If you’re a bit of a stat-head, or just a footy tragic like me, things like this are right up your alley.
I love finding little things in the game – stat combinations that give you an indication of just how dominant, or surprising as the case may be, some players are. And also, who are reputed as being great, but don’t stack up to their peers.
In Round Ten, we were treated to a few huge games. Isaac Heeney and Brodie Grundy both had nights out against the Pies, whilst Clayton Oliver and Harley Reid went head-to-head in the midfield in the final game of the ground.
You could that Reid and Oliver drew in terms of their personal matchup, but only one of them made the 30-20-10 Club
Harley missed by one contested possession, finishing with 19 for the game, but Oliver has rocketed back to relevence, with a monster outing of 38 disposals, 24 contested possessions, and 12 clearances.
Ah yes… another one of HB’s infamous clubs. This one is a little less difficult to get into, believe it or not. Still not easy, by any stretch, but it has quite a few members.
30+ disposals, 20+ contested possessions, and 10+ clearances. That’s the series of numbers I start to get excited about. That’s the standard for the inside mid.
So I got to digging. Who were the Kings of the 30-20-10 Club, and who were the most surprising players to have reached that stat achievement?
Of course, I am asking questions I know the answer to, and of course, I am going to share those answers with you.
The first player to record one of these games was Wayne Campbell, back in 1999. In Round 15 against the Eagles, Campbell had a blinder, picking up 41 touches, 20 contested possessions, and 12 clearances. It was the first year that contested possessions were recorded officially, so whilst there may be games before this that were just as impressive, we can only go by the official stats. It was one of the three times that Campbell notched 41 touches in his career, but he never made it back into the 30-20-10 Club again.
So, given that, who are the best repeat performers?
Clayton Oliver and Patrick Cripps are the modern masters of this series of stats, and they look set to continue their battle for supremacy as both men find form again this season.
Other players of note in terms of repeat efforts – Josh P Kennedy, Patrick Dangerfield, Lachie Neale, The Little Master, Nat Fyfe, Ben Cunnington, and Tom Liberatore.
The most surprising members?
Maybe Tony Woods, who picked up a 32/21/10 game back in 2000 for the Hawks against West Coast?
Or Daisy Thomas, who notched 30/20/11 against the Suns in 2012. It was the same game that Gary Ablett went for 53 touches.
Who else? Mitch Robinson once had a monster 35/26/13 game. It was the game that afforded him the highest-ever ranked game in our Robert Flower Wingman of the Year Award at the time
Eagles fans… Chris Masten got one! 39/20/11 back in 2013. Far out… Nowhere near Matt Priddis’ efforts, but that did surprise me.
But the weirdest of all?
James Magner.
He played 19 games for the Demons across 2012/13 and had one monstrous outing in Round Two of 2013, against West Coast, where he picked up 32/20/11. What happened to that bloke.
Here’s the complete list
18x Clayton Oliver
17x Patrick Cripps
15x Josh P Kennedy
13x Patrick Dangerfield, Lachie Neale
11x Gary Ablett, Nat Fyfe
10x Ben Cunnington, Tom Liberatore
7x Rory Laird, Matt Priddis, Jack Macrae
5x Daniel Kerr, Anthony Koutoufides, Tom Mitchell, Scott Thompson, Tom Green
4x Chris Judd, Jarryd Lyons, Tom Rockliff, Rory Sloane, Jobe Watson, Scott West, Caleb Serong, Matt Rowell
3x Dayne Beams, Simon Black, Marcus Bontempelli, Tim Kelly, Sam Mitchell, Scott Pendlebury, Brett Ratten, Dane Swan, Adam Treloar, Brodie Grundy
2x Shaun Burgoyne, Trent Cotchin, Nick Daicos, Robbie Gray, Dustin Martin, Touk Miller, David Mundy, Marc Murphy, Luke Parker, Dom Sheed, Luke Shuey, George Hewett, Zak Butters, Steele Sidebottom, Tristan Xerri
1x Taylor Adams, Paul Ahern, Michael Barlow, Travis Boak, Jude Bolton, Matthew Boyd, Jared Brennan, Will Brodie, Josh Caddy, Wayne Campbell, Brad Crouch, Ed Curnow, Josh Dunley, Adrian Fletcher, Josh Francou, Rob Harvey, Paul Haselby, Jacob Hopper, Steve Johnson, Josh Kelly, Brett Kirk, James Magner, Chris Masten, Brent Moloney, Leigh Montagna, Jaeger O’Meara, Ryan O’Keefe, Darcy Parish, Luke Power, Dion Presta, Mitch Robinson, James Rowbottom, Joel Selwood, Jy Simpkin, Andrew Swallow, David Swallow, Tim Taranto, Dale Thomas, Jack Viney, Callan Ward, Ollie Wines, Tony Woods, James Worpel, Elliot Yeo, Dayne Zorko, Isaac Heeney, Brodie Grundy, Jai Newcombe, Noah Anderson, Bailey Smith.
And screw it, a bit of self-promotion – we’ve done our 40/20/10 Club, it has 55 games that have made the cut, with Ablett leading (x6) from Neale (x5), then Oliver (x4) and Kennedy (x4).
A 50/20/10 club is one I haven’t done. It’d be a short article and would have just one bloke in it – Lachie Neale (x1)
So, how about that. Nice stat working there, HB.
Thanks… I try hard.
Of the current players in the league, the only ones I could see challenging Cripps and Oliver at some stage, are Tom Green when he gets back, and Matt Rowell, given the way he thrashes around to win a contested footy. Lachie Neale is an outside chance, as well, but I fear that unless he has a blinding run, he’ll always sit behind the two leaders.
As always, massive thanks to those who support this work. You can see the amount of care that goes into it. I love footy, I love writing about it, and I hope you enjoy reading it. Without you, this whole thing falls over. Sincerely… thank you – HB
Like this content? You could buy me a coffee – I do like coffee, but there is no guarantee I won’t use it to buy a doughnut… I like them more. And I am not brought to you by Sportsbet or Ladbrokes… or Bet365, or any of them.
