By Renae Smyth - UPDATED
The familiar smell of the change room. The hardwood beneath your feet. Adoring fans screaming your name. Playing in your own backyard must count for something. But is that something a home court advantage?
Since the league’s inception in 2017, the home team has come away with the chocolates 91 times out of 168, good for a winning percentage of 57.5%.
When you consider 6% of results finished with the scores level, that means the road team gets on the plane home happy just 36.5% of the time. And when the home team wins, they tend to really stick it to the visitors, averaging 2.75 bonus points per game.
Statistically speaking, playing at home appears to play a small part in the success of teams, but what exactly that edge is, is up for discussion.
Travel must take a toll. While one team is fine-tuning plays, the other is lining up in long airport cues and sleeping on lumpy hotel beds. And when they do eventually arrive, they look up to only see hostile fans staring back at them.
It’s a feeling that some teams know all too well, especially when travelling north to spend the afternoon at Noel’s House, USC Stadium.
Only going down once to the Vixens in Round 6 last season, the Lightning proved virtually unstoppable in the Sunshine State.
And although Tarua is no longer at the helm, the recent Dame has created a winning culture that plays to a tough mental game. Teams know it’s never going to be easy in front of the yellow and purple contingent.
The NSW Swifts really came into their own last season, and if it wasn’t for former premiers, Sunshine Coast Lightning, they would have a perfect home record to go alongside their shiny new premiership trophy.
One team that didn’t enjoy such an advantage was the Adelaide Thunderbirds.
Fans were given something to cheer about early, with the unsuspecting side sending Fever packing with a painful one goal loss and putting their 27-game losing streak behind them.
But the celebration was short lived, with the side only managing to secure one other win at home in 2019.
Without the likes of Folau and Glasgow for the 2020 season it’s hard to imagine that the birds will make the most of the nest at Priceline Stadium.
Despite having the second-best home record, the Collingwood Magpies failed to swoop into the top spot, only managing a fourth-place finish.
With no trip to Tassie on the cards, the Magpies will continue to battle it out with their high-profile roomies, the Melbourne Vixens at Melbourne Arena in 2020.
