Finals History 2000-2012 (Week 3)

This week saw 3rd defeat 4th and 1st defeat 2nd in the two Preliminary Finals, neither of which result was particularly surprising in the context of recent Finals history.

Hawthorn's win over the Crows, though a small one, was enough to break the deadlock in the results for teams in 1st playing teams in 2nd in Preliminary Finals. The cumulative record now stands at 4-3 in favour of teams from 1st.

The Swans' victory over the Pies served to further underscore the dominance of teams finishing 3rd in the regular season over teams finishing 4th when they meet in Prelims. This record now stands at 5-2 in favour of teams, like the Swans, finishing 3rd.

That leaves us with a Grand Final pitting 1st against 3rd, a circumstance that's pertained only twice previously, on both occasions resulting in celebrations for the team that finished minor premiers.

Updating the cumulative records of teams from each of the eight ladder positions that lead to participation in the Finals shows that teams finishing as minor premiers now have the best win-loss record of all teams. Their collective win-loss record (excluding the drawn Grand Final) now stands at 28 and 11, just a hair's breadth better than the record of teams finishing 2nd, which now stands at 27 and 11.

Once we move beyond teams from the top two ladder positions, cumulative Finals records rapidly decline, with none of the six other ladder positions enjoying success rates of over 50%. The best record belongs to teams finishing 6th, though none has progressed beyond the Prelims and their collective record stands only at 12 and 13. The worst record belongs to teams finishing 7th, which have a collective winning rate of just 19%.