Two Goulburn Valley Football League rounds have been and gone and, while the sample size is small, the worker bees at Premier Data have been toiling away to provide The News with some rich and sweet honey (GVL Data).
Looking at some of the collated statistics, it is clear that football can often be a cruel game.
Even when you do a lot of basics right, you can still suffer a heavy defeat.
Take the Mooroopna and Benalla game from the weekend; the Saints won clearances 38-36 (including centre clearances 16-9) and were fairly even with inside 50s — the Cats winning them 47-41.
Clearances and inside 50s would normally be key performance indicators for coaches on how their team fared, so given the numbers, was the Mooroopna and Benalla game a close encounter?
Mmm ... no.
The end result was 21.13 (139) to 5.7 (37) in the Cats’ favour.
In a competition such as Goulburn Valley League, where there is a surplus of talented and knowledgeable players and coaches, the sheer weight of numbers is simply not enough.
So, delving back into the GVL Data honeypot, what teams have the best attacking sting with their efficiency going forward?
Measuring the statistics in season averages — keeping in mind that Mansfield has played three games, Seymour one, while the rest of the competition has played two — the three categories we will be using today are forward 50 efficiency, scoring efficiency and marks inside 50 a game.
All are key indicators of how well a side can move the ball into attack to create the best possible chance of a score.
Looking at the first key statistic, forward 50 efficiency (ability to retain possession from a forward 50 entry), Echuca led the pack with 71 per cent efficiency, followed by Seymour (65) and Shepparton and Shepparton United (61).
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Benalla (52), Kyabram (53) and Shepparton Swans (54) have been the least effective at retaining possession from forward 50 entries.
In terms of marks inside 50, it is a similar tale as Echuca once again leads with an impressive average of 22 marks inside 50 a game, followed by Rochester (16.5) and Mooroopna (15.5).
Meanwhile, Shepparton United (7.5), Swans (8.5) and Benalla (8.5) are averaging the least.
In the final category, scoring efficiency per inside 50, we will give you three guesses as to who tops the list ... yep it’s Echuca with 68 per cent efficiency, 11 per cent better than second-ranked Mooroopna and Shepparton, who sit on 57 per cent.
The bottom three ranked teams in this statistic were Benalla (28), Tatura (38) and United (43).
Which GVL teams are most efficient in attack?
Average marks inside 50 a game
1. Echuca (22)
2. Rochester (16.5)
3. Mooroopna (15.5)
Forward 50 entry efficiency (%)
1. Echuca (71)
2. Seymour (65)
3. Shepparton (61)
3. Shepparton United (61)
Scoring efficiency (%)
1. Echuca (68)
2. Mooroopna (57)
2. Shepparton (57)
Now, showing which teams rank best and worst in these categories wasn’t meant to pick on the struggling sides, but rather demonstrate the importance of that final kick or possession going inside 50.
For example, if Benalla and Echuca were to play each other and both sides registered 45 inside 50s for the match, going off the season averages, Benalla would score roughly one in every three entries, while Echuca would score about two in every three.
That equates to Echuca finishing the match with 15 more shots on goal than Benalla, despite the same amount of entries and how hard either side worked in other areas of the ground.
For the sides ranked in the bottom three of these statistics, it is not yet time for a crisis meeting.
After all, it’s only two rounds into the season, but you can expect that coaches will be aware that forward 50 efficiency is again the queen bee for football in 2024.