STATS INSIDER: Whose Passes Are Intercepted Most?

At the beginning of the 2018 season, Champion Data – in conjunction with Telstra – introduced 16 new statistical categories.

These new stats are already starting to tell stories of the game and are highlighting which teams and players are doing well in some areas and struggling in others.

Here are four of the most significant new categories and how they’re playing out across the eight teams.

DEFLECTION GAIN PERCENTAGE

For this season, deflections have been separated into ‘deflection gains’ and ‘deflection with no gain’. This helps tell us which teams are actually turning their tips into possession.

The Vixens are leading the way in ‘deflection gains’ with 13 gains out of a total of 36 deflections. This means their tips are gaining them possession 36.1% of the time.

The Giants are next best with 11 ‘deflection gains’ from 32 deflections for a success rate of 25.6%. The Firebirds are last in this category with seven ‘deflection gains’ from 31 deflections – a success rate of just 18.4%.

INTERCEPT PASS THROWN

An intercept has the ability to fire a team up as well as getting the crowd involved. We have always captured an intercept as a positive stat for the team and player taking the intercept, but we didn’t record how many intercept passes were thrown by a team or player.

We are now reporting on who is responsible for throwing the pass.

Currently the Thunderbirds have thrown the most intercept passes with 30, followed closely by the Lightning with 28. The Magpies are best at limiting their opposition gaining possession through intercepts, having only thrown 14 intercept passes.

Not surprisingly, players from the winless Thunderbirds and Lightning feature as being responsible for turning the ball over most via an intercept pass being thrown. Chelsea Pitman from the Thunderbirds and Steph Wood from the Lightning have both thrown 10 passes that have been intercepted by their opposition.

FEED WITH AN ATTEMPT

Feeding the ball into a shooing position for the goal shooter or goal attack is a vital role for any of the attacking players. But are those feeds leading to a shot attempt?

Are players passing the ball into a goal scoring position or are they simply passing ball into the shooting circle in hope?

This new stat highlights which players are giving their shooters the best chance to score a goal. Out of the top 10 circle feeders in the competition, Magpies captain Madi Robinson leads the competition for ‘feed to attempt percentage’ with 82%. This means that out of her 111 circle feeds, her shooters have had an attempt 91 times.

She is closely followed by the Thunderbirds’ Chelsea Pitman with 81% (84 circle feeds for 68 attempts at goal).

MISSED SHOT CONVERSION

This year we are looking at which teams are best (or worst) at turning a negative (missed goal) into a positive (successful goal).

‘Missed shot conversion’ is calculated by adding the number of goals scored after missed shots, and dividing them by the total number of misses.

Even though the Firebirds have missed 30 attempts, but thanks to Romelda Aiken’s 14 rebounds, the Firebirds have a ‘missed shot conversion’ of 50%. You could argue that Aiken is missing too many of her attempts, however she is making up it by grabbing those rebounds and finishing the job. Next best is the Lightning with 41.2%.

The Magpies, however, are at the other end of the spectrum. They have missed the most number of attempts, with 33, but still have the lowest ‘missed shot conversion’ with only 18.2%.

Written By:         Christian Eshman