TOPIC:

Freeze if you added the Interstate senior games (AFL, VFL, SANFL, NEAFL) to the likes of Griffin, Jetta, Ugle, Garlett, Bootsma, Sheridan et al game tallys they would have more senior experience than we had run out on the park on Saturday .......next excuse!

At the end of the day Swans smashed a team laden with past and prospective AFL players

Little else matters.

Garlett didn't play on Sat, but hey nor did Geappen or Banfield so do you want me to include them BH?...and if we are going to include Gerald Ugles NEAFL games, then lets include Wityks 80 reserves games at EP as well.....mate I have factored in those guys mentioned careers into our discussion..... still leaves SD with more fellas with 40 - 50 plus senior games experience than Peel......so I still don't get SD fans point that their side was younger and less experienced than Peels... are you boys including training/gym sessions into your arguments as well

yeah true Grassroots..... but I'm pretty sure you with the way you boys rave on about your youngsters that most of them are good enough to follow the paths of Notte, Davis,Riggio and Ugle into the AFL......obviously Peels past & prospective AFL boys aren't that good then.... if a load of part time youngsters can kick their arses hey fella?

But hey you guys are the number one club in WA promoting youth....but just don't reckon in this case Peel were more experienced than you guys were on Sat......so no excuses BH....just putting out a different side of the discussion to yours.....can't believe you reckon Brown & Schofield are better footballers than Simpson & Ames on the fact they were drafted into the AFL system....

Have been following this discussion and points of view for the last week and I thought I would do a bit of research on the Peel and Swans teams for last weeks game. I know that stats don't tell the whole story but some of the results I came up with surprised me. I went through the WAFL site and counted up how many WAFL games that each participant in the game had played. For guys who had played in the AFL, I included these games as well so came up with a total of senior games. For example Leroy Jetta has only played 11 WAFL games but he played 93 AFL games for Essendon and probably around 20 - 30 VFL games for Essendons affiliate, so he would have played around 130 senior games. I had to estimate the games played in other leagues by guys like Bootsma/Ugle etc because I couldn't find any stats on this.

On the basis of these stats I discovered that the Swans team last Saturday had a higher average age ( 22.5) than Peel by nearly a year (21.6). Only 4 Peel players were over the age of 22, whereas Swans had 10 players over 22. Peel had 6 teenagers whereas Swans had 5. In terms of games experience Swans had more players who had played less than 10 games (eight) than Peel (3), however Swans had a few more players who had played more than 100 games (5) than Peel (3). In total Swans players had around 200 senior games more experience on the park due to blokes like Ames, Notte, Riggio, Simpson and Davis who were able to guide the inexperienced blokes very well obviously.

Having looked at all this I was less surprised that Swans gave Peel a touch up on saturday. I suppose what the stats don't reflect is the impact of full time AFL footballers with all the facilities and assistance against part timers who have another job which you would think would have some relevance.

cheers for that mikeh.......like I said SD are indeed the number one club for promoting youth.....just didn't think Peel were as experienced as some of the SD boys were making out.....yes it was a good win, any win is especially against the AFL affiliates......

I understand all this full time v part time argument but really do people think a year or two of more training is going to bump up a kids match day experience?....yeah they can be stronger and fitter, but youngsters like all youngsters learning the game are still going to peak and trough with consistency, decision making etc during 4 qrtrs of footy...and also being drafted doesn't automatically make a player a standout WAFL player ...

whose to say Peels youngsters had an off day and SD youngsters had a good day......just like SD youngsters had an off day v EF and Peels youngsters had a good day v EF......peaks and troughs.......but hopefully over time SD get more WAFL time out their youngsters than Peel does......it must be frustrating for you SD fans having to see the likes of Blakely, Hughes etc play for the opposition, especially so soon after SD have given them a go in the first place.....it does for me as an EF fan!