...and furthermore...

In these two previous posts ("Blow-out Me Down With A Feather" and "Money Can Buy You Wins"), I have tried to highlight that the blow-out losses are not necessarily the result of bringing in the Suns, and that other factors, mostly financial, are also at play. In particular, Andrew Demetriou made specific mention that bringing in new clubs would of course cause problems.

You can only assume he meant 'under the rules in place for the introduction of the Suns / Giants', because not only do the numbers not stack up (as per the second of the above links), but also according to the first post ("First Bounce") over at the AFL FootyMaths blog, all other teams introduced in the modern era (i.e. teams starting from 1987 on) have all performed extremely well in their first year.

So well in fact, that winning less than 1/3rd of their first season games is the exception to the rule. Only the Suns (Win rate: 14%) and the Brisbane Bears (Win rate: 27%) fit that exception. Where-as, all the other teams introduced since 1987 all have better first season records.

          1987 - West Coast -    Win rate: 50%

          1991 - Adelaide -         Win rate: 45% 

          1995 - Fremantle -       Win rate: 36%

          1997 - Port Adelaide -  Win rate: 48%

So, tell me again Your Andrew-ness... just why is it again that we have an emerging gulf in the AFL? Have you not overseen the creation of 'haves' and 'have-nots'?