The Numbers – Round 14

With the carnage of the MBR’s now fading in the distance, ‘Old School Round’ didn’t disappoint. With a top core of 2606 this week, many will be riding high on the euphoria that is the return of all of our premiums. With most teams done with their final upgrades, now all that’s left to do is watch our teams full of guns roll on towards September. Sounds kind of boring, doesn’t it? Well yes and no. Sure, the days of fluid trading are behind us for the most part, however now we can truly get into sledging mode as we look to build towards a superior ranking or the best possible spot in our leagues.

Are you going for overall rank or league glory? Let us know in the comments… but until then, here’s this week’s numbers.

9 – Disappointing as it is true, the Blues have now gone down to Hawthorn for the Ninth consecutive time, with Hawthorn now holding one of the great winning streaks of the modern time. Whilst there are others out there higher, this is one rivalry that grows stronger each time the two teams play. When will Carlton finally break the drought? Who knows – but with the Hawks in great form, the Blues will have to get a lot better to topple the Brown & Gold army next time.

10 – Number of players now priced above the $500k mark as at R14. With the reduction of the magic number and the general lull in ‘super-premiums’ in 2012, this is a far cry from the 22 that started this season above that expensive mark.

13 – After scoring his tenth 100+ score of 2012, Dane Swan similarly racked up his 13^th DT score of more than 150 points in a game this week. If anyone ever needed proof of his superiority and DT dominance, there it is.

32 – Throughout the year I’ve paid close attention to the injury lists around the AFL, with Season 2012 being arguably worse than ever before. Round 14 gave us 32 new names to add to that list – whether it be precautionary or a LTI. The most notable for us DT coaches is Buddy Franklin, who suffered a ‘tight hamstring’ following his 3 Quarter domination of Carlton of Friday night. With the initial fears of a long term layout allayed, Buddy may well only miss this weekend’s game v GWS. If I were a betting man, I’d say even if he is close to 100%, Clarkson will take the chance to rest him anyway. For the longevity of his season, I wouldn’t mind if he did just that – so long as he comes out firing for the rest of 2012.

40 – % chance of Richmond going on and making the top 8 in 2012 (in my humble opinion). With 14 wins the suggested staple for making the grade this year, the Tiger’s will need to win 8 of their remaining fixtures to make sure of it. They have winnable games against Melbourne, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Western Bulldogs and Port; whist they’d need a few upsets on their way to securing a spot. With their list starting to step up, the Tigers faithful will be hopeful (but dare I say it, not quite confident) of Yellow and Black marching towards September. As long as it’s not at the expense of Carlton, I’d personally love to see them make the finals.

82.42 – Round 1-12 average of Bryce Gibbs. Largely due to his spending more time in the defensive half then Sam Gilbert does in front of the mirror, Gibbs’ numbers have been far inferior to this time last year, where he averaged 98.73 up to R12. He went onto average over 115 in his last 12 H&A games of 2011, so the question remains: can he do the same in 2012? With his intention to play more midfield in the second half of the year well publicized, any coaches who’ve hung onto Bryce to this point should be hopeful that he can push for another 2^nd half like last year as he will be keen to build off his 109 points in R14.

113 – Average points scored per player from Round 14 winner Norfolk Chance. His team had the ride of its life this weekend as he broke the previously unimaginable DT Holy Grail that is 2600. He beat all comers to post the massive score, as well as scoring 43 more points than the next highest coach (2563). What an effort.

169 – Difference between largest score for the round, Swan (172) and unlucky Demon’s defender Tom McDonald (3). Highlighting the large disparity between what could be the difference in a league matchup, this game we play really could go either way. Round 10 saw an even bigger distinction courtesy of Buddy’s 204. That round saw the total difference at a sure record of 198 points, with Dog’s rookie the lowest scorer that round with 6 points.

512 – Remaining Coaches left in the Eliminator competition. Many lose interest/forget about the eliminator (especially if you get knocked out early, like me this year), but for some – it is the only chance they’ll get to vie for a top prize. If you managed to somehow luckily navigate the MBR’s and are still in the running, hopefully you’ve got some trades up your sleeve as you’ll need them to push yourself into the final rounds of the challenging domain that is The Eliminator. Are you one of those 512? Brag away in the comments below.

189,900 – This number represents the largest season price drop of any player of 2012. This figure belongs to fallen Suns’ midfielder Michael Rischitelli. A far cry from a consistent 2010/2011 that saw him avg 96 and only miss 1 game. Now priced at a lowly $283k, he averages 64 in 2012 and his form may be synonymous with the lack of success the Suns have had in 2012. On the other side of the coin, Dayne Zorko is the biggest improver of 2012 price-wise. He will now cost coaches over $400k, almost 300k more than when he started. Remarkably, he’s gotten to this point after only 5 price rises!

Twatter – Your Numbers

Very astutely noted here by Gavin re 2010 Wonder Child Micky Barlow. If coaches are looking for a solid M6 option, Barlow looms as a great, unique pick. He seems to be nearing his best form too, with another 37 disposals on Saturday helping him to a season-high 120 points. His consistency is also startling – with 8 hundred’s (and a 99) coming from his last 11 games. At just $442k, jump on without hesitation.

Cheers to Nix for this one – showing it was a great overall round, with a more even spread across the competition. This stat may have been helped by Sydney and West Coast, with 8 and 7 of their players (respectfully) tonne-ing up at the weekend.

Send me your ‘Numbers’ for the week @McRathDT

Bone of Contention

As tempting as it is to rename Ryan Hargrave here again, this ‘award’ goes to Saints utility Brendan Goddard. With the majority making ‘God’ their first picked defender for 2012, he’s been disappointing so far this year, with a 91 average at least 10 points less than we all expected. With scores of 81, 71 and 75 in the past 3 weeks, Goddard hasn’t been the staple in our defence that we anticipated. The silver lining? 57% of coaches have him. Oh yeah – did I mention he’s likely to be suspended for 2 weeks?

Close Behind: Dyson Heppell, Travis Cloke and Matthew Kreuzer.

Whore of the Week

It would be remiss of me not to mention Captain Dane Swan here first, with his outstanding 172 points against Fremantle yet another notch on his heavy belt of DT-Related accolades.

But the R14 WotW goes to inconsistent North Star, Mr. Andrew Swallow. He scored an excellent 144 points v St Kilda Sunday just past, with his score largely made up of his 13 tackles. Whilst most huge scores come from 30+ disposals or massive goal tallies, Swallow just kept plugging away, with his work off the ball a sure factor in the Kangaroos’ big win.

The Round Up

Highlights – There were some huge scores this week again, with Andy Swallow, Luke Shuey and Shane Tuck at the top of the list. However, with 23 more points than any other this week, Fantasy Pig Dane Swan was on fire yet again – now just one more tonne away from costing $600k. Watching Mitch ‘Kamikaze’ Robinson and Dustin ‘Don’t Argue’ Martin bounce back to form with 115 and 109 respectively was a personal highlight as we start to see many premiums start the second half of the year in great form.

Lowlights – Pendlebury not getting up again was a tough blow – but luckily for me his replacement Gibson scored well in his absence. Chapman was another to miss through injury, leaving coaches to rely on bench cover without the bald Cat. Adcock, Goddard and Hargrave were a bit light in scoring, with popular forward picks Riewoldt (47), Whitecross (66), Goodes (64) and Cloke (42) letting down their coaches in an otherwise high scoring week.

Team McRath – For once, I’m actually up and about following my breakthrough score of 2485 this week. Carrazzo did well on debut, with Captain Swannie (172) leading a high-performing midfield of Boyd (132), Mitchell (124), Barlow (120), Rocky (119) and North Rookie Gibson (110). Apart from Porps outscoring Zorko from the bench, things finally went in my favour. I jumped over 6,000 spots in the rankings to a now half-respectable 10,000. There may be hope for me yet.

Now, onwards to Round 15 of the AFL Premiership Race and Dream Team Season. With a desperate Blues outfit taking on a firing Magpies team, I hope for 3 things: a good game; a Blues win; and some good DT scores to come.

Also, if you’re not following me in the Twittersphere, say g’day @McRathDT