Buddy Brilliant

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This edition’s not for you if…

You can’t stand AFL (Australian Rules Football), geometry and/or writing. We cover a little bit of all 3.

Intrigued? Onwards!

AFL or ‘Aussie Rules’ is a unique breed of football for many reasons. Key among them is that it’s played on an oval, not a 100mx50m rectangle like every other football code.

This quirk of geometry creates some fascinating strategic nuance.

To score points in AFL, players kick the ball between the two central posts at each end of the field, known as ‘kicking a goal'. [To the purists reading; we’re ignoring Behinds for the purposes of this analysis.]

This means that being able to kick the ball far and straight is a key skill to have for an AFL player. Remember that: kicking far = good.

And when it comes to scoring goals from a long way out, there’s one guy who did it better than anyone else.

Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin.

Arguably the sport’s GOAT, Buddy kicked 1066 goals in his 354 games, placing him 4th on the all-time leading goal kicker list.

Buddy had a particular gift for scoring goals from distance. Just under 20% of all Buddy’s goals came from outside the 50m arc. That’s WAY more than any other prolific goal kicker.

Like the 3 point line in basketball, or the penalty area in soccer (football), the 50m arc is a benchmark of sorts. Very few AFL players can consistently score from outside 50m.

Buddy’s ability to score goals from further than anyone else changed the complexion of the game.

We’re going to need some year 7 geometry to understand why.

Let’s assume the area inside the 50m arc of an AFL field is a semi-circle, with a radius of 50m. This is the area AFL teams need to defend against goal-scoring opportunities.

A bit of pi magic gives us a defensive area of 3,927m² to protect.

Now, imagine Buddy is out on the field.

We know he can score goals from 55m or even 60m. How much harder does this make the job for the defending team?

Let’s calculate.

The area out to the 55m arc is 4,752m² - 21% larger.

Put another way, simply being able to score from 10% further out increases the defensive surface area by 21%, a 2.1x multiplier. In the world of elite sport where performance margins are razor thin, that’s a game-changing force.

A small improvement in a core skill delivers outsized returns.

I believe writing effectively is as valuable to you as Buddy’s left leg was to his team.

Writing is a core skill in the modern game of life.

• emails

• your CV

• pitch decks

• reports

• cover letters

• LinkedIn posts

• newsletters

Imagine if you could communicate your ideas 10% more effectively in written form. What would that mean for

• your business

• your career prospects

• your team’s performance

• your financial success

There are major outsized rewards for improving your written communication skills, even a little.

OK, I’m convinced - I need to get better at writing. What next?

Turns out, there’s only 1 thing you need to do, to become a better writer:

Write more.

Writing without a purpose, and without an audience, is a great place to start.

Try this simple exercise & see what comes out:

1. Set a timer for 3 minutes

2. Write about something that starts with the first letter of your name.

3. Don’t let the pen stop swishing or your fingers stop tapping until the timer sounds.

Will this make you a 1% better writer?

Nope.

Probably not even 0.1% better. But it’s the first step to building a regular writing habit. And that’s the first step to falling in love with writing. The rest of it can be learnt & practiced.

Know someone who’d benefit from this gazette? Go on, share the love - forward it to them!

*if you’re an AFL nuffy, read this detailed breakdown of Buddy’s career - chock full of stats and infographics to make your head spin.

And yes, my team (Buddy’s former team) the mighty Sydney Swans finished top of the ladder and are in the box seat for a Premiership this season. I’m calling it now. We will be Premiers in 2024.

Disagree? Reply & let me know who you’re tipping.