2024 McClelland Trophy

[Teen Wolf]

Shaping up to be a tight race at the top again. Possibly more so than last year when Melbourne pipped Brisbane by 4 points. This time I think we will see a close finish between the Swans, Cats and Pies, separated by no more than a men's win (or a women's draw).

I've tipped just the 6 wins for the Sydney women, but that could prove to be a low hurdle if a few of their young'uns like Montana Ham and Ally Morphett have a better run with injury than in recent seasons.

For Geelong, the bigger question revolves around the men, who'll need a boost from Patrick Dangerfield on the back straight. I've predicted 7-3 from their remaining AFL H&A games, meaning wins against Ess, Haw, WB, NM, Adel, StK & WCE... which isn't farfetched.

And Collingwood are better placed than this time last year imo, despite a slow start to 2024 and a busy medical room. Men's team seem to be coming good, and Ruby Schleicher played just the 2 matches in 2023 which gives scope for a lot of improvement on the 5-win AFLW tally.

2024 Club Champion - Projected

CLUB	MEN	WOMEN	TOTAL
SYDNEY	80	48	128
GEELONG	60	64	124
COLLINGWOOD	68	56	124
BRISBANE	50	64	114
MELBOURNE	48	64	112
CARLTON	68	40	108
ADELAIDE	26	80	106
GWS GIANTS	64	40	104
ESSENDON	50	40	90
ST KILDA	28	56	84
NORTH MELB.	8	72	80
FREMANTLE	58	16	74
GOLD COAST	40	32	72
RICHMOND	16	56	72
PORT ADELAIDE	60	8	68
HAWTHORN	40	24	64
W. BULLDOGS	44	16	60
WEST COAST	20	16	36

 

[Franc de Borges]

WTF is this?

 

[Teen Wolf]

WTF is this?

Club championship award. Only been around since 1951.

And Google was created in 1998.

 

[Cleansweep17]

WTF is this?

Trophy for being the Minor Premiers.

I believe last year they changed aged it to include the AFLW win/loss records to.

 

[Franc de Borges]

Club championship award. Only been around since 1951.

And Google was created in 1998.

I know about the award. My WTF was for your thread.

 

[Teen Wolf]

I know about the award. My WTF was for your thread.

The thread is about the award.

 

[Pancakes]

WTF is this?

I think you get a million bucks for winning it.
That million bucks was 95% of the Dees revenue last year, good effort for that povo club.

 

[Sentinel]

Remains a ridiculous criteria for such a signficant prize amount whilst the women's fixture is what it is.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Melbourne turned a $2.2m operating profit in 2023, not including the prizemoney for this, given the AFLW season stretches into the following football financial year. Unless they're paying off wagyu beef debt, the million (half of which goes directly to the players, working out to about $7k each) isn't actually significant for them.

Like last year, I suspect this year's winner won't hinge on the length of the AFLW season.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Four final weeks of men's points up for grabs, and Brisbane have stormed into Club Champion Contention! The AFL Lions are looking on track to finish with 66 points now. Having tipped their AFLW team to go 8-3 based on last year's rollercoaster ride, it nevertheless wouldn't be surprising for them to go 9-2 or even 10-1, and run down the Swans late.

Collingwood have fallen out of the race since starting the thread. Things were looking up when they had just put Melbourne to the sword on King's Birthday, but they've since gone 2-4. Even with a 4-0 record next month, the damage is already done. My projection for them afforded far too much benefit of doubt.

Geelong are juuust doing enough to stay in touch of a genuine chance. Whether Sydney can hold onto favouritism probably depends on beating Port Adelaide next week, which will be tough to tip amidst injury (particularly Tom Papley

11

Tom Papley

Age

29

Ht

177cm

Wt

77kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.1

4star

K

9.1

4star

HB

5.0

4star

M

3.7

4star

T

3.2

5star

G

1.5

5star

D

12.3

3star

K

8.9

4star

HB

3.4

2star

M

4.5

4star

T

1.5

2star

G

2.4

5star

D

13.4

4star

K

8.0

3star

HB

5.4

4star

M

3.4

4star

T

3.4

5star

G

1.6

5star

) and form issues (particularly Chad Warner

1

Chad Warner

Age

24

Ht

185cm

Wt

82kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

7.0

2star

K

4.5

2star

HB

2.5

2star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.5

3star

CL

0.0

1star

D

7.0

1star

K

4.5

2star

HB

2.5

2star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.5

2star

CL

0.0

1star

D

7.0

2star

K

4.5

2star

HB

2.5

3star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.5

4star

CL

0.0

1star

).

Hawthorn men are doing way better than anticipated, but to have a shot at the million, their women's team would also have to defy expectations by a similar degree, if not greater (they will benefit from the addition of Eliza West; should still get slaughtered again by any team with decent talls).

 

[Sentinel]

The McClelland Trophy in its current form is a little like the Harry Potter game Quidditch. Everyone jostles for points in the men's competition until a team wins a few in the AFLW and its like catching the golden snitch, such is the disproportionate scoring system in place.

 

[Teen Wolf]

The McClelland Trophy in its current form is a little like the Harry Potter game Quidditch. Everyone jostles for points in the men's competition until a team wins a few in the AFLW and its like catching the golden snitch, such is the disproportionate scoring system in place.

...it's not though. Like, not even close. Otherwise Adelaide and North Melbourne would have a chance.

 

[rapidfire7]

The McClelland Trophy in its current form is a little like the Harry Potter game Quidditch. Everyone jostles for points in the men's competition until a team wins a few in the AFLW and its like catching the golden snitch, such is the disproportionate scoring system in place.

Yep. Why most of the football public (aside from the OP) couldn't give a rat's toss bag about it.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Yep. Why no one could give a rat's toss bag about it.

There's no less interest in it now than there was for any of the previous iterations.

 

[Sentinel]

There's no less interest in it now than there was for any of the previous iterations.

Previous iterations didn't have a million bucks awarded to the winner.

 

[The Hobo]

Remains a ridiculous criteria for such a signficant prize amount whilst the women's fixture is what it is.

Agreed. Should at least split it 500k per comp. Combined is just crap.

 

[The Hobo]

Such a shame - the minor premiership is so undervalued in the first place for what it is. To sit on top of the table after 24 rounds is a huge achievement, it means you need to be consistent throughout the season.

We've seen teams hit purple patches just coming into finals and go through and win with about 6 weeks of top football. Obviously the premiership is higher valued, but i've always been confused by the total disregard we give to the minor premiers. Needs to be celebrated more than it is in my opinion.

The new iteration of a combined trophy though is just laughable. Is there any other sport in the world that does this?

 

[rapidfire7]

Such a shame - the minor premiership is so undervalued in the first place for what it is. To sit on top of the table after 24 rounds is a huge achievement, it means you need to be consistent throughout the season.

We've seen teams hit purple patches just coming into finals and go through and win with about 6 weeks of top football. Obviously the premiership is higher valued, but i've always been confused by the total disregard we give to the minor premiers. Needs to be celebrated more than it is in my opinion.

The new iteration of a combined trophy though is just laughable. Is there any other sport in the world that does this?

It is laughable.

We should go back to the minor Premier getting the McClelland Trophy, keep increasing the prize money, and start having a proper presentation/giving due recognition for the team who wins it.

Like you say, it is actually a great achievement in itself (to finish on on top), which has been terribly overlooked since forever really. We seem to have an all or nothing mentality (Premiership or bust), but I do believe we can take steps to start changing that.

In time (and If the AFL want it to), I believe the minor Premiership could grow into another sought after piece of silverware in the game, which is something we desperately need IMO. Another genuine opportunity for teams to win something of value.

 

[Sentinel]

I think the idea of the McClelland Trophy to incorporate the combined success of both AFL and AFLW is very good, but just poorly executed due to the fixture of both competitions.

The men's minor premier is somewhat diluted due to the current season structure where teams play 11 other sides once and 6 other sides twice, of which a number of those double ups are defined according to commercial priorities (eg showdowns, derbies, big Vic rivalries). It'll be less of an issue with the introduction of the 19th and 20th sides but still remains. If they're going to attached a proper cash award to it I'd suggest a points system which dilutes double-up fixture results by 50% to eliminate that aspect.

Unfortunately the award will remain a joke whilst each team in the women's competition only plays 10 of the 17 opponents during the H&A. There's no way to compensate for that without lengthening the season so that each teams plays all others at least once.

 

[Teen Wolf]

We should go back to the minor Premier getting the McClelland Trophy

The only reason it was changed to that is now no longer true. You can be sure the original concept for the Club Championship is back and here to stay, hooray!

The new iteration of a combined trophy though is just laughable. Is there any other sport in the world that does this?

It's something that has been done in Australia for 100+ years. Not just footy but certainly also cricket, rugby and hockey.

 

[Teen Wolf]

the women's competition only plays 10 of the 17 opponents during the H&A.

btw it's 11 this year, and minimum 12 next year. Important to know when trying to tip the winner!

 

[Teen Wolf]

Men's H&A season concluded with Sydney ahead of Geelong and Brisbane by the equivalent of 1 and 1.25 AFLW wins respectively. That margin probably needed to be 2 and 2.25 for the Swans to be clear McClelland Trophy favourites--working in their favour is the Cats go without Chloe Scheer for the first half of the season, and also the possibility of a Lions premiership hangover.

But really, even if Brisbane women's are as close to erratic as they were in 2023's H&A season, they should still rack up 8 wins this year which will likely be enough to have the million dollar cheque sent to Springfield.



Sydney smashed GWS in match sim, but were then smashed by Hawthorn in an official practice match, so it's hard to know "where they're at" just yet.

 

[NetworkNerd]

Should be interesting. Hawthorn have moved up to equal 3rd spot just 2 games behind Sydney

Sydney - 72
Port - 68
Hawthorn - 64
GWS - 64

 

[Ralll]

Go woman's team!! Get us off the bottom!

 

[Teen Wolf]

Should be interesting. Hawthorn have moved up to equal 3rd spot just 2 games behind Sydney

Sydney - 72
Port - 68
Hawthorn - 64
GWS - 64

It's much closer than that (for now). Sydney ahead of Hawthorn and Port by what is just half-a-win from here on out.