Media HEADANALYSIS | The beez Trophy - what does it take to be the league's best poster?

[GWS Goose]

The "looks like" really gives the impression you've not read it, mate. I trust that's not the case?

I have read the parts that have been released (mostly)

 

[serial_thrilla]

The "looks like" really gives the impression you've not read it, mate. I trust that's not the case?

GWS Goose is no doubt anticipating S32 where he'll most likely get a mention. He loves reading about himself.

 

[Headless]

GWS Goose is no doubt anticipating S32 where he'll most likely get a mention. He loves reading about himself.

GWS Goose does?

 

[serial_thrilla]

GWS Goose does?

GWS Goose loves a good tag. Makes him feel all warm and fuzzy.

 

[Headless]

GWS Goose loves a good tag. Makes him feel all warm and fuzzy.

Is that true, GWS Goose?

 

[serial_thrilla]

Is that true, GWS Goose?

This is GWS Goose right now:

 

[Supersuns]

Thanks, Headless

 

[Headless]

Thanks, Headless

 

[Supersuns]

 

[GWS Goose]

GWS Goose is no doubt anticipating S32 where he'll most likely get a mention. He loves reading about himself.

I really do

 

[GWS Goose]

Is that true, GWS Goose?

This is true, very true indeed.

 

[GWS Goose]

GWS Goose loves a good tag. Makes him feel all warm and fuzzy.

Also really true.
You really get me.

 

[Elton Johns Wig]

 

[Headless]

CHAPTER 5: SEASON 31 - BARRYBRAN​

WINNING SEASON	31
LEAGUE ADMINISTRATOR	NaturalDisaster
SEASON BEEZ VOTES	1,357

“The Gumbies FFC captain proved to be a hit with his vast array of media contributions.”

Hate, 23 June 2021​

Without checking the facts, I’d be fairly confident in saying that NaturalDisaster’s first season as league admin saw the closest finish to the beez Trophy we’ve ever seen; Barrybran polled just six votes more than runner-up serial_thrilla.

Six votes.

This was an interesting season, with four posters polling 1,134+ votes – as a reminder, manangatang won the count with 1,174 votes in Season 28. I’m not exactly sure what that means – perhaps a lack of depth in Season 31, or perhaps particularly dominant seasons from those who polled strongly.


SEASON 31: TOP TEN



For those who prefer tabulated data:

PLACING	PLAYER	VOTES
1	Barrybran	1,357
2	serial_thrilla	1,351
3	PMBangers	1,229
4	VeinGlorious	1,134
5	Tonga Bob	840
6	Headless	801
7	TheInjuryFactory	760
8	Mobbs	727
9	manangatang	726
10	Chipmunk	719

Season 31 again followed the “big four” phenomenon; after the top four, there was a gap of almost 300 votes before Tonga Bob in fifth. Past winners TheInjuryFactory and manangatang again featured in the top ten, along with league veterans Headless and Mobbs, and newer poster Chipmunk.


MATCH THREAD POSTING

TOTAL H&A MATCH THREAD POSTS	1,096
AVERAGE H&A MATCH THREAD POSTS	68.50
% OF TOTAL LEAGUE MATCH THREAD POSTS	1.20%

For the first time (of seasons I’m considering), the beez Trophy winner contributed more than 1% of the league’s total match thread posts. In fact, the figure of 1.2% is more than double that of Tigerturbulance from the season prior (0.56%). It’s the equal highest of the five victors.

Barrybran’s average of 68.5 posts per match thread also came in as the second highest figure; contributing almost 70 posts per weeks in match threads, Barrybran clearly made a strong contribution from week to week.

In general, match thread activity fell across the league (~91,000 posts as opposed to ~108,000 posts the league prior and ~106,000 posts the league after). I’m honestly not sure if this was impacted by the number of rounds that specific season or if other factors were more influential.


MEDIA POSTING
Barrybran is always a strong player in the media field, and Season 31 was no exception. Something to note so far is that all winners have taken pride in their media work, and their pieces have clearly been the culmination of much time and effort. Barrybran continued this in Season 31, with some excellent and prominent media work:

• Sweet FA Posters by AFL Club – S31 (although inane AFL chat should be banned from the Sweet FA )
• Around The Grounds
• beez – 350 Sweet FA Games (@beez’s video included in this thread is a must-watch)
• S31 Wheel of Parity
• GUMBIES 522 WEEK
• Baz Stats S31
• BTN – Barry’s Timely News
• Simwear
• Hit the Road jackster83
• Baz Stats S31 – End of Season Compendium

Barrybran is clearly very good at many types of media pieces, but the stats work really stands out. Not only did Baz provide statistics for the better of the league – he also used stats very cleverly in media work (perhaps more than we’d ever seen).

Other contributions included the “Mid-Season Survey – All-SFA Edition” (*Sweet FA), posting the first week of finals match threads, and providing strong leadership for the Gumbies throughout.


PREVIOUS POLLING
You won’t find many beez Trophy records more consistently excellent than Barrybran’s. With four top six placings in the four seasons prior to Season 31 (plus 11th in Season 26 with the Bears), it’s fair to say Baz was likely to again be in the minds of beez voters. Seasons 29-30 were actually slightly down in terms of total votes when placed up against Seasons 29-30, but Barrybran really came through with the goods in Season 31.

Previous placings:

SEASON	PLACING	VOTES
27	3	1,111
28	2	1,090
29	5	852
30	6	899
31	1	1,357

LET'S HEAR FROM THE WINNER
H: Barrybran, why do you think you won the beez Trophy? Specifically (if you remember), did you focus more on match thread posting, media, something else entirely, or a combination of all?

B: "Off the top of my head it was a weaker season with previous winners, TheInjuryFactory, manangatang, Kennedy Parker and Tigerturbulance all taking a back seat from media aside from TIF's Spudqoach and Three Things I Learned threads. It felt a bit like a one horse race although serial_thrilla picked up some votes with a media dump at the end of the season.



As far as focus goes, I don't really focus on anything per se. I post and create media because I enjoy doing it. That said, all beez winners to date have been consistent contributors in match threads with excellent media games."


PREVIOUS SEASON'S WINNER
Tigerturbulance dropped in activity and prominence somewhat, but still polled strongly enough to finish in the top 20 – specifically, 18th with a total of 396 votes. I believe it’s the biggest drop of the five winners I’m considering here.


SEASON 31 - GENERAL THOUGHTS
Barrybran has been very, very consistent in this league for a long time, and beez votes season by season show that.

I don’t think anything Barrybran did in Season 31 was absolutely groundbreaking or new, but everything he did, he did very well: active and engaging in match threads, high quality media and graphics (with a particular focus on statistics in many cases), and otherwise excellent contributions across the board.

A very deserving winner, and a fantastic poster on this board for a long time.

And that means we have just one winner to go in this analysis: Season 32 victor Elton Johns Wig.

 

[Elton Johns Wig]

PREVIOUS SEASON'S WINNER
@Tigerturbulance dropped in activity and prominence somewhat, but still polled strongly enough to finish in the top 20 – specifically, 18th with a total of 396 votes. I believe it’s the biggest drop of the five winners I’m considering here.

That's because my fall from grace isn't finished......

 

[Elton Johns Wig]

Without stealing your thunder, I'd imagine I would be the least consistent (due to circumstances out of my control) of all winners you'll look at.

So I'll ask a question and give you a chance to do more research. Whats the biggest jump to a win from the previous season? All time.

Cheers and thanks.

 

[Headless]

Without stealing your thunder, I'd imagine I would be the least consistent (due to circumstances out of my control) of all winners you'll look at.

So I'll ask a question and give you a chance to do more research. Whats the biggest jump to a win from the previous season? All time.

Cheers and thanks.

I will look into this, my dear friend.

I will look into it.

 

[Elton Johns Wig]

I will look into this, my dear friend.

I will look into it.

You will, as always, prevail.

 

[GWS Goose]

Im really looking for the bit that includes me.

 

[Pugsley]

Um I'm a current player who finished in the top 10.

Accidents happen mate.

 

[Tonga Bob]

Don't be silly DenieD. Headless knows he's the favorite to win this season, so he's pumping the tyres of all his competitors so he can claim this was the best victory in beez history.

Headless is doing more than just pumping tyres.

 

[Headless]

CHAPTER 5: SEASON 32 - ELTON JOHNS WIG​

WINNING SEASON	32
LEAGUE ADMINISTRATOR	NaturalDisaster
SEASON BEEZ VOTES	1,648

“[Elton Johns Wig] has put in a huge amount of work this season, he has clearly clicked with his peers this season.”

Hate, 9 December 2021

​

Elton Johns Wig – winner of the Season 32 beez Trophy – didn’t take the typical pathway to the award. Despite being a well-respected poster around here for some time, EJW seemingly came from nowhere to win – previous placings with the Furies were 86th in Season 30, and 24th in Season 31.

But it was pure domination; 1,648 votes is an absolutely massive total.

Regrettably, this was the season I was least active, and I missed much of EJW’s activity at the time - I was honestly surprised (but pleased) to see EJW was the runaway favourite on my return. Elton Johns Wig has always had the potential to win the beez Trophy, but I didn’t expect such a terrific rise up the rankings over the course of just 1-2 seasons.

Let’s take a look at this season’s placings in a bit more detail.


SEASON 32: TOP TEN



For those who prefer tabulated data:

PLACING	PLAYER	VOTES
1	Elton Johns Wig	1,648
2	serial_thrilla	1,577
3	PMBangers	1,241
4	Mobbs	1,211
5	GWS Goose	883
6	Tonga Bob	879
7	Barrybran	866
8	Suns Supreme	722
9	Chipmunk	609
10	Tony Lynn 15	577

The “top four” idea again holds true, though you could argue Season 32 actually had more of a “top pair, then another pair” type of vote allocation. serial_thrilla was again the hard luck story, finishing as runner-up for a second consecutive season. PMBangers also finished third once again, ahead of Mobbs in fourth.

There was then a familiar gap before we hit GWS Goose in fifth. 577 votes from Tony Lynn 15 marked the lowest top ten total across the five considered seasons.


MATCH THREAD POSTING

TOTAL H&A MATCH THREAD POSTS	1,274
AVERAGE H&A MATCH THREAD POSTS	79.60
% OF TOTAL LEAGUE MATCH THREAD POSTS	1.20%

Like Barrybran in the season prior, Elton Johns Wig contributed 1.2% of the league’s total match thread posts in Season 32. A higher number of match thread posts in general across the league meant Elton Johns Wig had a higher average per match thread (79.6, which is very high by any measure).

As the slider graphics above suggest, EJW had the highest numbers across all of these metrics for the five analysed seasons.

Unfortunately I missed most of Wig's posting season in Season 32, but past experience suggests EJW was engaging, combative, and creative in match threads.


MEDIA POSTING
In Season 32, Elton Johns Wig went hard on media. Like, super hard.

The consistent “WIGMEDIA” branding probably helped in terms of memorability and prominence on the board when it came to beez voting, and it linked all of the threads together nicely to create the impression of a constant series across the season. Seriously – look at how consistent Wig’s threads are in branding. Threads included:

• WIGMEDIA: The Whine Room S32
• WIGMEDIA: Sweet Media & the Sweet Entertainment Group
• WIGMEDIA: IN THE GUN (24 pages – huge)
• WIGMEDIA: The WAR Project
• WIGMEDIA: Firestarter Of The Year
• WIGMEDIA: Qideo Ezy Closing Down Giveaway – WHILE STOCKS LAST
• WIGMEDIA: How to Identify and Deal with Victim Mentality in the SFA
• WIGMEDIA: The Accidental Legacy

Many of these threads required attention throughout the season (perhaps week by week or otherwise regular updates). Anybody who has tried to run a consistent season-long thread will know how draining this can be.

But some of these threads I’m honestly just seeing now for the first time, and I’m impressed by a few things – things you might now be tired of hearing:

• Production value
• Engagement with a wide variety of posters
• Clear involvement time, effort and thought

PREVIOUS POLLING
As mentioned above, EJW’s polling history seems to be a bit unusual when stacked up with other previous winners. Typically, you’ll see a block of really solid finishes that ultimately leads to beez victory. EJW was a bit more hit and miss but, importantly (in my view), had prominently polled in previous seasons.

You can’t argue with the methodology; 1,648 votes in a single season is, as I understand it, the most in league history.

Previous placings:

SEASON	PLACING	VOTES
28	16	520
29	7	827
30	86	26
31	24	297
32	1	1,648

LET'S HEAR FROM THE WINNER
H: Elton Johns Wig, why do you think you won the beez Trophy? Specifically (if you remember), did you focus more on match thread posting, media, something else entirely, or a combination of all?

E: "Firstly, I never set out at the start to win the beez, I think that's important. Because it meant my early season stuff was coming from an honest place, no agendas behind it.

It did change after 5-6 rounds when people started to talk that I was front of mind. At that point I thought, fu** it, I'll have a go from here, put the work in.

I always like to put the effort in during match threads, I enjoy the cut and thrust when it gets a bit willing, and the genuinely funny posters bring it to life.



But I think the beez is won with media. Good, consistent media. For some unknown reason I had an absolute stack of ideas at the start of last season, I didn't use them all actually, I've still got some on the backburner. New media catches votes too, new ideas, We have some great recurring threads, but the eyes pop when something fresh comes along.

You do need a mix of media and posting, but good media gets more weight. There are some AMAZING posters that don't do media and consistently poll below where I think they should."


PREVIOUS SEASON'S WINNER
Barrybran was again strong – as Barrybran always seems to be – finishing with 866 votes in 7th place. This completed a pretty absurd six season run from Baz that included finishes of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th. Unbelievable.


SEASON 32 - GENERAL THOUGHTS
It was so great to see Elton Johns Wig winning the beez Trophy, and I am sad I didn’t see much of EJW’s posting season at the time.

A combination of very prolific match thread contributions and very prolific (and consistent) media seemed to do the trick for EJW, but I think the most interesting aspect is that EJW sort of came from the clouds. It goes against my theory somewhat that winners need to have a body of work behind them, but I guess that would be discrediting EJW’s many past strong seasons.

Perhaps the lesson is that you just need to be a good poster – you don’t need to have placed in the top five in the season prior to win.

It gives us all hope.

That concludes the season-by-season focus. Now we can get on to things like general trends and theories!

 

[Elton Johns Wig]

You can’t argue with the methodology; 1,648 votes in a single season is, as I understand it, the most in league history.

I did not know this, how good is this?

Probably also points out what a great season serial_thrilla had. I'm sure his total would win most seasons.

 

[Headless]

I did not know this, how good is this?

Probably also points out what a great season serial_thrilla had. I'm sure his total would win most seasons.

Just wait for my follow-up series on what it takes to be the league's second best poster!

 

[Barrybran]

This has been a fantastic thread so far, Headless. An excellent mix of research, statistics, opinion and presentation.