GEELONG superstar Patrick Dangerfield has reclaimed his mantle as the best player in the game from reigning Brownlow medallist Dustin Martin, according to stats gurus.
Furthermore, the former Crow is the only person to have ever lost his crown and won it back again.
It's been widely acknowledged Martin isn't producing the form that saw him sweep every award available in 2017 as he produced what was arguably the greatest campaign any individual has ever produced.
Schick AFL Player Ratings: Who are your club's leaders?
Indeed, Dangerfield has himself been slightly down compared to what he did last season, but the Schick AFL Player Ratings show the Cat has done enough to overtake Martin.
Dangerfield is averaging 17.9 points per match this year, compared to Martin's 16.5.
As a point of comparison, Dangerfield went at 20.1 points per game last season, compared to Martin's 20.9.
In fairness, both were historically outstanding in 2017, so some drop-off was likely.
Dangerfield is still ranked second among all midfielders in 2018, compared to the Tiger in fourth.
Looking at this season only, the best midfielder in the AFL is young Melbourne bull Clayton Oliver. Not only does he rank second among players in his position for average contested possessions (16.9), he is also fourth for average pressure points (61.5).
The Dee is up to No.5 in the overall standings.
Ahead of him are zippy Brisbane star Dayne Zorko and Fremantle onballer Nat Fyfe at No.3 and 4 respectively, while Collingwood ruckman Brodie Grundy is No.6.
Grundy averages just 0.04 points per game more this season than his Melbourne counterpart Max Gawn.
The Player Ratings take into account an individual's past 40 games over a rolling two-year period, with more weighting given to more recent matches.
History of No.1 players
Gary Ablett (Gold Coast) – round one, 2012 to round four, 2015
Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood) – round five to 2015-round 16, 2015
Nat Fyfe (Fremantle) – round 17, 2015 to round 11, 2016
Patrick Dangerfield (Geelong) – round 12 to 2016-round three, 2018
Dustin Martin (Richmond) – round four to 2018-round 18, 2018
Patrick Dangerfield (Geelong) – round 19, 2018 to ?
Speaking of the stars
On the topic of some of the hottest players in the game, Hawthorn ball-winner Tom Mitchell is having a lot more impact since the club's round 12 bye.
Prior to the Hawks' break, he was ranked No.47 in the competition, averaging 13.1 points per match.
Since then, he is ranked fifth, going at 18.4 points per game.
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In that time, the former Swan is delivering the football far more accurately. His kick rating, which compares how often a player hits the target compared to the rest of the competition when they are in the same situation, taking into account the difficulty of the attempt, has improved from -7.1 per cent to +6.8 per cent.
His disposals per match are up by 5.8, up to 39.9, and he is winning more on the outside, with his contested possession rate dropping 11 points, down to 38 per cent.
