Turnovers can count for up to two-thirds of a side’s score, and it’s this area in which NMFC.com.au starts its season review.
North was an excellent team at scoring from opposition turnovers in 2013, but defending after conceding the ball proved a struggle.
2013 | Total turnovers (average) | Points from turnovers (average) | Points per 100 turnovers | AFL rank |
NMFC – For | 60.2 | 60.4 | 100.4 | 1st |
NMFC – Against | 62.5 | 52.3 | 83.7 | 13th |
Positively, North’s improvement in defending after conceding possession was sharp this season.
Averaged out to points per 100 turnovers, North conceded two goals less than in 2013. This enabled Brad Scott’s team to jump from a lowly 13th to eighth this season in that area.
Defending turnovers well in 2014 was a marker of a quality side. Only one team came from outside the top eight in the statistic (Richmond, 10th) to make an appearance in September.
2014 | Total turnovers (average) | Points from turnovers (average) | Points per 100 turnovers | AFL rank |
NMFC – For | 62.4 | 53.5 | 85.8 | 3rd |
NMFC – Against | 63 | 46.8 | 74.3 | 8th |
At times in the first half of the year, Scott had stated that the side had gone too far in correcting its defence from 2013, leading to a string of low-scoring games.
It could be provided as a reason for the lower numbers, but looking at the numbers from the last half of the season shows that even once North rectified the balance in its game, it still defended well.
2014 – R16 to PF | Total turnovers (average) | Points from turnovers (average) | Points per 100 turnovers | AFL rank |
NMFC – Against | 58.8 | 44.8 | 76.2 | 8th |
When looking at the above table, consider that North games from Round 16 through to the Preliminary Final on average netted more than 20 points more than the previous 15 rounds.
On the attacking side, scoring from turnovers remained consistent for the Kangaroos throughout the whole season. North’s points per 100 number of 100.4 was always going to be extremely tough to maintain; only one other team had managed a higher number since 2010.
However it still managed to rank third in the competition, and used it to devastating effect against some teams.
Against Brisbane in Round 9, the Kangaroos scored a massive 83 points from turnovers. In the thrilling Round 12 clash against Richmond, they also managed to score 75 points from the statistic.
