With a bye this week and with only six games left remaining in the 2017 VFL season, what better time than to look back at the season to date by the numbers.
The clear highlight of the year so far was definitely the Round 10 match vs Sandringham, which saw us achieve our first victory of the season against the Zebras by 25 points.
Even though we’ve only achieved that one win to this point, the season has seen many individual highlights for our playing group.
In terms of the Lion of the Round, Liam Hunt (rounds 7 and 11) and Ryan Exon (rounds 4 and 12) have led the way with 2 nominations each so far, with the other nominees being Sean Gregory (round 1), Ben Allan (round 2), Blake Mullane (round 3), Connor Byrne (round 5), Keenan Posar (round 6), Peter McEvoy (round 8), James el Moussalli (round 9), and Luke Bunker (round 10).
Five players have been used as the 23rd man so far with none making a bigger impact in the Seniors than Aidan Tilley, who kicked two goals and took a potential mark of the year in Round 8 vs Northern Blues.
Other highlights and key stats so far include:
- 37 players have debuted for Coburg FC this year and 12 have made their VFL debuts.
- 1st-year Senior Captain Tom Goodwin’s VFL state selection as the starting ruckman is another fantastic highlight for him personally, with his selection also making us very proud as a club.
- Seven players have so far featured in every VFL game this season.
Since debuting for Coburg in Round 9 vs Port Melbourne, James el Moussalli has demonstrated his hunger for the footy over and over, leading the Coburg stats with an average of 25.3 disposals and 5.3 inside-50’s per game.
Luke Bunker, who made his VFL debut in Round 6, not only leads the club’s average tackle-count averaging 9.1 a match, but is also listed as 4th highest in the VFL overall.
Bunker is currently sitting on an average of 21.8 possessions a game, with key midfielders Nick Mellington (24.2 disposals) and Liam Hunt (23.4 disposals) just above him.
Despite suffering injury, Darrean Wyatt remains most effective with the footy at 86% disposal-efficiency, followed by defenders Sean Gregory at 85% and Jesse Corigliano at 81%.
Sean Gregory, who has saved potential goals with his strong marks in the goal square, by no surprise sits at the top of the stats for marks, averaging 6.6 a game. Rhys Free (5 marks) and Jesse Corigliano (4.7 marks) are close behind.
While el Moussalli leads our inside-50s, Josh Iacobaccio leads the rebound-50’s, averaging 5.2 a game and sitting 5th overall in the VFL competition. Corigliano again is close behind though, with an average of 5.1.
In terms of clearances, Hunt has recorded a fantastic 6.6 per game on average, with Mellington sitting on 6.1 and Bunker on 6.
Booting 19 goals thus far, McEvoy currently sits in top spot on the goal-kicking leaderboard, with Nick Dodge and Hisham Kerbatieh coming in at equal second on 13, Liam Hunt on 9, and Calder Cannon youngster Aidan Tilley on 8.
Set to take on reigning premiers Footscray after the bye, Coburg’s run home will see them go up against Casey Demons, Williamstown and Port Melbourne all for the second times this year, along with North Ballarat and Richmond.
Only recording the one win this season so far, the Senior Lions are very determined to make the most of the remaining matches and finish the season off as positively as possible.
The Development Lions on the other hand are currently sitting on a W-L rate of 5-5; not only taking the challenge up the oppositions, but feature various individuals who are pushing for Senior selection.
There is still plenty of time for any of our Development League talents to find their spot in the Seniors, so keep your eyes out for the next group of rising stars to come through.
From here, enjoy the bye week this week and we’ll see you all again after the break feeling fully refreshed like our players will be.
It’s going to be a very exciting race for the Jim Sullivan Medal for the Senior Best and Fairest, which will be held on Thursday 28th September (call the club for tickets)
Make sure you’re at as many of our final six games this season including the final two home games vs Williamstown (Aug 6th) and North Ballarat (Aug 19th).
Hear the Lions Roar!
*Stats collated by Coburg FC Data and Vision Analyst Demis Maslo.
