FAQs

What use is the Win Quotient data shown in the "Performance Indicator Chart"?

Our Program compiles "Win Quotients" independently for Home and Away performance. At the beginning of the season, before any current season matches have been played, the "Performance Indicator Chart" shows just 2 sets of WQ data for each team: the Current WQ and the Starting WQ. The third set of data is for the Projected WQ, which we post just as soon as the first of the current season's match results becomes available.

For the majority of teams, their best performance is at Home. However, due to the manner in which the WQs are calculated, the initial Home WQ and Away WQ cannot be considered to be absolute values relative to one another. This is because the whole method of calculation is based on a series of algorithms with subjective elements attached. Those elements include the number of points for a Win and a Draw at Home, which can be different values from the Away achievements, if desired. Because of this, our Program contains a unique set of algorithms for calculating the ranking of all the teams relative to one another.

From years of experimenting and faithfully documenting the outcomes, we have discovered that, based on the way we have set our Program to calculate the WQs, a more realistic relative strength (on average across all teams) is obtained from a mixture of the Home and Away WQ values. For those of you interested in such things, for the Home Team we use 70% of its Home WQ and 30% of its Away WQ, and we do something similar for the Away Team (70% of its Away WQ and 30% of its Home WQ).

Knowing how the WQs are compiled, you can now read more into the data shown in the Team Performance Records. When you see that the team's Current WQ has significantly changed from its Starting WQ, then you should establish for yourself exactly why that has happened. Looking at the appropriate League Table will help you fill in the details.

Particularly where two teams playing this season met last season, the WQs can be very helpful when read in conjunction with the Previous Score-Line. Remember though that the Starting WQs are based on how the teams finished at the end of the previous season. They may not represent what the respective WQs were when they met last season! However, when you see that the Anticipated Score-Line is very different from the Previous Score-Line, you need to check out why this is and form an opinion as to whether or not the difference in expectation is warranted. For example, it may well be that last season's outcome was an absolutely unexpected result. Even so, that doesn't mean that it won't happen again this season! If you know a great deal about the two teams involved, you will of course have a better understanding than most others as to what happened previously and the chances for a repeat this season.

Generally though, the changed expectations will be because one or other team (and sometimes both) has performed significantly differently since their last meeting. Although the difference between the Starting and Current WQs may not show this as dramatically as it actually is (because the Starting WQs are based on the season-end figures, not on the status at the time the two teams originally met), some clue will be there in the two sets of WQs. You will just have to do some sleuthing on previous match dates, and also on the apparent relative strengths when they last met, to get a better overall picture.

Whichever way you look at it, we contend that if you didn't have the WQ figures we provide and, instead, had to form an opinion "blind", it would be a much harder job for you to form an opinion in which you could have any reasonable degree of confidence.