Best and worst tackling teams revealed in The Drill podcast

NATHAN Buckley couldn’t hide his frustration with Collingwood’s tackling last weekend — and these numbers reveal he had every reason to blow his stack. WHERE DOES YOUR TEAM RANK?

Scott Selwood brings down Luke Parker in a big tackle.

WHEN is a tackle a tackle?

The perception is it is laying physical contact on a player with the ball. Right? Wrong. As explained on this week’s edition of The Drill, a tackle must impact the play.

“If you’re tackling an opponent and he gets an effective handball away to his teammate, the tackle doesn’t count,” Champion Data’s Daniel Hoyne said.

“It hasn’t actually impacted the play.”

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Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley was frustrated at his side’s poor tackling efficiency against Port Adelaide on Sunday.

The Magpies went at just 57 per cent tackle efficiency — the percentage of attempted tackles that are actually effective — down on their season average of 67. Geelong leads the way for tackling efficiency, and it is no surprise with Scott Selwood and Patrick Dangerfield the best in the business.

Ollie Wines slips a Jack Crisp tackle.

Scott Selwood and Sam Menegola tackle Tiger Dustin Martin.

Selwood, who is on track to break the tackle average record in one season, is clearly the most efficient tackler in the game.

The former West Coast midfielder has attempted 128 tackles this season and stuck 81.3 per cent of them.

On this week’s edition of The Drill, Hoyne and the Herald Sun’s Sam Landsberger analyse St Kilda’s stagnating list, preview the Crows v Swans and Power v Dogs crunch games and drill into the league’s best ball movement teams.

Exclusive numbers show why the Swans are perched to upset Adelaide and how desperately the Power and Dogs need a scalp, with the clubs combining for just four wins from 19 matches against top-eight sides.

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TACKLE EFFICIENCY

CLUB	ATTEMPTS	RANK	EFFICIENCY	RANK
Geelong	104.6	7	71.1%	1
Western Bulldogs	103.8	9	68.8%	2
Melbourne	106.7	5	68.5%	3
North Melbourne	104	8	67.8%	4
GWS Giants	102.2	11	67.5%	5
Sydney Swans	101.0	14	67.3%	6
Collingwood	101.8	12	66.5%	7
Port Adelaide	102.3	10	66.3%	8
Adelaide	108.3	1	65.8%	9
Carlton	108.2	2	65.1%	10
Gold Coast	95.7	18	65.1%	11
Richmond	105.5	6	64.9%	12
Essendon	98.1	17	64.9%	13
Hawthorn	107.5	4	64.7%	14
St Kilda	108.2	3	64.3%	15
Brisbane Lions	99.5	16	63%	16
West Coast	100.7	15	62.9%	17
Fremantle	101.4	13	62.3%	18

TOP 10 TACKLERS

	PLAYER	CLUB	ATTEMPTS	EFFICIENCY
1	Scott Selwood	Geelong	128	81.3%
2	Patrick Dangerfield	Geelong	150	74.7%
3	Jack Viney	Melbourne	169	74.6%
4	Scott Pendlebury	Collingwood	141	73%
5	Jack Steele	St Kilda	191	72.8%
6	Matt Priddis	West Coast	181	72.4%
7	Jack Ziebell	North Melb	148	72.3%
8	Josh Kelly	GWS Giants	169	72.2%
9	Brad Ebert	Port Adelaide	201	72.1%
10	Marcus Bontempelli	W Bulldogs	180	71.7%