AFL: Drawn games are a curse.
Dunno what it’s like in other sports, but in the AFL, a drawn game is a curse.
Since 2005, teams featuring in a draw have only won 2 out a possible 16 games the following week.
Now the easy answer is that it’s a close, hard game, so it’s physically taken something out of the players.
But no. Looking at 2007, for instance, teams featuring in a game with a result of between 1 and 6 points, won 16 of 30 games in the following week. And that wasn’t distorted by the team that won those close games. In fact, those 16 wins were split exactly in half between teams that won close games, and teams that lost.
In the same year, the six teams featuring in drawn games didn’t win at all the following week.
So, roughly and statistically speaking, if your team features in a close game (win or lose), they’ve got a 53% chance of winning the next week. But if they feature in a drawn game, that chance of winning the next week drops to a paltry 12.5%!
The draw is definitely a curse. It probably is psychologically draining on the players.
As much as I used to think the drawn game was a natural part of footy, now I’d say it has to go. Play extra time.
