The long-standing ‘Subiaco curse’ holds that teams playing in Perth are prone to a poor performance the next week, but a quick flick through results show that this is rubbish.
For the purpose of this discussion, I have analysed the last 42 teams to have travelled to Perth before playing their next home-and-away fixture, omitting finals matches and derby matches. This includes 2014, 2015 and the seven completed 2016 matches.
The opposite of the curse was true in season 2014, with 11 wins coming after a trip to Subiaco versus seven losses, including a streak of eight wins in nine visits during the middle of the season.
The Gold Coast suns took two trips to Perth, and came back to win the next week. Turns out there is a good chance you would play Geelong after playing at Subi too, with Geelong losing three home games to immediate visitors from Perth.
In 2015 there were only two wins coming out of Perth in the first 14 rounds, but overall the win-loss ratio was 8-9 – hardly a curse. And towards the end of the season, leaving Perth gave you a golden ticket to win the next week, with Sydney, Greater Western Sydney, Hawthorn, Western Bulldogs and Melbourne all winning the next week from Round 17 to season’s end.
Even 2016 it falls 4-3 against the curse. Brisbane, Richmond and Collingwood lost after playing in Perth, while Gold Coast, Carlton, GWS and St Kilda all followed up their trip across the country with a win.
These numbers reveal the curse to be a myth. It is possible if I dug into older results that the curse would become apparent, but with the advancements in player recovery, management and treatment, the long plane rides don’t seem to have a lasting effect on performance.
Roarers, what curses, myths or beliefs do you use to work out your footy tips? Let us know in the comments below.
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They've reviewed everything else this year and not THAT?
Outstanding from Nicholas Madden!
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