Final's bye records?

[Ocha905]

Bit of a niche subject but was wondering if anyone had records of finals byes for players and teams (eg. they played in a winning Qualifying Final and subsequently had the Semi Final week off)?

Think it would be an interesting way to determine what players/teams were dominant + which players were penalised in a roundabout way of adding more games to their overall games played tally.

Cheers in advance for any info.

 

[North park]

Bit of a niche subject but was wondering if anyone had records of finals byes for players and teams (eg. they played in a winning Qualifying Final and subsequently had the Semi Final week off)?

Think it would be an interesting way to determine what players/teams were dominant + which players were penalised in a roundabout way of adding more games to their overall games played tally.

Cheers in advance for any info.

It may not answer your question directly, but there is some interesting data on the impact of finals results since the introduction of the pre-finals bye in 2016.

In the 16 seasons from 2000 to 2015, 32 teams lost a Qualifying Final, with only 5 (15.6%) going out in straight sets the next week - Port Adelaide (2001), West Coast (2007), Fremantle (2014), Geelong (2014) and Sydney (2015).

In the 10 seasons since from 2016 to 2025, 20 teams have lost a Qualifying Final, with 9 (45%) going out in straight sets the next week - Hawthorn (2016 and 2018), Brisbane (2019 and 2021), Melbourne (2022 and 2023), Port Adelaide (2023), GWS (2024) and Adelaide (2025).

In the 16 seasons from 2000 to 2015, 32 teams won a Qualifying Final and advanced to a Preliminary Final. Of the 32, only 4 (12.5%) failed to win and advance to the Grand Final - Sydney (2003), St.Kilda (2005), Adelaide (2006) and Fremantle (2015).

In the 10 seasons from 2016 to 2025, 20 teams have won a Qualifying Final and advanced to a Preliminary Final. Of the 20, a total of 9 (45%) have failed to win and advance to the Grand Final - GWS (2016), Geelong (2016 and 2024), Richmond (2018), Collingwood (2019 and 2025), Brisbane (2020) and Port Adelaide (2020 and 2021).

The pre-finals bye may not be the only reason, but it does appear that teams having bye/qualifying final/bye before a Preliminary Final is not the best preparation against a team that has played in the 2 previous weeks.