The Ten Most Surprising Things I've Learned About AFL So Far

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The last few months have been a generally reflective time for me, and with my decision to leave unchanged the core of MAFL algorithms for 2014 I've been focussing some of that reflection on the eight full seasons I've now spent analysing and predicting AFL results.

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Game Statistics and Game Outcomes

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My first Matter of Stats blog looked at how game statistics, averaged across an entire season for each team, are predictive of key season outcomes like ladder position, competition points and MARS Ratings. This post summarises similar analyses, but here performed on a per-game basis
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Game Statistics and the Dream Team

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Today, a new voice comes to MAFL. It's Andrew's. He's the guy that uncovered the treasure-trove of game statistics on the AFL website and he's kindly contributed a blog taking you through some of the analyses he's performed on that data. Let me be the first to say "welcome mate". I have lurked on the sidelines of MAFL and Matter of Stats for a couple of years and enjoyed many conversations with Tony about his blogs. I found myself infected with curiosity and so, with gratitude to Tony, here's my newbie blog post.
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Do Bookies Undervalue Team Performance Metrics?

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In 2003 Michael Lewis' Moneyball was published, in which he related the story of Billy Beane, Oakland A's General Manager, and his discovery that the market for baseball players mispriced particular skills. Some skills that could be shown, statistically, as being associated with greater team success weren't recognised as valuable (for example, getting on base, as measured by On-Base Percentage), while other skills were over-valued because of an historical belief that they were related to success (for example, batting in runs, as measured by RBI).
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