AFL Stats Explained: Disposals, Contested Possessions, Clearances and More

AFL stats are collected by Champion Data for every game. These are the numbers you'll see in every match centre, player page and leaderboard on this site, and what they measure.

To put the numbers in proportion, a typical club in 2026 had 367 disposals (213 kicks and 155 handballs), 92 marks, 129 contested possessions, 36 clearances, 53 inside 50s and 57 tackles a game.

Possession

• Disposals (D): kicks plus handballs. The most quoted stat in the game, and a measure of how much of the ball a player gets. See the disposal leaders.
• Marks (M): clean catches from a kick of at least 15 metres that nobody else touched. A contested mark (CM) is taken in a one-on-one or a pack; a mark inside 50 (MI50) is taken in the forward 50 and usually means a shot at goal.
• Contested possessions (CP): possessions won while the ball is in dispute, such as ground balls in a pack, contested marks and free kicks. Uncontested possessions (UP) are won in space, usually from a teammate's disposal.
• Disposal efficiency (DE%): the share of a player's disposals that found a teammate or otherwise did their job.
• Metres gained (MG): how far a player moved the ball towards goal, net of any ground lost.

Moving the ball forward

• Inside 50s (I50): moving the ball into the forward 50 by kicking or carrying it. Rebound 50s (R50) are the reverse, out of the defensive 50.
• Clearances (CL): the first effective disposal out of a stoppage. Centre clearances come from the centre bounce after a goal and at the start of each quarter; stoppage clearances come from ball-ups and throw-ins around the ground.
• Hitouts (HO): a ruckman getting a hand to the ball at a bounce or throw-in. Hitouts to advantage go straight to a teammate.
• Score involvements (SI): possessions in a chain that ended in a score. Goal assists (GA) are disposals that led directly to a goal.

Defence and pressure

• Tackles (T), and tackles inside 50 laid in the forward half's scoring zone.
• Intercepts (INT): possessions won from an opponent's disposal. Key defenders lead this list.
• One percenters (1%): spoils, smothers, shepherds and knock-ons, the small acts that don't show up as possessions.
• Pressure acts, ground ball gets and centre bounce attendances are Champion Data's extended stats; the last is the clearest sign of who plays in the midfield.
• Clangers and turnovers count mistakes: free kicks against, kicks out on the full and disposals that went to the opposition.

One-number ratings

• AFL Fantasy (AF) adds up a stat line with fixed values: 3 points for a kick, 2 for a handball, 3 for a mark, 4 for a tackle, 1 for a free kick for and 3 off for a free kick against, 1 for a hitout, 6 for a goal and 1 for a behind. See the AFL Fantasy leaders.
• Rating points (RP) are Champion Data's player rating: each action is valued by how much it changed the team's chance of scoring, so a defender's spoil or a midfielder's clearance counts as well as a goal. See the player rating leaders.
• FanCrew rating: the 0–10 number on this site's line-ups, player stats and game logs. It blends rating points and AFL Fantasy points (four parts to six, from 2012; Fantasy points alone before) and places the result against every game since 2001: 6.5 is a typical game, 8.4 a top-5% game and 9.4 a top-half-a-percent one. That blend's best-rated player got the umpires' three Brownlow votes in 42% of games from 2021 to 2025, more than either number alone. It picks each game's best on ground and the round's standout performances.
• Time on ground (TOG%): the share of the game a player was on the field rather than on the bench.