CBAs – Centre Bounce Attendances – is a statistic that measures the number of times a player is present at a centre bounce at the beginning of a quarter or following a goal. A player that has a high attendance rate at CBAs is around the footy more and (in some cases) in a more fantasy-friendly midfield role.
Analyse the CBAs from the football weekend in our user-friendly tables in our premium resources section – featuring advanced analytical tools to better measure the most significant changes, seasonally and week-to-week.
Zak Butters
Zak Butters’ centre bounce attendance (CBA) increased last week and his midfield performance contributed significantly to Port Adelaide’s win over Sydney. His individual CBA numbers rose by 56% on last week’s game, and he now has an average of 40% CBA attendance in his last three games. This increase in Butters’ CBA attendances may have been due to a drop in Willem Drew’s CBAs since his season-high game in the Showdown last week, resulting in more opportunities for Butters to rack up fantasy points. Given he had an injury-interrupted pre-season, it was always going to take longer for Butters to get going, but we think it might be ‘go time’ for the young Port Adelaide star.
Jack Sinclair
There’s a new role in fantasy footy – a player that attends centre-bounces and also takes kick-ins! And it is fun to watch as an owner. We’ve seen Nick Daicos, Jordan Dawson, and now Jack Sinclair get involved in the multiple dimensions in 2023. And with defender status – it makes them even more valuable.
In Round 4, Sinclair was utilized at 38% of St Kilda’s centre bounces, up from 17% attendance in Round 3. His usage has increased each match this year after zero CBAs in Round 1. It is also worth noting that St Kilda is currently the most fantasy-friendly team in the competition, particularly for midfielders. If Sinclair can stay in there while Steele is out, his scoring will benefit. As I mentioned last week, Crouch and Ross are the main two, while Sinclair and others rotate in the 3rd midfielder position.
Cam Mackenzie
The 2022 Pick #7 has put up impressive fantasy numbers to start the season – as expected with a nice midfield role. Unfortunately for Mackenzie, his centre-bounce-attendance usage has dropped each week – 52%, 25%, 17%, and now 7% respectively. It appears the emergence of Will Day in the midfield has slowly taken over Mackenzie’s role, with Day’s CBAs increasing weekly.
With Will Day’s suspension status currently sitting at two matches, who is most likely to take his role in the midfield? So far this season, Hawthorn has mainly used 4 players in the centre-bounce: Day, James Worpel, Jai Newcombe, and Conor Nash. With an even split each, there could be room for Cam Mackenzie to slide in and score well – particularly with a favourable matchup against Adelaide in R6.
Tom Green
After four rounds, the breakout to a 110 average is on track for Tom Green! His centre-bounce usage has increased from 54% in 2022 to a massive 87% so far in 2023. Against Essendon last week, he attended 25/26 possible CBAs. It was the change that Green needed, with a high dependency on centre-bounces for scoring (18% of disposals in 2022, the highest for the Giants.).
The Giants have three consistent centre-bounce midfielders – Tom Green, Stephen Coniglio, and Josh Kelly. It is much more friendly for fantasy scoring this season, compared to when nine midfielders averaged 20%+ CBAs in 2022.
Bailey Smith
The departure of Josh Dunkley from a busy Bulldogs midfield group hasn’t benefited Bailey Smith yet – from a centre-bounce point of view. His centre-bounce numbers are down from 54% in 2022 to 33% in 2023 and have been inconsistent. In games where they play together, it seems either Smith or Adam Treloar starts in the middle. With Treloar at 61%, it doesn’t leave much for Smith.
There are still too many Bulldog midfielders to fit into a centre-bounce, but as we know, nothing is guaranteed to be consistent under Luke Beveridge.
Preview of Advanced CBA Stats:
| Player | Club | Pos | LG% | LG%vsPG% | Avg% | L3Avg% | LG%vsAvg% | L3G%vsAvg% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Steele | SK | C | 86 | -7 | 89.7 | 88 | -3.7 | -1.7 |
| Reilly O’Brien | AD | R | 84 | -4 | 89 | 86 | -5 | -3 |
| Rowan Marshall | SK | R | 76 | -20 | 87.7 | 87 | -11.7 | -0.7 |
| Lloyd Meek | HW | R | 90 | +11 | 86.2 | 87 | +3.8 | +0.8 |
| Tom Green | GWS | C | 80 | -5 | 86.2 | 85 | -6.2 | -1.2 |
| Max Gawn | ME | R | 92 | +6 | 86 | 88 | +6 | +2 |
| Luke Davies-Uniacke | NM | C | 80 | -5 | 85.5 | 84 | -5.5 | -1.5 |
| Jarrod Witts | GC | R | 93 | +11 | 84.6 | 87 | +8.4 | +2.4 |
| Ned Reeves | HW | R | 82 | -5 | 84.5 | 79 | -2.5 | -5.5 |
| Toby Nankervis | RI | R | 83 | -7 | 83.8 | 84 | -0.8 | +0.2 |
View more CBA Analysis numbers here.
Key:
LG% – Percentage of CBAs last game
LG%vsPG% – Percentage of CBAs last game versus percentage of CBAs previous game
Avg% – Average of CBA percentage in games played
L3Avg% – Average of CBA percentage over the past three games
LG%vsAvg% – Last game CBA percentage vs average CBA percentage
L3G%vsAvg% – Last three games CBA percentage vs average CBA percentage
