Forwards Coach Josh Mahoney can often be seen blushing in the hallways on a Tuesday afternoon, as the majority of articles have been pumping up our ever-improving attack.
“But what about our defence?” Josh has often said.
He has ordered Stats Incredible to shift focus towards the defenders - a group that has been impressive as the Dees continue their rise up the ladder.
Hopefully defensive coach Sean Wellman is the one blushing after this!
Traditionally it’s a lot harder to measure the effectiveness of a defensive unit compared to the midfielders and forwards.
Often there are a large number of “unmeasurables” which determine how well your back six hold up against the opposition - things like positioning and decision-making are much more important than kicks and handballs.
One way to determine the effectiveness of a defence is to look at the number of marks conceded in your opponents forward 50. We have looked at the statistic marks inside 50 before, but this time we are focusing on statistics against.
Generally speaking, the fewer marks inside 50 you concede to your opponent, the better chance you have of winning the match. Nothing new there, but the numbers do look interesting with the regular season drawing to a close.
Surprisingly, the Swans have conceded only 202 marks inside their defensive 50 this season to lead the competition. Playing a large number of matches on the SCG could be a contributing factor due to its small size.
But they are also traditionally a very strong one-on-one team, well drilled in beating their direct opponents and using their running backmen to send the ball back the other way.
Rounding out the top four are the three standout sides of 2010 - Collingwood (206), Geelong (207) and St.Kilda (209) - a fair indication of the importance of this statistic.
Some may argue that the top sides concede fewer inside 50s to their opponent, therefore making it more difficult for them to notch up a large number of marks up forward in the process. In a pure sense that’s correct, although the Demons seem to be the exception to that rule.
Melbourne has conceded the third highest inside 50s this year - a lot of opportunities for our opponents to mark the footy.
However, the Dees have only allowed 214 opposition marks inside their defensive 50, clearly ranked fifth behind four certain finalists. It’s a pretty big effort from the defensive group this season.
Those at the bottom end of the scale are Richmond (316), Essendon (290) and North Melbourne (284), teams which rely a lot more on a zone defence, which doesn’t always work as it should.
What other ways can you measure your defence? Points conceded is an obvious one, but you can read that in the newspaper.
It has become harder to spoil nowadays with rule interpretations favouring forwards, meaning the art of spoiling and the ability to bring the ball to the ground is incredibly important.
Essendon veteran Dustin Fletcher leads the competition with 88 spoils in only 16 games. The likes of Jared Rivers (73), Colin Garland (70) and James Frawley (63) aren’t far behind.
What also helps immensely is keeping your best defensive unit on the field.
Melbourne has been lucky to have Frawley, Garland, Cameron Bruce and Clint Bartram missing for only five games between them this year.
Five of Geelong’s 2009 premiership defenders missed only 11 games collectively, the Cats having the luxury of resting a few of them before finals.
When looking at statistics, often defenders can become a little neglected because it’s not as easy to pick the standouts from basic figures.
When was the last time you had Simon Prestigiacomo in your fantasy team?
Thankfully Stats Incredible has been able to send a little love towards the defenders this week - normal service will resume next Tuesday!
