IT IS a beautiful sight: ruckman taps to rover, rover boots it forward, forward gathers and goals.
No mad scrambling in the backline, no chipping it around the wing; just tap, kick, bang. Nothing saps the opposition’s confidence or builds momentum better.
Get a couple of goals like that every game and your team will go a long way towards winning.
It should come as no surprise then that a Geelong centre square combination makes it happen most - by a mile.
With the Cats’ midfield rotating faster than most, the trio of Jimmy Bartel, Paul Chapman and Joel Selwood has only contested 10 centre bounces together so far this season.
But when they have been in there, their success rate has been astounding.
From 10 attempts, Bartel, Chapman and Selwood have sent the Cats straight forward for a score seven times. That’s an amazing 70 per cent success rate against a competition average of just 9.1 per cent.
Next best is the Sydney trio of Brett Kirk, Jarrad McVeigh and Josh Kennedy with a direct score percentage of 31.8 per cent from 22 centre bounce contests, followed by Fremantle’s David Mundy, Michael Barlow and Ryan Crowley with 31.4 per cent from 51 attempts.
The table below shows the best combination from every team in terms of score percentage from centre bounces, and also provides the frequency of first possession, clearances and inside 50s. The Bartel/Chapman/Selwood team comfortably leads all three of those stats too.
Things even out a little if we tweak the figures to include ruckmen.
Geelong’s most successful centre bounce combination with the ruckman included is Mark Blake, James Kelly, Selwood and Chapman. They’ve contested nine centre bounces together and scored a third of the time - ranked equal second.
Leading this field is the Dockers quartet of Aaron Sandilands, Mundy, Barlow and Crowley, scoring from 34 per cent of their 47 centre bounces together.
Overall, Freo have been massive improvers in the scores from centre bounces statistic, moving from 14th in 2009 to third this year.
After years of opposition small men sharking off their giant ruckman, Fremantle finally has a midfield brigade that can capitalise on Sandilands’ dominance. And the goals - and wins - are flowing as a result.
Score percentage from centre bounces
Club | Midfield combination* | Attendances | First Possession % | Clearance % | Inside 50 % | Score % | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Geelong Cats | Jimmy Bartel | Joel Selwood | Paul Chapman | 10 | 70.0 | 70.0 | 70.0 | 70.0 |
2 | Sydney Swans | Brett Kirk | Jarrad McVeigh | Josh Kennedy | 22 | 68.2 | 54.5 | 45.5 | 31.8 |
3 | Fremantle | David Mundy | Michael Barlow | Ryan Crowley | 51 | 54.9 | 45.1 | 37.3 | 31.4 |
4 | Brisbane Lions | Luke Power | Michael Rischitelli | Simon Black | 10 | 40.0 | 30.0 | 30.0 | 30.0 |
5 | Carlton | Aaron Joseph | Chris Judd | Marc Murphy | 10 | 60.0 | 50.0 | 40.0 | 30.0 |
6 | Essendon | Ben Howlett | Brent Stanton | Jobe Watson | 11 | 54.5 | 54.5 | 54.5 | 27.3 |
7 | Melbourne | Brent Moloney | Jack Trengove | Jordie McKenzie | 12 | 41.7 | 33.3 | 25.0 | 25.0 |
8 | North Melbourne | Andrew Swallow | Brent Harvey | Ryan Bastinac | 28 | 50.0 | 39.3 | 35.7 | 21.4 |
9 | Richmond | Nathan Foley | Shane Tuck | Trent Cotchin | 14 | 50.0 | 42.9 | 35.7 | 21.4 |
10 | Collingwood | Alan Didak | Dane Swan | Luke Ball | 19 | 68.4 | 63.2 | 57.9 | 21.1 |
11 | West Coast Eagles | Matt Priddis | Scott Selwood | Tom Swift | 10 | 60.0 | 40.0 | 40.0 | 20.0 |
12 | St Kilda | Brendon Goddard | Clinton Jones | Lenny Hayes | 12 | 75.0 | 50.0 | 41.7 | 16.7 |
13 | Western Bulldogs | Adam Cooney | Liam Picken | Matthew Boyd | 13 | 46.2 | 38.5 | 30.8 | 15.4 |
14 | Hawthorn | Jordan Lewis | Luke Hodge | Sam Mitchell | 14 | 57.1 | 42.9 | 28.6 | 14.3 |
15 | Port Adelaide | David Rodan | Domenic Cassisi | Kane Cornes | 15 | 53.3 | 46.7 | 26.7 | 13.3 |
16 | Adelaide Crows | Brent Reilly | Scott Thompson | Simon Goodwin | 39 | 43.6 | 38.5 | 28.2 | 12.8 |
* - each club's best combination
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.