From the weekend's Sunday Herald-Sun ....The Herald Sun can reveal that West Coast is the best team in terms of Champion Data's exclusive "Hit Rate" measurement, which rates AFL players on the percentage of kicks that hit the target based on the degree of difficulty of the kick.
This is the second year that Champion Data has used this criteria to measure both field kicking and kicking for goal, and in the first bracket the Eagles have gone from being rated from 10th last season (with a +0.3% rating) to outright first so far in 2012 (with +4.6%).
On the measurement for all players with 100 kicks or more, and based on the first 14 rounds, Eagle Shannon Hurn rates as a clear leader ahead of Brisbane Lion Josh Drummond, Geelong's Corey Enright, Collingwood pair Heath Shaw and Steele Sidebottom (below) and North Melbourne's Brent Harvey.
All kicks - 2012Player Club Position Kicks Exp Hit Rate Rating
Chris Newman Richmond Gen Def 151 71.7% 75.5% +3.8%
Brett Deledio Richmond Mid 158 53.2% 55.4% +2.2%
Reece Conca Richmond Mid 102 64.2% 65.7% +1.4%
Reece Conca Richmond Mid 102 64.2% 65.7% +1.4%
Robin Nahas Richmond Gen Fwd 100 51.7% 53.0% +1.4%
Shaun Grigg Richmond Mid 154 60.9% 62.1% +1.2%
Bachar Houli Richmond Gen Def 134 64.0% 64.9% +1.0%
Trent Cotchin Richmond Mid 157 57.1% 56.4% -0.7%
Shane Tuck Richmond Mid 100 59.0% 57.0% -2.0%
Alex Rance Richmond Key Def 131 68.4% 66.4% -2.0%
Dustin Martin Richmond Mid Fwd 147 53.8% 51.3% -2.5%
Daniel Jackson Richmond Mid 103 53.6% 48.5% -5.0%
Goal kickingTrent Cotchin Richmond Mid 26 42.3% 46.6% +4.3%
Jack Riewoldt Richmond Key Fwd 69 53.2% 53.3% +0.1%
Shane Edwards Richmond Mid 28 48.2% 45.0% -3.2%
Brett Deledio Richmond Mid 26 44.3% 40.2% -4.1%
Brad Miller Richmond Key Fwd 26 54.7% 50.0% -4.7%
Robin Nahas Richmond Gen Fwd 35 47.7% 39.5% -8.1%
Dustin Martin Richmond Mid Fwd 42 46.2% 36.9% -9.4%
Daniel Jackson Richmond Mid 21 39.0% 28.6% -10.5%
nb.
Kicks = total number of kicks by the player.
Exp = expected (average) hit-rate across the AFL for the kicks the player had.
Hit-rate = player's individual hit-rate.
Rating = Hit-rate - Exp.
Full list at: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/best-kicks-in-the-afl-revealed/story-fn7si1k5-1226419850156