GIANTS’ RUNNING MAN STATS PROVE SCULLY’S WORTH

JONATHAN Brown says Tom Scully is the best runner that football has seen — and GPS data confirms it.

Scully is the AFL’s premier running man, working harder and for longer than any other player this season.

The data covers the competition’s 816 players across the 23-round season.

How far do they run? How fast do they do it? Who digs deepest when his team has the ball and who pushes hard when it doesn’t?

The numbers reveal: SCULLY runs a league-high 16.6km a game and he owns the four highest distance totals this year, topped by an 18.3km effort against Collingwood in Round 8. GREATER Western Sydney’s attacking threat is underlined by having the three hardestworking offensive players.

Scully (7.1km), Lachie Whitfield (6.5) and Toby Greene (6.4) average the most distance a game when their team has the ball. WEST Coast winger Andrew Gaff is the most selfless runner, working back harder than any other player and covering the most ground (6.5km) when West Coast is without the ball.

Interestingly, no Giant appears in the top five for distance covered in defence. BRADLEY Hill is the repeat effort king of the competition, averaging 35.3 sprints (defined by running above 24km/h for at least a second) a game for Fremantle. NORTH Melbourne whippet Shaun Atley recorded the fastest top speed — 35.3km/h to burn off

Hawthorn in Launceston in Round 21. But Scully is the AFL’s Thomas the Tank Engine.

The No. 1 pick in the 2009 national draft, Scully has been one of the most-maligned players in the game.

The midfielder left the Demons in 2011 when the club was on its knees for what was then described as the heftiest salary in the AFL.

Respected at the club for his meticulous preparation and refusal to drink as a teenager, Scully has only enhanced his endurance powers at the freewheeling GWS.

Since the interchange cap was lowered to 90 in 2016, his influence has grown.

He averages the most distance a game (4.2km) at high speed — more than 18km/h — highlighting his gut-running ability.

Brown played with aerobic animals Nigel Lappin and Shaun Hart during Brisbane Lions’ all-conquering premiership run, but said Scully was peerless.

“I’m prepared to put it on record. I think Tom Scully is the best two-way runner I’ve seen,” Brown told Fox Footy this year.

“His running ability — both ways — is second to none. I know we’ve had some great endurance midfielders who’ve chased the ball really hard, but Scully is unbelievable.”