"The Best" (Part 2) - Full Backs

[The_General]

The next part of the analysis is for the full backs. A brief note, I was a bit stuck with what to do for Hawthorn. Now J Hay has been traded to the roos, I removed him from Hawthorn's list, which meant there was no real full back. I decided to move Croad back there, as he's probably their next best option, and put Roughhead at CHB.

So, with that little disclaimer put in, the first section I looked at, was similiar to Back Pockets.

Some Analysis:
Disposals vs Rebound 50
Rank Name Team Ratio

1 Dustin Fletcher Essendon 1.3
2 Mal Michael Brisbane 2.7
3 Brian Harris Bulldogs 2.7
4 Leo Barry Sydney 2.8
5 Darren Gaspar Richmond 2.9
6 Shane Parker Fremantle 3.4
7 Simon Prestigiacomo Collingwood 3.5
8 Matthew Scarlett Geelong 3.5
9 Bret Thornton Carlton 3.6
10 Ben Rutten Adelaide 3.9
11 Matt Maguire St Kilda 4.6
12 Darren Glass West Coast 4.6
13 Shannon Watt Kangaroos 5.0
14 Alistair Nicholson Melbourne 5.1
15 Darryl Wakelin Port Adelaide 6.9
16 Trent Croad Hawthorn 8.8

Gaspar does fairly well here, a lot better than I would have considered given how poor his kicking can be at times. I'm not surprised at all with Fletcher leading here however. Croad is possibly disadvantaged as he'd probably be outside the defensive 50 most of the time.

 

[The_General]

Disposals vs Errors
Rank Name Team Ratio
1 Ben Rutten Adelaide 11.0
2 Matthew Scarlett Geelong 8.5
3 Dustin Fletcher Essendon 8.3
4 Bret Thornton Carlton 8.0
5 Darryl Wakelin Port Adelaide 8.0
6 Shane Parker Fremantle 7.8
7 Mal Michael Brisbane 6.7
8 Darren Gaspar Richmond 6.2
9 Darren Glass West Coast 6.1
10 Shannon Watt Kangaroos 5.6
11 Matt Maguire St Kilda 5.3
12 Brian Harris Bulldogs 5.0
13 Simon Prestigiacomo Collingwood 4.4
14 Trent Croad Hawthorn 4.1
15 Leo Barry Sydney 3.9
16 Alistair Nicholson Melbourne 3.1

I'm moderately surprised by Gaspar's position here, as I thought he would have a lot more of his possessions turned over. Taking a closer look he kicks about 60% of the time ( I thought most would be handballs to people running past). In respect to the other full backs, he ranks third, (42.8%) of his kicks are considered long kicks. Matt Maguire (60%), Brian Harris (47%) are in front, and Dustin Fletcher (42.4%) is just trailing behind.

Based just on these stats, I'd say although is kicking is ordinary in style, he knows his limitations, and for the most part, it works.

 

[The_General]

The next area I looked at is how many of a players possessions are contested.

Possessions v Contested Possession
Rank Name Team Percentage
1 Matt Maguire St Kilda 15.1%
2 Alistair Nicholson Melbourne 14.1%
3 Shane Parker Fremantle 13.9%
4 Darren Gaspar Richmond 13.0%
5 Darren Glass West Coast 12.1%
6 Brian Harris Bulldogs 11.3%
7 Matthew Scarlett Geelong 11.2%
8 Mal Michael Brisbane 10.9%
9 Leo Barry Sydney 10.8%
10 Ben Rutten Adelaide 10.2%
11 Trent Croad Hawthorn 10.2%
12 Darryl Wakelin Port Adelaide 10.1%
13 Shannon Watt Kangaroos 8.5%
14 Simon Prestigiacomo Collingwood 7.4%
15 Bret Thornton Carlton 6.2%
16 Dustin Fletcher Essendon 5.3%

No surprises here in my opinion. The guys at the top of the list I've thought are probably the closest checking defenders (with maybe one exception), and I think these stats illustrate that. I think Gas is really good at picking when he needs to stick close to his opponent (when they're leading into the corridor) and when he can apply less pressure (when the opposition FF is leading to a pocket).

It might suprise some that Rutten (All Aussie FB) is so far down the list, but I think he's been helped out by a good midfield, and a "team" defence that has helped to keep the opposition FF under control, rather than some outstanding brilliance of his own. I could be wrong, but it seemed amazing that a guy with such little experience could have such a huge impact, when it usually takes a few years for a FB to become "great".

 

[The_General]

Another indication of how well a FB keeps tab on their opponent, and possibly an indication of how smart they are, is how many free kicks they win, as opposed to how many they give away.

Whilst some FB's might be close checking and give more free kicks away than they get, I'd argue that it's also part of their job to know where the umpire is, and exactly how much they can get away with before giving away a free kick.

Frees Kicks
Rank Name Team Average
1 Darryl Wakelin Port Adelaide 2.7
2 Mal Michael Brisbane 2.0
3 Brett Thornton Carlton 1.8
4 Matthew Scarlett Geelong 1.8
5 Ben Rutten Adelaide 1.6
6 Dustin Fletcher Essendon 1.4
7 Simon Prestigiacomo Collingwood 1.3
8 Darren Gaspar Richmond 1.2
9 Darren Glass West Coast 1.2
10 Shane Parker Fremantle 1.1
11 Brian Harris Bulldogs 0.7
12 Trent Croad Hawthorn 0.6
13 Matt Maguire St Kilda 0.6
14 Leo Barry Sydney 0.6
15 Alistair Nicholson Melbourne 0.5
16 Shannon Watt Kangaroos 0.4

 

[The_General]

Average 1%ers

Rank Name Team Average

1 Trent Croad Hawthorn 4.3
2 Leo Barry Sydney 3.4
3 Matt Maguire St Kilda 2.5
4 Brian Harris Bulldogs 2.2
5 Alistair Nicholson Melbourne 2.1
6 Dustin Fletcher Essendon 1.9
7 Matthew Scarlett Geelong 1.8
8 Darren Gaspar Richmond 1.8
9 Simon Prestigiacomo Collingwood 1.7
10 Shannon Watt Kangaroos 1.7
11 Darren Glass West Coast 1.7
12 Bret Thornton Carlton 1.5
13 Shane Parker Fremantle 1.5
14 Mal Michael Brisbane 1.4
15 Darryl Wakelin Port Adelaide 1.3
16 Ben Rutten Adelaide 1.0

Overall, Gaspar performs admirably but not outstandingly. He ranks at least midway in his weaker areas of performance, and in the upper echelon in the other areas.

I think, whilst there are others in the league that are flashier or classier, Gaspar gets the job done, and is adequate to build a premiership team around. We'd do well to find another guy as good as him, and exceptionally well to get someone better.

 

[pahoffm]

Well done General.

My conclusion from your analysis is that:

Gaspar rates at 50% in 3/5 criteria used.
Gaspar rates in the top 33% in 2/5 criteria used.

This would indicate that Gaspar is a good serviceable FB, not a star, but gets the job done better than at least half the others.

Not a bad effort if you consider his recovery from his knee injury in 2003. Hopefully further improvement in 2006.

 

[Anduril]

Thanks for that General :clap
As Past President your analysis is much appreciated.

 

[mad-saint-guy]

Um, Matt Maguire is not our FB. Max Hudghton is. Maguire is a CHB, and CHB only. He really struggles when pulled towards the goals, and you hardly ever see him closer than 30 meters from the goals. In fact, he spends most of the game well outside the opposition's 50.