Stats Confidential with Mark Stevens
06 June 2007 Herald-Sun
Mark Stevens
REJOICE Tiger fans, your team is No. 1 in the league. The bad news is that it's in a category that barely matters, Mark Stevens writes.
This year, it is in-the-back. Last year, it was coast-to-coast.
In the hysterical world of AFL football, there is always something for coaches and scaremongers to bleat about.
Remember how the quick kick-in rule was going to change the game forever?
Everyone was warning about a rush of coast-to-coast goals set up by quick kick-ins from behinds.
The experts said the best sides with fleet-footed, silky defenders were going to exploit it.
Those without the gifted runners were going to be forced into ugly flooding tactics. The gap between the good and bad would only widen.
Well, for all the fuss, the feared coast-to-coast curse has been a non-event.
Richmond is the best team this year at turning kick-ins into goals with an unbroken chain of possessions.
Yes, you read it right.
The Tigers are yet to win a game, sitting last on the ladder, but can hang their hat on being the most explosive attackers from kick-ins.
And guess who is last for coast-to-coast goals in 2007?
West Coast, the premiership favourite, which has lost only two games.
You don't need a degree in physics to realise that proves there is no correlation between the best kick-in sides and places on the ladder.
Richmond has kicked 16.11 directly from kick-ins, with the Tigers helping themselves to three coast-to-coast goals against the Brisbane Lions on Saturday night.
Joel Bowden is the king of the re-entry. He has taken kick-in duties 77 times for a direct result of 10.4 at the other end.
When Chris Newman gets his hands on the ball at full-back, the Tigers are almost as deadly.
Newman has been the first link in coast-to-coast scores nine times for a total of 4.5.
The mighty West Coast, in total, has managed only 6.3 from all its kick-ins.
Further smashing the coast-to-coast myth, struggling Carlton is second on the table with 16.9 from kick-ins.
Sydney, the grand finalist of the past two years, is second last with 7.6, ahead of only old enemy West Coast.
The Western Bulldogs, once renowned as dynamite from kick-ins, have come back to the field.
The Dogs have managed 12.5, with the sweet-kicking Lindsay Gilbee providing the first link in 5.3.
Gilbee once had a mortgage on top spot, but is now seventh on the list for creating scores from kick-ins.
Essendon's Dustin Fletcher is second on the kick-in table behind Bowden, generating 7.8.
Brent Guerra has proved an inspired trade choice by Hawthorn, if only for his kick-ins.
Guerra's re-entries have produced 6.9 at the other end of the ground.
The freewheeling Blues are worst at defending kick-ins, allowing 18.11 against them from coast-to-coast assaults.
The Kangaroos are the second worst at switching into defensive mode, conceding 18.7. Essendon has let through 17.8 from kick-ins.
It is no surprise that the stingy Crows and Swans lead the way at ensuring they brick-wall kick-ins.
The Swans have conceded just 5.6 from coast-to-coast attacks and Adelaide 6.9.
For all the headlines and criticism last year, teams average only 1.07 goals a game directly from kick-ins in 2007.
So much for the floodgates swinging open.
The face of the rules committee, Kevin Bartlett, would be praying the in-the-back controversy disappears just as quickly.
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