The Goalpost Padding presents: The 2018 Grand Final Stats Preview

After a long season of football, everything is set to be decided at the MCG, when the and the Collingwood Magpies face off for the chance to immortalise themselves in the history books, and win themselves the ultimate glory. Being the football fans we are here at The Flag, we couldn’t let such a day go past without providing something of our own for it. So we have, with a 30-page booklet filled to the brim with all sorts of interesting, entertaining, yet ultimately frivolous statistics. We’d also like to take this opportunity to thank all of you reading this for helping support us - if all goes well, we aim to do this for a career when we’re older, and knowing that our work is going out there and being praised really lifts our spirits. Hopefully you all enjoy the game and find something cool in here. -Nick/Claire Fredriksson theflagsports.wordpress.com on Twitter as @NickTheStatsGuy ​ Note: statistics based on the players involved in the match assume that there’s no change from the preliminary final squads, and so won’t include players added to the team.

Contents

The Goalpost Padding presents: The 2018 Grand Final Stats Preview 1

Contents 2

The Club Grand Final Player Leaderboard 3

Divisor Scores and Margins 4

On Captains’ Names, and Precedents 6

Scores to Get (or Not) 8

The Individual Stat Leaderboards (Game) 9

Scoring the Year 11

The Club Premiership Player Leaderboard 13

Margin Milestones 14

On Coaches’ Names, and Precedents 15

Day by Day 17

The Individual Stat Leaderboards (Career) 19

Jumper Streaks, Droughts, and Miscellanies 20

Conversions 24

Echoes of Names Gone Past 26

Bite-Sized Statistics 29

The Club Grand Final Player Leaderboard

Unsurprisingly, given they’ve played in 14 more Grand Finals than any other team, Collingwood have a big lead when it comes to the number of Grand Final players they’ve had. Before this year’s match, they’ve had 341, from to William Jones. This gives them a 68-player lead over Carlton, one that they’re going to expand on Saturday.

17 of Collingwood’s squad are set to play in their first Grand Final this weekend, while another two players ( and ) will play their first Grand Finals for Collingwood, ​ ​ having made it previously for Fremantle and respectively. This is set to bring Collingwood’s tally to 360, pushing their lead up to 87. Only , , and are left from the Magpies 2010 triumph.

West Coast have fewer first time Grand Final players, given they played in one as recently as 2015. Nine players are set to play their first Grand Final ever, as well as playing his first for the Eagles after two at . This will bring West Coast’s tally of Grand Final players from 77 to 87, which won’t help them move up the table - they’ll still be in 12th, seven short of North .

List of clubs by number of Grand Final players 1. Collingwood, 341 2. Carlton, 273 3. Essendon, 264 4. Richmond, 205 5. Sydney, 203 6. Geelong, 186 7. Melbourne, 177 8. Hawthorn, 152 9. Fitzroy, 113 10. St Kilda, 103 11. N Melbourne, 94 12. West Coast, 77 13. W Bulldogs, 61 14. , 49 15. Pt Adelaide, 34 16. Brisbane, 29 17. Fremantle, 22 18. Gold Coast, 0 19. GWS Giants, 0 20. University, 0 Divisor Scores and Margins

In our 2017 Grand Final preview, we wrote about teams winning premierships and making ​ ​ Grand Finals in prime numbered years. Unfortunately for us all, 2018 isn’t a prime number, it’s ​ composite - but we still came up with cool stats for it!

Being a composite number, 2018 has divisors (numbers that you can divide it by without a remainder).1 So we looked over the history of Grand Finals, to try and find out years when either a team scored a divisor of that number year, or the margin was a divisor.

There was a fairly unsurprising lack of divisor scores - out of 224 team scores in Grand Finals, only two of them (0.89%) have been divisors of the year of the Grand Final. Because most divisors are small numbers, it makes sense that the lowest Grand Final score ever (Collingwood’s score of 14 in 1960) was one of them. The other result, Richmond’s score of 92 to win the 1932 Grand Final, is both one of the coolest and most pointless statistics we’ve ever worked out.

Years where the Grand Final had a team score a divisor of the year of that Grand Final ● 1932, Richmond 13.14 (92) - 92 x 21 = 1932 ● 1960, Collingwood 2.2 (14) - 14 x 140 = 1960

We get a higher proportion when it comes to margins, which is certainly because margins are lower than scores. 11 of the 122 Grand Finals have had a divisor margin (9.02%), although this falls to 7 (5.74%) when we take out the four 1-point margins (which makes sense, because every number has 1 as a divisor).

Years where the Grand Final margin was a divisor of the year of that Grand Final ● 1899, 1 point (1 x 1899 = 1899) ● 1900, 4 points (4 x 475 = 1900) ● 1908, 9 points (9 x 212 = 1908) ● 1914, 6 points (6 x 319 = 1914) ● 1936, 11 points (11 x 176 = 1936) ● 1947, 1 point (1 x 1947 = 1947) ● 1964, 4 points (4 x 491 = 1964) ● 1966, 1 point (1 x 1966 = 1966) ● 1968, 3 points (3 x 656 = 1968) ● 1970, 10 points (10 x 197 = 1970) ● 2006, 1 point (1 x 2006 = 2006)

1 Technically speaking, every number has two divisors - itself and 1. It’s just that composites have more ​ than 1. If you’re hoping we can get a similar statistic this year, then we hate to inform you that you’re probably out of luck - the only divisors for 2018 are 1, 2, 1009, and 2018. So unless we get an extremely close Grand Final, or an absurdly low scoring one, we’ll be out of luck. Better chances will come in 2020 (when a score of 101 will do), 2023 (119), and 2024 (88 and 92). On Captains’ Names, and Precedents

For the second year in a row, and the tenth time overall,2 both Grand Final captains have a first name starting with the same letter. Last year it was T, with of Richmond being victorious over Taylor Walker of Collingwood. This year, it’s S, with Collingwood being represented by Scott Pendlebury and West Coast by .

The notable thing about this is that it’s the first time that it’s happened consecutively with different letters. In both the 1955 and 1956 Grand Finals, the captain’s names both started with N - but that wasn’t that impressive, considering the captains were the same (Noel McMahen for Melbourne and Neil Mann for Collingwood). So congrats to both of these teams, and especially the winning captain - set to become the first Scott or Shannon to captain a premiership.

Premierships by captains, based on first name initial

1. J, 15 (John Nicholls 3, Jim Flynn 2, John Beckwith 2, 2, Jim Caldwell, Jack Bisset, , Jack Clarke, , Jarrad McVeigh) 2. D, 14 ( 4, 2, Don Scott 2, Dick Wardill, Dave Smith, , , , ) 3. M, 13 ( 4, 3, Mike Fitzpatrick 2, 2, , Mark Thompson) 4. S, 9 ( 4, Syd Barker snr 2, 2, Sam Mitchell) 5. A, 8 (Allan La Fontaine 3, Alec Sloan 2, Alan Belcher, Alf Baud, ) 6. B, 8 (Bill Walker, , Bert Chadwick, Brighton Diggins, Bob Chitty, , Bruce Monteath, ) 7. T, 8 ( 2, 2, Tod Collins, Ted Baker, , Trent Cotchin) 8. C, 7 (Charlie Ricketts, Con McCarthy, Chris Lethbridge, , , , ) 9. L, 7 ( 3, Lardie Tulloch 2, , ) 10. F, 6 ( 2, Fred Elliott, , Fred Wooller, ) 11. R, 6 ( 2, 2, , ) 12. G, 5 (Gerald Brosnan 2, , George Angus, Graham Arthur) 13. W, 4 ( 2, Wal Johnson, ) 14. N, 3 (Noel McMahen 2, ) 15. P, 3 ( 2, Percy Wilson) 16. E, 2 (, ) 17. H, 2 ( 2)

2 After 1925 (Cliff Rankin and ), 1948 (Don Cordner and Dick Reynolds), 1955, 1956 (Noel McMahen and Neil Mann both times), 1966 (Darrel Baldock and ), 1986 (Michael Tuck and Mark McClure), 2005 (Barry Hall and ), 2010 (Nick Maxwell and ), and 2017 (Cotchin and Walker). 18. K, 1 ()

The captains do have different surname initials, which means that there’s some incentive to push their letter up the leaderboards. When it comes to this, the Eagles have a big advantage. The premiership cup has been lifted by a H captain 12 times, the third most of any letter - helped by the recent winners of Barry Hall, Tom Harley (twice), and Luke Hodge (three times). The Ps, meanwhile, only have one champion, David Parkin.

Premierships by captains, based on surname initial

1. B, 17 (Brosnan 2, Barker snr 2, Bentley 2, Beckwith 2, Barassi 2, Bickley 2, Belcher, Baud, Baker, Bisset, Baldwick) 2. C, 15 (Coventry 4, Collier 2, Carey 2, Collins, Caldwell, Chadwick, Chitty, Cordner, Clarke, Cotchin) 3. H, 12 (Hodge 3, Hart 2, Harley 2, Hickey, Hughson, Henfrey, Hird, Hall) 4. M, 10 (Minogue 2, McMahen 2, McCarthy, Monteath, Matthews, Mitchell, Maxwell, McVeigh) 5. S, 9 (Sloan 2, Scott 2, Stuckey, Smith, Sutton, Swift, Shaw) 6. D, 8 (Daniher 2, Dick, Diggins, Dyer, Dean, Davis, Dench) 7. T, 8 (Tuck 4, Tulloch, Thompson, Tredrea) 8. W, 8 (Worsfold 2, Wardill, Walker, Wilson, Weideman, Wooller, Wood) 9. F, 7 (Flynn 2, Flanagan 2, Fitzpatrick 2, Fraser) 10. R, 7 (Reynolds 4, Ricketts, Rankin, Richards) 11. L, 5 (La Fontaine 3, Lethbridge, Ling) 12. J, 3 (Johnson, Jesaulenko, Judd) 13. N, 3 (Nicholls 3) 14. V, 3 (Voss 3) 15. A, 2 (Angus, Arthur) 16. K, 2 (Kernahan 2) 17. E, 1 (Elliott) 18. P, 1 (Parkin)

Scores to Get (or Not)

Given that Grand Finals have been played over a 120-year period, when the average score during a game has fluctuated wildly, there’s been a lot of scores that have been made in the last match of the year.

There’s a few scores, though, that have never been made, and those include quite realistic ones. Probably the best chance is 93, which was Collingwood’s exact average score across the home ​ and away season. That’s the lowest of a group of realistic scores that teams could make, if the Grand Final bucks the trend of low scoring this year. If it follows it, though, there’s never been a score of 59, which is probably on the edge of possibilities.

List of scores that have never been made in a Grand Final 1-12, 15, 18-22, 24, 28, 42, 49, 59, 93, 97, 99, 106, 112, 117, 118, 120, 123, 126, 129, 130, 136, 142, 145-147, 149, 153-158, 160-162, 164-169, 171-176, and every score higher than (and including) 178.

Alternatively, the Magpies and Eagles could add to the most common Grand Final scores. The champion here is 89, which has been scored eight times, most recently in the ’s 2016 triumph. That record could be equalled if we get a score of 68 (last made in the 2010 draw) or 85 (2006, the last time the Eagles won a premiership).

A score of 89, which is in the lead, would make it the first score to be made in a Grand Final nine times. 89 would then become the third score to reach a new height twice - previously, 45 was the first score to be made in a Grand Final three and four times, followed by 78 being the first made ​ ​ five and six times. Interestingly, the score that reaches a peak has increased over time, going from as low as 45 to our current high of 89. It’s unlikely that that streak will continue, though, considering that no score above 89 has been made more than four times.

First score to occur x times in a Grand Final ​ ​ 1. 23 and 38 (1898) 2. 27 (1902, following 1899) 3. 45 (1914, following 1907 and 1906) 4. 45 (1915, following 1914, 1907, and 1906) 5. 78 (1959, following 1936, 1935, 1919, and 1915) 6. 78 (1980, following 1959, 1936, 1915, 1919, and 1915) 7. 85 (2006, following 1992, 1982, 1969, 1947, 1938, and 1916) 8. 89 (2016, following 2008, 1999, 1993, 1990, 1948, 1936, and 1934)

The Individual Stat Leaderboards (Game)

● Most disposals in a Grand Final (1965)3: 39 - (Brisbane) in 2003 ● Most kicks (1965): 28 - Kevin Bartlett (Richmond) in 1972, (Collingwood) in 2002 ● Most marks (1965): 14 - (Essendon) in 1985, John Barnes (Geelong) in 1995, (Hawthorn) in 2008 ● Most handballs (1965): 23 - Simon Black (Brisbane) in 2003 ● Most goals (1898): 9 - (Collingwood) in 1928, Gary Ablett Sr (Geelong) in 1989 ● Most behinds (1965): 8 - John Hendrie (Hawthorn) in 1976 ● Most hitouts (1966): 49 - (Adelaide) in 2017 ● Most tackles (1987): 16 - (Geelong) in 2009 ● Most rebounds (1998): 14 - Matthew Bishop (Pt Adelaide) in 2004 ● Most inside 50s (1998): 12 - Michael Voss (Brisbane) in 2002 ● Most clearances (1998): 16 - (Carlton) in 1999 ● Most clangers (1998): 8 - (Hawthorn) in 2008 ● Most frees for (1965): 10 - Don Scott (Hawthorn) in 1971 ● Most frees against (1965): 8 - Des Tuddenham (Collingwood) in 1970 ● Most contested possessions (1999): 25 - Simon Black (Brisbane) in 2003 ● Most uncontested possessions (1999): 30 - (Pt Adelaide) in 2007 ● Most contested marks (1999): 7 - Tom Hawkins (Geelong) in 2011 ● Most marks inside 50 (1999): 7 - (Brisbane) in 2003 ● Most one-percenters (1999): 18 - Harry Taylor (Geelong) in 2009 ● Most bounces (1999): 16 - (West Coast) in 2006 ● Most goal assists (2003): 4 - (Geelong) in 2007, Michael Osborne (Hawthorn) in 2008, Cyril (Hawthorn) in 2015

3 For each of the stats here, the year after the stat tells how long the data has been kept. Scoring the Year

One of the rarest, and most impressive, achievements in golf is for a player to ‘shoot their age’ - posting a score for a round of golf that’s the same as the number of years they’ve been alive.

Australian football doesn’t have a directly parallel achievement, so we decided to make one - a team ‘scoring the year’. This could be achieved in two ways - for the year abcd, a team could ​ ​ either ● score ab goals and cd behinds, so they’d show up on a scoreboard as ab.cd (xx), or ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ● have a total score cd, showing up on a scoreboard as xx.xx (cd). ​ ​ ​ ​

The first achievement has never happened, which makes sense - it’s only a realistic achievement for 15 or so years at a time each century, and in the early 1900s the league was too low scoring for something like this to happen. A few teams have come close, though:

Closest to scoring the year in a Grand Final (ab.cd (xx) method) 1. 11 off - Brisbane 20.14 (134) in 2003 2. 20 off - Richmond 19.14 (128) in 1934 3. 20 off - Essendon 20.13 (133) in 1993 4. 24 off - Essendon 19.18 (132) in 1942 5. 28 off - Melbourne 19.13 (127) in 1941 6. 28 off - Hawthorn 20.19 (139) in 1991

This suggests to us that it’s definitely possible for a team to score the year with this method - ​ while no team’s scored exactly 20.18, they’ve scored about that much several times in the past.

The other method, while it doesn’t give us a better chance this time, has happened before! Melbourne won their 12th, and most recent, premiership in 1964, beating Collingwood by four points - with a score of 8.16 (64), they are the only team in history to score the year under this method. And, while they’re the only team to get it exact, a total of 22 other sides have gotten ​ within five of scoring the year, with most of them coming in losing teams.

Closest to scoring the year in a Grand Final (xx.xx (cd) method) 1. Exact - Melbourne 8.16 (64) in 1964 2. 1 off - N Melbourne 9.22 (76) in 1977 draw 3. 1 off - Collingwood 10.16 (76) in 1977 draw 4. 1 off - Collingwood 13.11 (89) in 1990 5. 2 off - Collingwood 2.13 (25) in 1927 6. 2 off - Essendon 7.8 (50) in 1948 replay 7. 2 off - Essendon 7.13 (55) in 1957* 8. 2 off - Melbourne 8.14 (62) in 1960 9. 2 off - Collingwood 11.11 (77) in 1979* 10. 2 off - Collingwood 9.24 (78) in 1980* 11. 3 off - Carlton 6.16 (52) in 1949* 12. 3 off - Melbourne 7.9 (51) in 1954* 13. 3 off - Hawthorn 8.12 (60) in 1961* 14. 3 off - Carlton 11.16 (82) in 1979 15. 3 off - Essendon 12.13 (85) in 1982* 16. 3 off - Hawthorn 12.9 (81) in 1984* 17. 3 off - St Kilda 13.16 (94) in 1997* 18. 4 off - Richmond 4.5 (29) in 1933* 19. 4 off - Carlton 8.10 (58) in 1962* 20. 4 off - Collingwood 8.12 (60) in 1964* 21. 4 off - St Kilda 11.9 (75) in 1971* 22. 4 off - Essendon 13.11 (89) in 1993* 23. 5 off - West Coast 13.8 (86) in 1991* *lost the game

The Club Premiership Player Leaderboard

There aren’t going to many players at this Grand Final who’ve already won a premiership. Out of Collingwood’s 22 players, only four have won flags, while West Coast only have Lewis Jetta - and even then, he won his medal in his days as a Swan.

A win for Collingwood today will give them their 16th flag, drawing them level with Essendon and Carlton in having the most premierships. A win for them today would give them an uncontested lead for the most premiership players - they currently have 178 footballers who’ve ​ won a flag in the black and white, a tally that would increase to 197 with a win. They would thus move from third, and 6 behind Essendon, to first and 13 in front. On the other hand, West Coast have a clean slate, meaning they’d be able to leapfrog North Melbourne and have a tally of 69 premiership players.4

List of clubs by number of premiership players 1. Essendon, 184 2. Carlton, 181 3. Collingwood, 178 4. Richmond, 146 5. Hawthorn, 138 6. Melbourne, 128 7. Geelong, 123 8. Fitzroy, 102 9. Sydney, 94 10. N Melbourne, 62 11. West Coast, 47 12. W Bulldogs, 42 13. Brisbane, 28 14. Adelaide, 27 15. Pt Adelaide, 22 16. St Kilda, 20 17. Fremantle, 0 18. Gold Coast, 0 19. GWS Giants, 0 20. University, 0

4 NICE! Margin Milestones

Considering that the Grand Final is normally going to be played between the two best teams in the competition, you would expect the margins to be quite close. That’s not necessarily true - the average margin in a Grand Final is just shy of five goals. But this is slightly lower than the overall average margin (32.3 points), and there are a lot more close games than blowouts,5 so there’s perhaps some truth to this after all.

There’s plenty of margins that have been achieved in Grand Finals, but there’s also plenty that haven’t happened, and they’re realistic margins too. There are seven potential newbies within a six-goal range, meaning that there’s quite a realistic chance that this Grand Final could be the first appearance of its margin.

List of margins that have never occured in a Grand Final 8, 16, 19, 21, 23, 34, 36, 45, 47, 52, 54, 58, 59, 62, 64-72, 74-77, 79, 81, 82, 84-95, 97-118, and every margin above 120

But if uniqueness is overrated for these two sides, they could go for one of the most common Grand Final margins. There are four margins that have happened four times – 1 (in 1899, 1947, 1966, and 2006), 4 (1900, 1921, 1964, and 2005), 15 (1898, 1938, 1944, and 2013), and 35 (1917, 1965, 1998, and 1999). In addition, a margin of 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 27, 28, or 30 would lead to a tie for first.

Combining both our margin and score analysis, it gives the statistically minded among us a score to aim for (one that we sadly didn’t get last year) - if the match ends with a score of 118 to 97, it’ll be the first time either of those scores have come up in a Grand Final and the first decided by 21 ​ points.

5 Ah, the nature of averages. On Coaches’ Names, and Precedents

Unlike our captains, both Grand Final coaches have seperate sets of initials. Based on previous results, has the advantage over Nathan Buckley, with A coaches winning 11 times as opposed to the 7 won by N coaches. A Magpies win would push Buckley up to equal fourth, tying him with the M worn by his predecessor as Magpies coach (and their last premiership coach), .

Premierships by coaches, based on first name initial

1. J, 23 (Jock McHale 8, 5, John Kennedy 3, John Coleman 2, Jack Bisset, Jack Dyer, John Nicholls, John Worsfold, ) 2. D, 13 (Dick Reynolds 4, David Parkin 4, Dan Minogue 2, 2, ) 3. A, 11 ( 4, 4, 2, Alex Jesaulenko) 4. M, 8 (Mick Malthouse 3, 2, Mark Thompson 2, Mark Williams) 5. N, 7 ( 5, Norman Clark 2) 6. P, 7 (Percy Bentley 3, 2, Percy Parratt, Paul Roos) 7. R, 7 (Ron Barassi 4, Reg Hickey 3) 8. F, 6 (Frank Hughes 5, Fred Hughson) 9. T, 5 ( 4, ) 10. L, 5 (Leigh Matthews 4, ) 11. C, 4 (Charlie Ricketts, Cliff Rankin, Charlie Clymo, Charlie Sutton) 12. K, 4 (Kevin Sheedy 4) 13. B, 3 (Bert Howson, Bert Chadwick, Brighton Diggins, Bob Davis) 14. G, 2 (George Angus, George Holden) 15. S, 2 (Syd Barker snr 2) 16. V, 1 (Vic Belcher) 17. C, 1 (Chris Scott)

However, Simpson’s lead over Buckley is swapped when it comes to surname initials.6 Helped by Ron Barassi and Percy Bentley, the B coaches have won a total of 14 premierships, most recently Luke Beveridge in 2016.

Premierships by coaches, based on surname initial

1. M, 17 (McHale 8, Matthews 4, Malthouse 3, Minogue 2) 2. H, 16 (Hughes 5, Hafey 4, Hickey 3, Hughson, Howson, Holden, Hardwick) 3. B, 14 (Barassi 4, Bentley 3, Blight 2, Barker snr 2, Bissett, Beveridge, Belcher) 4. S, 11 (Smith 5, Sheedy 4, Sutton, Scott)

6 Funnily, coaches with the first initial A and the second initial S - which fits Adam Simpson - have both won a total of 11 premierships. 5. C, 10 (Clarkson 4, Coleman 2, Clark 2, Clymo, Chadwick) 6. J, 8 (Jeans 4, Joyce 2, Jesaulenko, Jewell) 7. P, 7 (Parkin 4, Pagan 2, Parratt) 8. R, 7 (Reynolds 4, Roos, Ricketts, Rankin) 9. W, 7 (Worrall 5, Worsfold, Williams) 10. K, 5 (Kennedy 3, Kyne 2) 11. D, 3 (Dyer, Diggins, Davis) 12. A, 1 (Angus) 13. L, 1 (Longmire) 14. N, 1 (Nicholls) 15. T, 1 (Thompson) Day by Day

The Grand Final is meant to be played on the last Saturday of September every year, and this year it is. However, it’s played on a different day with surprising regularity.

Out of the 122 Grand Finals played so far, 71 of them (58.20%) have been played on the last Saturday of September. 28 of them (22.95%) have been played in October, and 23 of them (18.85%) have been held earlier in September - although only one in the last 50 years.7 ​ ​

The most common day for a Grand Final to be held is September 27th8 - the premiership has been decided on that day 12 times, most recently in 2014. Close behind is September 25th (11, most recently in 2010) and this year’s date, September 29th (this year will be the 11th Grand Final held that day).

One of the teams in the Grand Final has tasted success on September 29, while the other hasn’t. Collingwood won the first Grand Final on this date, beating Richmond in 1928, while West Coast have never been involved in a Grand Final played on September 29.

If Collingwood win today, they will join the club of teams that have won a premiership on a specific day twice. They have done this before, on September 20th, October 1st, and October 11th, but they’ll still have a long way to go before they overtake Carlton, who’ve won five of their 16 premierships on September 26th.

Most premierships won on a specific day ● 5 times - Carlton on September 26th (1908, 1914, 1970, 1981, 1987) ● 3 times - Hawthorn on September 27th (1986, 2008, 2014) ● 2 times - Collingwood on September 20th (1902, 1958) ● 2 times - Essendon on September 23rd (1911, 1950) ● 2 times - Hawthorn on September 24th (1983, 1988) ● 2 times - Essendon on September 25th (1965, 1993) ● 2 times - Hawthorn on September 25th (1971, 1976) ● 2 times - Richmond on September 27th (1969, 1980)

7 That exception was 2000, when the AFL season was played three weeks ahead of usual because of the Olympics being held in Sydney that year. 8 In a really cool quality of this data, September 27th isn’t just the mode, but the median and the mean as well. ● 2 times - Essendon on September 28th (1912, 1985) ● 2 times - Hawthorn on September 28th (1991, 2013) ● 2 times - Carlton on September 29th (1945, 1979) ● 2 times - Geelong on September 29th (1951, 2007) ● 2 times - Essendon on September 29th (1962, 1984) ● 2 times - Fitzroy on September 30th (1905, 1944) ● 2 times - Hawthorn on September 30th (1978, 1989) ● 2 times - Collingwood on October 1st (1910, 1927) ● 2 times - Melbourne on October 9th (1926, 1948 replay) ● 2 times - Geelong on October 10th (1925, 1931) ● 2 times - Collingwood on October 11th (1919, 1930)

When it comes to the most unique days winning a premiership on, West Coast have a chance to jump over North Melbourne into 10th. The Magpies, meanwhile, have won their 15 premierships on a dozen different days, putting themselves first.

Most days winning a premiership on 1. Collingwood, 12 (Sep 12, 20, 22, 26, 28, 29, Oct 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 11) 2. Melbourne, 11 (Sep 16, 17, 19, 21, 22, 24, 26, 27, 28, 30, Oct 9) 3. Carlton, 10 (Sep 18, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, Oct 7) 4. Essendon, 9 (Sep 2, 7, 19, 23, 24, 25, 28, Oct 5, 20) 5. Richmond, 9 (Sep 23, 25, 27, 28, 30, Oct 1, 2, 13, 15) 6. Fitzroy, 7 (Sep 2, 16, 17, 24, 27, 30, Oct 14) 7. Geelong, 7 (Sep 25, 26, 27, 28, Oct 1, 5, 10) 8. Hawthorn, 6 (Sep 23, 24, 25, 27, 30, Oct 3) 9. Sydney, 5 (Sep 7, 24, 28, 30, Oct 2) 10. N Melbourne, 3 (Sep 25, 27, Oct 1) 11. West Coast, 3 (Sep 26, 30, Oct 1) 12. Adelaide, 2 (Sep 26, 27) 13. Brisbane, 2 (Sep 27, 28) 14. W Bulldogs, 2 (Sep 25, Oct 1) 15. Pt Adelaide, 1 (Sep 25) 16. St Kilda, 1 (Sep 24)

The Individual Stat Leaderboards (Career)

● Most disposals in Grand Finals in a career (1965): 162 - Michael Tuck (Hawthorn) ● Most kicks (1965): 152 - Kevin Bartlett (Richmond) ● Most marks (1965): 52 - (Hawthorn) ● Most handballs (1965): 61 - (Hawthorn) ● Most goals (1898): 35 - Gordon Coventry (Collingwood) ● Most behinds (1965): 16 - Kevin Bartlett (Richmond), Dermott Brereton (Hawthorn) ● Most hitouts (1966): 120 - (Sydney / Collingwood) ● Most tackles (1987): 34 - (St Kilda) ● Most rebounds (1998): 21 - (Sydney) ● Most inside 50s (1998): 24 - Michael Voss (Brisbane), Paul Chapman (Geelong) ● Most clearances (1998): 27 - Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn), (St Kilda / Collingwood) ● Most clangers (1998): 19 - Darren Jolly (Sydney / Collingwood) ● Most frees for (1965): 26 - Bill Picken (Collingwood) ● Most frees against (1965): 23 - Dermott Brereton (Hawthorn) ● Most contested possessions (1999): 55 - Jordan Lewis (Hawthorn) ● Most uncontested possessions (1999): 90 - (Hawthorn) ● Most contested marks (1999): 12 - Lance Frankin (Hawthorn / Sydney) ● Most marks inside 50 (1999): 16 - Alastair Lynch (Brisbane) ● Most one-percenters (1999): 33 - (Hawthorn) ● Most bounces (1999): 18 - Daniel Kerr (West Coast) ● Most goal assists (2003): 7 - Joel Selwood (Geelong), (Hawthorn), (Sydney) Jumper Streaks, Droughts, and Miscellanies

When Richmond won last year’s premiership, became the 70th person to win a premiership wearing a jumper with the number 10 on it. As impressive as that is, it’s not the record - that belongs to the number 4, which has been worn to premiership glory 81 times, most recently by .

As the chart below (fairly unsurprisingly) shows, the number of premierships won in a number decreases the higher the number gets. A few interesting exceptions include a jump at 43 and 44, and a dip at the supposedly unlucky 13.

Some of these numbers are helped by having long winning streaks - there were two 12-year streaks where a player in No. 4 won a premiership. The longest streak goes to No. 11, where there was a winner wearing it for 14 years straight - , Ashley McIntosh, Paul Hills, McIntosh again, , , twice, Archer again, Damien Hardwick, Alastair Lynch three times, and Damien Hardwick again. The longest current streak is No. 5, which has had someone wearing it for a decade.

Longest premiership streaks for one jumper number 1. No. 11 - 14 years, 1991-2004 2. No. 6 - 13 years, 1999-2011 3. No. 25 - 13 years, 1945-1957 4. No. 4 - 12 years, 1934-1945 5. No. 4 - 12 years, 2001-2012 6. No. 7 - 12 years, 1944-1955 7. No. 17 - 11 years, 1912-1922 8. No. 18 - 11 years, 1927-1937 9. No. 5 - 10 years, 2008-

Given its high placing in the overall leaderboard, it should come as no surprise that No. 5 is three years ahead of its nearest current rivals, No. 9 and No. 14.9 Only five numbers have a streak of six years or longer, which compares to the fourteen numbers with a drought that long. ​ As you’d expect from the chart above, the droughts are mostly high numbers, with No. 13 being a notable exception.

Longest current streaks and droughts

# Streak Drought

1 No. 5 - 10 years, since 2008 No. 49 - never, in 106 years

2 No. 9 - 7 years, since 2011 No. 51 - never, in 106 years

3 No. 14 - 7 years, since 2011 No. 48 - 25 years, since 1993 (last worn by David Calthorpe)

4 No. 10 - 6 years, since 2012 No. 50 - 24 years, since 1994 ()

5 No. 13 - 6 years, since 2012 No. 52 - 20 years, since 1998 (Shaun Rehn) None of those top five droughts have a player wearing them this Grand Final, so they will remain winless. But for the other numbers, we’ve collated some data for the match, so they can be updated immediately afterwards.

Player jumpers, and current streaks/droughts

# West Coast Collingwood Current Form Last Winner

1 1-year streak

2 Mark LeCras 1-year streak

4 4-year streak

6 Tyson Goldsack 5-year streak

7 1-year drought

8 1-year streak

9 No. 9’s streak is set to end, as neither team has a player wearing it today. 10 Scott Pendlebury 6-year streak

13 6-year drought Tom Lonergan

14 7-year streak

15 2-year drought Luke Hodge

16 Chris Mayne 1-year drought Toby McLean

17 Josh Kennedy 2-year streak

18 Travis Varcoe 2-year streak

19 2-year drought

20 Jeremy McGovern 1-year drought

21 Tom Phillips 2-year streak

22 Steele Sidebottom 1-year streak

23 Lewis Jetta 2-year streak

24 Josh Thomas 1-year drought

25 Shannon Hurn 1-year streak

27 3-year drought Matthew Spangher

28 2-year drought

29 1-year drought

31 6-year drought

32 Will Hoskin-Elliott 4-year drought

34 1-year streak

35 Jaidyn Stephenson 2-year streak

36 7-year drought

37 5-year drought

38 1-year drought

41 5-year drought

44 6-year drought 46 1-year streak

Based purely on our love of pointless statistics, we’ve got a reason to go for Collingwood here - if the Pies win, then Mason Cox will be the second No. 46 in two years to win a premiership, following . That would make No. 46 the highest number to be worn in consecutive premierships by different players,10 beating No. 44, which has occured several times: ● in 1986, in 1987 ● Madden in 1987, Platten in 1988 ● Platten in 1989, Shane Kerrison in 1990 ● Kerrison in 1990, Platten in 1991 ● in 1998, Shannon Motlop in 1999 ● in 2006, Corey Enright in 2007

But on the other hand, an arguably even more pointless statistic could be achieved if West Coast win today - Mark Hutchings would become the 34th person to win a premiership in the number 34. So depending on which stat you’d prefer, you can pick whatever team you like to support.

10 Shaun Rehn played in Adelaide’s back-to-back premierships in No. 52, meaning that it wouldn’t have the absolute record. Conversions

Earlier in this booklet, we’ve looked at the number of Grand Final players from each club and the number of premiership players from each club. Our obvious next step is to look at the rates of conversion - what percentage of Grand Final players are premiership players for each side?

Unsurprisingly, the top team is Brisbane - they played in four Grand Finals in four years and won three of them, with Dylan McLaren the only Lion to play in a Grand Final and not win. Also unsurprisingly, Hawthorn are near the top (given that they have Grand Finals in clumps) and St Kilda are near the bottom (one premiership in eight attempts, including a draw amongst the others).

Collingwood and West Coast are both in the lower half of the competition, but they still have a majority each. The Magpies’ majority status is under threat, though - a loss today means that they’ll have had 178 premiership players out of 360, or 49.44%. A win would increase their figure to 54.72%, and push them up to 13th over a falling Eagles.

The Eagles are in a much more interesting situation, and a better one for them - given that half their side are Grand Final players but none of them are premiership players, they can go up a lot further than they can go down. A loss would reduce their figure to 54.02%, taking them below both Adelaide and Collingwood. A win, though, would bring them up to 79.31%, pushing them past a pack of teams and all the way up to fourth.

Clubs by % of Grand Final players who played in a premiership 1. Brisbane, 96.55% 2. Hawthorn, 90.79% 3. Fitzroy, 90.27% 4. Melbourne, 72.32% 5. Richmond, 71.22% 6. Essendon, 69.70% 7. W Bulldogs, 68.85% 8. Carlton, 66.30% 9. Geelong, 66.13% 10. N Melbourne, 65.96% 11. Pt Adelaide, 64.71% 12. West Coast, 61.04% 13. Adelaide, 55.10% 14. Collingwood, 52.20% 15. Sydney, 46.31% 16. St Kilda, 19.42% 17. Fremantle, 0.00% N/A: Gold Coast, GWS Giants, University Echoes of Names Gone Past

Admission - we were originally going to have the surnames of players in here as well. But we ended up leaving it until too late, so you’ll have to deal with just having first names. Sorry!

Previous premierships won by players with the same first name

Player Premierships

C Taylor Adams (HAW), 2014, 2015 O L James Aish (ADEL), 1998 L James Manson (COLL), 1990 I James Hird (ESS), 1993, 2000 N James Kelly (GEEL), 2007, 2009, 2011 G James Podsiadly (GEEL), 2011 W James Morrissey (HAW), 1988, 1989, 1991 O James Frawley (HAW), 2014 O D Mason Cox Would be the first Mason

Jack Crisp Over 10 previous players

Jordan de Goey Jordan Lewis (HAW), 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015 (WB), 2016

Tyson Goldsack (ADEL), 1997, 1998 Tyson Stenglein (WCE), 2006

Levi Greenwood Would be the first Levi

Brodie Grundy Would be the first Brodie

Will Hoskin-Elliott (HAW), 2014

Jeremy Howe Would be the first Jeremy

Tom Langdon Over 10 previous players

Brayden Maynard Would be the first Brayden

Chris Mayne Over 10 previous players

Brody Mihocek Would be the first Brody

Scott Pendlebury Over 10 previous players

Tom Phillips See Tom Langdon

Steele Sidebottom Only Steele to do so

Brayden Sier See Brayden Maynard

Jaidyn Stephenson Would be the first Jaidyn C Josh Thomas (GEEL), 2007, 2011 O Josh Gibson (HAW), 2013, 2014, 2015 L (PT A), 2004 L (PT A), 2004 I (RICH), 2017 N Josh Kennedy (SYD), 2012 G Josh Dunkley (WB), 2016 W O Adam Treloar (ESS), 2000 O Adam Simpson (NM), 1996, 1999 D (PT A), 2004 Adam Goodes (SYD), 2005, 2012 (SYD), 2005 (WCE), 2006 (WCE), 2006

Travis Varcoe (COLL), 2010 Travis Payze (ST K), 1966

W Tom Barrass See Tom Langdon E S Tom Cole See Tom Langdon T Jamie Cripps (BL), 2003 C Jamie Turner (COLL), 1990 O A Jack Darling See Jack Crisp S T Liam Duggan (HAW), 2013, 2014, 2015 (WB), 2016

Shannon Hurn (GEEL), 2007, 2009 (NM), 1999 Shannon Motlop (NM), 1999

Mark Hutchings Over 10 previous players

Lewis Jetta Lewis Roberts-Thomson (SYD), 2005, 2012

Josh Kennedy See Josh Thomas

Mark LeCras See Mark Hutchings

Scott Lycett See Scott Pendlebury

Chris Masten See Chris Mayne

Jeremy McGovern See Jeremy Howe

Jack Redden See Jack Crisp

Willie Rioli Would be the first Willie

Liam Ryan See Liam Duggan

Will Schofield See Will Hoskin-Elliott

Dom Sheed Would be the first Dom

Luke Shuey (BL), 2001, 2002, 2003 Luke Ball (COLL), 2010 Luke Hodge (HAW), 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015 W (HAW), 2013, 2014, 2015 E (SYD), 2012 S (SYD), 2005 T (WB), 2016

C Nathan Vardy Nathan Brown (COLL), 2010 O Nathan Ablett (GEEL), 2007 A (RICH), 2017 S T Daniel Venables (BL), 2001, 2003 (RICH), 2017 Daniel Kerr (WCE), 2006 (WCE), 2006

Elliot Yeo Would be first Elliot

Bite-Sized Statistics

● So far, under our current Top 8 system, there have been four seasons where the Grand Final opponents had met in a qualifying final. And in all of them, the qualifying final loser has won the Grand Final: ○ In 2003, Collingwood beat Brisbane in the qualifying final, before Brisbane beat Collingwood in the Grand Final. ○ In 2005, West Coast beat Sydney in the qualifying final, before Sydney beat West Coast in the Grand Final. ○ In 2006, Sydney beat West Coast in the qualifying final, before West Coast beat Sydney in the Grand Final. ○ In 2015, West Coast beat Hawthorn in the qualifying final, before Hawthorn beat West Coast in the Grand Final. ○ In 2018, West Coast beat Collingwood in the qualifying final… (this was researched by @AndrewGigacz, Twitter statistics extraordinaire and anagram fan) ● Every team that has drafted a Rioli has won the Grand Final within three years: ○ In 1990, Hawthorn drafted Willie Rioli Sr., before winning the 1991 premiership. ○ In 1998, Essendon (rookie) drafted , before winning the 2000 premiership. ○ In 2007, Hawthorn drafted Cyril Rioli, before winning the 2008 flag. ○ In 2015, Richmond drafted Daniel Rioli, before winning the 2017 flag. ○ In 2016, West Coast drafted Willie Rioli Jr…. (researched by @maxlaughton, journalist) ● West Coast have won the premiership in every Year of the Dog they’ve been playing in the AFL - previously we have 1994 and 2006, and 2018 is another one. ● The most players with surnames starting with S in a Grand Final is 10, in 2015 (five players from each side). ● On the flipside, 1902, 1927, 1928, 1930, and 1960 had zero players start with S. ● Eight Grand Finals have had both teams reach a prime number score: 1903, 1904, 1910, 1933, 1990, 2004, 2015, and 2016. ● The longest streak of unique premierships is six years. From 1963 to 1968, and 2003 to 2008, no team won more than one premiership. ● Out of the fourteen players to kick seven or more goals in a Grand Final, four of them were on the losing team (Tom Reynolds 1943, Dermott Brereton 1985, Gary Ablett 1989, and Stephen Kernahan 1993). ● is the only person to win multiple flags for multiple teams, winning the 1898-99 Fitzroy flags and 1906-07 Carlton premierships. ● Eight of Geelong’s nine premierships have been in odd numbered years. ● The most scoring shots in a Grand Final by one player is 11, by Ted Fordham (7.4 in 1965), Kevin Bartlett (7.4 in 1980), Leigh Matthews (6.5 in 1983) and Stephen Kernahan (6.4 in 1993). ● Bill James (Richmond) has the shortest career to include a premiership. He played one game, the 1920 Grand Final. ● The shortest two-premiership career is that of George Rawle, who played 19 games for Essendon from 1923-1925. ● And Albert Lauder (Collingwood) has the shortest three-premiership career, playing 36 games across three seasons, including the 1928, 1929, and 1930 premierships. ● Only one margin has occurred in consecutive Grand Finals: 35 (in 1998 and 1999). ● Despite the above, several scores have occured in consecutive Grand Finals: ​ ​ ● 45 (Fitzroy in 1906 and South Melbourne in 1907 ● 45 again (Carlton in 1914 and Collingwood in 1915) ● 60 (Hawthorn in 1963 and Collingwood in 1964) ● 68 (St Kilda in 2009 and both teams in the 2010 draw) ● 78 (Collingwood in 1935 and South Melbourne in 1936) ● 81 (Collingwood in 2011 and Hawthorn in 2012)