This year’s post Round 18 simulations suggest that the teams can be roughly grouped as below:

(For anyone who is curious about the precise methodology I’ve employed, see this blog post over on the General Probability and Statistics journal)

1. Sydney: virtually certain of being finalists; 99.8% chances of Top 4; 94% chances of being Minor Premier

2. Carlton and Geelong: 97% chances of being finalists; 70-80% chances of Top 4; 1-2% chances of being Minor Premier

3. Brisbane Lions and Fremantle: 85-90% chances of being finalists; 45-50% chances of Top 4; 0.5-1% chances of being Minor Premier

4. Essendon: 65% chances of being finalists; 15% chances of Top 4; slim chances of being Minor Premier

5. GWS, Melbourne, Port Adelaide, and Western Bulldogs: 45-55% chances of being finalists; 5-10% chances of Top 4; slim chances of being Minor Premier

6. Hawthorn, Gold Coast, and Collingwood: 25-30% chance of being finalists; 2-4% chance of Top 4; no chance of being Minor Premier

7. Adelaide and St Kilda: slim chance of being finalists; no chance of Top 4 or being Minor Premier

8. West Coast, Richmond, and North Melbourne: no chance of being finalists, Top 4, or Minor Premier

LADDER FINISHES

The ladder projections using the Heretical outputs appear below.

There were just a few large movements in teams’ Final chances this week, the biggest being:

• Western Bulldogs +15% points

• Collingwood -15% points

• Port Adelaide -12% points

• Essendon -12% points

There are now 10 teams with about a 45% or better chance of playing Finals (and three more with about a 25% or better shot), and five teams with a near 45% or higher chance of finishing Top 4.

TEAM AND POSITION CONCENTRATION

The HHI figures for the latest simulation replicates appear below. These provide us with estimates of:

• How many ladder positions a team is currently effectively fighting for

• How many teams are currently effectively fighting for a given ladder position

Overall uncertainty fell only minimally again this week, with the 9 least certain teams now effectively fighting for between about 8.5 and 11 ladder positions, and the 9 least certain ladder positions having about 8.3 to 11 teams effectively fighting for them.

On the teams side, the largest exceptions are Sydney, West Coast, North Melbourne, St Kilda, Adelaide, and Richmond, each of whom is effectively fighting for no more than 3 spots. On the ladder positions side, the largest exceptions are 1st, 2nd, and 14th to 18th, each of which has effectively fewer than 3.5 suitors.

The ladder positions with the most uncertainty remain those in the middle of the table, from about 4th to 13th.

We also see that the average team is still effectively competing for about 6.6 positions, and the average ladder position has about 6.6 teams competing for it.

WINS AND LADDER POSITION

Let’s look at the number of wins MoSHBODS thinks will be sufficient for given ladder positions.

Those probabilities vary by team, of course. Let’s have another look at them.

Amongst outcomes that are reasonably likely, the main conclusions here are that Essendon, Hawthorn, and Port Adelaide will likely need 13.5 wins to be confident of playing Finals, whilst Brisbane Lions, Carlton, Collingwood, Fremantle, GWS, Geelong, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Sydney, and Western Bulldogs look reasonably safe with 13 wins.

One key takeaway from this chart is that 15 wins are required for all teams to be better than 50% chances of finishing Top 4. Most precarious with 15 wins are Essendon and Hawthorn.

Here’s what it looks like on a team-by-team basis for all 18 ladder positions.

LIKELY IMPORTANCE OF PERCENTAGE

Next, we’ll use the simulations to investigate the estimated likelihood that any given pair of ladder positions will be determined after Round 24 based on percentage.

So, our current estimates are that:

• There’s now about a 9-in-20 chance that 8th will be decided on percentages (it’s up by about 2.5% points on last week)

• There’s now a little over about a 3-in-10 chance that 4th will be decided on percentages (up by about 2% points on last week)

• There’s now about a 2-in-25 chance that 1st will be decided on percentages (down by about 2% points on last week)

FINALS CHANCES

Finally, here’s what the simulations provide by way of finals-related probabilities.

A quick look at the AFL Futures markets would suggest that there might be a bit of value

IN THE MAKE FINALS MARKET ON

Dees and Dogs

IN THE MISS FINALS MARKET ON

Giants (and much less so on the Power)

IN THE FLAG MARKET ON

Dockers and Suns (and less so on the Dees).

A continued reminder that I do not bet on these Futures markets.