Shark Week

There’s a lot still to chew through in the data behind last week’s ruck piece.

Given that Shark Week starts this Sunday this topic seems only fitting.

For those unaware, Champion Data gives a definition of a sharked hitout as “A hitout that directly results in an opponent’s possession.”

[author’s note: I’ve had to infer sharks from the data I’ve got which probably results in some false positives. I’d expect my numbers to be a little higher volume and lower quality, but should still be broadly representative]

So, who is Jaws to the AFL’s Amity Island?

Jack Macrae has a clear lead feasting off opposing rucks, and the list overall isn’t too surprising – elite inside midfielders who are great at winning their own ball.

On the other side of the ledger it’s Matt Flynn who’s chumming the water most regularly this year.

If we expand it out to a team-wide scale we can find Adelaide has the worst differential in the league between sharking and being bait, which isn’t totally surprising as Reilly O’Brien gets sharked regularly.

St Kilda being on top is somewhat surprising, while the Bulldogs at #2 are to be expected with the mids available to them.

I’ve got data going back to 2017, so let’s see if there are any particular feeding frenzies. On top we’ve got Brisbane feasting on Adelaide to the tune of 26 sharks in their round 9 matchup last year.

Finally, over that expanded timespan who of our sharks has a taste for a particular player?