AUSTRALASIA'S BEST SPORTING TEAMPlatinum
December 1, 2020The annual award recognises the strongest franchise on a rolling five-year period.
Ranking 2019 Rank Team Name Competition Country/State ABT Score
1 1 Melbourne Storm NRL VIC 3.24
2 2 Crusaders Super Rugby NZ 3.21
3 4 Sydney FC A-League NSW 2.71
4 3 New South Wales Breakers WNCL NSW 2.65
5 7 Richmond Tigers AFL VIC 2.616 - Melbourne City W-League VIC 2.46
7 16 Geelong Cats AFL VIC 2.25
8 - UNSW Wests Magpies NWPL NSW 2.13
9 9 CBR Brave AIHL ACT 2.05
10 13 Perth Wildcats NBL WA 1.98
11 - Chiefs Esports Club OPL NSW 1.97
12 10 Sydney University Lions NWPL NSW 1.91
13 - Brisbane Heat WBBL QLD 1.91
14 6 Victoria Sheffield Shield VIC 1.85
15 - Melbourne Vixens Netball VIC 1.82
16 21 Sydney Sirens AWIHL NSW 1.80
17 11 West Coast Eagles AFL WA 1.79
18 5 Hurricanes Super Rugby NZ 1.76
19 8 Sydney Roosters NRL NSW 1.75
20 - Penrith Panthers NRL NSW 1.73
21 - Drummoyne Devils NWPL NSW 1.58
22 - Sydney Sixers BBL NSW 1.54
23 14 Brisbane Bandits ABL QLD 1.52
24 18 Sydney FC W-League NSW 1.52
25 - New South Wales Sheffield Shield NSW 1.46
MethodologyThe period of observation for the 2020 award is 2016-2020. Every game in every sport in Australasia that conducts an ongoing home/away or equivalent competition that included Australian teams has been analysed subject to the competition meeting specific criteria. More than 8,000 individual match results are in the dataset.
To be considered for the Best Team award a team must have played in each of the last 5 seasons. For each team in the competition, their win/loss record is looked at season by season, along with their position within the competition. More recent years are weighted more highly, as is the win-loss record, over the position. This recognises consistency over seasons as opposed to the one-off nature of finals.
For each of these measures, a Z-Score is created to show the relative raw performance within competitions and to enable comparison across all the competitions.
An adjustment is applied to reflect the stability of the competition over the last 10 years, This places the raw performance output in context - stable competitions being harder to perform well in consistently because of the impact that player trading cycles have on competitiveness.
Eligible teams, of which there are 152 are then ranked on their adjusted Z-Scores, to provide the definitive list of Australasia’s Best Sporting Teams over the period. This website contains the Top 25 overall, Top 3 by sport and Top 3 by state/country.
To be the best team in a sport over a prolonged period requires dedication, endurance, excellence and cohesion. To be the best overall, is a step beyond.
1. The Melbourne Storm have been very consistent in recent years and another great season, led to very little change in their total versus last year.
2. The Crusaders had another successful year finishing on top of the Super Rugby Aotearoa ladder, leading to their fourth title in a row, and increasing their score versus 2019. Their weaker 2016 season will drop out of ABST 2021.
3. Sydney FC won their third title in four years, increasing their score versus 2019. Their weaker 2015/6 season will drop out of ABST 2021.
4. NSW Breakers were runners-up this year, after winning three titles in a row, and slipped back a little in the ABST rankings as a result.
5. Richmond won their third premiership in four years, boosting their score versus 2019. Their weaker 2016 season will drop out of ABST 2021.Results based on all competitions completed by 15 November 2020.
https://www.platinum.com.au/abst2020#