Download full spreadsheet of Review of New positions here
EXTRACTOR
Findings:
- 10 of the Top 20 Extractors are not in the Top 20 Midfielders
- 6 of the Elite Extractors are not Elite Midfielders
Conclusion: As expected, the Extractor position rewards a specialised midfielder for their Clearance work in a way that is not generally rewarded in pure Midfield stats
HALF-FORWARD
Findings:
- 16 of the top 20 HF’s are not in the top 20 Forwards
Conclusion: The HF position is a unique position that rewards half forward flankers and a small number of dominant centre half forwards
RUCKMEN UTES
Findings:
6 of the top 20 utilities were ruckmen of which 4 were elites. However despite scoring highly ruckmen utes are less valuable than similar scoring non-ruck utes because:
- They are one dimensional without being multitalented in other positions so unlike non-ruck utes, do not improve team depth
- They are injury prone
- They rarely dominate year after year, evidenced by above
Conclusion:
- This is roughly in line with expectation, though slightly more than expected likely due to increased hit outs in 2017.
- However given above issues they do not appear to be too dominant and have increased the pool of available quality utes as expected.
HALF-BACKS
Findings:
- Only 4 of the top 20 HB’s were top 20 in any other position
- Hurley and Hibberd were named as All Australians showing the true value of this HFFL position
- As predicted when introduced, the Half-backs are identiical in scores and standard deviation to the forwards (comparing players ranked 2 to 20) – low scoring position with high standard deviation. Like forwards, this makes recruitment of a top player valuable since the scores drop off quickly but not too valuable because overall scores are still low
Conclusion
- In line with the prediction, the Half-backs are a unique position, rewarding previously unrecognised players.
- Half-backs are identical to forwards in scoring and standard deviation and recruiting decisions should be based on this