Micro Noises 50 - Happy anniversary to us!
50 not out!
Welcome to the 50th edition of Micro Noises, the column that celebrates the footy stats and facts that really don't matter. And to mark the auspicious occasion, we're going to look at the VFL/AFL top 50 players. And by top 50 players, we mean the top players to have worn the number 50 on their backs. Here are the 11 most prolific players to have donned the number 50, in terms of games played.
NAME | CLUB | "50" GAMES | SEASONS WORN |
---|---|---|---|
Ryan Turnbull | West Coast | 129 | 1991-2001 |
Des Nisbit | St Kilda | 68 | 1947-1950 |
Gary Frangalas | Sydney | 29 | 1983-1984 |
Jon Ballantyne | Footscray | 20 | 1990-1993 |
Andrew Smith | Collingwood | 19 | 1980-1981 |
Chris Groom | Adelaide | 12 | 1993-1994 |
Shane McSpeerin | Melbourne | 12 | 1971-1972 |
Eric White | South Melbourne | 12 | 1963 |
Gerald Betts | Richmond | 10 | 1974-1975 |
Dean Brogan | GWS | 10 | 2013 |
Allan Cook | Geelong | 10 | 1960 |
26 times 3
And speaking of jumper numbers, we've realised that if Taylor Hine gets a game for North Melbourne this year, the Kangaroos will have three number 26s in the team. Nick Dal Santo and Robin Nahas, both in their first year at North, wore 26 at St Kilda and Richmond respectively in 2013, while Hine is in his second season as the Roos' number 26. We're wondering if this is some kind of record. Send your answers to... no, wait - don't send your answers in. Please let us know via the comments section below.
Blow Out Round
The AFL's Blow Out Round was a huge success, with none of the games in round four decided by less than 23 points, five games with margins of over 50 points, and four of those 75 points or higher.
Of course nobody's really happy about such big margins (except the supporters of the winning team in each of those games) and it points to a disturbing trend so far this season. Footy stats guru Michael Rogers informs us that the average margin so far this year is 42.8 points. The highest average margin for a completed season is 41.6 points in 1996.
The big margins also resulted in several first-time score-lines. See First among unequals below.
1 versus 100
Eddie McGuire's favourite Micro Noises sub-section sees 100 take the lead in this prestigious competition, which compares the number of one-point games with those of 100 or more in a given season. Port's 113-point walloping of the Lions on Saturday has given 100+ the early lead in 2014. The Hawks almost made it 2-nil later that night but fell one point short of a three-figure margin in their thrashing of Gold Coast.
Score Wars
87 remains the outright leader in Score Wars, having come up four times this season, but GWS's 12.11 against the Bulldogs on Saturday sees 83 join 69 in second place, each of those having been registered twice. Still no sign of last year's most common score, 103, in 2014.
The Marginal Medal
No margin has appeared more than twice thus far this year, while last year's winners 9, 28 and 41 haven't been sighted. 38 and 53 came up for the second time in round four, joining 7, 25, 32 and 48 in the lead.
First among unequals - four in four
Round four saw four score combinations registered for the first time in VFL/AFL history including, somewhat surprisingly, 81 v 58. Its near neighbour, 81 v 57, has been seen four times, while 81 v 59 is yet to make an appearance in 14,409 matches. This week's "debutants" were:
- 159 versus 46 - Port Adelaide d Brisbane
- 81 versus 58 - Melbourne d Carlton
- 148 versus 49 - Hawthorn d Gold Coast
- 107 versus 32 - Geelong d West Coast
Postcode of the week
We're not sure how many Spanish-speaking supporters the Swans have, but some of them may have been tempted to yell out the town represented by their losing score-line last Sunday. Sydney lost 48-91, and 4891 is of course the postcode of Karumba!
Going postal - internationally
Recognising that footy is now a world game (after all, the Saints will be playing in Wellington on ANZAC Day), we thought a ZIP code of the week was also in order. And this week it belongs to North Melbourne. Some fans thought the Kangaroos' season was already down the toilet after their poor round one loss to Essendon, but North have won all three games since, against good opposition, and now appear to be flushed with success. In any case, their current percentage of 113.75 seems appropriate, given that 11375 is the US ZIP code of Flushing.
Ridiculous footy anagram of the week
The AFL would have been hoping that Buddy Franklin's move to Sydney was a fillip for the brand in Australia's biggest city. But with the Swans' and Buddy's form down on expectations, Lance is probably doing more to actually lower the AFL's profile, which is kind of reflected in the fact that LANCE 'BUDDY' FRANKLIN is an anagram of NICELY DUNK AFL BRAND.
Micro Noises is Andrew Gigacz's regular, quirky look at all things footy. The name Micro Noises is an anagram of Enrico Misso, who played one game for St Kilda in 1985. He remains the only Enrico and the only Misso to have played footy at the highest level.
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