Media The Sweet FA Squiggle

[MWPP]

I have been a long-time follower of The Squiggle from that other league. So I’ve put together a Sweet FA version of the Squiggle, using scoring data from Seasons 34–40 (both Home & Away and Finals).

Instead of just looking at ladder positions, the squiggle looks at how teams actually play ie Points For (offence) and Points Against (defence). Plot those together and you get a map of the league.

Teams naturally fall into four zones:
-Flag Contenders – high scoring, strong defence (top right quadrant)
-Entertaining Chaos – high scoring, leaky defence (top left quadrant)
-Defensive Grinders – tough to score against, low scoring (bottom right quadrant)
-Rebuild Zone – struggling at both ends (bottom left quadrant)

Stay tuned for updates relating to seasonal progress and trends

 

[Pugsley]

 

[MWPP]

Season 41 Baseline Squiggle

This Season 41 starting point was calculated based on the average PF and PA for each club across S34-40 including finals.

Short-term fluctuations will move teams around the squiggle during the season, but this baseline shows where teams have settled over time. In other words, it aggregates seven full seasons plus finals so it effectively represents each club’s long-term offensive and defensive identity.




Summary
1. Hawks and Old Boys set the Benchmark
Across S34-S40 these two clubs sit closest to the contender quadrant with strong scoring and solid defence. These positions reflect their sustained success across this era with two flags apiece.

2. Demons and Gumbies bring the entertaining chaos
These clubs both score heavily but concede plenty placing them in the classic 'shootout' zone. If their defence tightens they can quickly jump into contender territory.

3. Bears are the dour, defensive outlier
The Bears fit furthest along the defensive side of the chart, to the point where I had to adjust the scale on my graph. The Bears concede very few points but they can also struggle to score.

4. Roys and Wonders sit in the competitive middle
These teams cluster around the league average. Whilst they aren't extreme in either direction, they are also consistently competitive.

5. The Royals are the strugglers of the league
The Royals are the only team to currently sit in the dreaded Rebuild Zone. The only way from here is up

 

[BFew]

View attachment 2543383

Please don’t tell MW what a squiggle really is.

 

[Cap]

Knowing most of the Bears posters, struggling to score is probably not a suprise

 

[Pugsley]

Please don’t tell MW what a squiggle really is.

Noooooooooo.

 

[Pugsley]

Knowing most of the Bears posters, struggling to score is probably not a suprise

 

[Loonerty]

A suggestion would be to add points for premiership winning teams as a frame of reference

 

[MWPP]

Premiers

• Overall, the league has shifted from being predominantly defensive, to predominantly offensive. However, the S40 Dragons were a balanced team. Could this be the start of another run of more defensive and/or balanced premiers?
• The S38–S39 Hawks sit in the strongest all-round area of the premiership cluster
• The S34 Bombers are the clear outlier, with lower-scoring games driven by a tighter defence than subsequent premiers.
• The S35 and S37 Ophidian Old Boys had contrasting styles. That famous S36 spoon forced a return to the drawing board, and they reaped the reward.
• The S36 Gumbies sit closest to the middle pack, which makes their breakthrough flag in a competitive year especially impressive.

I wondered if those trends were caused by different season lengths. However, analysing the premiers on a per-game basis results in similar overall trends.

Two clear groups of premiers emerged. High-scoring premiers (S37, S38, S39 and S40) all sit in the 100-106 PF/game range. Defence-leaning premiers (S34, S35 and S36) all score 91-93 PF/game but with a stronger defence.

 

[MWPP]

A suggestion would be to add points for premiership winning teams as a frame of reference

Thanks for the suggestion. Yes I will be marking the premiership teams out visually on the graphs. Double checking if this is what you meant though?

 

[The Half Back]

Would be interesting to see how many games each team has played in what conditions over that time frame. Dare say the Bears, Warriors and Swamprats play in the rain the most often.

 

[BFew]

Noooooooooo.

That's an interesting representation of a real squiggle.
Did you run out of Braklet Qink before you could draw the rest of the squiggle?

 

[Pugsley]

That's an interesting representation of a real squiggle.
Did you run out of Braklet Qink before you could draw the rest of the squiggle?

 

[Headless]

Very cool!

 

[Ocha905]

As a foopy Squiggle Cultist this is the best thread eva, subscribed!

 

[MWPP]

Historical Squiggle with Premiers



Here is the Historical Squiggle with Premiers. Each line tracks a club’s season-by-season position based on Points For (attack) and Points Against (defence), showing how their statistical profile shifts over time.

The stars mark premiership seasons, highlighting where the competition’s champions sat on the squiggle.
While the Premiership styles differ, every champion clearly sits in the upper half of the squiggle where strong scoring and solid defence intersect.

Conversely, bad teams actually cluster much more tightly than the good teams as they almost always share the same traits- low scoring and leaky defence.

The squiggle also shows that most teams move diagonally from bottom left to top right (or vice versa) over time and attack. In other words, attack and defence tend to improve or decline together.

It also suggests that premiership teams are rarely one-season outliers. Most flags come from clubs that spend multiple seasons near the top of the chart, while the biggest movements tend to occur among middle-pack teams pushing toward contention.

 

[RookiePick]

View attachment 2543379

I have been a long-time follower of The Squiggle from that other league. So I’ve put together a Sweet FA version of the Squiggle, using scoring data from Seasons 34–40 (both Home & Away and Finals).

Instead of just looking at ladder positions, the squiggle looks at how teams actually play ie Points For (offence) and Points Against (defence). Plot those together and you get a map of the league.

Teams naturally fall into four zones:
-Flag Contenders – high scoring, strong defence (top right quadrant)
-Entertaining Chaos – high scoring, leaky defence (top left quadrant)
-Defensive Grinders – tough to score against, low scoring (bottom right quadrant)
-Rebuild Zone – struggling at both ends (bottom left quadrant)

Stay tuned for updates relating to seasonal progress and trends

Virgin confirmed.