Moneyball theory reveals which AFL teams will rise and fall in the 2023 seasonMax Laughton
Fox Sports
February 7th, 2023 4:27 pmFor a seventh consecutive year, it’s time to look back in order to look forward.
This is Foxfooty.com.au’s annual Pythagorean wins prediction piece, which reveals the teams who over- and underperformed in the previous season to predict who’ll bounce back or fall flat in the coming year.
The name makes it sound complicated, but all you need to know is it’s accurate. Of the 15 strongest predictions made by this formula since 2010, 13 were correct.
The core behind Pythagorean wins is figuring out who was lucky and who was unlucky in the previous seasons - determining how many games a team “should” have won - and predicting who’ll rise and fall this season as their luck reverts to the mean.
This is what last year's AFL ladder SHOULD have looked like, according to a formula with a very strong track record.
Positive differential (ie +0.29) = lucky;
negative differential = unlucky;
differential over ~1.5 is statistically significant.And this is what it means for 2023 >THE TWO VERY STRONG PREDICTIONSCollingwood: Decline
Port Adelaide: Improve
THE THREE LESS-STRONG PREDICTIONSAll three of these teams are on the borderline of statistical significance; these predictions are much stronger when the difference between a team’s actual and Pythagorean wins is over two.
But they are still intriguing sides and worth discussing.
Richmond2022 record: 13-8-1, 121.6%
2022 Pythagorean wins: 14.98 (gap of 1.48)
2023 prediction: Improve
It’s kind of remarkable that Richmond didn’t win a final last year, given how good they looked over most of the season.
After a 2-4 start with odd losses to St Kilda and Adelaide, they lost just four more games, all of them close - by 6 points against Sydney, 3 points against Geelong, 2 points against Gold Coast and 4 points against North Melbourne.
The latter two, plus the draw against Fremantle, came in a three-week patch which ruined their chances of a home final - and in the end they lost yet another close game in September, by two points to Brisbane at the Gabba.
So we actually prefer the Tigers’ Pythagorean case over the Suns’ and Giants’. They went 2-5 with a draw in close games if you include the elimination final, and more to the point, they were very clearly a much better team after Round 6. They pass the eye test as a team that underperformed its final ladder position and win-loss record.
Oh, and then they added Jacob Hopper and Tim Taranto to try and fix a midfield that has long been their weakness (if they had one). We’d argue the defence is slightly shaky, which could cost them a few games, but expect most experts to be tipping a Richmond rise in 2023. (We’ll be one of them.)
Gold Coast: Improve
GWS Giants: Improve
Full article: https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2023-season-preview-pythagorean-wins-analysis-luckiest-and-unluckiest-teams-in-2022-predicted-ladder-risers-and-fallers-stats/news-story/bea0e7710de188974c040c4ac4fda69d