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Sport Nation
Champion Data’s top 10 Most Important Players in the AFL
SEN • April 16th, 2025 10:27 am
Who are the most important players in the AFL?
Champion Data analyst Daniel Hoyne has identified the top 10 players who are most important to the winning hopes of their respective clubs.
“This is a sample size of two and a half years,” Hoyne said on SEN’s Sportsday.
“So when a player rates in the top five on the ground and the win-loss record for that team, as opposed to when he doesn’t rate in the top five on the ground and the win-loss then.
“Is he actually important to your overall success or not?
“These are the players I’d be going straight for as an opposition team. Some are obvious, some are not.”
See the top 10 below:
1 - Jack Sinclair (St Kilda)
“He comes out as the number one player in the competition between St Kilda’s win-loss record when he’s top five to when he’s not.
“When he’s top five on the ground they win 80 per cent of matches. When he’s not they’re winning 30 per cent of matches.”
2 - Touk Miller (Gold Coast)
“When Touk Miller has been top five over the last two and a half years, they win eight of 10 games.
“When he hasn’t they win one in every three.”
3 - Caleb Serong (Fremantle)
“You’re going straight to him if you’re the opposition.
“Freo have won a lot of games in two and a half years. When he’s not top five on the ground they’re winning 25 per cent of matches, when he is they’re winning seven out of 10 games.
“That’s a big difference.”
4 - Isaac Heeney (Sydney)
“We’re probably not really surprised with Isaac Heeney’s importance.”
5 - Cam Rayner (Brisbane)
“This is a bit of a surprise.
“Cam Rayner for the last two and a half years when he’s been top five on the ground, which is 12 times, Brisbane haven’t lost.
“When he isn’t top five on the ground they’re winning six out of every 10 games, and they’ve won a lot of games of footy in that time.”
6 - Zak Butters (Port Adelaide)
7 - Patrick Cripps (Carlton)
8 - Jordan De Goey (Collingwood)
“He is going to be so important for Collingwood for the next four months.
“When he’s been top five on the ground, Collingwood have lost once.
“So it is critical that the almost treat this guy like Geelong have treated Patrick Dangerfield for the last couple of years.
“Just get this guy right from Round 17 onwards.”
9 - Ed Richards (Western Bulldogs)
“When he’s top five on the ground, the Dogs are winning 75 per cent of matches.
“When he’s not they’re an under 50-50 team.”
10 - Luke Davies-Uniacke (North Melbourne)
“When ‘LDU’ has not been top five on the ground, North have only won one game. They’ve only won eight or nine games in that time.
“When he hasn’t been top five they’ve only won once.”
