Champion Data guru Daniel Hoyne has revealed the AFL’s biggest improvers and sliders to SEN after Round 7 of the 2024 season.
Hoyne joined SEN’s Sportsday to reveal the lists, which are based off Champion Data’s 100X ratings system.
See his thoughts below.
Biggest improvers
1. Jade Gresham (Essendon)
“Jade Gresham has been a great pickup for Essendon, hats off to the Bombers. He’s the biggest improver,” Hoyne began.
“He’s gone from 222nd in the comp to 33rd.
2. Harry McKay (Carlton
“Harry McKay is now a top 50 player in the comp.
“He’s 35th this year, he was 219th last year.”
3. Jesse Hogan (GWS)
“Jesse Hogan, flying. He is 26th in the comp after being 184th last year.”
4. Ben King (Gold Coast
“He might surprise some people. He’s come from a low base, he was 255th last year, he’s still not a top 100 player, he’s 106th.”
5. Liam Jones (Western Bulldogs)
6. Rory Laird (Adelaide)
7. Willem Drew (Port Adelaide)
“We've talked about this guy a lot. He’s flying, 164th last year to 23rd in the comp this year.”
8. Liam Duggan (West Coast)
“Hats off to Liam Duggan. First year in charge with no Oscar Allen as his co-captain.
“He was 217th last year, he’s now a top 80 player in the competition.”
9.Patrick Cripps (Carton)
“He’s actually having the best season of his career so far, he’s a top 10 player in the competition
“He’s 8th this year, he was 138th last year. To put what he’s doing right now into context, in his Brownlow season in 2022 he was 15th in the comp. So far, he’s having a better year than his Brownlow season.”
10. Finn Callaghan (GWS)
“A potential future Brownlow Medalist if you ask a few people in the industry… he’s now a top 100 player in the competition, he was 213th last year.”
Biggest sliders
1. Jordan De Goey (Collingwood)
“He’s gone backwards more than any other player in the competition so far this year. His first quarters this year have actually been red hot, his next three quarters have been of no influence.”
2. Todd Goldstein (Essendon)
“He’s gone from just outside the top 50 last year to just inside the 300 mark this year.”
__3. Steele Sidebottom (Collingwood)
“He’s struggling a bit at the moment.”
4. Charlie Cameron (Brisbane)
5. Joe Daniher (Brisbane)
“Accuracy is killing these blokes (Daniher and Cameron). We punish inaccuracy significantly and reward good accuracy.”
6. Toby Greene (GWS)
“Exactly the same, his accuracy has killed him. He was 13th last year, 216th this year.”
__7. Lachie Schultz (Collingwood)
“He hasn’t had the start to his (Collingwood) campaign (he would want)… you can understand that a little bit.”
8. Ben Ainsworth (Gold Coast)
9. Mason Redman (Essendon)
10. Noah Anderson (Gold Coast)
“His performance on the weekend was superb, that was the real first solid performance of some significance that we saw.
“A top 20 player last year, 162nd at the moment.”