A Six-Pack Of IPA (Interesting Points, Allegedly): Another week, another exclusive club for Freo’s Murphy Reid

Rampaging Reid Another week, another exclusive group of company for Murphy Reid. Last week, the Freo forward joined Errol Gulden and Cyril Rioli as the only players with 17 or more score assists through their first 10 matches. Now, after his four-goal haul against Port Adelaide, Reid not only stands alone as the sole AFL player with 14+ majors and 17+ score assists since the latter stat was first recorded in 2003, but he’s alongside a future Hall of Famer in a different category, too. Since the turn of the century, Reid and Geelong great Tom Hawkins are the only two 18-year-olds to have recorded multiple matches of 4+ goals in the first 11 matches of a career. Best of ruck… The numbers continue to stack up for Luke Jackson, who according to Champion Data is the highest-rated ruckman in the competition. Since AFL Player Ratings were introduced in 2010, Jackson has had 14 different games with a rating of 20 or more – the most of any player under the age of 24 in that time, with Nic Naitanui (11) the next closest. Jackson is the league leader in hitouts to advantage, second for hitout sharked percentage, and third among rucks for score involvements this year, behind only the two most recent All-Australian ruckmen in Max Gawn and Tim English. …And worst of ruck At the other end of the scale is West Coast’s ruck division, which the stats show is the easiest in the competition for opposition sides to feast on. The Eagles’ rucks are conceding 15.9 rating points per 100 minutes this season, with fellow strugglers Port Adelaide the next closest club at 14.3. North Melbourne, led by All-Australian candidate Tristan Xerri, are the league’s best at 7.8. West Coast are also the AFL’s worst at allowing rivals to win hitouts and impact hitouts to advantage. Adelaide’s Reilly O’Brien last weekend became the fourth opposition ruckman in West Coast’s past five games to earn votes in the AFL Coaches Association’s player of the year award. Ton of fun The Justin Longmuir era at Fremantle has been more about defence than attack. But when the Dockers’ offence clicks and they notch a triple-figure total, the coach continues to have an unblemished record. Last weekend’s win was Freo’s 19th score of 100+ in Longmuir’s time at the helm, with a perfect clip of 19 wins in those matches. The only coach in the AFL era to oversee more games with a flawless record with their side scoring 100 or more is ex-GWS mentor Leon Cameron, who was a remarkable 49-0 in such fixtures. Fifteen-love West Coast’s line-up in last weekend’s loss to the Crows was notable for being the first side the Eagles have fielded that didn’t contain a single player from the club’s 2015 grand final team. It happened because Jamie Cripps joined fellow veterans Jeremy McGovern, Elliot Yeo and Dom Sheed on the sidelines, with the only other active player from the side that lost to Hawthorn that day – Jack Darling – now at a different club. Not a fourth to be reckoned with High on the agenda for areas of improvement during Port Adelaide’s mid-season bye is likely to be the topic of finding a way to run out a match. After their latest fade-out against Freo, the Power have now lost all 11 of their fourth terms this season, and are lurching toward the unwanted title of becoming their worst final-quarter team in the AFL history. That mantle is currently shared by 2007 Carlton and 2018 Gold Coast, who each won just three final terms in a 22-game campaign.