TIGERS RULE OK!
Brett Anderson
Inside Football
If football titles were declared like boxing, guess who would be the champ?
If the AFL were like professional wrestling, or boxing, the Richmond Football Club would be the heavyweight champion of the world.
That's right, Richmond.
Inspired by an idea on Grantland.com pertaining to the NBAs regular season, we translated the formula to football to figure out who would enter 2014 as the Home and Away Heavyweight Champion.
We started off to 1990 with the rebadging of the VFL to the AFL and for the purpose of the exercise installed 1989 premier Hawthorn as the inaugural champion.
The way it works is simple: whoever beats the champ takes the title. That team holds the championship until it loses, and so on.
As Grantland explains, It's just king of the hill, played out over 23 rounds.
Competitions such as this are rare in world sport, but not totally new.
In New Zealand, the Ranfurly Shield - colloquially known as the Log o' Wood - is defended during the regional rugby competition, the ITM Cup.
Despite the emergence of other competitions, many still regard it as the greatest prize in domestic rugby, thanks to its long history and the romance of any team, no matter how lowly, having a chance to win.
Rugby isn't the only sport with such a concept - although it appears to be the only one with official recognition.
In soccer, journalist Paul Brown defined the rules of the Unofficial Football World Championship in 2003, tracing its lineage and writing an article for football magazine FourFourTwo.
Having defeated Scotland on the second ever international match - the first was a draw - England was declared the first ever Unofficial Football World Champion.
In 2011, Brown wrote a book on the subject, while also maintaining the championships website, which tracks its progression. Uruguay is the current titleholder.
As in the NBA, the addition of two expansion dubs in the AFL has seen long stretches of drab affairs throughout the season, but the Home and Away Heavyweight Championship could add greater spice.
So how, according to our calculations, did Damien Hardwick's men rise to the top?
Having traced the progression of the title all the way from Round 1,1990 through to the end of 2012, Fremantle entered 2013 as the reigning champion by virtue of defeating then title-holder North Melbourne in Round 22.
The Dockers comfortably defended their title in the opening two rounds, were unseated by a Jobe Watson-inspired Essendon in Round 3 at Patersons Stadium.
The Bombers held the title for three weeks before being defeated by Geelong, which only a week later was upended by Collingwood, who to turn were knocked over by Sydney the following week
The Swans' strong mid-season form saw them reign supreme for three weeks until they were shocked by Port Adelaide in Round 13.
Ken Hinkley's men held the title for only two weeks until it was back in the hands of the Bombers, who then ceded it to the eventual premier Hawthorn, in Round 18.
The Hawks were toppled the following week by a fired-up Richmond, who held the championship for two weeks until Carlton came from the clouds in Round 21 to snatch it
After a reign of just a week, Carlton lost to Essendon in Round 22, before the Tigers snatched the title back in the final week af the home and away season to end 2013 as the AFL's Heavyweight Champion.
Interestingly enough, the two Grand Finalists - Hawthorn and Fremantle - held the tide for only one week each.
So when the Tigers run onto Metricon Stadium in Round 1 against Gold Coast, it's more than just a run of the mill opening match - it's a championship defence - and the Suns chance to land their first piece of silverware!
But until then, Oh we're from Tigerland!
