Disposal Efficiency and AFL Fantasy Points
Episode 4 of the Useless AFL Stats Podcast featured special guest Aaron Black, who captains West Perth in the WAFL. Black, who has played over 250 games for the club, is a premiership player and Sandover Medal winner.
Black is also known as “Jeff from Finance”, a nickname bestowed on him by UAS head honcho Aaron Delaporte based on his appearance when he debuted for the West Coast Eagles as a COVID top-up player in Round 2, 2022 against North Melbourne.
Source: Useless AFL Stats on Facebook
Black had 15 disposals and kicked a goal in his one and only game for the Eagles, which ended in a 15-point loss. He spoke about his experience playing in the AFL with the UAS team, who offered some interesting statistical insights into the one-game wonder.
The most interesting statistic was that Black’s disposal efficiency (67%) was the same as his AFL fantasy points total, which led him to ask how many other times this had occurred.
Let’s take a look.
Players missing disposal and/or AFL fantasy point data have been excluded from the following analyses, as have players who did not spend any time on the ground (i.e., unused subs who did not register a disposal).
There have been 1449 instances from 759 different players where their disposal efficiency percentage equalled their final AFL fantasy points total. Eight players have done this on debut, and Black is tied for third for the highest disposal efficiency/AFL fantasy point total among these players.
Table: Players on debut where disposal efficiency equalled AFL Fantasy points
| Rank | Player | When | Disposals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corey Maynard | R20 2017 | 18 @ 78% |
| 2 | Jackson Allen | R20 2012 | 15 @ 73% |
| T3 | Sam Gibson | R12 2012 | 18 @ 67% |
| T3 | Thomas Williamson | R3 2017 | 15 @ 67% |
| T3 | Aaron Black | R2 2022 | 15 @ 67% |
| 6 | Joe Daniher | R11 2013 | 15 @ 60% |
| 7 | Louis Herbert | R18 2014 | 3 @ 33% |
| 8 | Isaac Chugg | R15 2022 | 5 @ 20% |
There is a four-way tie for the most games played where disposal efficiency percentage equals AFL fantasy score, eight games, between Shannon Hurn, Michael Walters, Adam Tomlinson, and Jason Johannisen. However, you could argue that Tomlinson should only have seven, as he failed to register a disposal in one of his games.
For the sake of completeness, if you also exclude players who registered any amount of time on the ground but failed to win a disposal, there have been 1379 instances from 727 players where their disposal efficiency percentage equalled their final AFL fantasy points total. So, including players who didn’t register a disposal might not have as much of an impact as first thought.
An important point to consider with these statistics is that disposal efficiency is capped at 100 (because it’s a percentage), which means that players can’t score more than 100 fantasy points. Only one player has had 100% disposal efficiency and scored 100 AFL fantasy points: Luke Jackson, with 18 disposals in Round 6, 2021 (Melbourne v Richmond).
Thanks to Liam for confirming some of my answers on Episode 5 of the podcast. As always, apologies to anyone who has already looked at this stat!