Marathon men: Telstra Tracker reveals your club's endurance kings

Marathon men: Telstra Tracker reveals your club's endurance kings

Who runs the hardest and longest at your club? Telstra Tracker data uncovers the truth

THE HEAVYWEIGHT endurance battle between Eagle Andrew Gaff and Hawk Tom Scully might finally have run its race.

Scully still boasts the top five distances covered in a single game (peaking at 18.9km) since they went on public record from 2017, as well as six of the best seven and eight of the top 12.

All of those were from three years ago, when he was still a Giant, before the 29-year-old Telstra Tracker legend's serious ankle injury in early 2018.

Gaff's always been thereabouts with Scully in a range of in-game measures, but he's now the AFL's endurance king, albeit with a familiar challenger.

Swan Ryan Clarke's extraordinary 15km effort against Gold Coast in round seven – remembering matches were far shorter this season – was the most in any single contest.

However, Gaff's per-game average of 13.3km blew the competition away, and was even superior to the best single-match tallies of three clubs this year.

There were even outings where the 28-year-old midfielder never left the field.

Clarke, whose 17.3km figure in round nine last season was the 14th-most on record, was his closest competitor with an average of 12.8km.

Clarke's Sydney teammate, No.4 draft pick Dylan Stephens (12.5km average), looms as Scully's and Gaff's heir apparent, after setting three of the Swans' top four single-game efforts in 2020.

Geelong forward Gryan Miers (12.6km), and Scully, Blue Sam Walsh, Essendon's Will Snelling and Giant Tim Taranto were next-best on 12.4km.

Adelaide workhorse Ben Keays also warrants a mention as one of only five footballers, including Clarke, Stephens, Miers and Gaff, to run at least 14km in a match this season.

WESTERN BULLDOGS

Top-five most distance covered in a game in 2020
Patrick Lipinski, 13.6km v Adelaide, round 12
Ryan Gardner, 13.5km v Adelaide, round 12
Marcus Bontempelli, 13.4km v Brisbane, round 11
Will Hayes, 13.4km v Geelong, round 14
Lachie Young, 13.1km v Essendon, round 7

Top-five most distance covered per game in 2020
Marcus Bontempelli, 12.1km
Lachie Hunter, 12km
Patrick Lipinski, 12km
Ryan Gardner, 11.8km
Caleb Daniel, 11.5km

Gee I've underrated the distance Bont and more surprisingly, Gardner cover.

I thought Hunter would be right up there.

They had the speed ones up earlier too somewhere - I think Keath and Bont were right up there at 33kph. I'll try and find it.

Edit:

Top-five fastest players in 2020
Jason Johannisen, 34.1km/h v Carlton, round 6
Laitham Vandermeer, 33.7km/h v Brisbane, round 11
Alex Keath, 33.4km/h v Adelaide, round 12
Marcus Bontempelli, 33.1km/h v Richmond, round 9
Bailey Smith, 32.7km/h v Sydney, round 4
Fastest speeds clocked in a game in 2020
Jason Johannisen, 34.1km/h v Carlton, round 6
Jason Johannisen, 33.8km/h v Port Adelaide, round 10
Laitham Vandermeer, 33.7km/h v Brisbane, round 11
Alex Keath, 33.4km/h v Adelaide, round 12
Jason Johannisen, 33.4km/h v Essendon, round 7



https://www.afl.com.au/news/510825/s...astest-players

I just looked at our opponents this week. Could we get Sinclair and Clark as double agents?

Top-five most distance covered in a game in 2020
Jack Sinclair, 13.5km v St Kilda, round 9
Hunter Clark, 13.2km v St Kilda, round 9
Jack Billings, 13.1km v Port Adelaide, round 8
Hunter Clark, 12.7km v West Coast, round 17
Hunter Clark, 12.7km v Gold Coast, round 10

Top-five most distance covered per game in 2020
Hunter Clark, 11.8km
Jack Billings, 11.8km
Bradley Hill, 11.5km
Jake Carlisle, 11.2km
Jarryn Geary, 11.2km

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bulldogsthru&thru

I just looked at our opponents this week. Could we get Sinclar and Clark as double agents?

Top-five most distance covered in a game in 2020
Jack Sinclair, 13.5km v St Kilda, round 9
Hunter Clark, 13.2km v St Kilda, round 9
Jack Billings, 13.1km v Port Adelaide, round 8
Hunter Clark, 12.7km v West Coast, round 17
Hunter Clark, 12.7km v Gold Coast, round 10

Top-five most distance covered per game in 2020
Hunter Clark, 11.8km
Jack Billings, 11.8km
Bradley Hill, 11.5km
Jake Carlisle, 11.2km
Jarryn Geary, 11.2km

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Ha - they can't count intra club games! :cool:

Just looking at the saint's distance. Their top 5 per game aren't as high as most teams. Perhaps they have a more even contribution? Which begs the question - is it good to have high distance covered for certain players? Or is it better to get a more even spread? Is players covering a lot of ground a good thing?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bulldogsthru&thru

Just looking at the saint's distance. Their top 5 per game aren't as high as most teams. Perhaps they have a more even contribution? Which begs the question - is it good to have high distance covered for certain players? Or is it better to get a more even spread? Is players covering a lot of ground a good thing?

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Depends on the players I think. Gaff is obviously an absolute endurance freak, so let him run. Bont on the other hand I wouldn't want to see doing any more than he is currently.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Axe Man

Depends on the players I think. Gaff is obviously an absolute endurance freak, so let him run. Bont on the other hand I wouldn't want to see at the pointy end of these lists.

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It was mentioned somewhere Bont was trying to do too much with him putting higher expectations on himself as captain. He's often looked buggered this season and I wonder if that has contributed. I'd love to see a game breakdown of these figures as he has looked a lot fresher the last few weeks. I don't see the likes of Dusty, Danger or even Cripps at the top of their respective clubs' lists. Fyfe isn't either but he has had a different season this year spending a lot more time forward. Pendles is 5th at Collingwood but almost 1km on average less than Bont.

Bump.

According to the tracker, Lachie Hunter covered 15.6 kilometres on Sunday. Andrew Gaff led the girls 6, running 16.2 kilometres. No wonder he had nothing left to chase Josh Bruce on the wing in the last minute.

Tom Scully has 6 of the top 7 game totals since tracking started in 2017.

Bailey Smith and Gaff covered 3km each at high speed. That is some insane levels of fitness.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by westdog54

Bump.

According to the tracker, Lachie Hunter covered 15.6 kilometres on Sunday. Andrew Gaff led the girls 6, running 16.2 kilometres. No wonder he had nothing left to chase Josh Bruce on the wing in the last minute.

Tom Scully has 6 of the top 7 game totals since tracking started in 2017.

Bailey Smith and Gaff covered 3km each at high speed. That is some insane levels of fitness.

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If they keep reducing rotations we will end up with players that can run all day but not necessarily good footballers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bornadog

If they keep reducing rotations we will end up with players that can run all day but not necessarily good footballers.

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But isn't that the same as having players who can do repeat efforts unmitigated? Some will be good at that and footy, but some will be good at it and just be OK at footy (in relative terms, because they're actually all freaks at footy anyway).

I'll say it again, no matter what happens the coaches will do what they can to limit scoring first and foremost.

Updated. Really goes to show Josh Bruce's improved fitness in 2021. Bont still covering a lot of ground for a big man. A massive effort in the Semi which would have been even further if he didn't cop that late injury.

Marathon men: Telstra Tracker reveals your club's running machines

CARLTON star Sam Walsh is the leader of the AFL's official 15km club and the League's new endurance king.

According to data released by the AFL's Telstra Tracker, Walsh is one of only four players who covered more than 15km a game in 2021, alongside Melbourne wingman Ed Langdon, Carlton teammate Matthew Cottrell and West Coast midfielder Andrew Gaff.

WESTERN BULLDOGS

Top-five most distance covered per game in 2021

Marcus Bontempelli, 14.52km
Lachie Hunter, 13.83km
Caleb Daniel, 13.64km
Jack Macrae, 13.40km
Josh Bruce, 13.39km

Top-five most distance covered in a game in 2021

Marcus Bontempelli, SF v BL, 15.91km
Lachie Hunter, R14 v Geel, 15.82km
Caleb Daniel, R18 v GC, 15.71km
Jack Macrae, R2 v WC, 15.64km
Josh Bruce, R6 v GWS, 15.53km

I noticed Isaac Smith was prominent for Geelong as well.

No one can question Bont's work ethic can they.

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Originally Posted by GVGjr

I noticed Isaac Smith was prominent for Geelong as well.

No one can question Bont's work ethic can they.

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Bont’s a phenomenon. Interesting to see Bruce’s figures too, he really busted a gut in 2021.