The Perth travel myth

[doppleganger]

Not fair, try equitable - that's a feature of sport yes/no? IF you want to play in a national comp it involves national travel, IF its a suburban comp you want, its the VFL for Vic clubs ?

You are having a laugh.

It IS fair and equitable, every team get 11 home games and 11 away games.

When 14 of the 18 teams are based on the East coast, the teams isolated out West are going to travel more kms every season.

You can set up conferences, and try to group WA n SA sides, but they will still travel more kms than teams based on the East Coast.

It happens in US sports, the teams in Western conferences travel more than the East as the East Coast teams are clustered closer together.

Geography is a bitch.

WA fans that actually cant grasp this concept are dullards.

 

[Kwality]

An enterprising WCE fan had the solution...ignore the concept of home games, instead having 'city' based games.

So Fremantle, Geelong, Gold Coast get 15 games in their city and play outside of their city just 7 times.

Simples

What is go for AFL clubs today? Does it favour one group of teams?

Are you suggesting the 1960s version of a home game is relevant ? Consider Melbourne v Richmond in 1965 or is that Richmond v Melbourne? Whst was the currency back then? All TV was black & white .... how was that ever changed?

 

[EagleShore]

i'm not quite sure what people think the solution to this is. should carlton play collingwood in perth just even out the travel?

Well now that's just ludicrous. No one is saying even out the distance travelled - very difficult to change geography. Perhaps the AFL could factor in the relative distances travelled by teams when they construct the fixtures - eg. give the WA teams more 7 and 8 day breaks, and fewer 6 day breaks. They may already do this, but given the multitude of factors (broadcast scheduling and money primarily) that they have to consider I'm not certain they could make much of a difference.

The "solution" or recompense is not readily obvious. But those suggesting it is not a factor are just ignoring numbers..firstly, relative distance travelled by teams in the competition, and secondly the career duration of WA players compared to non-WA players. I don't have a good resource right now for the player career durations but subjectively I think we have fewer 200+ gamers, and only one who has reached > 300 in Pavlich.

NBA - you can see that the GSW travelled roughly 53% further than the team that travelled the least distance (Cavs).

AFL - this guy constructed a graph from the 2013 AFL season, depicting distance before playing (ie. about half the distance actually travelled when you include the return trips, but in relative terms, this doesn't matter).

So West Coast travelled 286% further than the team that travelled the least distance (Hawthorn). You'll also note that both WA teams are outliers, whereas the NBA is more evenly distributed with no statistical outliers).

No one is suggesting that travel is the main factor contributing to the poor WA team performances this season compared to last season.

I also don't believe that wholesale changes to the fixtures are appropriate or necessary. WA teams just need to be better prepared for the regular travel and accept that their players will likely have shorter careers (on average). Perhaps they could use hyperbaric oxygen therapy to counteract the hypobaric oxygen conditions in an aircraft.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

So West Coast travelled 286% further than the team that travelled the least distance (Hawthorn).

You are obviously making it up. How can Hawthorn be the team who travelled the least when they play 4 HOME matches in Tassie?

 

[doppleganger]

What is go for AFL clubs today? Does it favour one group of teams?

Are you suggesting the 1960s version of a home game is relevant ? Consider Melbourne v Richmond in 1965 or is that Richmond v Melbourne? Whst was the currency back then? All TV was black & white .... how was that ever changed?

What are you on rabbiting on about? What is a 1960s version of a home game?

AFL clubs today play 11 home games and 11 away games, fair and equitable.

AFL clubs mirror Australia's geography, with 14 east coast teams where the population all live.

Yet you cant grasp that the two isolated teams out west are ALWAYS going to have more travel kms.

Your solution is to give the west coast teams some of the other teams home games...as it is the fair and equitable thing to do.

 

[im_a_lazy_sod]

You are obviously making it up. How can Hawthorn be the team who travelled the least when they play 4 HOME matches in Tassie?

I don't think home games are included as they are a choice. Travelling away is something you have no choice in

 

[EagleShore]

You are obviously making it up. How can Hawthorn be the team who travelled the least when they play 4 HOME matches in Tassie?

I didn't collate the data - it was from a reddit post. It would be nice to have the time to collate the data myself - possible to do by looking at the fixtures.

Edit: A quick calculation based on Hawthorn's 2013 fixture yields a total distance of 7271km (or 14,542km including return trips). That bloke's graph appears to have the Hawks at about 6750km (13,500km return), so he probably undercalculated slightly. Not far off, maybe used different distances (I just googled distances between Melbourne and the 4 interstate cities they played at).

 

[The Passenger]

I have said for years we should at least try a couple of years where our schedule only involves three interstate trips and we play 4/3/3 away games and get them all done in a hit like that. Obviously Freo need to get on board too. It certainly wouldn't hurt to give it a shot and then make a decision after two years. If it's a clear disaster in the first year then you could even just pull the pin then.

 

[dockshark]

i'm not quite sure what people think the solution to this is. should carlton play collingwood in perth just even out the travel?

I for one would love the opportunity to attend neutral games in Perth from time to time. One of my favourite things about weekends in Melbourne is getting to watch some live footy that I'm not emotionally attached to!

 

[dockshark]

I have said for years we should at least try a couple of years where our schedule only involves three interstate trips and we play 4/3/3 away games and get them all done in a hit like that. Obviously Freo need to get on board too. It certainly wouldn't hurt to give it a shot and then make a decision after two years. If it's a clear disaster in the first year then you could even just pull the pin then.

Have you ever been to an AFL club facility? They have so much equipment, facilities, support staff, video conference and technology rooms, gymnasiums, recovery pools, ice baths etc etc. How would we operate away for 4 weeks at a time?

It's a dumb idea and there is absolutely no way it would ever be considered.

 

[JackOutback]

Stop being a sook!

More teams in WA, less travelling, a GF in WA, longer breaks for WA players, the list goes on.....

What the hell do you want?

You lot are worse that my wife.

Given how disingenuous you have been in this thread, I reckon your wife probably has a point.

 

[PieLebo87]

Given how disingenuous you have been in this thread, I reckon your wife probably has a point.

I wonder how the dynamics are in WA. I never really notice Freo supporters really sook and whinge yet WCE supporters will just about whinge and moan about ANYTHING. It's funny..

 

[crippton09]

Is there an issue with recovery for you? Is recovery relevant?
I've FIFO'd out of Perth to Sydney for 10 months, the trip home was longer eh?

If recovery was the issue they'd stay in the state which they've traveled a little longer to recover before getting on a flight for a few hours. I have worked fifo for years. Its the three weeks at twelve hours that stuffs you around not the flights.

 

[crippton09]

I'm guessing you're also not 190cm+ trying to squeeze into an economy seat either, given their are normally about 10 business class seats normally. If they are really lucky they might get an exit row!

I'm 188 actually. But seriously my heart bleeds it's still not that long a flight.

 

[Seadog]

If recovery was the issue they'd stay in the state which they've traveled a little longer to recover before getting on a flight for a few hours. I have worked fifo for years. Its the three weeks at twelve hours that stuffs you around not the flights.

Oranges, Apples.

 

[crippton09]

Oranges, Apples.

Brilliant argument there

 

[JackOutback]

Brilliant argument there

About as good as your 'I'm a Fifo, so I understand the effects of travel on elite athletes'.

 

[Kwality]

If recovery was the issue they'd stay in the state which they've traveled a little longer to recover before getting on a flight for a few hours. I have worked fifo for years. Its the three weeks at twelve hours that stuffs you around not the flights.

I found keeping my body clock on Sydney time was best for me but didn't have to deal with a physical recovery issue.

 

[Kwality]

What are you on rabbiting on about? What is a 1960s version of a home game?

AFL clubs today play 11 home games and 11 away games, fair and equitable.

AFL clubs mirror Australia's geography, with 14 east coast teams where the population all live.

Yet you cant grasp that the two isolated teams out west are ALWAYS going to have more travel kms.

Your solution is to give the west coast teams some of the other teams home games...as it is the fair and equitable thing to do.

In 1965 Richmond adopted the G as its home ground - that's more than 50 years ago & still you don't understand home grounds are a matter of convenience for Melbourne clubs, in Launceston, Hobart, Cairns, NZ even ... yes my solution is clubs share evenly.

 

[doppleganger]

In 1965 Richmond adopted the G as its home ground - that's more than 50 years ago & still you don't understand home grounds are a matter of convenience for Melbourne clubs, in Launceston, Hobart, Cairns, NZ even ... yes my solution is clubs share evenly.

Your solution is all clubs adopt the G as their home ground??

 

[javaguice]

This guy obviously doesn't watch a lot of football. Rookie at best.

 

[blue harvest]

As has been mentioned a number of times, at the absolute barest minimum, limit the number of times WA teams have to fly to Brisbane or Tasmania. If Melbourne clubs want to sell games to stay afloat, that's on them, but don't hand the burden to teams that already travel significantly more than others. The Hawks and Roos should have to play other Melbourne clubs in Tassie.

How is making Perth teams go to Tassie a burden?
Flight time to Launceston is about the same as Melbourne, you get direct flights and you even get a say in what time the flights are scheduled.
If it wasn't in Tassie it would be in Melbourne, not Perth. There is no additional travel burden.

 

[blue harvest]

Is their a Tasmanian team? Why should WA teams have to take extra flights and Km because some Victorian team needs to sell off a game?

Can you see that it adds extra travel to teams that do the most travelling.

At least allow Freo and West Coast use charted flights to Tassie.

How many times does it have to be said on BigFooty?

YOU GET DIRECT FLIGHTS TO TASSIE

The flight time is about the same as Melbourne, but with fewer delays.

 

[garlic munchers]

When 14 of the 18 teams are based on the East coast, the teams isolated out West are going to travel more kms every season........

It happens in US sports, the teams in Western conferences travel more than the East as the East Coast teams are clustered closer together......

WA fans that actually cant grasp this concept are dullards.

A bit like the dullards at Collingwood that still don't get it that Buckley can't coach and Eddie is increasingly becoming a tarnished brand.

Similarly like the dullards that can't get it through their thick heads that there is no complaint that teams out West travel more kms (duh!), but rather the issue is the statistically high odds that these teams will have to travel to Tasmania and Qld when it should in fairness be statistically low.

 

[garlic munchers]

How many times does it have to be said on BigFooty?

YOU GET DIRECT FLIGHTS TO TASSIE

The flight time is about the same as Melbourne, but with fewer delays.

What airline flys Perth to Tassie direct?