Pure Footy: David King, Daniel Hoyne lift lid on footy stats, trends after Round 20

Look out Dogs, Demons and Cats fans. The Swans are coming hard, and one key stat reveals why they could be a shock premiership threat. Watch Pure Footy.

Sydney is timing its run and is starting to look a lot like recent premiers West Coast and Richmond.

The Swans are on a five-game winning streak and Champion Data analyst Daniel Hoyne says if they can pinch a top-four spot, “they are a serious threat”.

“Against the best this year their percentage is 129 per cent, which is the best of any team in the competition,” he said on a new episode of Pure Footy, the weekly analysis show exclusive to heraldsun.com.au.

Hoyne said 13 of the past 14 premiers rated in the top three for points differential from turnovers and the Swans currently rank third in that stat behind Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs.

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But another stat stands out even more — Sydney ranks No.1 for ball movement and No.2 for restricting opposition ball movement — “unbelievable” numbers.

They are two of Champion Data’s four “premiership pillars” with the Swans ranked further down the ladder in contested possessions, another key metric.

But the Eagles and Tigers both had a similar profile before firing on all cylinders in September.

Lance Franklin and the Swans are coming.

“We’ve seen history with West Coast and Richmond, who have won four of the past five flags — they were great ball movement teams, but their contest work was average to below average in the home-and-away season,” Hoyne said.

“But what they were able to do in finals was take their contest game and elevate it ... and because their ball movement game was unbelievable, it won them flags.

“If you think about it, if you’re able to win the ball more often than the opposition, then on the back of that you’re one of the best ball movement teams in the competition, you’re almost unbeatable.”

Also on this week’s show, Hoyne and North Melbourne champion David King discuss why Port Adelaide is “coming with a bullet”, Essendon’s defensive problems, how Geelong solved its ruck conundrum, they surprise Melbourne forward under pressure and more.

Originally published as Pure Footy: David King, Daniel Hoyne lift lid on footy stats, trends after Round 20