Advance warning: There are plenty of pictures in this piece. It may take a second for all of them to load.
Every year this concept gets a heavy focus on the blog and 2024 is no different. For those new to it, here’s how it works:
Plenty of analysis around list experience and demographics focuses on average age and average games played, collating the playing 23 – or entire list of 45ish – into one big blob.
Personally, I find doing that and using it as a catch-all omits vital information – such as how much time players actually spend on the field.
It’s especially pronounced in the age of the sub. To pick on poor Taj Woewodin to make my point, his first three ‘games played’ this year amounted to a grand total of 54 minutes. Yet it counts as three games to the tally and is judged as the equal of a 100+ minute game elsewhere.
Then what about average age and games played when one team may have a group of veterans, a cluster of youngsters, and little in between? It can come out as roughly the same as a team with plenty of key players right in their prime, but the team makeup is completely different.
With that all in mind, I’ve found tracking every player’s minutes played by game – then dividing every team into yearly age groups – allows me to learn more about each list. And hopefully it helps others reading too.
Today’s post will have two things:
1) League wide comparisons in three categories: minutes played by age 22 year and under (the youngsters), age 23-28 years (theoretical early-to-mid ‘prime’) and age 29 year and over (late-prime and the veterans). It’s not a perfect allocation but is there really a perfect way to divide it up?
(Also, the specific Patreon page for this will have more categories popping up in the near future)
2) Every team’s allocation by age through the first six rounds of the season in their own picture. Some gets an extra line or two of personal opinion if I feel there’s a standout trend, but mostly it’s just the team graphic.
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This post is free for all, and from time to time there’ll be a team’s minutes played by age in a tweet, or a Notebook entry, or to illustrate a certain point in a separate piece.
But apart from that, to see the minutes played by age for any team, or league wide comparisons, it’s exclusively for $10 Patreon subscribers on this page with the update schedule on there as well.
If the $10 tier isn’t for you, there are two other tiers available to choose from in 2024:
$2.50 – Debutant – To show support for the site without receiving any extra features
$5 – Rising Star – The first level where there are extra features and early access for certain things
$10 – Brownlow – First access to everything and anything set up for Patrons
To find out more details and sign up, head here for the Patreon page.
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A couple of notes before we get into it: The 2024 versions look a little different to previous years.
An explainer of the two main changes:
1) The names next to each year indicate those who have played so far this season and contributed to the number. If they haven’t played yet in 2024, that’s why their name isn’t there.
2) Some teams have more age groups than others. The formula for it is to list each age year up to and including 30, then after that it’s just whatever is on a team’s list. That means some teams (Geelong) have quite a few columns after 30, while others (Carlton) have very few.
And secondly, the data experts will be doubling over laughing at the state of these graphs. It’s a Canva operation and that’s the best we’ll get out of my skill set at this point. Or probably ever when it comes to graphs.
On with the show.
League Wide Comparisons
Age 22 Year and under
There should be few surprises in this list, except for perhaps St Kilda flying a little under the radar for the time – and important roles – they’re giving to the likes of Wilson, Phillipou, Owens, Wanganeen-Milera, and Windhager, even if a couple of them are a little low on form right now.
Age 23 to 28 Years
Port Adelaide’s recruitment has transformed their list. Last year they were roughly middle of the pack in this area, but the arrivals of Ratugolea, Zerk-Thatcher, and Soldo mean they lead everyone now.
Age 29 Year and over
Although Sydney are clearly the second lowest total in this graph currently, it’ll likely be temporary and they should gradually increase as Adams plays more minutes, Parker returns from his longer term injury, and Rampe resumes after his hamstring strain. Even with all that, it’s still far from the top half and hardly the traditional list profile for a team with realistic top four designs.
Adelaide
Brisbane
Carlton
Look at all those players in their prime and ready to go. There are still a few things to work out with them and their style, but against the Giants they produced arguably the best 15-minute period any side will play this year.
Collingwood
It’ll be fascinating to see how long Collingwood continue their self-admitted strategy of targeting mid-20s and late 20s players for their list. It’s high risk when there isn’t a heap of youth coming through to supplement it, as shown in their list demographic.
Essendon
This picture crystalised exactly why I can’t figure out how to read Essendon yet. There’s an experienced core there which is more than capable, and they’ve taken a clear step forward from 2023 with their immediate pressure around the ball and a slight midfield rejig. But there are still plenty of areas to improve. Where does it leave them? Roughly the same wins as 2023 but better underlying numbers by the end of the year?
Fremantle
Geelong
Gold Coast
GWS
Hawthorn
Melbourne
North Melbourne
‘Why aren’t North Melbourne better?’ ‘Why can’t they be more like <other rebuilding teams showing promise>?’
Other teams have a not insignificant number of veterans still performing at a decent level. North’s list barely has veterans full stop.
Port Adelaide
Richmond
All the injuries are going to force this graph to move in funky directions. With 23 or 24 players out of contract, it’ll be fascinating to compare how it looks now versus the same time in 2025.
St Kilda
Sydney
West Coast
There’ll be a longer section on West Coast in this week’s Notebook explaining this breakdown and how it’s helped them in the last few weeks.
Western Bulldogs
great analysis, with NMFC we need to debut and get more minutes into Brayden George, Hardiman and later in the year Will Dawson. No point playing Shiels or Greenwood they don’t impact games at all the only benefit they have is they can take some body work off our young kids.
Bergman and Archer also need to come in, and even Hanson Jnr
We need to give them game time so we can work out if they are capable of playing in September.
Maley should come in for Sellers this week at least he can chop out in ruck rather than Petrie going in there, and Biggie will be lucky to survive which is disappointing given his debut game.
Wilphil needs to stay in all year, so it’s the guys we have brought in like Corr, Tucker, Stephens, Stephenson who need to rotate through the 2’s.
Basically, North’s experience/overall player minutes consists of around 13% for players 27 and over, whereas no other club appears to have had less than 25% or more representation in this demographic. This is a crucial element in player and team development which North will take another 3 years to match at the current rate. I believe it is crucial to bring in physical maturity and experience in this years trade period.
superb analysis