Analysis Tigers Robbed of Home Ground Advantage in 2020

Do the Dew

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Feb 14, 2019
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2020 has been the most lopsided fixture in memory. To confirm this, I've been keeping track of games played at home and games with home ground advantage (HGA) in the H&A season, and come up with a ladder showing who has been most advantaged by where their games are. Surprise surprise, Vic teams fared pretty horribly considering we've been in hubs for most of the season. And a final piece of trivia before I outline what I found:

Which team in 2020 received no games with home ground advantage through the H&A (and finals) season - very likely the first time this has happened in AFL history...?

If you had the :richmond:Tigers then you're correct!

My system follows these steps.
  1. Find each team's net HGA
    • A team gets +1 point per HGA, -1 points for being the disadvantaged away side, and 0 points if it's a neutral game
  2. Find the total amount of games played at home
    • This is used as a tie-breaker. For example, the Crows and Lions both ended the H&A season with net 7 points of HGA, however the Crows had 10 games at home whereas the Lions had 9
  3. Find total games with HGA
    • Another tie-breaker tool. For example, the Roos and Swans both had net 0 points of HGA, both played 4 games at home, however the Swans had 4 games with HGA compared to the Roos' 2
This is how everything turned out:

Net HGA
Home Games
Overall Fixture Favouritism Ladder
+7 Crows​
10 Crows​
Crows​
+7 Lions​
9 Lions​
Lions​
+6 Suns​
9 Suns​
Suns​
+4 Power​
7 Power​
Power/Eagles​
+4 Eagles​
7 Eagles​
Dockers​
+3 Dockers​
7 Dockers​
Giants​
+1 Giants​
6 Giants​
Swans​
0 Kangaroos​
4 Swans​
Kangaroos​
0 Swans​
4 Kangaroos​
Bulldogs​
-2 Cats​
4 Bulldogs​
Cats​
-2 Demons​
4 Blues​
Demons​
-2 Bulldogs​
4 Bombers​
Blues/Bombers​
-3 Blues​
4 Saints​
Saints​
-3 Bombers​
4 Tigers​
Tigers​
-4 Saints​
3 Cats​
Pies​
-4 Tigers​
3 Demons​
Hawks​
-5 Pies​
3 Pies​
-7 Hawks​
2 Hawks​

The Crows and Lions had by far the best fixtures, yet ended up on opposite ends of the ladder. The Power and Eagles also enjoyed very favourable fixtures, which may have artifically boosted them to 1st and 5th respectively.

On the other end, the Tigers defied the 3rd worst fixture to finish up 3rd on the ladder, whereas the Hawks may not be as bad as everyone thinks considering they had the worst fixture of everyone.

Discuss as you will, I just want to stress the point that the Tigers got slaughtered fixture-wise yet are still pushing for another premiership.
 

Joey longshadow

Hostis Humani Generis
Oct 23, 2015
2,521
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2020 has been the most lopsided fixture in memory. To confirm this, I've been keeping track of games played at home and games with home ground advantage (HGA) in the H&A season, and come up with a ladder showing who has been most advantaged by where their games are. Surprise surprise, Vic teams fared pretty horribly considering we've been in hubs for most of the season. And a final piece of trivia before I outline what I found:

Which team in 2020 received no games with home ground advantage through the H&A (and finals) season - very likely the first time this has happened in AFL history...?

If you had the :richmond:Tigers then you're correct!

My system follows these steps.
  1. Find each team's net HGA
    • A team gets +1 point per HGA, -1 points for being the disadvantaged away side, and 0 points if it's a neutral game
  2. Find the total amount of games played at home
    • This is used as a tie-breaker. For example, the Crows and Lions both ended the H&A season with net 7 points of HGA, however the Crows had 10 games at home whereas the Lions had 9
  3. Find total games with HGA
    • Another tie-breaker tool. For example, the Roos and Swans both had net 0 points of HGA, both played 4 games at home, however the Swans had 4 games with HGA compared to the Roos' 2
This is how everything turned out:

Net HGA
Home Games
Overall Fixture Favouritism Ladder
+7 Crows​
10 Crows​
Crows​
+7 Lions​
9 Lions​
Lions​
+6 Suns​
9 Suns​
Suns​
+4 Power​
7 Power​
Power/Eagles​
+4 Eagles​
7 Eagles​
Dockers​
+3 Dockers​
7 Dockers​
Giants​
+1 Giants​
6 Giants​
Swans​
0 Kangaroos​
4 Swans​
Kangaroos​
0 Swans​
4 Kangaroos​
Bulldogs​
-2 Cats​
4 Bulldogs​
Cats​
-2 Demons​
4 Blues​
Demons​
-2 Bulldogs​
4 Bombers​
Blues/Bombers​
-3 Blues​
4 Saints​
Saints​
-3 Bombers​
4 Tigers​
Tigers​
-4 Saints​
3 Cats​
Pies​
-4 Tigers​
3 Demons​
Hawks​
-5 Pies​
3 Pies​
-7 Hawks​
2 Hawks​

The Crows and Lions had by far the best fixtures, yet ended up on opposite ends of the ladder. The Power and Eagles also enjoyed very favourable fixtures, which may have artifically boosted them to 1st and 5th respectively.

On the other end, the Tigers defied the 3rd worst fixture to finish up 3rd on the ladder, whereas the Hawks may not be as bad as everyone thinks considering they had the worst fixture of everyone.

Discuss as you will, I just want to stress the point that the Tigers got slaughtered fixture-wise yet are still pushing for another premiership.
You put a lot of work into this
Shows how truly crap the crows had become..
Personally I don't think the power can beat the cats ..
And I don't think the Lions can beat us..
If we do win it it will be a very very sweet victory indeed
 

Grrr

Brownlow Medallist
Aug 16, 2009
11,550
26,229
mildura
AFL Club
Richmond
2020 has been the most lopsided fixture in memory. To confirm this, I've been keeping track of games played at home and games with home ground advantage (HGA) in the H&A season, and come up with a ladder showing who has been most advantaged by where their games are. Surprise surprise, Vic teams fared pretty horribly considering we've been in hubs for most of the season. And a final piece of trivia before I outline what I found:

Which team in 2020 received no games with home ground advantage through the H&A (and finals) season - very likely the first time this has happened in AFL history...?

If you had the :richmond:Tigers then you're correct!

My system follows these steps.
  1. Find each team's net HGA
    • A team gets +1 point per HGA, -1 points for being the disadvantaged away side, and 0 points if it's a neutral game
  2. Find the total amount of games played at home
    • This is used as a tie-breaker. For example, the Crows and Lions both ended the H&A season with net 7 points of HGA, however the Crows had 10 games at home whereas the Lions had 9
  3. Find total games with HGA
    • Another tie-breaker tool. For example, the Roos and Swans both had net 0 points of HGA, both played 4 games at home, however the Swans had 4 games with HGA compared to the Roos' 2
This is how everything turned out:

Net HGA
Home Games
Overall Fixture Favouritism Ladder
+7 Crows​
10 Crows​
Crows​
+7 Lions​
9 Lions​
Lions​
+6 Suns​
9 Suns​
Suns​
+4 Power​
7 Power​
Power/Eagles​
+4 Eagles​
7 Eagles​
Dockers​
+3 Dockers​
7 Dockers​
Giants​
+1 Giants​
6 Giants​
Swans​
0 Kangaroos​
4 Swans​
Kangaroos​
0 Swans​
4 Kangaroos​
Bulldogs​
-2 Cats​
4 Bulldogs​
Cats​
-2 Demons​
4 Blues​
Demons​
-2 Bulldogs​
4 Bombers​
Blues/Bombers​
-3 Blues​
4 Saints​
Saints​
-3 Bombers​
4 Tigers​
Tigers​
-4 Saints​
3 Cats​
Pies​
-4 Tigers​
3 Demons​
Hawks​
-5 Pies​
3 Pies​
-7 Hawks​
2 Hawks​

The Crows and Lions had by far the best fixtures, yet ended up on opposite ends of the ladder. The Power and Eagles also enjoyed very favourable fixtures, which may have artifically boosted them to 1st and 5th respectively.

On the other end, the Tigers defied the 3rd worst fixture to finish up 3rd on the ladder, whereas the Hawks may not be as bad as everyone thinks considering they had the worst fixture of everyone.

Discuss as you will, I just want to stress the point that the Tigers got slaughtered fixture-wise yet are still pushing for another premiership.
Post this on the main board and wait for the WC whingers to flood in.
 
May 17, 2004
43,959
67,166
Punt Rd ‘17? ‘19?
AFL Club
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It’s no co incidence whatsoever that following the intro of hubs the two sides that benefited most from Home ground advantage finished 1/2 . To PA credit they were in good nick whilst in the hub however to finish top you can’t miss a trick and they got a rails run playing 7 at AO. We ll see how it plays out , I reckon the cats will give them plenty of stick in the QF and I for one would have had no fears playing them , they have many youngsters that will need to stand tall in the heat and intensity of a final against a seasoned outfit , easy to say, harder to do
 

McTiger

Senior List
Sep 24, 2018
277
814
AFL Club
Richmond
2020 has been the most lopsided fixture in memory. To confirm this, I've been keeping track of games played at home and games with home ground advantage (HGA) in the H&A season, and come up with a ladder showing who has been most advantaged by where their games are. Surprise surprise, Vic teams fared pretty horribly considering we've been in hubs for most of the season. And a final piece of trivia before I outline what I found:

Which team in 2020 received no games with home ground advantage through the H&A (and finals) season - very likely the first time this has happened in AFL history...?

If you had the :richmond:Tigers then you're correct!

My system follows these steps.
  1. Find each team's net HGA
    • A team gets +1 point per HGA, -1 points for being the disadvantaged away side, and 0 points if it's a neutral game
  2. Find the total amount of games played at home
    • This is used as a tie-breaker. For example, the Crows and Lions both ended the H&A season with net 7 points of HGA, however the Crows had 10 games at home whereas the Lions had 9
  3. Find total games with HGA
    • Another tie-breaker tool. For example, the Roos and Swans both had net 0 points of HGA, both played 4 games at home, however the Swans had 4 games with HGA compared to the Roos' 2
This is how everything turned out:

Net HGA
Home Games
Overall Fixture Favouritism Ladder
+7 Crows​
10 Crows​
Crows​
+7 Lions​
9 Lions​
Lions​
+6 Suns​
9 Suns​
Suns​
+4 Power​
7 Power​
Power/Eagles​
+4 Eagles​
7 Eagles​
Dockers​
+3 Dockers​
7 Dockers​
Giants​
+1 Giants​
6 Giants​
Swans​
0 Kangaroos​
4 Swans​
Kangaroos​
0 Swans​
4 Kangaroos​
Bulldogs​
-2 Cats​
4 Bulldogs​
Cats​
-2 Demons​
4 Blues​
Demons​
-2 Bulldogs​
4 Bombers​
Blues/Bombers​
-3 Blues​
4 Saints​
Saints​
-3 Bombers​
4 Tigers​
Tigers​
-4 Saints​
3 Cats​
Pies​
-4 Tigers​
3 Demons​
Hawks​
-5 Pies​
3 Pies​
-7 Hawks​
2 Hawks​

The Crows and Lions had by far the best fixtures, yet ended up on opposite ends of the ladder. The Power and Eagles also enjoyed very favourable fixtures, which may have artifically boosted them to 1st and 5th respectively.

On the other end, the Tigers defied the 3rd worst fixture to finish up 3rd on the ladder, whereas the Hawks may not be as bad as everyone thinks considering they had the worst fixture of everyone.

Discuss as you will, I just want to stress the point that the Tigers got slaughtered fixture-wise yet are still pushing for another premiership.
And yet on Fox Footy last night they were saying what a great effort it was for Port to finish on top, given the circumstances this year. They highlighted that they had to get up early to catch a flight to QLD and then play later that day. Gee ... what a sacrifice! They had to do that a few times this season, while the rest of the time they were at home with their families and playing in front of their supporters at Adelaide Oval. Really, when people get a job with the media they must get injected with some form of bullshit.
 

Do the Dew

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Feb 14, 2019
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And yet on Fox Footy last night they were saying what a great effort it was for Port to finish on top, given the circumstances this year. They highlighted that they had to get up early to catch a flight to QLD and then play later that day. Gee ... what a sacrifice! They had to do that a few times this season, while the rest of the time they were at home with their families and playing in front of their supporters at Adelaide Oval. Really, when people get a job with the media they must get injected with some form of bullshit.
Precisely why I decided to document it. To see just how lopsided the fixture turned out and if it would explain any ladder peculiarities.

The other lesson is don't buy too heavily into any media bs. They're paid to generate clicks and have 0 accountability. That's all.
 

RichLeMonde

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I never realised how deranged a lot of interstate supporters are until I started spending more time on BF. The elaborate fantasies they concoct about #VICBIAS and home ground advantage and the rest of it.

This year would be the sweetest win of the lot, I reckon, just to shut up all the haters. Would actually love all the vic sides in the finals to do well this year, just to crush a few myths.
 
May 17, 2004
43,959
67,166
Punt Rd ‘17? ‘19?
AFL Club
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I never realised how deranged a lot of interstate supporters are until I started spending more time on BF. The elaborate fantasies they concoct about #VICBIAS and home ground advantage and the rest of it.

This year would be the sweetest win of the lot, I reckon, just to shut up all the haters. Would actually love all the vic sides in the finals to do well this year, just to crush a few myths.
The boof headed rationale never ceases to amaze, love how they confuse our record winning run at the mcg for meaning we play there ALL the time, rather than reality of 13 times a year. They torture themselves into believing there’s some exception to explain our position
Let the haters in on this , since 2017
Richmond Wins 68
West coast 60
Forget the rest
 
Last edited:

nick1408

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The boof headed rationale never ceases to amaze, love how they confuse our record winning run at the mcg for meaning we play their ALL the time, rather than reality of 13 times a year. They torture themselves into believing there’s some exception to explain our position
Let the haters in on this , since 2017
Richmond Wins 68
West coast 60
Forget the rest

My favourite is that Richmond never travels to Perth. Pretty easy to prove wrong and you never get a reply when you do prove it wrong.
 

Marcel Proust

"Oohh WADA ooga booga" {Jul 11 2013}
Sep 6, 2018
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I never realised how deranged a lot of interstate supporters are until I started spending more time on BF. The elaborate fantasies they concoct about #VICBIAS and home ground advantage and the rest of it.

This year would be the sweetest win of the lot, I reckon, just to shut up all the haters. Would actually love all the vic sides in the finals to do well this year, just to crush a few myths.

Penny agreed...
 
I never realised how deranged a lot of interstate supporters are until I started spending more time on BF. The elaborate fantasies they concoct about #VICBIAS and home ground advantage and the rest of it.

This year would be the sweetest win of the lot, I reckon, just to shut up all the haters. Would actually love all the vic sides in the finals to do well this year, just to crush a few myths.

they are still sooking about not being able to buy the GF and not being able to buy the Norf home game

I will be barracking for the Pies on Saturday (puke) just to see these flogs laughed at for the joke they are (esp as so many of them we lol'ing our covid outbreak as a way to loot Victoria of many of our sporting fixtures)
 

Do the Dew

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Here's a challenge for you. Do the same thing for 2019 and see how it compares.
Here you are my friend. Home game/ground advantage for the 2019 H&A season. See a bit further below for some VERY interesting reading regarding the Tigers supposed "dream 2019 fixture". I've also listed each team's home grounds.

Net HGA
Home Games
Fixture Advantage Ladder
Home Grounds
+4​
15​
NORTH MELBOURNE
Marvel, Blundstone​
+2​
13​
HAWTHORN
MCG, UTAS​
+2​
12​
PORT ADELAIDEAdelaide Oval
+2​
11​
ADELAIDEAdelaide Oval
+1​
16​
ESSENDONMCG, Marvel
+1​
12​
WEST COASTOptus
+1​
11​
BRISBANEGabba
+1​
11​
SYDNEYSCG
0​
12​
FREMANTLEOptus
0​
11​
GWSGiants Stadium, UNSW
0​
10​
GOLD COASTMetricon
-1​
15​
CARLTONMCG, Marvel
-1​
14​
COLLINGWOODMCG
-1​
12​
WESTERN BULLDOGSMarvel
-1​
11​
ST. KILDAMarvel
-3​
13​
RICHMONDMCG
-3​
12​
MELBOURNEMCG
-4​
9​
GEELONGGMHBA

There may be a bit of contention about home grounds (i.e. Carlton and Essendon calling both the MCG and Marvel as home grounds), but considering they have a fairly even split of games there I think it's reasonable. The one that is tricky is Geelong and the MCG. For this purpose, any game that Geelong played at the MCG was counted as an away game, considering they have made a big push to get all their games at ScatPark.

The other home ground issue to consider is tinpot clubs selling home games. In 2019:
  • Melbourne sold 2 home games to TIO Stadium, Darwin
  • Bulldogs sold 2 home games to Mars Stadium, Ballarat
  • Gold Coast sold 1 home game to Riverway Stadium, Townsville
  • St. Kilda sold 1 home game to Jiangwan Stadium, China
These weren't added to home ground advantage or games at home. For example if Melbourne didn't sell these 2 home games (and instead had played them at the MCG), they would have 14 games at home and a -1 net HGA, pushing them a few spots up the fixture advantage ladder.

The last point I want to make is regarding the Tigers' "dream run". As we all know, we got our last 7 games at the 'G. However prior to that (at the end of Rd. 16), this was the net home game advantage:

Net HGA
Team
+4​
NORTH MELBOURNE​
+3​
ESSENDON​
+2​
HAWTHORN​
+2​
SYDNEY​
+2​
ADELAIDE​
+1​
COLLINGWOOD​
+1​
FREMANTLE​
+1​
PORT ADELAIDE​
+1​
ST. KILDA
0​
GOLD COAST
0​
BRISBANE
-1​
MELBOURNE
-1​
WEST COAST
-1​
GWS
-1​
WESTERN BULLDOGS
-3​
GEELONG
-3​
CARLTON
-7​
RICHMOND

We were absolutely smashed for the first 16 rounds. A fixture that is more than twice as bad as the next worst in terms of home ground advantage. So the 7 home game run to close out the season is deserved when viewing the fixture as a whole.
 

RichLeMonde

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Sep 26, 2019
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Here you are my friend. Home game/ground advantage for the 2019 H&A season. See a bit further below for some VERY interesting reading regarding the Tigers supposed "dream 2019 fixture". I've also listed each team's home grounds.

Net HGA
Home Games
Fixture Advantage Ladder
Home Grounds
+4​
15​
NORTH MELBOURNE
Marvel, Blundstone​
+2​
13​
HAWTHORN
MCG, UTAS​
+2​
12​
PORT ADELAIDEAdelaide Oval
+2​
11​
ADELAIDEAdelaide Oval
+1​
16​
ESSENDONMCG, Marvel
+1​
12​
WEST COASTOptus
+1​
11​
BRISBANEGabba
+1​
11​
SYDNEYSCG
0​
12​
FREMANTLEOptus
0​
11​
GWSGiants Stadium, UNSW
0​
10​
GOLD COASTMetricon
-1​
15​
CARLTONMCG, Marvel
-1​
14​
COLLINGWOODMCG
-1​
12​
WESTERN BULLDOGSMarvel
-1​
11​
ST. KILDAMarvel
-3​
13​
RICHMONDMCG
-3​
12​
MELBOURNEMCG
-4​
9​
GEELONGGMHBA

There may be a bit of contention about home grounds (i.e. Carlton and Essendon calling both the MCG and Marvel as home grounds), but considering they have a fairly even split of games there I think it's reasonable. The one that is tricky is Geelong and the MCG. For this purpose, any game that Geelong played at the MCG was counted as an away game, considering they have made a big push to get all their games at ScatPark.

The other home ground issue to consider is tinpot clubs selling home games. In 2019:
  • Melbourne sold 2 home games to TIO Stadium, Darwin
  • Bulldogs sold 2 home games to Mars Stadium, Ballarat
  • Gold Coast sold 1 home game to Riverway Stadium, Townsville
  • St. Kilda sold 1 home game to Jiangwan Stadium, China
These weren't added to home ground advantage or games at home. For example if Melbourne didn't sell these 2 home games (and instead had played them at the MCG), they would have 14 games at home and a -1 net HGA, pushing them a few spots up the fixture advantage ladder.

The last point I want to make is regarding the Tigers' "dream run". As we all know, we got our last 7 games at the 'G. However prior to that (at the end of Rd. 16), this was the net home game advantage:

Net HGA
Team
+4​
NORTH MELBOURNE​
+3​
ESSENDON​
+2​
HAWTHORN​
+2​
SYDNEY​
+2​
ADELAIDE​
+1​
COLLINGWOOD​
+1​
FREMANTLE​
+1​
PORT ADELAIDE​
+1​
ST. KILDA
0​
GOLD COAST
0​
BRISBANE
-1​
MELBOURNE
-1​
WEST COAST
-1​
GWS
-1​
WESTERN BULLDOGS
-3​
GEELONG
-3​
CARLTON
-7​
RICHMOND

We were absolutely smashed for the first 16 rounds. A fixture that is more than twice as bad as the next worst in terms of home ground advantage. So the 7 home game run to close out the season is deserved when viewing the fixture as a whole.
This is what I've been saying. Don't know how many times I've repeated this point to whingers about our 7 game 'G finish. If in the first 16 rounds of the season we didn't beat Port in Adelaide, Freo in Perth, and Sydney and St. Kilda at Marvel, instead of having a record of 9-6 heading into those final 7 games, we would have had a record of 5-10, and had the pressure of winning 7 straight just to finish with 12 wins and scrape into 8th.

This is what kills me about the whinging, if Richmond hadn't have won those crucial games on the road - when we were crippled by injury and played 1 game at the 'G in 6 weeks - oppo fans would have been cheering the same 2019 fixture, for effectively knocking us out of finals contention by round 16. They're too stupid to realise that it only became an 'advantage' retrospectively, after we built a solid record on the road, including during our 6 week block away from the 'G - no one was complaining about it at the start of round 1 2019 lol.
 

Do the Dew

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Feb 14, 2019
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This is what I've been saying. Don't know how many times I've repeated this point to whingers about our 7 game 'G finish. If in the first 16 rounds of the season we didn't beat Port in Adelaide, Freo in Perth, and Sydney and St. Kilda at Marvel, instead of having a record of 9-6 heading into those final 7 games, we would have had a record of 5-10, and had the pressure of winning 7 straight just to finish with 12 wins and scrape into 8th.

This is what kills me about the whinging, if Richmond hadn't have won those crucial games on the road - when we were crippled by injury and played 1 game at the 'G in 6 weeks - oppo fans would have been cheering the same 2019 fixture, for effectively knocking us out of finals contention by round 16. They're too stupid to realise that it only became an 'advantage' retrospectively, after we built a solid record on the road, including during our 6 week block away from the 'G - no one was complaining about it at the start of round 1 2019 lol.
Completely agree. You have to look at the fixture as a whole, instead of just cherry-picking sections of it.

For example this year the Eagles got 6 games in a row at Optus. Using oppo logic, we should all be outraged at this absolutely ridiculous biased fixture that gifts them 6 games in a row at their home ground. However using common sense tiger logic, we understand that they've also played a fair chunk of games away, and therefore it's balanced out a bit.

**and also now you can use this table to back up what you've been saying RLM
 
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