The surprising statistic that highlights how important Tom Liberatore is

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https://images.ctfassets.net/u8w3l56...t=fill&f=faces


The Western Bulldogs midfield was already stacked before the addition of Adam Treloar, but it has gone to a new level in 2021.

Marcus Bontempelli, Jack Macrae, Treloar, Josh Dunkley, Lachie Hunter and Bailey Smith receive a lot of plaudits for their work, and rightly so.

The somewhat unheralded member of the squad is Tom Liberatore, who is quietly averaging 26 disposals, nine clearances and eight score involvements so far this season.

David King has revealed that after three weeks of the season, Liberatore is actually ranked second in the competition for generating scores.

“I had a look at some random numbers. Guys that generate scores. There’s always a player that starts the chain,” King told SEN Breakfast.

“Usually it’s ruckmen because scores from stoppages are 30 per cent of scoring.

“So Nic Naitanui is clearly number one and most of that is at centre bounces logically.

“The player ranked second is Tom Liberatore. Now that surprised me, but that just shows the importance of this guy in this group.

“They don’t need Treloar to come in and win contested possessions because you don’t want to be butting heads with your teammates.

“I think the complimentary role they’ve got with this midfield is allowing Marcus Bontempelli to get forward of the ball, it’s allowing Jack Macrae to get forward of the ball and Treloar with his breakaway speed, it’s going to be hard to clamp.”

King was also full of praise for Treloar and how he has changed the shape of this Bulldogs midfield on the outside.

“They added Adam Treloar in and Treloar isn’t winning contested possessions, he’s not. He’s the first receiver at breakneck speed and his kicking is a lot better given he’s been told he’s a good player … he’s living a different version of himself right now,” the former Kangaroo said.

“What he’s done to this midfield is just unbelievable.

“They’re stacked in the midfield, we all know that, but the contested possession numbers are just crazy numbers. Back to 2016.

“Don’t undersell how tough they are (either).”

The Dogs obliterated North Melbourne by 128 points in Round 3 and now face a much tougher task up against Brisbane at Mars Stadium.

I don't care that he can't kick a goal from 50 out, run quickly, or is considered ''slow'' - His one of our most valuable players and this stat/article shows why.

I fear for the day we don't have him in our midfield.

I'm not surprised at all.

He's a combative heart and soul player that lifts the team beyond his own stats

Inflated numbers after we spanked the Roos.

Let’s see how we shape up by mid season.

I agree though - Libba is unheralded in our midfield and has been very solid in his start to the year.

Love it. Life is easier when the Dogs are winning.

When shit hits the fan I'm like F&%& it Dogs are on top of the ladder.

I'm surprised that a player that is a clearance king gets no interest during trade fortnight, he's be most teams best extractor.

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Originally Posted by Testekill

I'm surprised that a player that is a clearance king gets no interest during trade fortnight, he's be most teams best extractor.

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I'm betting that he's laughed at more than one club's approach. They must have enquired and Libba would have said "I'm going nowhere but thanks for asking"

Best phone-box player in the competition. I'm convinced.

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Originally Posted by Mofra

Best phone-box player in the competition. I'm convinced.

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No one’s even near him. The accuracy of his handballing in close is astonishing.

I’ve heard he once got a brain scan done and they found a Sherrin in there instead.

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Originally Posted by Go_Dogs

Inflated numbers after we spanked the Roos.

Let’s see how we shape up by mid season.

I agree though - Libba is unheralded in our midfield and has been very solid in his start to the year.

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Not really, Libba has always been Elite with Score involvements & Launches.

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Originally Posted by Testekill

I'm surprised that a player that is a clearance king gets no interest during trade fortnight, he's be most teams best extractor.

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I doubt they'd bother seriously asking given his pedigree.

I thought the Bummers were sniffing around him a few years back..........

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Originally Posted by jeemak

I thought the Bummers were sniffing around him a few years back..........

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Around the time we traded Dahl I think. Only options were a performance heavy contact with us or maybe something with them IIRC. Very glad he stayed.

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Originally Posted by hujsh

Around the time we traded Dahl I think. Only options were a performance heavy contact with us or maybe something with them IIRC. Very glad he stayed.

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Thanks, I thought that was the case. Reckon the approach was a good one for all concerned.

Some Stats on Libba.

Leading the AFL with 34 total clearances and ranked 3rd for total score launches, but he’s doing all of this with just a 77.7% time on ground number which is relatively minuscule, and ranks only 18th at the Western Bulldogs



https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ey6an3BV...pg&name=medium

That's pretty awesome, thanks for posting BAD.

Based on the TOG numbers it's looking like he's being managed really well. It's also a credit to Libba that he's clearly focusing on his fitness, he looks great and the fact that he is putting this level of influence together (and off one step at the end of the game he could kick the sealer from about fifty out) suggests he, the conditioning and coaching teams are aligned.

He may need to be managed throughout the second half of the year and take the odd break, but while he's doing what he's doing we should squeeze the lemon as much as we can to help us keep winning as many games as we can.

where is that from BAD? Really like that kind of stuff.

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Originally Posted by Topdog

where is that from BAD? Really like that kind of stuff.

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I will see if I can track down as I got it through twitter post

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Originally Posted by Topdog

where is that from BAD? Really like that kind of stuff.

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Tracked it down:

https://www.statsinsider.com.au/afl

and https://twitter.com/StatsInsider/sta...57325893820419

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Originally Posted by bornadog

Tracked it down:

https://www.statsinsider.com.au/afl

and https://twitter.com/StatsInsider/sta...57325893820419

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Yeah - you just have to scroll through - AFL - Player DNA and you find it...

For example: https://www.statsinsider.com.au/afl/...m%20Liberatore

That compares Liber and flavour of the month Jack Steele.

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Originally Posted by mjp

Yeah - you just have to scroll through - AFL - Player DNA and you find it...

For example: https://www.statsinsider.com.au/afl/...m%20Liberatore

That compares Liber and flavour of the month Jack Steele.

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I see you can make any comparison.

Adam Treloar compares pretty much with Libba, except Ads has more uncontested poss.

The Shot Charting section on Stats Insider is also a great resource. They do some good work on there (and based off Twitter, one of the guys involved @sgtbutane is a Dogs fan so it deserves our support!).