Collingwood high on 2016 hurt ladder but Fremantle biggest losers due to injuries
FREMANTLE are in a class of their own when it comes to injuries in 2016 but the “hurt ladder” also shines on Collingwood. WHERE DOES YOUR CLUB RANK?
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THIS is the document Nathan Buckley would want slipped under the boardroom door at Collingwood.
It gives an excuse for the Magpies’ plight and sells hope for 2017.
It also pours more scorn on Richmond and illuminates Adelaide’s golden path to September.
As for Hawthorn? Well, it adds yet another exclamation mark to the champion’s mighty season.
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Welcome to the hurt ladder of 2016.
For the first time, every game a player has missed through injury has been recorded alongside a quality measure showing the direct scoreboard impact.
It is no surprise Fremantle is on top.
Between Nat Fyfe, Aaron Sandilands, Harley Bennell and Michael Johnson the Dockers have lost 55 games and counting this season.
In total the Dockers have missed 193 games for an estimated loss of a whopping 538 points on the scoreboard.
But it is the Magpies who are second for scoreboard pain.
In total, 28 Magpies have been nursed back to health this year.
The Pies’ list is led by Jamie Elliott, Matthew Scharenberg (both 17), Dane Swan (16) and Jackson Ramsay (15) and includes Alex Fasolo, Taylor Adams and Travis Varcoe (all 5).
Ouch.
Under Champion Data’s secret herbs and spices formula, the Pies have forgone 304 points.
That equates to 50 goals — or, about three every game.
“At times it feels like we’re on the treadmill or treading water a little bit,” Buckley said earlier this year.
“We’re pretty banged up. In some ways we would like to be selecting a more experienced 22.
“There are eight or nine guys that are out of the side through injury mainly that would be in our best 22.”
He wasn’t kidding.
Compare the Pies to indestructible Adelaide. The Crows have lost just 48 points in 17 games.
Why such a low number of points? Well, of the 86 games Adelaide players have been unavailable, none have belonged to stars.
Coach Don Pyke has basically had a full squad to choose from each week.
Riley Knight (10 games) and Rory Laird (5) have been the only real losses, with recruits Curtly Hampton (15) and Troy Menzel (6) no certainties to feature.
GWS surprisingly ranks third for most games missed, although that does include Cameron McCarthy (17) who walked out pre-season.
And Gold Coast is No. 2 for absent games on the back of the knee crisis which claimed Jaeger O’Meara, David Swallow and Dion Prestia.
AFL INJURY LADDER
NB: Points lost is estimate of score forfeited by players missing through injury, weighted to quality of player
Source: CHAMPION DATA
The Western Bulldogs are only marginally behind the Hawks and Giants for top-eight clubs.
But when you drill further there is little doubt they are even worse off than their September counterparts.
The Dogs’ loss of 116 games and 233 points does not factor in Stewart Crameri’s drugs suspension.
Nor does it detail the dense positional nature of their crammed medical room. If you’re a defender at the Dogs, chances are you’ve bled this season.
Tonight the Dogs will trot out their 20th backline player with Bob Murphy (14), Jason Johannisen (9), Marcus Adams (6), Easton Wood (5) and Matthew Suckling (4) all missing chunks.
Murphy is gone for the season and while Johannisen and Wood are back, Suckling and Adams have suffered fresh injuries and will tonight be joined by sidelined veterans Dale Morris and Matthew Boyd.
Given the backline overlap, the hurt has been magnified at the Dogs. Not even Bucks can feel that sort of pain.
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