After 11 Rounds of the 2025 AFL season, we seem to have sorted the wheat from the chaff in terms of road teams. Or we’ve at least got a good idea which teams adopt the “anyone, anywhere, anytime” mantra that good teams possess.
And at the other end of the spectrum, we have the usual suspects, who barely win at all, let alone pick up a win away from home.
We’ve heard it for years – the teams based outside Victoria have it tougher.
I get it, though. I really do. Forced to travel interstate almost every second week, some teams clock up enormous miles as they traverse the country to be part of this sport we love.
Meanwhile, we get some Victorian-based clubs cracking the sads when they have to play at Marvel Stadium instead of the MCG, and vice versa. Or those who get a little nasty when a move away from Kardinia Park is floated.
So, how do the teams fare away from home, and who is travelling best at the moment?
The Mongrel has devised a little ladder to assess who is the best road team in the league. Oh, the Vic teams will still get a look in if they’re good enough, and whilst I fully expect a number of fans to say this system is rigged to favour non-Victorian teams… I really don’t care. Stop your whining.
So, how does it work?
The Road Warrior Ladder is named after one of the best Tag Teams of all time. Don’t come at me with your Demolition garbage, or your Powers of Pain crap… they were Road Warrior rip-offs… who were, in turn, rip-offs of the 1980s movie, Mad Max.
It was called The Road Warrior in the United States because… geez, I’m not a film buff. Do your own homework.
Anyway, you get four points for an interstate win and two points for a win at an away venue that IS NOT played at the venue you consider your home ground. I don’t care if it’s not your home game – you’re still at the ground you play your home games. The Road Warrior Ladder Nazi isn’t concerned with your feelings – just facts.
Tasmania is considered a home game for Hawthorn. You choose to play your home games there – you cop it. Same with GWS and Canberra – if it’s your choice, you wear it.
Now that my belligerence is out of the way, let’s get to business.
THE ROAD WARRIOR LADDER AFTER ROUND 11
1 – BRISBANE – 22 PTS (131 point differential in road wins)
2 – GOLD COAST – 16 PTS (216)
3 – GWS – 16 PTS (63)
4 – COLLINGWOOD – 12 PTS (45)
=5 – FREMANTLE – 8 PTS (95)
=5 – GEELONG – 8 PTS (95)
7 – SYDNEY – 8 PTS (68)
8 – MELBOURNE – 8 PTS (43)
9 – ESSENDON – 8 PTS (41)
10 – CARLTON – 4 PTS (71)
11 – ADELAIDE – 4 PTS (61)
12 – WESTERN BULLDOGS – 4 PTS (32)
13 – HAWTHORN – 4 PTS (20)
14 – ST KILDA – 4 PTS (17)
15 – PORT ADELAIDE – 4 PTS (8)
16 – NORTH MELBOURNE – 2 PTS (4)
17/18 – RICHMOND AND WEST COAST – NO POINTS
ANALYSIS
Last season, the Sydney Swans were the number one road team in the competition, and that form away from home took them to the top of the ladder at this stage of the season.
They finished with six road wins for the year, and it was enough to see them finish top of the AFL ladder. This year, the Lions have already got five and a half wins (the half was the draw against North Melbourne) and we’ve just ticked past Round 11. This is some season they’re compiling, and with their MCG hoodoo now a thing of the past, would have to be very much the favourite to win it all in 2025, irrespective of what Collingwood are up to.
The Suns have put to bed the notion that they can’t win away from home, with four road wins (and no, that does not count their Darwin wins – they’re the home team at that venue). Their win against the Saints at Marvel probably means a lot more than is being made of it. People will now allow that Hardwick/Marvel curse call to fade into obscurity, where it belongs. Right there with the Lions’ MCG one.
Maybe he will start liking the place if they keep it up.
As for GWS, if they can just start picking up wins AT HOME, that’d be great. Another loss at Engie Stadium last week, this time to Freo, is a worry. However, with four road wins, they’re rallying well when they have to pack their bags and head elsewhere.
UPCOMING FOUR-POINT GAMES
ESSENDON heads to Brisbane to face the Lions at the Gabba
FREMANTLE is on the Gold Coast to face the Suns at People First Stadium
RICHMOND would like their chances at Engie Stadium, given the Giants’ home record
ADELAIDE head to the SCG to face the Swans
ST KILDA head to Alice Springs to face the Dees
And GEELONG hit the road to play the Eagles at Optus
UPCOMING TWO-POINT GAMES
NO two-point games this week.
Also, four teams have byes this week. Boooo.
but it does mean an easier week for me in terms of covering games. Yaaay.
FOOTNOTE OF THE WEEK
There’s always a furore, isn’t there? Someone says something, and something else happens, and suddenly, it’s a big story.
Yesterday, right before his team’s loss to the Suns, Ross Lyon called Gold Coast the “nepo babies” of the league, intimating that the league has looked after their creation.
Gold Coast CEO, Mark Evans (the man with the most generic name since John Smith) called the comments “offensive”.
Aaaand, away we go.
I watched this live, and it appeared to me that Lyon was saying it in jest, but perhaps there was an undertone to it – who knows?
Damien Hardwick also fired shots back, stating that the Saints should look after their own backyard, after 13,000 showed up to the St Kilda home game to watch them miss shot after shot at goal.
Really, what a load of words and little more.
The Suns did get a great ride from the league for a while… because they needed it! They were an expansion team, and now that they’re coming good, Lyon doesn’t like it. But to act like being called the nepo babies of the league something new… Mark Evans and Dimma need to have a thicker skin.
In a way, everyone involved in this situation is both right and wrong, and really, everything that was said could have been avoided with the application of a sense of humour, and/or common sense.
Which team do you have winning a flag first – the Suns, or the Saints?
I reckon the Nepo Babies have got them covered.
As always, massive thanks to those who support this work. You can see the amount of care that goes into it. I love footy, I love writing about it, and I hope you enjoy reading it. Without you, this whole thing falls over. Sincerely… thank you – HB
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