The latest simulations - both Standard and Heretical - suggest that the teams can be roughly grouped as followed:

1. Melbourne: virtually assured of a Top 4 finish and very likely to be Minor Premier

2. Brisbane Lions: 75-80% chance of a Top 4 finish and 1-in-6 chance of being Minor Premier

3. Fremantle, Carlton, St Kilda, Sydney, and Geelong: 75-90% chance of playing Finals, 30-50% chance of a Top 4 finish, longshots for Minor Premiership

4. Richmond: 60% chance of playing Finals, outside chance of a Top 4 finish

5. Western Bulldogs, Port Adelaide, and Gold Coast: 30-40% chance of playing Finals, longshots for a Top 4 finish

6. Collingwood, Hawthorn, and Adelaide: 5-15% chance of playing Finals

7. GWS and Essendon: longshots to play Finals

8. North Melbourne and West Coast: very likely to fight for the Spoon

(For details about the methodologies I’ve used, see this earlier blog).

LADDER FINISHES

The ladder projections using the Standard methodology (aka “cold” sims) appear on the left, and those using the Heretical methodology (aka “hot” sims) appear on the right.

Looking first just at the Standard Methodology, we see that the range of Expected Wins now runs from 4.9 to 17.5, which has again grown a little in size from last week’s 5.2 to 17.2. We also see that eight teams are now expected to finish with a win percentage above 50%, with a ninth team (Western Bulldogs) only fractionally below 50%.

The biggest declines in Expected Win tally came for GWS (-0.8), while the biggest increase came for Carlton (+0.9).

In terms of Top 8 chances, there were four double-digit changes in estimate, including Carlton (+12%), Collingwood (-16%), and Hawthorn (-12%).

Comparing the results for the Standard and Heretical Methodologies we find:

• A much larger range of Expected Wins from the Heretical approach (3.1 to 18.7 wins)

• Similar estimates for the changes in teams’ Finals chances

TEAM AND POSITION CONCENTRATION

The HHI figures for the most recent simulation replicates appear below, with those from the Standard methodology on the left, and those from the Heretical methodology on the right. (For information about the HHI, also see that previous blog linked to earlier).

Here we again find that the two methodologies assess most teams similarly in terms of the number of ladder positions they are effectively competing for.

Both methods suggest that teams are, on average, effectively competing for about 8 different ladder positions, and both have most teams competing for between 5 and 11 positions, the exceptions being North Melbourne, Melbourne, and West Coast.

They also have the average ladder position with effectively 8 teams likely to fill it, and with most ladder positions effectively expecting anywhere between 6 and 12 teams to be competing for them. The exceptions amongst the ladder positions are 1st, 17th and 18th.

It is also, as usual, the mid-table positions that are associated with most uncertainty - 8th and 9th in particular, according to both methodologies.

WINS AND LADDER POSITION

Here’s an updated view of the distribution of team wins and final ladder position, based on the Standard Methodology

If we, again, sum across all the teams, we can see how many wins are most likely for each ladder position, as shown in the chart below.

We find that 12 wins is still more likely than 11 wins to be associated with the team that finishes 8th, and 14 wins also still comfortably more likely than 13 or 15 wins to be associated with the team that finishes 4th.

This, of course, varies by team, and in the chart below we look at how likely it is that a given team plays Finals if it records a particular number of wins, and how likely that outcome is. In the first chart we use the results from the Standard Methodology, and in the second chart from the Heretical Methodology.

We see that most teams are still mostly less than 20% chances of playing Finals under either methodology with only 11 wins, and that most are still 55 to 75% chances of playing Finals with exactly 12 wins under the Standard Methodology, and 50 to 70% chances of playing Finals with exactly 12 wins under the Heretical Methodology, which tends to allocate more wins to teams that finish higher on the ladder.

This week, we’ll do the same analysis for finishing in the Top 4.

Here we find somewhat different estimates depending on the methodology we choose. Under the Standard Methodology, 13 wins is associated with about 5 to 10% chances of a Top 4 finish, 14 wins with 40 to 60% chances, and 15 wins with 90% or higher chances.

Under the Heretical Methodology, as noted above, more wins are associated with higher-finishing teams, and the equivalent percentage ranges are under 5% for 13 wins, 20 to 40% for 14 wins, and 60 to 85% for 15 wins.

LIKELY IMPORTANCE OF PERCENTAGE

Next, we’ll use the Standard simulations to again investigate the estimated likelihood that any given pair of ladder positions be determined after Round 23 based on percentage.

The simulations are still suggesting that there is slightly less than an even-money chance that 8th and 9th on the final home and away ladder will be separated only on the basis of percentage, and still a roughly 1-in-5 chance that 8th and 10th will also only be separated on that basis.

There’s also still an estimated 2-in-5 chance that 4th and 5th will be decided on percentages, and only about a 1-in-6 chance that this will be how the Minor Premiership is decided.

IMPACT OF NEXT 5 GAMES ON TEAMS’ FINALS CHANCES

Finally, we’ll again investigate, this time using both the Standard (top chart) and the Heretical )bottom chart) methodology simulations, what each team’s estimated chances of playing Finals will be in five games’ time, depending on how many of those five games that team has won.

We see that most teams’ chances of playing Finals still increase only if they win at least 3 of their next 5 games, the exceptions being Essendon, Geelong, GWS, Melbourne, North Melbourne, West Coast, and Western Bulldogs whose chances would only remain roughly the same with 3 wins.