The Numbers – Round 10

For those of you who bagged our Numbers graphic as being ‘soft’ or ‘lacking toughness’, see above for my response. With a more epic image came an even more epic week of DT. With a ton of huge numbers to sort through, my head was exploding with the amazing figures we were blessed with over the weekend.

Keeping it short, let’s have a looks at this week by the numbers…

3 – As has been pointed out by many thus far, this weekend saw three major upsets. The Port game was disappointing for me personally, but the Melbourne and Brisbane wins were just pure entertainment (well, at least the Brisbane game was). Whilst not a huge Lions’ fan, I couldn’t help being swept up in the pulsating final quarter where the lead changed 4 times.

5 – Number of players who can expect an extended break over the MBR period due to pending suspensions from their weekend’s games – with the most DT relevant being rejuvenated Eagle’s defender Beau Waters, who up to now has been in great touch averaging around 96 points per game in 2012. If you can offload a R13 rookie for him when he’s back at that time, it could work wonders with his price likely to keep rising on the back of his good form. With a few premium defenders out already though, this news will not be welcome to those who took the chance on him 3 months ago.

6 – New personal best goal kicking total for Geelong defender Harry Taylor. Playing in the unfamiliar position of full forward on Saturday v GWS, Harry had a field day in his 100^th match, previously only having kicked 9 career goals in his previous 99 games. With a steady set shot and a handy knack of being in the right place at the right time, he provided Scott another option up forward in the absence of emerging tall Tom Hawkins.

15 – It was pointed out several times yesterday that Brisbane gun Jack Redden tackled his way to his 3^rd 120+ score in the last 4 weeks. His 15 is the equal-fourth highest tackle count recorded. Kinda wishing I went ‘unique’ with him instead of Rocky at the start of the season right about now. Captain Hindsight reporting for duty.

34 – The current leader, Buddy Franklin’s goal count in the race for the Coleman medal for 2012. Taking over fellow sharpshooter Jack Riewoldt with his huge tally in Round 10, the race is now heating up with both forwards playing themselves into ominous form.

41 – With all the talk about Ablett’s huge tally on Sunday, people forget that another AFL star made their mark for his team. Jude Bolton absolutely dominated the Bulldogs – with 2 goals and 9 marks to help him to a personal season-high total of 154 points; all the while helping the Swans to a 92 point thrashing.

120 – I’ll be the first to admit I wasn’t a fan of Tigers big man Ivan Maric the first time he lined up for Richmond in R1. Either the mullet wasn’t working on me or I just didn’t believe he was the right fit. Fast forward to present day, and Maric has become a revelation – now I can’t stop giving the guy wraps. With his 5^th consecutive 100+ score and an average of just over the ton, Maric’s 120 v the Saints solidified his position in the game. Now the best DT ruckman of 2012 to date, Maric has proven many wrong; all the while making a believer of me. Hell, his mullet has even grown on me.

204 – Lance Franklin, take a bow. We could sense something big was on the cards when the excitement machine was on 102 points at half time with 6 goals. But few thought he would actually go on with it. With an outstanding 13.4 goals, Saturday was officially renamed National Buddy Day in the Twittersphere as the fired-up Hawk had a field day against the well-beaten North defenders.

298 – What is admittedly the theme of this week’s numbers, I wanted to point out another Cat’s exploits over the last fortnight. Geelong’s ‘everywhere man’ Stevie Johnson completed a huge month of football on Saturday as he tallied another 150 points, now having scored almost 300 points in two weeks. With a 5 week average of over 130 points, he is beginning to pay back his coaches after as underwhelming start to the AFL season.

594 – Points you could’ve scored from 2 players on field. With any of those clever (or lucky) enough to put the C on Buddy, his combined score with Ablett tallied the highest possible score-combo from 2 players in the history of AFL Dream Team.

Send me your ‘Numbers’ for the week @McRathDT

The Benchmark

When I saw the huge individual scores on the weekend, first thing I thought was “theresagonna be a massive score this week” – and I was right. mitch’s team  brought up the magic mark (finally!). He finished on 2542 points – a huge 540 points more than yours truly (more on that later). He has all the best defenders; all the while avoiding the carnage. He had Ablett as © and a unique midfield with Rocky, Danger, Bartel and James Kelly. Cox and Giles were solid in the ruck; whilst his forward line went huge with Buddy, Stevie J, Chappy and JVoldt all smashing out more than 135 points. Seriously, who can beat that forward line right now? He lifted the bar for all of us – so for us that struggling: take note for 2013!

Whore of the Week

53 Disposals. An amazing feat on any day – especially in a losing team. Gary Ablett Jnr has officially made those coaches who traded him out earlier this year (myself included) pay for their disloyalty. His 186 points on Sunday was the cherry on top for those who avoided the Saturday carnage. It would’ve taken a massive effort (and record score) to beat this huge number.

As AFL fans, we were thankfully blessed with one of the highest individual scoring rounds in history. At the top of this tree we saw Hawthorn champion Buddy Franklin kick an amazing 13-goal haul against the struggling Roos’ to finally give us the golden double ton that we’ve been hoping for. His 204 points has gone down in history as the best modern-day score, officially smashing Brent Stanton’s recent record of 193. With high scores becoming more and more frequent, will we see another 200+ score this year?

Value Pick

Based on a simple Dollars/Points ratio, I give you a simple way to display value.

The Value Pick is back. And this week it goes to young Suns’ ruckman, Tom Hickey. In the absence of Zac Smith, he tallied 19 touches, 8 marks and 24 hitouts in a positive display against the Pies. Priced at $178,100 at the start of R10; his score of 112 points sees him with a D/P ration of $1590/pt. With popular ruck rookies Stephenson and Redden struggling for form and job security, Hickey may be coming good at a great time for his 4000 owners. I should note that whilst his performance was impressive, it may simply be a flash in the pan – so don’t do anything stupid like rushing him in to cover donuts or anything. Although that wouldn’t be the worst trade you could do (see below).

(Worst) Trade of the Week

Any coaches who traded in Cats veteran Corey Enright would’ve been ropable this week as his late withdrawal against GWS (some would say predictable) but then word got out that Carlton star Heath Scotland had hurt his calf (and perhaps his dignity) in the Blues’ big loss to Port Adelaide. Now likely to miss 3-4 weeks, this would have been even more devastating after many would’ve traded him in to cover a Round 11 donut. Anyone have both of these guys by any chance?

Made a bad trade and want to vent? Let me know on Twitter @McRathDT

The Round Up

Highlights – There weren’t many in Round 10 for me as I didn’t have Ablett (proceed to criticise me in comments below); but Buddy was the clear standout for me. Not much more to say that hasn’t been already to be honest – but it was a pleasure to watch. I thought I’d be mentioning Pendles, Sidey and Beams here, but they all fell well short of my expectations.

Lowlights – Plenty of these to go round this week, with Hargave, Duffield and Gibbs letting me down big time (yet again). It was all I could do not to throw my iPhone at the TV ala Russell Crowe. When Sidebottom and Beams took their foot off the pedal in the second half against the Suns I was just about ready to jump. But such is life. And such is DT.

Team McRath – Sitting on a projected score of 2300+ is a great sight to see on Saturday Night. But as has happened several times in 2012, Sunday saw me lose 3 of my league games (after being favourite in all) and fall away to another forgettable score. I’m on the ‘bring on 2013’ train right about now and will go down swinging as I try to salvage anything I can this season.

Next week will see the MBR’s commence as we look forward to several donuts in our teams. I’m staring down the barrel of 2 guaranteed donuts (with a possible 2-3 if team lists aren’t good to me) and will try to minimise my trades in the next 2 weeks to save a few for the run home. Good luck to all in the next 3 weeks as The Numbers goes on a hiatus – with a huge post MBR version to come once the carnage is over.

How many donuts will you cop during the bye rounds?

Also, for those wondering – what appears like an explosion at the MCG in the article’s graphic is actually in the nearby parking lot (sources say that the centre of the blast came from that of Steele Sidebottom’s car after angry DT coaches conspired against him following his 2^nd half fadeout on Sunday afternoon).

If you’re not already… follow me in the Twittersphere: @McRathDT