STK | 15 | 13 |
| Dougal Howard | STK | 15 | 13 |
| Billy Frampton | ADE | 12 | 12 |
| Sam Docherty | CAR | 13 | 12 |
| Lachie Young | NM | 14 | 12 |
| Aidan Corr | NM | 14 | 12 |
| Nic Newman | CAR | 11 | 11 |
| Brandon Ellis | GCS | 15 | 11 |
| Jack Ziebell | NM | 13 | 11 |
| Scott Pendlebury | COL | 17 | 10 |
| Brennan Cox | FRE | 11 | 10 |
| Jack Scrimshaw | HAW | 13 | 10 |
| Nick Vlastuin | RIC | 13 | 10 |
| Bradley Hill | STK | 13 | 10 |
| Jarrod Lienert | STK | 11 | 10 |
Other kick-in related stats:
The most disposals from kick-ins within one game has been 13 by May in Round 7. He took 13 kick-ins and played on each time.
Short had 11 touches from 12 kick-ins in Round 1, while May (twice), Rich, Dale and Lloyd have all picked up 10 touches from kick-ins.
The most kick-ins without a play-on this season is Rich’s Lions teammate Ryan Lester who has taken three. They all came in last weekend’s win over West Coast.
There are 10 players with five or more kick-ins who have gone at a 100 per cent play-on rate: Nick Blakey (28), Darcy Moore (22), Luke McDonald (16), Billy Frampton (12), Nic Newman (11), Nick Hind (8), Nick Daicos (6), Chayce Jones (5), Trent McKenzie (5) and Brandon Starcevich (5).