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James Woodroffe.'s avatar

Brilliant article, Mateo.

Ian sums it up well the closing of the gap between historical intuition and decision making based on data analysis. I very much was old school “Footy was never better than in the 90’s” kinda Gen Xer but find now that I’m fascinated by and devouring more data analysis driven writing and viewing of sports.

I hope Bailey has a great career this was a top read.

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Mateo Szlapek-Sewillo's avatar

Thanks, James! Was a great conversation, Bailey's very clued in.

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Lincoln Tracy, PhD's avatar

Excellent article, Mateo. Really interesting to get such detailed insight from someone working on the inside, even through a layer of anonymity.

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Mateo Szlapek-Sewillo's avatar

That's very kind, Lincoln. Thank you.

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Ian Shann's avatar

Great article. It’s all about closing the gap between historical intuition (guesswork based on watching stars of old) and rational decision-making based on data analysis! There’s a way to go but, clearly, there is movement at the station! I do hope “Bailey” is instrumental in his club making sensible decisions that help them up the ladder (unless he’s at Brisbane, in which case - data reliance has been proved!)

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Mateo Szlapek-Sewillo's avatar

Cheers, Ian! Yep, definitely movement at the station. And it's definitely true that the most successful clubs seem to be able to effectively combine the old and the new. A topic I would have liked to dig into (but sadly forgot to ask "Bailey" about) is the formative influence of soccer and US sports, which are further down the line in terms of use of analytics, on these aspiring footy data analysts.

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