If you were to combine the OL and the SL together into one big group of 20 teams, what you would find is that in terms of “points for”, four of the top five scoring teams and four of the bottom five scoring teams come from the Original League. Ranking each league by points for (and not the actual ladder) the “back” difference in the Original League from first to fifth (-103) is less than what covers the entire field in the Super League (-98.5).
This year the Super League has more parity, is closer, and, in the Judge’s opinion, therefore more interesting.
I was going to write an article about who is in form in the Super League, and who I was going to tip for the premiership, but every team is still in with a shot. The bottom of the table Warriors only lost to the second placed Convicts by one point. And if the second placed Convicts had scored 3 points less last round, they would currently be in fifth place. Last year’s premiers are currently at the bottom of the ladder, and two of the current top three (including the current top scoring Marvels) didn’t make finals last year.
Going back to my stat of last week looking at the top scoring players in each of the 10 positions (I’ve counted Mid twice), the Phamtoms (Jayden Short twice) and the Coat Hangers (Joe Daniher and Reilly O’Brien) are the only teams that have the best player in two different positions. And both of those teams are currently out of the top 5 on the ladder!
In the past, some of the managers of the teams in the Original League could have been accused of looking down at the Super League, thinking that their abilities to manage teams was far superior to that of the ‘upstart’ Super League managers (ironic considering the disparity of the Original League during the nine years of the duopoly). With no salary cap in the AFR, the only way to League parity is having a spread of superstar talent through astute drafting and intelligent trading, particularly by the managers of teams who finish lower down the ladder. So it seems while the Original League managers have been taking their football advice from Kane Cornes, the Super League managers have been crunching numbers, coming up with new formations, and not resting on their laurels.
Judge’s verdict – The Super League is the superior league.
