Pathways to and from the 2013 AFL Finals: Visualising Performance

I have been monitoring winning and losing performances in the 2013 AFL competition.
My starting point was the rankings of the teams at the end of the 2012 season.

 
Thereafter, I compared 2013 performance against these rankings to detect signs of adaptation (positive and negative).
I am intrigued by the Genome project and have thought for some time that the DNA of success and failure can be visualised and contextualised.

 
My map of the 2013 season uses this legend:

The season looks like this:

The 2013 Ladder is:

 
It is interesting how the visualisation charts Richmond’s success. Richmond had eight victories over higher ranked 2012 teams and did not lose at all to a lower ranked team. Gold Coast achieved this also with their six victories over higher ranked teams. Port Adelaide lost to one lower ranked team from 2012 but their change of fortunes is reflected in their seven victories over higher ranked teams from 2012.
Adelaide, West Coast and St Kilda found it difficult to overcome their early season defeats by lower ranked teams from 2012.