Meet Riley Bull, the Football Analyst at the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League.
After leaving a half-finished Criminal Justice degree behind, it wasn't until he found football analytics that things started to click. He cut his teeth in a 5-month internship at Premier Data during peak lockdown before landing an unpaid internship at Port Melbourne in the VFL. Within 11 months, he was promoted to Head of Football Analysis and Data, a role he held for three years.
Along the way, Riley also built transferable data skills in the supply chain industry, proving that analytics experience outside of sport is anything but wasted. Then, through the power of relationships he'd quietly built over years, a non-advertised role at the Saints as Football Analyst, one of the most competitive and niche roles in the sport, landed in his lap. He grabbed it and hasn't looked back since.
If you want to hear how to turn data skills from any industry into a role inside an AFL club, this episode is one for you!
We cover:
(03:15) - Interview begins
(04:54) - Quick Fire Questions
(09:55) - Riley's first exposure to data analytics in sport
(12:24) - Riley's role at Port Melbourne FC
(17:15) - How AFL and VFL coaching team structures differ
(21:45) - Riley's experience in data analytics outside sport
(24:14) - Riley's role at St Kilda Football Club
(34:33) - How is a football analyst's performance measured?
(37:36) - Inside the coaches box for the largest comeback in AFL history
(43:12) - Challenges Riley faced breaking into sport
(44:46) - How did Riley decide this was the career path he wanted to take
(46:39) - What helped Riley stand out in his roles
(47:42) - Impact of mentors on Riley's journey
(50:20) - How to land a job as a Football Analyst in the next 30 days
(52:12) - What would life look life if not a career in sport?
(53:26) - If you could fix one thing that's wrong with the sports industry overnight, what would it be and why would you want to fix that specifically?
(55:14) - Riley's question for next guest
If you liked this ep, give these a go next:
#230: Performance Analysis at Collingwood Super Netball with Bianca Litchfield
#227: How to be a Performance Analyst for Pro Tennis Players with Shane Liyanage
#259: How Champion Data deliver analytics all over the world
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Thanks for listening, much love!
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