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Vested Interest: Part 2

Nix is back with an updated article about those bloody substitutes that have made our season all that more challenging this year. Also, find out what the hell the Thornley-Hopkins Trophy is…

Updated article – why?  Errors fixed, new information on bench positions, and Roy missed the first one (apparently it wasn’t on his Raydar).

The Thornley–Hopkins Trophy

I’ve renamed the award for most vests, as it looked like Andrew Gaff was not going to win his own trophy.  It’s now named after the most famous activation in AFL history.  Carlton trails Collingwood by 44 points at half time in the 1970 Grand Final.  The uninjured Bert Thornley is replaced by Ted Hopkins who kicks 4 goals as the Blues storm home to win.

Ted Hopkins later founds Champion Data introducing detailed statistics into the AFL, a necessary precursor to Dream Team, while Bert Thornley becomes a difficult trivia question.

But without Bert Thornley there would be no Ted Hopkins, no Champion Data and no DreamTeam.  Essendon would have won the most AFL premierships alone, Roy, Calvin and Warnie would just be 3 unknown pissheads in Tasmania, and I would have made more progress on various domestic tasks this winter.  Perhaps Bert’s got a lot to answer for.

Anyway these are the standings in the Award after round 13.

Vests no.: 1 2 3 4 5  
Adel 9 B.Martin B.Symes      
  singles P.Davis J.Petrenko      
    B.Smith C.Schmidt      
             
Bris 12 C.Beams J.O’Brien   R.Bewick  
  singles A.Cornelius        
             
Carl 12 M.Jamison   D.Armfield    
  singles A.Walker        
    A.Joseph        
    S.Hampson        
             
Coll 9 A.Krakouer A.Toovey      
  singles B.Dick        
    T.Goldsack        
    J.Blair        
    S.Buckley        
             
Ess 9 Lovett-Murray A.Monfries      
  singles A.Davey        
    K.Reimers        
    A.Browne        
    H.Hocking        
    B.Prismall        
             
Freo 10 J.Pitt R.Palmer      
  singles H.Ballantyne D.Roberton      
    J.Crichton        
    N.Lower        
             
Geel 15 T.Varcoe D.Milburn A.Christensen  
  singles          
             
GC 7 N.Krakouer D.Gorringe      
  singles A.Magin        
    J.Toy        
    D.Prestia        
    L.Patrick        
    R.Liddy        
             
Haw 16   B.Renouf   L.Breust  
  singles          
             
Melb 12 A.Maric        
  singles D.Nicholson        
    J.Watts        
    N.Jetta        
    J.Bennell        
    C.Garland        
             
North 6 L.Hansen J.Ziebell B.Speight    
  singles L.Anthony C.Garlett B.Cunnington  
             
Port 9 J.Surjan J.Davenport      
  singles D.Rodan A.Moore      
    D.Stewart C.Hitchcock      
             
Rich 11 B.Helbig B.Nason S.Tuck    
  singles S.Edwards        
    T.Hislop        
             
St.K 9 T.Ledger A.McQualter J.Cripps    
  singles B.Peake        
    T.Simpkin        
    R.Clarke        
             
Syd 7 G.Rohan L.Parker      
  singles T.DennisLane A.Everitt      
    S.Reid L.Jetta      
    M.Seaby        
             
WCE 11     C.Masten A.Gaff  
  singles     B.Ebert    
             
WB 13 B.Hall B.Moles N.Djerrkura    
  singles J.Hill        
             

Obviously different teams are using subs in different ways, so this information may help you to avoid vested players.  A reminder that there is no vestism in this Award – red vests are hated just as much as green vests by DT coaches.

Where is the sub likely to be named on Thursday night?

Well of the 202 subs so far:

  • 34 (17%) were named on the field,
  • 149 (74%) were named on the interchange bench,
  • 19 (9%) were not named in the listed 22, but came into the side as a late inclusion.

Which teams are more likely to name their subs on the field?

  • Collingwood and North have done it 5 times,
  • Carlton 4 times,
  • Fremantle 3 times,
  • Geelong, Gold Coast, Hawthorn, Port, Richmond, St.Kilda and Western Bulldogs twice,
  • Adelaide, Essendon, West Coast only once, and
  • Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne never.

Is there a bias to the position number where the sub is named on the bench?

  • For a 4 man bench the proportions are (starting from left): 16%, 27%, 24%, 33%.
  • For a 7 man bench: 21%, 9%, 15%, 15%, 18%, 18%, 3%.

Note: Sometimes I didn’t have a record of the initial extended bench, only the reduced bench.

Jedi mind trick: to members of DT Talk Legends league – “this is a garbage article and a waste of time for me to read”.

Hope this helps the rest of you,

Nix

Co-captain of DT Talk since we started this thing in 2007. Best finish was 13th in 2009... that was a long time ago. Follow on Twitter: @WarnieDT




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