There is a bloke named Daniel Hoyne and he is from Champion Data, which is a mob responsible for a lot of interesting AFL stats. In the current AFL media echo chamber, it is this chap who provides all the talking heads you hear and see with the basis of their insightful analysis. Those blowhard footy experts on Fox, Nine and Seven, with the pedigree of being ex-players, that many of us slavishly listen to. Hoyne and his fellow champions of AFL data are providing the real gold for footy analysis. The David Kings’ and others may talk loudly and stridently on topic but the actual data is identified by Mister Hoyne.

Hoyne The Champion Of AFL Data

If these footy faces in the media give you a headache, then, going directly to the source might save you the need for relief in terms of your hearing. Daniel Hoyne is on SEN on Tuesday night and sharing the data driven gospel for fans of a more scientific answer to many of footy’s most pertinent questions. What do they say, ‘opinions are like arseholes, as in everyone’s got one.’  Many of us love to talk AFL footy with friends and family. This is, I think in part, our homage to the game we love. Personally, however, I get sick of the shared regurgitation among the AFL footy media. Few have anything original to say and even fewer anything worth banking upon in terms of wisdom. The game moves so fast these days in its evolvement that past players are soon mere spectators like ourselves. Their cache exists in the smell of liniment and real personal experience but game plans and tactics have left them in their wake. All I can say, is thank goodness for Hoyne.

Rule Changes Are The Name Of The Game & Hoyne

The somewhat sad fact is that AFL is morphing into soccer at a rapid rate. Daniel Hoyne tells us that the modern game is all about moving the footy. The top teams move it with aplomb and do it fast. The best players and most valuable to their teams are those that can move the ball exceedingly well. Hitting targets is the name of the modern game. I would add that 4 field umpires are turning the contest into round ball football. Concussion protocols mean that you cannot bump because of the risk of making contact with the head and getting rubbed out for minimum 3 weeks. You cannot tackle like you mean it for similar reasons, as dangerous tackle definitions are getting broader by the week. The contact nature of this contact sport is waning. AFL has long been about running, with the best players being great runners. AFL player body types have evolved into lean, tall, running machines. Squat little blokes are a rarity. Wide fellas, built like brick shithouses, are very thin on the ground too.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-hoyne-006747256/?originalSubdomain=au

Zoning & Too Many Umpires

Zoning defences have changed the game too, if you have not noticed. Opposing players do not play on each other, as they used to, they stand a few metres off each other. I think this works well and has evolved because the majority of young players recruited are midfielders and midfielders don’t play on any one. I remember Paul Roos talking about how young players coming into the Swans team were often put in defence, so that they could learn defensive skills. The Swans had a ‘man on man’ defence for much longer than most AFL teams in the modern era. These days, even this option is not really open to modern coaches. The people who have changed the game by modifying the rules to create a higher scoring game with less mauls want to see this new version of AFL. They think that the fans prefer the free flowing game rather than the defensive style of lots of rucks and mauls. The 6-6-6 rule. The ‘stand on the mark’ rule. The tackler not being rewarded ethos, which always favours the ball carrier. These rule changes and interpretations are shifting the game toward soccer, in my view. 4 field umpires mean that the number of free kicks in minor infringements in the ruck contest, marking contests, high tackles and such like are greatly increased. The influence of referees in soccer matches are huge and AFL is fast heading in the same direction. A bunch of free kicks in front of goals can change the momentum of a contest, as it did for the Suns over the Swans recently. Umpires have far more impact on matches than in previous eras.

Players Don’t Play On Opponents Anymore

Some folk wonder how players like Patrick Cripps can get so many umpire votes in the Brownlow and so many possessions each week. The reduction in contest produces more uncontested possessions. The emphasis on moving the ball and hitting targets magnifies this even further. ‘Man on man’ contests are rarer and are savoured by fans the few times they happen in a match. The changes forced upon AFL by concussion are very real and there is no responsible avoiding of this. The concerns of civilisation are greater than cavemen beating the shit of each other with clubs. I suppose it is surprising that contact sports have survived in their violence for so long. Soccer can be an exciting game to watch. AFL will maintain a four limbed advantage over the round ball game for some time yet, I would imagine. Although the prevalence of a lot of swinging arms of late is not good for the game.

There is a bloke named Daniel Hoyne and he and his mob are providing real data for our analysis. More than mere opinion and bluster. Crunching the numbers can reveal a cache of insightful stuff about the game and where it is heading. https://x.com/hoyney35?lang=en

Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump.

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