People need to watch more games and stop looking at over aggregated data. And that's me saying that!
Paddy Ryder, as a ruckman, has the most influence on his team winning of any in the AFL. His taps to advantage aren't just taps to advantage, they're often perfectly positioned down the throat of a fast paced moving midfielder resulting in a clean centre clearance tap to advantage. If there was a stat called "taps resulting in clean clearance" - anecdotally Ryder would be winning it. It's like the difference between getting an uncontested kick on the back flank as opposed to winning the ball in a critical forward line clearance.
Saying Ryder averages less hit outs therefore he's not as good is massively over simplistic. Do we say a player is better than another because they average more disposals? Is Tom Mitchell a better player than Dustin Martin? No. Of course not.
Hitout and Clearance stats are hard to analyse because of the nature of our game. A ruckman might clearly win a hitout but because of the bounce of the ball or a flat footed midfielder, still lose the clearance. So I look at hitouts like tickets in a clearance lottery. If you win the hitout, you might have a couple more tickets. Win a hitout to advantage, a couple more, win a clean one and hit a team mate, a couple more again. If you added up all of the lottery tickets Ryder has provided the Port midfielders and then looked at their outcome, it becomes a bit clearer - Port Adelaide are 2nd in the AFL for clearances.
The fact Port are 4th and Kruezer's Carlton and Grundy's Collingwood are 15th and 16th respectively is perhaps unfair but it adds to the analysis. Ryder has been the difference on multiple occasions this year. Stepped up when it really matters. West Coast kicked 7 goals in a row on the weekend - Ryder then took 2 or 3 contested marks, kicked a crucial goal, to really stem the flow and get us back into the game.
Because of all of the above, Patrick Ryder, dear folk of safooty.net, is your 2017 All Australian Ruckman as of 11 July.
Just ask his opposition:
http://www.portadelaidefc.com.au/news/2 ... er-is-no-1Adam Simpson wrote:"Ryder's the No.1 ruckman in the comp at the moment, he'd be an All Australian straight-up selection in my eyes"