Analysis Is there any advantage to training on the ground where official home matches are played

[wafti123]

This is an interesting question that has plagued me for a while. Do you think that there is an advantage to training where you play? I imagine there would be some advantage.

A small test to this theory is the home ground advantage enjoyed by local league (WAFL) clubs where the grounds are not too far from each other (I don't have a link to any stats yet). I would imagine that other factors, from the familiarity of the drive, the dimensions, the type of lawn, wind patterns etc. play a role in this. Or is it the home crowd that is a bigger factor? (Back in the WAFL's heyday, did opposition supporters travel to away games?)

 

[DaveLister]

not large enough to empirically test for.

 

[Taylor]

I believe there is a psychological advantage to being used to playing in the bottom of a big ravine, like the effect of being in the middle of Subiaco, when your opposition trains on a park with open sides - giving the illusion of there being less space inside Subi.

 

[Arcassius]

I had wondered with the Peel vs Subi grand final if there would be a benefit to Peel with having a chunk of it's players playing on a ground that was familiar to them

 

[estibador]

I believe there is a psychological advantage to being used to playing in the bottom of a big ravine, like the effect of being in the middle of Subiaco, when your opposition trains on a park with open sides - giving the illusion of there being less space inside Subi.

Hopefully then they end up building all those apartment towers around the oval they keep showing ghosted out in the Cockburn plans. That would pretty much simulate the same effect.

Plus we could all chip in a few bucks and have our own bigfooty members bar overlooking training.