NRL
Round 7 of the 2015 NRL season concluded in Cronulla on Monday night in “testing conditions“. Cronulla defeated South Sydney. This result added to the state of flux evident in this year’s competition.
This is my record of the flux:
The appearance of gold in the bottom half of the table visualises for me the contestability of this year’s competition. The appearance of red in the top half indicates to me that last year’s high flyers are having some difficulties this year. This is particularly the case with Manley.
AFL
By contrast, Round 3 of the AFL reaffirmed 2014 status levels:
Each team played to their 2014 ranking. The North Melbourne v Port Adelaide game was as close as the ranking indicated. The higher ranked team, Port Adelaide did win.
This is the AFL’s graphic of the point scoring pattern of the game.
Port Adelaide led at the end of each quarter.
Ranking and Performance
Previous season ranking is a macro indicator for me. It guides me to explore in detail the training and competition environments of teams. Whilst many of the teams in the NRL are having a volatile season, for many of their counterparts in the AFL it is business as usual.
Photo Credits
The rain begins (Stilgherian, CC BY 2.0)
AFL at the Etihad, Melbourne (Phil Long, CC BY-NC 2.0)
Keith
Do you know if the NRL clubs have more changes to the playing roster than the AFL during the off-season and if they do, is it a regular feature each year compared with AFL?
Very good point, Ron. I will have a look at this. Thank you for commenting.