Birthdates

Count by Day

This chart shows the number of V/AFL players born on every day of the year for all players who debuted in 2024 or earlier.

Win Rate by Day

Here we look at the win rate in games from players born on a particular day.

Win Rate by Month of Birth

And now just based on the months of players’ births

Win Rate by Day of Week of Birth

And, finally, based on the day of week on which a player was born.

First and Most Recent Year

This chart shows the first and last years for players with a given birthday

Count by Year

Now the number of V/AFL players born in each year

A few interesting observations:

  • Early calendar years are better represented than later ones. The three most well-represented years are 1914 (140 players), 1909 (133 players), and 1908 (132).

  • The 1970 to 1979 period was particularly lean, with fewer than 75 players being born in 1975 (68), 1979 (71), and 1971 (73).

  • 1985 produced only 59 players, the lowest since the 45 of 1873 (excluding 2004 and 2005, which are likely to produce more debutants in future years)

Age on Debut

Average Debut Age by Season

This chart reveals the average age of debutants in every season from 1897 to 2024

Since about 2010 (with the exception of 2015), average age at debut has drifted up to around the levels seen in the late 1950s and 60s.

Average Debut Age by Team by Era

Next we look at average debut age by season by team

There don’t appear to be any major differences across teams in debut age.

Draft Analyses

The charts below are based on the National Draft data for the years 1991 to 2024 as recorded on the Footywire website

Average Number of Games Played Post Draft by Pick Number

In the first chart we look at how many games are played by draftees after they are drafted, classifying players based on their pick number in their first draft.

As we might expect, players selected at higher picks tend to have longer post-draft careers than players selected at lower picks. There are, however, some notable exceptions. for example Pick #6, which has historically been associated with players with relatively shorter post-draft careers than players picked at 5 or 7.

Some caution is required when interpreting this chart because of the relatively small sample-sizes involved.

Average Win Rate Post Draft by Pick Number

Next we look at the win rates associated with players from different draft pick numbers.

It’s interesting that only Pick #47 has a post-draft win rate above 50% and that those for some of the higher picks are around 40 to 43%.

What is perhaps at play here is that higher draft picks tend to go to teams that have been struggling - that’s the whole purpose of the draft - and, while these players might increase the win rate of their new team, can’t drag it above 50%. Players drafted at lower pick numbers are, on average, of lesser ability and so they too are unable to drag their new teams’ win rates above 50%.

Average Number of Teams Played For Post Draft by Pick Number

Someone asked me whether there might be a relationship between the number of teams played for post draft. and the player’s National Draft pick number.

And there does, indeed, seem to be a link, with higher picks tending to play with more clubs post-draft, but this might just be a reflection of the fact that they tend to have longer careers.