Who actually were the A-League's best and worst?

THE BIGGEST SURPRISE OF THEM ALL?

If you noticed Newcastle Jets were last in conversions, it will be little surprise to see they led the league in shots taken despite finishing seventh - arguably the biggest surprise of the 2018/19 season statistics.

Ernie Merrick harped on about the Jets deserving more than they got and perhaps he has a point, but it's interesting that the Wanderers were second in the shooting charts yet still finished eighth.

Obviously simply rifling off efforts in the A-League isn't the best way into the net, Melbourne Victory were third last in shots taken, but second in goals scored.

Shots

WHAT DOES A GREAT DEFENSIVE SIDE ACTUALLY LOOK LIKE?

While the conceded table reads more or less as expected, there are two points worth noting. First, fifth-placed Melbourne City were actually the third best defensive side in the league which, when you combine with a relatively low conversion rate, cast a slightly warmer glow on Warren Joyce.

Yeah, it was arguably his fault that Bruno Fornaroli wasn't in the squad to begin with, but you can imagine that had the Uruguyan managed to put in a season's shift, Joyce could very well still be in the City hotseat. 

Conceded

HOW GOOD WAS WELLINGTON REALLY?

The second point is Wellington's mixed result. Despite having the best goalkeeper in the league with the highest save percentage, the Nix still conceded the fourth-highest goal count.

Then you add that Wellington had the third highest goal conversion rate thanks to deadly strikers David Williams and Roy Krishna, as opposed to the dismal returns for Newcastle and Western Sydney, and you begin to realise the gap between sixth and eighth is probably a lot less than many thought.

As if to hammer the point home, despite receiving the golden glove Filip Kurto's Wellington side only registered the equal-seventh most cleansheets.

Given they finished sixth, for all the plaudits given to Mark Rudan's side, even with a rampaging Krishna it's possible that without Filip Kurto they may have finished below the Jets and Wanderers after all.

Luckily for Rudan, he'll have the prized Pole at Western United next season, so we may never know...

Cleansheets