North Melbourne, Richmond among teams with notable ‘crap gap’, difference between best and worst Max Laughton
FOX SPORTS
August 12, 2015 5:15PMA WEEK after shocking Hawthorn, the Tigers looked awful in a Friday night loss to Adelaide.
So in a press conference early this week, captain Trent Cotchin was asked if that inconsistency was simply ‘trademark Richmond’.
“I don’t even knows what ‘typical Richmond’ means. We know what’s expected of us, and we didn’t provide it (against the Crows last Friday night),” Cotchin said.
“You look at our eight to 10 weeks prior to that, I thought we were pretty steady.”
Footy fans, you may find this hard to believe, but Cotchin is right. Richmond has been the most consistent team in the AFL in 2015, at least according to the ‘crap gap’.
What is the crap gap? It’s a measure comparing the difference between a club’s best and worst footy.
A ‘game’ crap gap explains the difference between their best and worst performance for the season. A ‘season’ crap gap measures the difference between their average win and their average loss across the season.
In both categories, Richmond is declared the team least likely to have huge fluctuations in their performance, at least on the scoreboard.
Yes, Richmond has the smallest crap gap of any club.
The Tigers’ biggest win for the season was by 79 points (against Brisbane in Round 3) and their largest loss for the year was by 36 points (last week’s loss to Adelaide). That total is tied for the smallest game crap gap with Collingwood, who also sits on 115.
So, while the Tiger train has been on a bumpy ride this season — they started the year with 2-4 before winning eight of the next nine games — the score hasn’t reflected this rollercoaster nature.
The team with the biggest fluctuation between its absolute best footy and dreadful worst is St Kilda, whose 110-point thumping of Essendon in Round 14 contrasts poorly with their 74-point loss to Collingwood in Round 3.
Carlton is close behind the Saints with a gap of 178 points, between its 40-point win over St Kilda in Round 4 and its 138-point thrashing by Hawthorn in Round 17.
Meanwhile, the Tigers are most consistent side over the entire season, based on the difference between their average winning margin and average losing margin.
Richmond’s wins have come at average of 25 points and their losses by 22.14 points, a total four points lower than the next most consistent side, Port Adelaide (average win by 27.25 points, average loss by 23.9 points).
What won’t surprise many is the club at the top of the list for most inconsistent over the season — the famously up-and-down Kangaroos.
North Melbourne in 2015 has won on average by 40.64 points but lost on average by 43.71 points for a massive total of 84.35.
Huge losses to Adelaide (77 points), Fremantle (73) and Hawthorn (60) left the footy world suggesting the Roos were pretenders.
But they also enjoyed dominant wins over bottom sides Brisbane (82 and 72 points in their two meetings) and Carlton (64).
Gold Coast is close behind on a total of 84.26, with two of its three wins for the season being over 50 points. But the Suns’ average losing margin just below 40.
The Blues are high on both lists. Their season crap gap is fifth highest, with their three wins coming on average by 26 points, but their 15 losses averaging a margin of 48.53 (the highest in the AFL).
GAME CRAP GAP
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LARGEST WIN AND LARGEST LOSS (IN 2015)ST KILDA — 184 points
CARLTON — 178
ESSENDON — 168
WESTERN BULLDOGS — 167
GWS GIANTS — 165
NORTH MELBOURNE — 159
GOLD COAST SUNS — 156
HAWTHORN — 156
SYDNEY SWANS — 149
FREMANTLE — 145
MELBOURNE — 144
GEELONG CATS — 139
ADELAIDE CROWS — 134
PORT ADELAIDE — 127
WEST COAST EAGLES — 122
BRISBANE LIONS — 119
COLLINGWOOD — 115
RICHMOND — 115
SEASON CRAP GAP
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AVERAGE WINNING MARGIN AND AVERAGE LOSING MARGINNORTH MELBOURNE — 84.35 POINTS
GOLD COAST SUNS — 84.26
FREMANTLE — 77.13
GEELONG CATS — 75.96
CARLTON — 74.53
GWS GIANTS — 72.9
MELBOURNE — 72.33
ST KILDA — 71.33
HAWTHORN — 70.17
WEST COAST EAGLES — 68.54
ADELAIDE CROWS — 68.34
BRISBANE LIONS — 67.25
SYDNEY SWANS — 66.25
WESTERN BULLDOGS — 63.75
COLLINGWOOD — 58.99
ESSENDON — 57.48
PORT ADELAIDE — 51.15
RICHMOND — 47.14
http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-premiership/north-melbourne-richmond-among-teams-with-notable-crap-gap-difference-between-best-and-worst/story-e6frf3e3-1227480696338
