Stanton said:
I think it was over a hundred years ago and there were only four sides. Fitzroy finished fourth (last) and therefore last. Yet all four sides played in the finals and fitzroy won all the finals and premiership. Either that or they played 2 seasons due to their being only four sides.
1916 - Only four teams remained because of WWI.
Home and away ladder was:
Carlton 10 2 137.2 40
Collingwood 6 5 1 100.0 26
Richmond 5 7 89.9 20
Fitzroy 2 9 1 81.6 10
Each team played each other 4 times during the H&A series and the games were all fairly even so maybe Fitzroy's position belied their actual ability.
In fact Fitzroy played Carlton 6 times during the whole season and split the results 3-3. Fitzroy beat Carlton in the grand final 85-56 after Carlton had exercised their right of challenge after losing the final the previous week 65-42.
Our only other loss was against Collingwood by a point.