Team selection disection

[kruddler]

Sorry Kruddler, but that’s not what average means.  Half of the list will be below the mean but the average could be above or below the mean.

Cripps and Gibbs both execute many of their disposals under more pressure than many other players and that results in a disposal efficiency of 68.7% and 69.8% respectively.  The difference is not statistically significant but I’d argue that, as Gibbs gets more uncontested possessions, his disposal efficiency should be better.

I like Gibbs as a player and was sorry to see him go.  However, one thing that irked me was his tendency to fluff kicks when under minimal pressure; the missed goal against Hawthorn for example.

I'm making the point that roughly half of the AFL is 'average or below' in terms of kicking.  You are correct in what you say, but it serves little purpose and the point i make is still valid. Nobody considers anybody 'average'. To suggest someone could be is always taken as an insult. Its clear that not everyone can be above average.....unless they play for the club you support and you have your navy coloured glasses on.

re DE%'s....
I was wondering if someone was going to compare them.
I'd argue this, a kick is a harder skill to execute and thus players who kick more have a lower % compared to those who simply handball.
The longest kick people attempt? Lets just suggest 50m, but you could argue more.
The shortest kick? Basically 15m to be considered a mark is about right, but you could argue less. The number of kicks people attempt above 50 is probably equal to those below 15, so 15-50m is the range.
Handballs? anything from 0.5m up to maybe 10m....you rarely see bigger, and if you do its usually just to space.

Difficulty level is clearly harder with kicking.

That being said, you also can't analyze simply kicks vs handballs either. As generally the more skilled players attempt higher degree of difficulty kicks. A couple of perfect examples to that are Eddie Betts and Stevie J. They do things a ruckman would never even think is an option. It doesn't always come off, but attempting them drops their %'s compared to if they took the easy option all the time.....which most ruckman do. So much so, some rucks dont even attempt a kick at all!

So that being said, use %'s to compare, sure, but watch the game to get the whole picture.

FWIW, Cripps goal kicking efforts over his career - 23.32 (42%)...or 33% if you go by AFL.com.au stats which include complete misses.

So yes, i stand by my comments that Cripps is average by foot....which is probably doing him a favour.

Note: This does not mean Cripps is not an elite player, nor does it mean i love him any less. Even superman had his kryptonite.