Introduction
This is a fifteenth post about performance against ranking in three football codes in Australia.
The codes are Australian Rules, Rugby League and Rugby Union
You can find some background information about this project here.
Australian Rules
There were nine games in Round 15 of the AFL this week. The top two ranked teams from 2012, Hawthorn and Adelaide, lost this week (against Geelong and West Coast respectively). The other seven games followed the 2012 Rankings. The Western Bulldogs overcame a two-point end of third quarter deficit to defeat the Greater Western Sydney Giants in Canberra.
Average cumulative season and Round 15 profiles for winners were:
For losers:
Rugby League
There were eight games in Round 17 of the NRL this week. Two of last year’s top eight lost to lower ranked opposition this week. The Bulldogs and Cowboys lost to the Knights and Raiders respectively. In all four higher ranked teams from 2012 lost to lower ranked opponents. The Panthers and the Roosters both won away from home (to the Titans and Dragons respectively). The Warriors lost for the first time in six games this week to the Rabbitohs (who have won nine of their last ten games).
Rugby Union
There were five games in the Super 15 competition this week involving teams from New Zealand and South Africa (it was the last week of the British Lions tour of Australia). The Crusaders and the Highlanders both defeated higher ranked opponents from 2012. The Crusaders’ defeat of the Chiefs was a top of the New Zealand ladder game. In South Africa all teams played to their 2012 ranking including a very strong win for the Cheetahs over the Blues. The competition regular season concludes with the forthcoming Round 20 games with the Brumbies, Chiefs and Bulls leading their respective national conferences.
Photo Credits
AFL Grand Final 2012 (Charlievdb, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Hurrah for summer rugby league! (Milknosugar, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Willem de Waal kicks for goal (mikkelz, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
