Goalkickers

All our ratings and rankings are based on the past performance of professional goal kickers.
More about Points gained
Points gained indicates the value added on the scoreboard by the goal kicker relative to other professional goal kickers. It is the number of points the kicker scored more than expected given the difficulty of his kicks. The higher the kicker’s Points gained the better the performance. A kicker with a negative Points gained actually lost his team points due to poor kicking relative to other professional goal kickers and given the difficulty of his kicks.
Now we can answer the question: “What was the impact of goal kicking on the scoreboard?”
Example
In all his 2013 International games, Leigh Halfpenny GAINED 27 points for Wales (see Internationals (2013) ranking table) – he scored 27 more points compared to the number of points an average goal kicker would have scored given the kicks he was faced with.

Additional information about our goal kicker rating model
We base the difficulty of a kick on the following factors – and the factors must have been proved based on past data and using the right statistical techniques:
• distance of the kick
• angle of the kick
• altitude
• side of field and foot used
• score difference (to indicate pressure)
• home/away
• 1st half/2nd half
Based on past goal kick data, distance and angle are currently the only statistically significant factors, and are used in our model.
The model is based on many past kicks of professional goal kickers, and the model objectively derives the factors that predict the probability of kick success. A kicker is basically judged against his peers taking past history into account. The model is re-calibrated regularly as additional goal kick data is captured – the model therefore reflects the latest performance of professional goal kickers.

Our goal kicker ranking table:
The ranking table makes the success probabilities compared to the actual performances come alive…
Kickers are ranked based Points gained, the value they added on the scoreboard.