Why not us? Champion Data details the reasons why each top 8 team can win the flag

Champion Data’s Daniel Hoyne has revealed the stats that each top-eight team will be looking at as to why they can lift the premiership aloft this September.

In a game called, ‘Why not us?’,  Hoyne went through the areas that each top eight team stands out in and how they’ll hope to play their footy in September to go all the way.

He went through each team based on their finals week one matchup.

Check out, ‘Why not us?’, here.

Port Adelaide v Geelong

2 – Port Adelaide

“It is simple. Clearance work. Clearance work. Clearance work,” Hoyne said on SEN Sportsday.

“They’re the number four for raw clearance numbers in the competition but no one turns clearances into a score more than Port Adelaide do.

“They’re inaccurate from clearance at times, but no one scores more … and from centre bounce, they’re number two from turning a centre clearance into a score. That’s their point of difference.”

3 - Geelong

“It’s exactly this aspect of the game why Geelong and their supporters will be thinking, ‘This is why we can win’.

“From a ground ball perspective once the ball leaves the area (they’re great). We know clearance is not their strength. But when the ball leaves the stoppage, that’s where Geelong goes to work.

“Only Hawthorn is a better post-clearance ground ball team than what Geelong are … and Port ranks 18th. This first game is easy to analyse. Get it to the outside and get the flankers involved and Geelong will be in it up to their eyeballs … they’re also number two on the deck inside 50, get the ball to ground.”

Western Bulldogs v Hawthorn

6 – Western Bulldogs

“They’ve got the best profile in the game. They’re just starting from sixth.

“They do not have a weakness in their game at the moment. Offensively they’re brilliant and defensively they’re the hardest team to turn possession into a score against, we’ve never seen that from the Dogs.

“Turnover game – top three, clearance game – top three, ball movement offensively – top two, ball movement defensively – top two, territory game – number one.

“It’s a ridiculous profile.”

7 – Hawthorn

“They’re a bit like the Dogs, since Round 8 when they got on a roll.

“(In that time) their turnover game is top two, clearance game top two, ball movement is top six and in territory, they’re top five.

“If Jai Newcombe, James Worpel and Connor Nash … without Will Day, they have to absorb what’s coming from the Dogs’ midfield … if they can handle that and get clearance chains and the ball going forward, then you challenge Bailey Dale, Joel Freijah and Lachie Bramble with what you’ve got offensively in front of the ball with your brilliant small forwards.”

Sydney v GWS

1 – Sydney

“Offensively is their point of difference. There’s no better offence than what Sydney has produced in 2024.

“No one’s scored more than them and no one’s got a better forward 50 that’s working as well as Sydney’s is at the moment, and no one scores more off turnover … then they have the ability to transition and score the second most in the competition from the back half.

“They have pretty much every mode possible covered offensively.”

4 – GWS

“The reality is, for 70 per cent of their profile at the moment it’s okay without being rock solid.

“But why GWS can win is if you think back to Collingwood in 2022 … their profile wasn’t in great nick, they were coming from behind to win … but their pressure coming in was second in the comp.

“What pressure alone can do in a finals series is huge, it’s going to be so interesting for GWS because there’s no one that pressures the competition better than what GWS do.”

Brisbane v Carlton

5 – Brisbane

“They’ve got the second-best profile in the game behind the Dogs.

“They’re number one in terms of turning possession into a score – their inaccuracy component is why they don’t have the most points for.

“Along with the Dogs, they are the second hardest team in the comp to turn possession into score against. They have both sides of the ball down pat. They’re also the second-best clearance team in the competition and they get it into the scoreboard more often than not which we know has been a weakness of Carlton.”

8 – Carlton

“Carlton’s pressure this year is the third best of any team in the competition.

“180 is the is the AFL average for pressure rating, and in 20 of their 23 matches, Carlton has rated higher than 180 which is significant.

“But Brisbane has only been on the other side of a pressure rating of 180 or more 10 times this year. In those 10 games, they only have a 40 per cent win rate.

“If Carlton brings their pressure and have the rating above 180, it’ll give them a chance of beating Brisbane.

“But if they don’t do that, I think it's going to be a pretty bleak night.”