Whilst not a precise determination of ability, possessions are still an important indication of a player's ability to do a lot of things right. The table below compares Murphy, Gibbs, G Ablett, Hird and Judd from game 1 to the number of games Murphy has played (less for Gibss):

I gather you are referring to G Ablett Jnr Verbs? Just want to check... I am surprised if it is Jnr that his stats tapered over those games.

Interesting table though... I am also loving the upturn in the Gibbs graph. The kid is going to be a fair dinkum star!

Gibbs played his first 16 games under Pagan.
The change to Ratten coincides with the upturn.

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We're getting closer to 17

That's true 16 flags. Gibbs looks like he's set to go off the charts next year too.

Yup, Ablett Jnr Molly. He got off to a very slow start.

One thing I'd like to see both Murphy and Gibbs do is be kicking 20+ goals a year.

Murphy is on the verge of stepping into the top level of midfielders and Gibbs is not far away.

It's his inability to kick goals that stops Murphy from being elite. Once he starts kicking those easy goals he'll be a star.

Thanks for the table verbs. Very interesting. I'm with you. It's gopals these 2 can get and that comer from opportunity (see table). We will be a very different and difficult opponent if Judd, Murphs and Gibbs can snag a couple goals each a week. Fingers crossed. Looks possible.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Thanks for the graph! I agree re: Goals Murph misses the easy ones and gets the hards ones. As soon as he starts nailing the easy ones he will no doubt be elite"."

Can we possibly add Bartel to that graph as well???...I think he had a much slower start from memory than the others but I could be wrong????

Whatever you do, don't add Bradd Dalziell.

32 - 18 - 34 - 17- 27- 32- 25

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THEY LIKE TO SEND UP!!!!!!!!

Until each team plays each other the same number of times, the AFL, as a fair dinkum competition, cannot be taken seriously.

He (Mr Swann) said the honour and pride associated with the club's traditional navy blue jumper was priceless.

Great analysis Verbs. Thanks.

Here is a challenge for you and your database. Who are the top ten all time for career average possessions and what are those averages? Is Scott West up there. What about Ratten? How far off those guys is Murph right now?

No graph is complete without a recession!

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

That Ablett guy is a dud, get rid of him........

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“Every single element of the Club has to be the best in the league, meticulously and methodically, and only by doing this will we be elite and challenge for number 17.”
Greg Lee

In fairness to Pagan, I think that the kids that played under him will benefit for the experience. He worked hard to make Walker an accountable footballer and Gibbs had similar tuition. Its easy to allow kids to run around like headless chooks and get kicks, but Pagan made them learn.

I reckon his downfall was his inflexibility as a coach, inability to adapt to modern trends and his reliance on "tried and true" methods of yesteryear, but not his player development in kids. The u18 comp is a good place for him next year.

ahh but K-Rudd will just add 10possies to his tally!!

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Mjonc signing off at 8888

Its fine to put him in but if Verbs does can we also have a graph on disposal efficiency.

That should even it out i would think

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"I will rejoice in their anguish, delight in their failure and revel in our success"

We are Carlton, @#$%&! the rest !!!!!!

Unfortunately stats recording only started being published in the 80s and www.stats.rleague.com have a comprehensive list of all players stats going back to 1986.

Since then, the top ten is roughly as follows:

26.84 Terry Wallace
26.55 Greg Williams
26.43 Bradd Dalziell
26.40 Gerard Healy
25.68 Mark Bairstow
25.38 Scott West
25.21 Robert Harvey
24.66 Tony Shaw
24.60 Nathan Buckley/Chris McDermott
24.11 Peter Bell

126thish 20.53 Marc Murphy

That's awesome Verbs... but John Annear

Doesn't sound right. Did he change clubs? I have combined anyone like Buckley and Williams to include multiple clubs but I didn't look at Annear.

Seems he played for Richmond and WCE. That should drop him down a tad.

Made a few more tweaks. Bit of a memory tester. Can't recall Simon Atkins' move from Footscray to Fitzroy at all, which when combined dropped him out of the top ten and bumped Peter Bell into it.

Carlton's top ten since 1986, games played for Carlton only:

24.72 Greg Williams
24.19 Chris Judd
23.40 Craig Bradley
23.07 Heath Scotland
22.95 Nicke Stevens
22.34 Brett Ratten
21.85 Andrew Carrazzo
21.49 David Glascott
21.46 Wayne Blackwell
21.42 Michael James

Simon Atkins went to Fitzroy at the very end of his career. My guess is that he was there for two seasons maximum. I even have a vague feeling that he was in their final ever team.