Useless AFL Stats: 10 outrageous footy stats you didn’t know
We guarantee you have never even thought of these footy stats. There’s a stack of themes, with some having a coronavirus flavour. And one of them involves Bombers livewire Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti.
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What began as a challenge has become an obscure footy goldmine.
After annoying his friends with meaningless AFL facts and statistics, footy nut and stats aficionado Aaron Delaporte set it upon himself in April, 2019 to create a Facebook page dedicated to these seemingly useless nuggets.
And that is how the page ‘Useless AFL Stats’ was born.
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“The page started as a bit of a personal challenge after sensing my friends on an AFL chat group were getting a bit tired of the obscure stats I was banging on about.” Delaporte said.
“I was interested to see how fellow AFL fans would react and have been pleasantly surprised ever since.”
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE BEST FROM USELESS AFL STATS
His first post on the page – about the hitout numbers of former Eagles star Peter Matera – attracted just two likes.
A year later, the page is now closing in on 25,000 followers, leaving footy fans in awe with these ridiculous yet pointless, gems.
For those familiar with the page, it will come as a shock that Delaporte, a 45-year-old office manager in the sports industry, has no background in statistics himself.
But the page has upped its game since data scientist Liam, 21, came on board, owning the AFL shutdown with a variety of coronavirus themed stats.
“Liam came into the picture in January 2020 when he messaged the page asking about how I had worked one of the stats out,” Delaporte explained.
“I quickly realised he had some advanced skills in maths and calculating stats that would be an asset to the page so invited him to join as a co-admin.
“Liam’s background in statistics allows us to develop new ways to calculate our useless stats.”
Delaporte admits he has a “slightly warped, weird and unconventional” way of looking at things.
But that’s what has made this page so popular among fans of the game.
Here are 10 of the best from ‘Useless AFL Stats’, all with their own unique flavour.
1. QWarrenTeen.
The most disposals by players named Warren as teenagers.
Warren Tredrea (Port Adelaide) 179
Warren Campbell (Nth Melbourne) 80
Warren Lee (Hawthorn) 50
2. Hand San
Nick Dal Santo has pumped out the most handballs total – 3177 and per game at 9.87 – of any SAN surnamed player in AFL history.
All SAN players (1965 onwards) ranked by average Handballs
Nick Dal Santo (St K/Nth M) 9.87
Aaron Sandilands (Frem) 8.23
Eddie Sansbury (Nth M) 5.13
Brenton Sanderson (Adel/Coll/Geel) 4.70
Glenn Sandford (Coll) 3.20
Will Sangster (Syd) 2.00
Laurie Sandliands (W Bull/Coll) 1.91
Reg Sanders (Nth M) 1.43
3. 20 Glen 20s
There have been 20 players named Glen(n) to have recorded exactly 20 disposals in an AFL game. Ross Glendinning heads the list having done it fifteen times. The top five are:
Ross Glendinning (Nth Melb./WCE) 15
Glen Jakovich (WCE) 14
Glenn Kilpatrick (Ess/Geelong) 13
Glenn Hawker (Ess/Carlton) 13
Glenn Coleman (Fitz/Syd/W Bull.) 10
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4. COVID-19
Brisbane’s Brandon Starcevich is the only current AFL player with the letters C-O-V-I-D in his name – he was 19 when he debuted. Fitzroy’s David McMahon has played the most games for COVID players wearing 19 – he played 218 games for the Lions. Victor Davis (Carlton) and Vic Gordon (S K/Melb./Carl) both played exactly 19 AFL games.
5. SCABBLE STATS
Geelong’s Jake Kolodjashnij is the only AFL player ever with three J’s in his name and holds the current highest score in scrabble for a players full name with 49 points. He is just ahead of Hawthorn’s 2018 pick 52 Jacob Koschitzke with 48. Port Adelaide ruck/forward Wylie Buzza has the highest scrabble average with 3.6 points per letter. At the other end of the scale a number of players have just 10 points, however Sydney’s Aliir Aliir is the only one with all 1pt letters.
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6. UP AND ADAM
Adam Tomlinson’s debut for Melbourne in Round 1 2020 saw him become the first ‘Adam’ to play for the Demons. Melbourne have had Adem Yze and Addam Maric play previously. This leaves just Hawthorn as the only club not to have an Adam play for them.
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7. THE MAYNE CHAIRMAN
Chris Mayne became the first player to chair off two different 6 x All Australian’s in milestone matches. With Steele Sidebottom he chaired off Scott Pendlebury after his 300th in their qualifying final win over Geelong in 2019, while in Round 19 2016, he combined with David Mundy to chair off Matthew Pavlich in his 350th.
8. THE PERFECT HYPHEN
Replacing each letter of the alphabet with the corresponding number i.e. a=1, b=2, c=3 and using the hyphen as a minus sign, Richmond’s Callum Coleman-Jones is the only ever hyphenated AFL player name to calculate to zero. Coleman-Jones calculates as: (3+15+12+5+13+1+14)-(10+15+14+5+19) or 63-63 = 0.
The most positive player is Carlton’s Sam Petrevski-Seton (+52), while the most negative is Dons livewire Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti (-80).
9. LEFT HAND BRAD
Brad Ebert holds the AFL record for most games at 247 (West Coast 76, Port Adelaide 171) for a player whose name can be typed with your left hand on a keyboard using conventional keyboard typing techniques.
10. DOUBLE GINGER
Brisbane’s Todd Banfield and Daniel Merrett are the only ginger haired players to have kicked goals in back-to-back away games in front of the exact same crowd figure. In 2012, Brisbane played at the MCG in Round 1 against Melbourne and then travelled to Perth in Round 3 to face Fremantle at Subiaco Oval. Both of those matches had a crowd of exactly 33,473 people. Brisbane defeated Melbourne by 41 points but lost to the Dockers by 29. Banfield kicked 3 and 1 while Merrett kicked 2 and 1 in the respective games to be the only players to kick goals in both matches.
Originally published as Useless AFL Stats: 10 outrageous footy stats you didn’t know
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