Ten shots, one brutal night for wayward Tiger. But where does he rank overall?

TOM LYNCH may have had a horror showing in front of the big sticks on Thursday night, but it didn't even crack the bottom 20 of Champion Data's player ratings for key forwards.

Richmond's spearhead finished the four-point loss to Carlton with a rating of -6.2, the lowest total of the round. Charlie Curnow (-2.8) and Patrick Voss (-2.1) also had poor performances, while at least five other players were sitting in the negative.

Champion Data defines the player rating as "an objective, single-number metric that measures a player's direct impact on the scoreboard and game, known as 'equity ratings'".

"They calculate the value of every action based on location, pressure and how it changes the team's chance of scoring. It rewards positive play, and punishes turnovers and poor accuracy."

Lynch's 2.7 came from 10 scoring shots for a total of 19 points, but his expected score was 35.6. That's even taking into account the fact that five of his nine scores came from beyond 40m, as expected scores include location and its historical scoring.

Now in his 16th AFL season, opponents are well aware that Lynch can be riled and retaliates with anger and physicality to niggle and general defensive dark arts.

Coach Adem Yze has said on numerous occasions that Lynch plays at his best when he's on the edge, and the fact he was in a position to take 10 scoring shots – taking five marks inside 50 – is testament to that.

But the fact remains that Lynch's brain fades can cost his team dearly, the most egregious example from last week being a goal-line tussle with second-gamer Harry Dean that robbed Tim Taranto a set shot from a downfield free, after Lynch caught the Blue high.

Lynch is one of just three current Tigers – alongside games-leader Nick Vlastuin and Dion Prestia – to have played over 200 games, and his experience, nous, direction and ability to draw multiple opponents is key for the young Richmond forward line.

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His relentless internal battle to regulate and channel that emotion into positive energy will be key to Richmond's results this year.

But even at this low, Lynch's round one was far from the lowest key forward player rating on record, which is Joel Amartey's -10.5 after he kicked 0.6 against Port Adelaide last year. 

Lowest player ratings from key forwards

Courtesy Champion Data