Opinion Todd Goldstein $695,100 - Trust Or Trap?

Rowsus

Statistician
Joined
19 Mar 2012
Messages
29,134
Likes
64,904
AFL Club
Melbourne
#41
Ricky Bobby made a comment consistent with a thought that won't go away when I think about rucks - and not just Goldie.

Was there a tweak to the scoring of SC by CD after around 10 rounds? A t-test or z-score comparison of ruck scores for say rounds 1-11 and 12-22 would be interesting (sorry to add to your burden Rowsus). It would be appreciated if only to put the irritating thought that is bugging me (and Ricky Bobby) to rest! A comparison of Goldie's scores alone does not answer the question as they may be an exogenous factor (e.g., a change in the composition of North's ruck rover unit) that explains the difference.

I also have a second question - how will CD score rucks in 2016? Will there be any tweaks at the start (or during the year)? I find a statement that Goldie will average (say) 115+ a little naive when we do not know the scoring system.

For mine any change (and yes there may not be a change in the scoring system) needs to be thought of as a relative change. Does it change Goldie's potential price movement more than it might change another ruck's potential? By virtue of his 2015 output Goldie may be more susceptible to a change in the scoring system (both positive and negative) than other rucks. Albeit some ruck(s) may have has more of a stat than Goldie amassed - although I am hard pressed to think of which stat!
I think there may have been some sort of "interpretive correction", but I think it happened after Round 3, and before Round 4. I am envisioning something along the lines of "You Guys are being too hard/technical as to what constitutes a Hitout To Advantage, here is what we are looking for". From there the new interpretation started to get through.
I base this upon looking at every Rucks score, in every Round.
From Rounds 1 - 3 The rucks averaged as a Group: 77.5, 77.7, 76.1. There was only one more Round for the season, where the Ruck Group averaged under 78, and that was 77.9 in Round 14. So the three lowest Group averages for the season were the first 3 Rounds. Statistically, that is highly unlikely, and a change in "instructions" would seem more likely than the the 1 in 1,771 chance this represents.
The Rucking Group averaged 82.2/player/game in 2015. The highest was 93.0 in Round 21 (Round 16 where Goldy scored 221 and Jacobs scored 162 only managed a Group average of 85.5). As further credence to a change after Round 3, if you look at the averages in 5 Groups, they are all pretty consistent, except those first 3.
Rnds 1 - 3 77.1, Rnds 4 - 8 83.2, Rnds 9 - 13 83.5, Rnds 14 - 18 81.3, Rnds 19 - 23 84.1.
 

Rowsus

Statistician
Joined
19 Mar 2012
Messages
29,134
Likes
64,904
AFL Club
Melbourne
#42
A question about starting the great man... if 20% of coaches are to start him and he bottoms out at 600-625k let's say 7-10 rounds in, and the other 80% jump on, how much did the Goldy-faithfuls lose on the rest of the competition?
^^ I would do the calc as:

Cash saved / 5000 x rounds cash is deployed for = say 16 x 22 or 352

5000 is the rough figure the magic number tends towards.

You'd then need to adjust for the value of a trade (I use 150 on average, more early in the year and less later on - if anything, perhaps err higher than that). Call it -150 or thereabouts, net, for Goldy owners.

If I'm recalling correctly, you don't need to adjust for any scoring differential pre-trade because the non-Goldy owners have presumably deployed the loose change elsewhere - so it's just cash "lost" on Goldy converted to points, versus one trade.*

This ignores any captaincy benefits - you could add that on if you think Goldy adds meaningfully to your captaincy options, although if it's only for 7-10 weeks, that may not be too many points unless he goes massive. Arguably everyone will have Ablett, Rocky and others, so Goldy may not be the standout option, especially if the fixture is unfriendly.

Goldy would likely be averaging 120-125 until traded in, in your example, which I think some owners would consider a win ... but on these calcs, I think they've actually locked in a pretty big opportunity cost loss unless the captaincy benefit is large.

* I think you could argue that you should adjust for the points Goldy is "underperforming by" in rounds 1 through 7-10 as well, but this is reasonably small. It might be 3.8-8.8 x 7-10 in your example, given Goldy is priced at 128.8. This also ignores Jurn's point at post 24, although if Goldy is only falling around 80k, that's typically not enough to do the upgrade on another line.

Does anyone else have a view on this? It would be good to confirm/compare approaches.
I'm sure Rowsus will comment on this. ^^
I am hoping he will :)
I think conceptually getting Goldy in at 625k makes perfect sense - hes dropped 70k, you've put that money somewhere else thats also been a success (they also havent dropped 70k). Others have wasted money, you've used it to gain a points advantage on the comp.

But in reality its still a really tough position. To pounce on Goldy at any time within the first 7-11 rounds requires you to have a Ruck you want to upgrade and the cash on hand to do it when you want.

This is where rucks are tricky IMO - unlike the mids, we cant have a rookie R2, wait until they get to $350k and upgrade them to a fallen Goldy.

Even if we did have a rookie ruck we would get demolished in the points stake v Goldy for 7-11 rounds (keeping in mind that you would have a premo on another line to o***et Goldy but unfortunately they would have a better rookie ie. mid).

A convenient midpricer a la Leuey is tough also. We pick him to do well so that he makes 100-150k for an easy upgrade. If it pays off and he averages 90+ and goes up then why trade him out? I think I posted earlier about the order youd trade blokes out and if a 90ave at round 7-11 is your lowest scorer you're probably winning SC... by a fair margin. You'd definitely need to upgrade but unless Goldy was 500k ish you probably couldnt justify it if you still have a DEF rookie knocking out 60s.

Worst case Leuey does a TBC and barely moves, maybe making it to 400k. This would be the best and easier way to get Goldy in quick as its a bad scorer whose worth enough so that a trade can get Goldy. But again the points lost would he horrible. Even if Goldy only averages 110.

The easiest way to get a fallen Goldy in quickly would be an injury trade. An already well priced R or F who has to go. Quick, simple and effective. But this requires bad luck and a wasted trade.

In my head its still a really tough choice as to which way to go as I think there are just as many tricky scenarios involved in starting him.

But i think that romantic notion of waiting until he drops in price is the same as Gaz every other year. Its really hard to get in and out cleanly and ahead of the pack.

Thats not to say that we have to pick him as there are 3 or 4 others who could realistically match his average and make him redundant, but its just something I always have in my head when looking at the highest priced blokes every year.

Thats why this game is great... we'll never know whether we need to start Goldy, can upgrade to him, or wont need him at all until its too late! :)
There are so many "ifs and buts" involved in this, that trying to reduce it down to one scenario/equation is nearly pointless. But here is one attempt anyway.

Coach A starts Goldy ($695,100) and Rookie Xyz (position unknown) ($117,300) - total $812,400
Goldy scores 121 in each of the first 9 Rounds, and after Round 9 his price has fallen to $622,000
Rookie Xyz plays 6 of the first 9 games, and has scored 65 in each of those games. His price is now $265,000 - total $887,000
Coach A picked his Rookies well, and when Xyz missed in rounds 5, 6 and 8 he has Rookie Abc take his place on the field, and coincidently he scored 65 in those 3 games as well. Goldy has scored 121 x 9 = 1,089, and the Rookie spot has scored 9 x 65 = 585, total 1,674 points. Rookie Xyz has grown $147,700 in value, and is well on the way to being milked, possibly in another 3 games, when he has hit $300k.

Coach B starts Leuey ($309,400) and Barlow ($503,200), and is hoping Barlow will score at Forward Keeper level (95+), and that he can upgrade Leuey to Goldy after Round 9. Though the real calculations are WAY more complicated than what follows, what does Leuey have to achieve, if Barlow plays all 9 games and scores 95 in each of them, for Coach A and Coach B to be considered roughly level after Round 9?

Coach A is looking at a "one up, one down trade" with Xyz being half of that equation with another similar Rookie Jkl. Coach B also has Rookie Jkl in his team, so those two cancel each other out, and they both have Rookie Qrs.
Barlow has scored 95 x 9 = 855 points for coach B, so to be level on points Leuey needs to score 819. That's an average of 91/game, and let's assume for argument's sake that Leuey has played all 9 games (probably wishful thinking!). Leueys price has now risen to $439,000 (using the same set of MN's used to calculate Goldy and the Rookies price changes). Barlow is now worth $480,000 so Coach B has also scored 1,674 from his 2 players, and their total worth is $919,000. which is $32,000 more than Coach A's Goldy and Rookie xyz are worth. Coach B needs $183,000 to turn Leuey into Goldy. We have seen that Rookie Xyz has increased $147,700, so let's assume Rookie Jkl has tracked the same, and is now worth $147,700 more than his opening price.
Coach B is forced to either cull a better/fatter cow than Jkl to make the upgrade, or be sitting on some sort of cash reserve we had not previously assumed. We could assume they were both sitting there with $40k in the bank, and make Coach B's job easy! If not, Coach B has now culled Rookie Qrs a little early to make his trade. Coach B has a 3 week period, while he waits for Coach A to cull Xyz and Jkl in his one up, one down upgrade. In those 3 weeks both A and B have Goldy, Coach A has Qrs and Xyz scoring at 75 and 65, and Coach B has Barlow and Jkl scoring 95 and 65. Coach B gains 60 points in those 3 weeks, but has lost 3 weeks growth on Qrs, which has netted Coach A an extra $45,000 for his upgrade. When Coach A makes his upgrade, he will in theory have that player for 10 weeks, and needs to use that $45,000 better player to bridge that 60 point gap. In theory, the $45,000 netts him 9/game, so he is 30 points better off than coach B.

Ok, so many assumptions made!
That Coach A used his $45,000 to full effect, and found a 9/game play better than Barlow.
That Leuey played all 9 games and averaged 91, Barlow 9 games at 95, Goldy was locked in at 121 to to go down to price assumed at the start. That the rookies played X games and scored Y points. And last, but by no means least, my guesses/calculations on the MN are relatively close! You can see, if we change anyone of those assumptions just a little bit, the whole scenario changes.

One of the key observations about the above scenario is, that Coach B obviously hoped for more than 95 from Barlow, and who knows, in reality he might go 100-105, and Coach B also hoped/assumed Goldy would score at less than 121/game, and be easier to reach than he turned out to be in this scenario. In this scenario Coach A won by 30 points, but it wouldn't take drastic changes to put Coach B 30 points in front! For example, BomberSam originally asked if Goldy was $600-625k. At $600k Goldy has only scored at 117. his points to Round 9 have dropped by 36, and Coach B spends $25k less to get Goldy in, so now Coach A only has $20k to try and bridge a 96 point gap! Nearly impossible! That's how fragile scenarios/equations like this become!

In trying to set some sort of cut off point, I will say, if you believe Goldy will be available for under $580k by Round 9, start without him. That equates to a 113 average, but don't forget, averages don't determine prices, they just determine where prices are heading! One bad score can get him there with a 115-118 average! If you think his price will bottom out between $580k and $620k, look at who the loose change is getting you. If you think he will never drop much, if at all, below $620k, then you are wasting valuable planning time looking at teams without Goldy in them!
 
Last edited:
Joined
16 Jun 2013
Messages
5,465
Likes
11,297
AFL Club
Adelaide
#43
Very well explained Rowsus.
For me it comes down to Goldy's perceived not so good early draw. So I will probably start without him.
If he had a good early draw I might start with him.:)
 
Joined
8 Jan 2015
Messages
917
Likes
1,657
AFL Club
Sydney
#44
Many thanks for posts 41 and 42 Rowsus - each is a more expansive explanation than I had envisaged or hoped for. But than I had forgotten how stunningly your mind works and the data at your fingertips. Thanks again amigo.
 
Joined
3 Dec 2014
Messages
4,358
Likes
7,050
AFL Club
Essendon
#45
Here's a list of Goldstein's 2015 opposition ruckmen for each round and his scores against them.

Jacobs- 100
Martin/Leuenberger- 154
Patrick Ryder- 110
Blicavs/Stanley- 154
Ceglar/McEvoy- 92
Maric- 100
Bellchambers- 98
Sandilands- 44
Grundy/Witts- 134
NicNat/Sinclair- 128
Pyke- 136
Lobb- 154
Nicholls/Brooksby- 149
Simpson/Blicavs- 145
McKernan- 221
Martin/Leuenberger- 127
Kreuzer/Wood- 164
Gawn- 155
Longer/Hickey- 122
Sandilands/Griffin- 116
Roughead/Redpath- 102
Maric- 114
Pyke/Tippett- 119
NicNat/Sinclair- 137

I was trying to find out if maybe he didn't score as well against genuinely strong ruck opposition, but it was inconclusive. It's often hard to judge whether or not a player or combo are tough opposition. Against those that I judged to be tough, he averaged just over 120. This was helped by monster scores of 154 in rounds 2 and 4. The majority of his huge scores came against weaker opposition, such as Lobb (154), Nicholls/Brooksby (149), Dawson Simpson (145), McKernan (221). I didn't exactly find that he was a flat track bully, like I had hoped.
 

KLo30

Leadership Group
Joined
27 Jan 2014
Messages
18,104
Likes
52,784
AFL Club
North Melb.
#46
Here's a list of Goldstein's 2015 opposition ruckmen for each round and his scores against them.

Jacobs- 100
Martin/Leuenberger- 154
Patrick Ryder- 110
Blicavs/Stanley- 154
Ceglar/McEvoy- 92
Maric- 100
Bellchambers- 98
Sandilands- 44
Grundy/Witts- 134
NicNat/Sinclair- 128
Pyke- 136
Lobb- 154
Nicholls/Brooksby- 149
Simpson/Blicavs- 145
McKernan- 221
Martin/Leuenberger- 127
Kreuzer/Wood- 164
Gawn- 155
Longer/Hickey- 122
Sandilands/Griffin- 116
Roughead/Redpath- 102
Maric- 114
Pyke/Tippett- 119
NicNat/Sinclair- 137

I was trying to find out if maybe he didn't score as well against genuinely strong ruck opposition, but it was inconclusive. It's often hard to judge whether or not a player or combo are tough opposition. Against those that I judged to be tough, he averaged just over 120. This was helped by monster scores of 154 in rounds 2 and 4. The majority of his huge scores came against weaker opposition, such as Lobb (154), Nicholls/Brooksby (149), Dawson Simpson (145), McKernan (221). I didn't exactly find that he was a flat track bully, like I had hoped.
Great post BomberSam.

Goldy's scores weren't just reliant on his ruckwork but his around the ground contribution. Linking plays, marking and forward entries. He kicked the odd goal as well.

It's going to be hard to replicate.
 
Last edited:

Darkie

Leadership Group
Joined
12 Apr 2014
Messages
25,410
Likes
65,497
AFL Club
Collingwood
#47
Goldy's scores against Sandi add to the risk of selecting him, in my view.

Last year it was 44 and 116, in 2014 it was 69, they didn't square off in 2013, and in 2012 Goldy got 27 (with only 2 touches and 8 hitouts in 82% TOG!). Goldy did manage an 85 and 104 in 2011, but Sandi looks to be his toughest opponent by a distance.

The 116 at the back end of 2015 is a positive - maybe Goldy has figured out how to combat Sandi? - but that's obviously just one game, and Goldy was coming off a stellar run at that point: 11 weeks at 149!

North and Freo play in round 4, so if Goldy goes low, his price could fully reflect that by round 7.
 
Joined
24 Aug 2012
Messages
193
Likes
90
AFL Club
Hawthorn
#48
I dont think its possible to pick Goldy at his price and expect anything like his likely once in a generation season to repeat itself.

If you pick him, you do so because you think you're investing in by far the best ruck for 2016. If he gets 115 so be it.

If he only averages 110 but everyone else only 100 hed still be worth the starting price. Not an ideal scenario but its workable as hes the best.

If you dont think he'll be the best hes probably not worth starting with, and if you think the others will score the same he may not even be worth having at all!
 
Joined
13 Mar 2012
Messages
2,790
Likes
2,985
AFL Club
Adelaide
#49
I don't see why you would start two $550k+ rucks but not Goldy if you thought Goldy will be the no 1 ruck for the year. Isn't that ruling him out of your side for the season?
 
Joined
9 Mar 2012
Messages
10,810
Likes
16,193
AFL Club
Adelaide
#50
I don't see why you would start two $550k+ rucks but not Goldy if you thought Goldy will be the no 1 ruck for the year. Isn't that ruling him out of your side for the season?
My gut feel is that while he'll be up there and quite possibly the number 1/2 ruck this year was a bit of a freak year and he'll fall back down to on par with the rest of the (top end) pack, so while you won't be disappointed, you will still be over paying quite a bit if you get him at the start. I'm looking at Jacobs (Mr Reliable) and NicNat (Mr X factor).
 
Joined
15 Sep 2012
Messages
475
Likes
217
AFL Club
Essendon
#51
I have never had the ruck line sorted out since sandi/cox days, this year being goldieless and having bellchambers scores destroyed me. Other recent years similar scenarios but not to the extent of goldy's scoring this season.
I'm more than likely playing it safe next season and locking away goldy/martin combo with leuy likely a spot in the forward line. On first glance there are some very decent underpriced premiums on other lines worth taking more of a punt on to hopefully squeeze a balanced side out. Obviously believe goldy/martin will be the top scoring rucks
 
Joined
18 Sep 2014
Messages
848
Likes
493
AFL Club
Fremantle
#53
you may as well start with one of the top 2 ruckman and save the trade
Starting the top 2 ruckman from the previous year is by no way meaning you'll save a trade. You may 'save a trade' in your ruck line, but by spending nearly 1.3mill on two ruckman, it means you are locking in trades in other lines on the ground, and I has never meant that you'll get the two best ruckman. Using that theory you probably would have missed Goldy this year.

You'll always have to trade somewhere to get a full premium team. If you spend that money in the rucks, and I spend it on the midfield, then I'll have to spend money upgrading my rucks, and you'll need to spend money upgrading your mid. As such, the only way that I can see someone 'saving a trade' is by selecting players that rarely get injured.

In that light, saving a trade is just a risk reduction measure, and is certainly not a something that can be said for the most expensive player in each line. I would think Fyfe, Shaw and Delideo are a good chance of missing 2-4 games each.

As for the rucks, selecting Sam Jacobs and Todd Goldstein is something that I can understand (but not really justify to myself at this stage). These guys regularly perform in the top few scorers, and regularly play over 21 games a season, so as far as injury risk goes I'd say these two a good bets. This is as close to saving a trade as you can get. Giving S.Martin's long injury history, I would say he's a lock for +20 games.

Everyone should be making their own judgments on risk. As long as you are thinking about it, you are going a long way to saving a trade, and getting a leg up on the competition.
 
Joined
15 Sep 2012
Messages
475
Likes
217
AFL Club
Essendon
#55
@ Jurn Stern - mate you always make valid points! plucking two out of goldy/Jacobs/martin is a lot of cash no doubt about it. You make a very good point, it could ruin your season chasing last years points and top rucks falter for whatever reason.

It is difficult in this game to fully avoid carnage. I have had weak rucks every year for probably the last 4 seasons! whilst trying to upgrade to the top ruck early in say rounds 5-9, there is always other areas that seem more important at the time- culling, grabbing a bubble boy, rocky drops 200k, ect.
I remember in 2014 I went through about 6 rucks options as I simply couldn't afford to bring in the top scoring ruck options at the time.

My choice in 2016 is to over pay for the rucks, end of the day I'm more than happy to side swap a ruck if needed - I've blown so many trades over the last few seasons within the ruck line, my squad doesn't improve and I watch the top rucks create at least a 500+ point advantage from my picks. I'd rather at least have the collateral (hopefully) of a goldy/martin so if they do falter through injury or seriously poor form I can only use one trade as these guys should hold some value. So i'm content already that if a sideways or corrective trade needs to be done early i'm willing to pull the trigger early in 2016 on he ruck. If you do not have two out of the top3 rucks it is very difficult to remain in contention.

After years of trying to pick the good ruck option, ive yielded, will be picking 2 out of the top 3 to start with and looking for value in every other line.
 
Joined
13 Mar 2012
Messages
2,790
Likes
2,985
AFL Club
Adelaide
#56
You can look at it like paying $1.3m on your rucks or paying same for two premiums which a lot did last year with Gaz and Goldy. Same cost this year pretty much. I do think the cheaper mid premiums can justify the Goldy splurge. rocky and Gaz are $250k cheaper than last year.

Also remember it's very early. A $500k ruck may turn up for us through the pre season to pair with Goldy. This is the time for the open mind. This time last year very few had Gray using the argument he was over priced and only had the one huge season.
 
Joined
13 Jan 2015
Messages
833
Likes
647
AFL Club
Brisbane
#57
what i meant by my earlier post is goldstein is going to be either 1st or 2nd ruckman for points barring injury of course and if he does get injured hopefully not early in the game of course you can trade him to any other ruckman you want
 
Joined
3 Dec 2014
Messages
4,358
Likes
7,050
AFL Club
Essendon
#58
I think I have pretty much decided that I won't be starting Goldy. At this stage it's either Martin and NicNat, set and forget, or Martin and Tippett (stepping stone to Goldy)...

Leuenberger in F4.
 

Ben's Beasts

Leadership Group
Joined
6 Jan 2013
Messages
19,074
Likes
80,340
AFL Club
Melbourne
#59
I think I have pretty much decided that I won't be starting Goldy. At this stage it's either Martin and NicNat, set and forget, or Martin and Tippett (stepping stone to Goldy)...

Leuenberger in F4.
I'm thinking along the same lines. I actually think that Martin, Nic Nat and Goldy will have similar averages next year.
 
Top