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 Tigers then you're correct!
My system follows these steps.
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.
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 Tigers then you're correct!
My system follows these steps.
- 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
- 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
- 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
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.