Pure Footy: David King and Daniel Hoyne lift lid on AFL trends, stats after Round 14

One team has lost 80 more points on the scoreboard to injury than any other this season. And the other end of the health ladder tells a story, too. Watch Pure Footy.

Fans of teams at the lower end of the eight and just outside it should give up hopes of West Coast falling out of the finals race.

That’s the view of Champion Data analyst Daniel Hoyne after analysing the number of games lost to injury by every club this season.

Speaking on Pure Footy, the weekly video show exclusive to heraldsun.com.au, Hoyne said the injury ladder revealed several key insights for teams in contention this year — and one team that isn’t.

WATCH A NEW EPISODE OF PURE FOOTY IN THE PLAYER ABOVE

The ladder is calculated using Champion Data’s AFL player ratings. If, for example, Nic Naitanui (who averages 20 AFL ratings points) misses a game and is replaced by Nathan Vardy (average five ratings points), West Coast has lost 15 points.

“They (the Eagles) have lost 284 points on the scoreboard to injury this year. That’s 80 points more than any other team in the competition,” Hoyne said.

“For those that are putting West Coast up as a team that’s vulnerable, put a line through that. They’re not vulnerable any more, in my opinion, because they’ve got to eight wins, five losses and the band’s back now.

“They haven’t been at full-strength at all this year, so now they’re in a position to launch.”

Eagles captain Luke Shuey (right) is set to return from injury his week.

Fremantle (-204 points) is ranked second on the ladder of points lost to injury, followed by North Melbourne and St Kilda (both -198).

At the other end of the ladder is Melbourne, which has lost just 88 points to injury this season.

“Melbourne has been least effected by injury, Geelong is the third-least effected, Port Adelaide the fourth-least, Brisbane fifth-least — they’re all contending for a flag,” Hoyne said. “Carlton — second-least impacted by injury this year.”

Co-host David King said the ladder provided an opportunity for the Demons, but they had to make the most of it.

“Health is your best player when you get to the finals,” he said.

“Melbourne must rest players in the back half of the year, even if it’s just to (reduce) the risk of losing a Max Gawn or a Clayton Oliver or a Christian Petracca. Give them a week off and make sure they are absolutely cherry ripe because that’s going to decide the premiership.”

King and Hoyne also reveal the impact of injuries to Josh Dunkley and Adam Treloar on the Bulldogs plus some rare positives for Carlton (and two major negatives), why GWS is still in the finals hunt, why Willie Rioli could make a big difference in finals, and more.

See the full injury ladder in this week’s episode of Pure Footy.