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 weekend of football in our user-friendly tables in our premium resources section – featuring advanced analytical tools to better measure the biggest changes, both seasonally and week-to-week.
Below, see who some of the winners and losers were from a CBA perspective over the weekend.
Travis Boak
I flagged this on our latest podcast.
Travis Boak has only attended 55% of the centre bounces for Port Adelaide over the past two rounds.
Last week against Carlton was the first time his CBA% went under 70% in 2022, and now we’ve seen it happen two weeks in a row. Last week it greatly affected his scoring. Whilst it didn’t have the same negative impact this week, there were other factors (such as Zac Butters’ output being down due to illness) that could have made the situation look better than it actually was.
With Rozee moving into the midfield, I get a sense that there may be a changing of the guard in the midfield at Port Adelaide. We’ve seen Boak spend more time up forward which has impacted his scoring in the past, so owners might be getting a little worried.
I still think he’s a player worth owning if you’re in contention for a flag, but if you’re out of the running it might be a good time to sell high on Travis Boak.
Jai Newcombe
We starting to really love this guy on the podcast. So much so that we made him #2G4P over our latest episode.
In round 6, he attended 79% of the CBAs – the most for Hawthorn ahead of Jaeger O’Meara and Max Lynch. But over the past few weeks, Newcombe has been ramping up his CBA numbers. He is averaging 76% of the CBAs for Hawthorn over the past few weeks, which is an increase of 18.5% on his season average of 58.2%. As a result, we’ve seen him lift his fantasy numbers to an of average 95.7 over the past 3 weeks. Prior to this period, he was only averaging 75.6 AFL Fantasy points per game
You have most likely missed the boat with Jai Newcombe in your draft and keeper leagues if you don’t own him already, but he looks to be a player that will have a bright future at Hawthorn and hopefully becomes a good fantasy midfielder.
David Swallow
This guy has put up some putrid fantasy numbers this year, spending a lot of time in defence. So much so that he gained defender status in AFL Fantasy.
However, on the weekend we saw him attend 72% of the centre bounces for Gold Coast when his previous best in a game was a mere 27% in round 5. In fact, there have been three games where he hasn’t attended a single centre bounce.
The increase in CBAs had an impact on his fantasy scoring last week. In the Q-Clash against Brisbane, he scored a solid 84 points – his best score for the year.
If you play the AFL Fantasy format where he’s listed as a defender, he may be a handy pick up if his midfield time continues. However, if you play Ultimate Footy where he’s only available as a midfielder, I’d be looking elsewhere.
Mitch Duncan
Duncan’s CBA numbers would have been an encouraging sign for owners on the weekend.
Whilst he still only scored a relatively low (for his standards) score of 83 points, he went to 50% of the centre bounces for Geelong. Prior to this game, his best CBA% was 16%, so this was a significant jump in numbers.
If these numbers continue, we should see Duncan’s numbers rise as he gets reaccustomed to the role.
Listed as a forward, he will be a handy contributor to any fantasy side if he can build from here.
Andrew McGrath
I think Andrew McGrath has been mentioned in this article a couple of times this year, but his role keeps changing and so do his CBA numbers.
Earlier in the season, McGrath was playing across half-back for Essendon and looked to be in line to gain defender status. But when Zac Merrett went down with a syndesmosis injury, McGrath moved into the midfield and remained there for a few weeks, quashing the hopes of defender status for many coaches out there.
This week, Merrett returned to the side and McGrath returned to his half-back role. Evidence of this can be found in his CBA numbers after only attending 6% of the centre bounces on Monday as opposed to 79.7% over the previous three rounds.
This is a rare time when you hope a player’s CBAs decrease in order for a player to get DPP status.
Hopefully, Essendon’s midfield settles and coaches can move him to their backlines in a future position changes update.
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
