most contested possessions afl all timewhy is graham wardle leaving heartland
Brownlow medallist Tom Mitchell set the standard for most disposals in 2018 when he famously ran around without a tagger to gather the ball 54 times against Collingwood. Julian Edelman (118), 4. The Crows and Magpies clash in round seven. The 26-year-old is a contested beast, and now he's at the Lions, he should receive greater midfield opportunity and can finally show just how damaging he can be. in Neale. you would see a team who wins the contested possessions win about 70 per cent of the time. By season's end he felt like the unanimous choice for the All-Australian full back position. Isaac Heeney celebrates a goal in the 2022 AFL Grand Final. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. You'd also be hard pressed to find a more reliable set shot for goal, particularly on or outside the 50m arc. We've seen Bontempelli dominate games of football with only 20-25 touches of the Sherrin, and he still finds a way to average five clearances, inside 50s and tackles, as well as a goal assist and contested mark per game. With such impressive numbers, you could certainly make the case Hewett deserves to be higher on the list. You guessed it, I'm a skeptic of the ruck position. Tom Lynch is one of more underrated forwards in the league. Curnow missed a shot on the run in the final quarter that would have given him 10 goals. His 103 goals over the last two seasons is the equal fifth-most in that time. I had absolutely no hesitation in making that declaration following Petracca's 2021 Grand Final heroics. No other player in recent history has come close to this type of production so early into their career. Those who do it better than 99.5% of players in the sport deserve credit for it. He's also taken the third-most contested marks inside 50m in that period. If this list was constructed at the beginning of last year, Brayshaw's not on it. Jack Crisp is an elite line-breaker and midfield runner. As the conversation petered out and a number of keen observers meandered back to their desks, I began to wonder where exactly Bolton would rank? Has there been a player in modern AFL history burst onto the scene with as much instantly recognizable star-power as the No. Dylan Burns/Getty Images. One of the more dynamic and dangerous key forwards in the competition, and yet some remain adamant that Naughton is an even better key defender. Aaron Naughton might be an even better defender than forward. And with an ability to push up the ground when required, Heeney's just about the complete football player. Even at age 36, you can bet your last dollar that his name will feature prominently when asking defenders who keeps them up at night. But, contrary to what many believe, Laird does so much more than rack up touches. Clutch Collingwood does it againIt's hard to explain Collingwood's final quarters, but the team's belief no matter the margin is apparent for all to see. That's half the job, right? Tom Hawkins continues to perform at an elite level. Last year, he earned All-Australian selection for a season in which he tallied 43 goals, 41 behinds and averaged over 17 disposals and four inside 50s per game -- just outrageous numbers. As expected, the Magpies responded in the second, willed on by Moore who had six first-half intercept possessions, with ex-Crow Billy Frampton slotting their first, while Adelaide continued to spurn set-shot opportunities. And at age 21, he is easily the youngest player on this entire list. At just 23 years of age, he has a ridiculous amount of unearthed potential, and with a little more consistency, is more than capable of joining the ultra elite group of key position players in the AFL. It holds him in good stead if he is to play exclusively as a forward in 2023, and I have no doubt he can still provide valuable midfield support to the younger brigade, when required. The ESPN Footy Podcast AFL: Boring Blues, dismal Dockers, Ross Lyon, and hard-to-believe stats This week, we worry about Fremantle and Carlton's seasons, discuss Collingwood's clutch fourth terms, and heap praise on Ross Lyon. 3-ranked for metres gained, has an off-the-charts footy IQ and an unmatched appetite for the contest (how can you not love watching him play!) 2 last year in direct goal assists, highlighting just how selfless he is. Room for improvement Do we even need to say it? That's not prime LeBron James' per-game averages, but Laird's numbers from an ultra impressive, yet totally underrated 2022 -- the story of his career, right? Fair company! At various points of 2021 and early last season, Smith looked as if he was on a trajectory to becoming a top 20 player in the league. The Demons kicked their highest score this season and were on track to record their biggest winning margin against North Melbourne, before the Kangaroos kicked the last three goals of the match. Brayshaw averaged a tick under 30 disposals, six tackles and four clearances (all career highs) per game last year, while also adding 12 goals. Player TM Years # GM Ave. Robert Harvey: SK: 1988-2008: 9656: 383: 25.21: Simon Black: BL: 1998-2013: 7580: 322: 23.54: Scott . At this moment, Josh Kennedy is the most consistent contested footy player the league has seen, but in three or four years time, it may be another name that holds that title. Johnson rushed a behind to square the game up, before Sidebottom marked on a 45-degree angle 30m out in the final minute and got the vital score to earn the lead. Kick goals and win the ball. . So what was it that made him so great? When a down year still yields 45 goals in 19 games, an average of 2.37 per contest, you're, quite simply, one of the best forwards in the league. I love how Anderson plays with speed and is always looking to kick rather than handball, doing so at the rare midfielder rate of 2.25-1. Ashcroft's effort likely upstaged teammate Charlie Cameron's similarly freakish goal a week earlier, while it also had a higher degree of difficulty than Daniel Wells' much-celebrated 2004 goal of the year for North Melbourne. It's even more impressive when you consider Steele's numbers dipped a little in 2022, but backing up a ridiculous 2021 -- where he finished tied-fifth in the Brownlow Medal -- was always going to prove difficult. If this was a measure of footy IQ and on-field intelligence, Greene would be top of the list. Another player who felt impossible to rank. 1-ranked player last year in clearances, contested possessions and ground ball gets?! Send us feedback or report a mistake on this page. Schoenberg averaged 27 disposals, 12 contested possessions, five tackles and five marks during the Under-18 Championships and 21 disposals, 10 contested possessions and five tackles in the SANFL . With three games remaining in the 2021 season (plus at least one final for the Dees), Oliver sits at 327 contested touches. The 22-year-old is yet to dip below the 28-disposal mark and has had 16+ contested possessions in each of the past four games. Warner produced a masterpiece in last year's Grand Final demolition at the hands of Geelong -- 29 disposals, 18 contested possessions, 10 clearances, six tackles and two goals -- to cap off a phenomenal third season at the Swans (in reality his second, having played just two senior games in year one). Tackles per opposition possession is a much more useful metric, as it takes the number of tackling opportunities into account, albeit crudely. No surprise he ranked No. scooterselwood Club Legend. It's been a meteoric rise for the 26-year-old, who has gone from a relatively unknown VFL player to a three-time club leading goal kicker and premiership player. Champion Data class Stewart as a 'general defender' but you feel 'the general' would be a far more appropriate title for him. He ranks elite amongst key forwards in just about every imaginable category; goals, score involvements, disposals, marks, contested possessions and inside 50s. Cameron is the highest-ranked non-midfielder on this list. Cameron Spencer/Getty Images. Dunkley is a great ball user and the ultimate team man, unafraid of the dirty work -- ranking top 10 in both tackling and smothers since 2019 -- that others often shy away from. Actual Hit Rate: How often a player hits the intended target (including50/50 contests) when attempting a kick. Lynch. It feels like yesterday Heeney was being billed as one of the future stars of the AFL. The most notable of those was inside 50s, where he finished the season with the second-most in the league. In fact, Lions recruit Josh Dunkley told ESPN in 2021 that Miller is the most difficult player to match up on in the midfield, given his speed, endurance and ability to lay bone-crunching tackles. Second in the AFL for contested possessions (average 15.9 a game) behind Clayton Oliver, and second in the league in centre clearances (behind Dylan Shiel), there is no doubting Neale's quality . Not only is he every bit a star of the AFL but also an underrated candidate for best skipper. They explain 55 percent of the variation in margins, slightly above the 51 percent explained by the kick differential. It all bodes well for a career-best 2023, and the bookmakers agree, installing him as the pre-season favourite for this year's Coleman. While it's a tad unfair to call Fritsch a one-trick pony, especially when his trick happens to be the most difficult and sought after quality in the sport, some of the game's other premier small and mid-sized forwards bring a little more to the table. With 425 in 2016, 423 in 2012, and 410 in 2013, Kennedy made an art form of winning the hard ball and dishing off to a teammate. It's a real shame his 2023 season is set to be hampered by a persistent back injury, as another leap was certainly on the cards. Most Disposals In A Season Player TM GM Ave. Year Player TM GM Ave. Year Jack Macrae WB 880 26 33.85 2021 Dane Swan CW 769 25 30.76 2009 Tom Mitchell HW 848 24 35.33 2018 Jack Macrae WB 767 23 33.35 2019 Matt Crouch AD 825 25 33.00 2017 Terry Wallace HW 765 25 30.60 1983 Dane Swan CW 820 26 31.54 2010 Steele Sidebottom CW 764 26 29.38 2018 Over the last two years, Walker has booted 95 goals from just 35 games. Some are sure to view Lynch's ranking ahead of Curnow as rather controversial. If that's you, please get familiar with him! Adelaide's Rory Laird tackles Collingwood's Patrick Lipinski in the round 18 match at the Adelaide Oval on July 16, 202. The youngest player in the entire list was Chad Warner (21), the oldest was Lance Franklin (36). It seemed everyone had already crowned him the next well, insert literally any AFL legend! I just don't think it's that clear cut. He was also the safest ball user of any midfielder in the game, turning it over just once every nine disposals. The undoubted king of the contested possession is undoubtedly the Swans Josh Kennedy, who has made the 400-club on three separate occasions. That in itself highlights just how exceptional the young Docker was in 2022, providing a much-needed spark in a year where former skipper Nat Fyfe just couldn't get on the park. Last year, Parker kicked 14 majors, including a bag of five against the Giants in Round 1 which netted him three Brownlow Medal votes. Champion Data's numbers would suggest he is. The 24-year-old splits his time almost 50-50 between the wing and pure midfield and is one of the great link players in the competition, doing most of his damage on the outside with 16 uncontested possessions per game over the last two seasons.