Blue Vain wrote:
ColourMan wrote:
Dow is our best clearance player and our most durable mid.
You've posted it a couple of times now. Based upon which measures is Dow our best clearance player?
Jake’s post from the Paddy Dow thread…
“Some interesting stats on Dow which show his effectiveness at centre bounces.
Dow is already 4th at Carlton for Centre Clearances, only 2 behind Hewett in 3rd. This is despite only playing 4 full games (5 more as sub)
Even more impressive, he has the best rate of Centre Clearances per Centre Bounce Attendances at the club, and by some distance.
Dow has 20 CC's from 99 CBA's. so 20% of the centre bounces he attends he gets a clearance.
The next best are
Kennedy - 14% (18 from 131)
Cripps - 13% (55 from 426)
Cerra - 13% (34 from 259)
Docherty - 9% (11 from 126)
Hewett - 8% (22 from 274)
TDK - 8% (16 from 272)
Interestingly, Fog is also right up there with 19%, but its such a small sample size (6 from 31)
This kind of sums up what the Dow believers have always seen in him. He has the ability to read the play off the ruck contest, get hands on he ball, and then has an elite burst of pace and sidestep to get separation and avoid the tackle, resulting in a succesful clearance. These are the unique strengths which make him elite in this part of the game.
As long as he is working on his deficiencies and improving them, which appears to be the case, I think we need to hang on to him. The ability to win the ball from the centre bounce is too valuable to just let him go. I think most would be surprised to learn he's winning 50% more centre clearances than all our other mids, including Cripps.”
I'm a fan of Dow but being "our best clearance player" extends well beyond centre clearances. In our finals matches there was an approximate average of 5 centre clearances per quarter. So let's give Paddy his one possession based on the stats you provided. There's 4 possessions per game assuming he plays a full game which he rarely does.
There are also around 48 stoppage clearances per game. Dow averages 1.8. That is his downfall. Take him away from the centre bounce and his contribution drops away significantly. So suggesting he is our best clearance player is misrepresentation of the stats IMHO. Dow and others get clearance opportunities because Cripps is tagged and/or double teamed at many stoppages. And yet Cripps still averages 4.2 stoppage clearances per game.
The best players have multiple strings to their bow. Hewett can put the clamps on opposition mids. Cerra wins a lot more ball and uses it significantly better. Walsh is an elite runner. Dow's issue has always been that he offers good centre square value but little else. I'd be happy to keep him but I doubt we will. IMHO, he's not in our best 5 midfielders. The club have persevered trying to get him to add to his game but he hasn't been able to.