Australasia's Best Sporting Team

There is a continuous debate in the pubs, clubs and lounge-rooms of Australia and New Zealand as to whether great historic teams could have survived in today’s competitions, or about which football code is the best of all.

Australasia’s Best Sporting Team has been designed to bring an analytical approach to answering some of these questions, and in doing so aims to start a new conversation about greatness and rewarding success, as well as unearthing some hidden gems and helping those in need.

Platinum Asset Management, in conjunction with GAIN LINE Analytics have conducted a huge statistical analysis of 74,426 matches between 222 teams in 14 sports over 25 years to come to a conclusion. The winning team is being presented with the opportunity to make a donation to a local cause in their community.

This concept appealed to Platinum given the body of work we have done with GAIN LINE on our own team cohesion

The period of observation, 1994-2018, is coincident with the history of Platinum Asset Management, the award sponsor.

Every game in every sport in Australasia that conducts an ongoing home/away or equivalent competition that included Australian and New Zealand teams has been analysed subject to the competition meeting the following criteria.

To be considered for the Best Team award a team must have played in a minimum of 10 of the seasons within the 25 year period – noting that where there has been a breach of competition conditions and sanctions put in place that this is excluded via one of the adjustment metrics. For each team in the competition, their win/loss record is looked at season by season, along with their position within the competition. For each of these measures, over 25 years a Z-Score is created to show their relative raw performance output between all the teams across all the competitions.

Two adjustment metrics are then applied to place the raw performance output in context. Firstly to reflect the stability of the competition – stable competitions being harder to perform well consistently because of the impact that player trading cycles have on team and competition competitiveness. Secondly to reflect the longevity of the club by being rewarded for their tenure within the 25 years, including any sanctions for non-compliance with competition rules.

Eligible teams, of which there are 122, are then ranked on their double adjusted double raw performance Z-Scores, to provide the definitive list of Australasia’s Best Sporting Teams. The website contains the Top 25 overall, Top 3 by sport and Top 3 by state/country.

To be the best team in a sport over a prolonged period requires dedication, endurance, excellence and cohesion. To be the best overall, is a step beyond.

As part of the Australasia’s Best Sporting Team and the team cohesion work between Platinum Asset Management and GAIN LINE Analytics, Platinum will award A$25,000 to the winning team to donate to a worthwhile cause of the winning team’s choice.

$25,000 Grant