GAIN LINE Analytics are pleased to present their analysis on Australasia’s (Australia and New Zealand) Best Sporting Team (ABST) 2024, and to announce that the Penrith Panthers National Rugby League team have won the award for the second year in a row, having won the last 4 NRL premierships as well as being the 2020 NRL runners up.
The team is widely credited with having one of the outstanding talent development and retention programs in the country, which is reflected in their outcomes.
“We are extremely proud to have been named Australasia’s Best Sporting Team once again,” Panthers Rugby League CEO Matt Cameron said.
This continued success is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire club – including the players, staff, board and members. I’d like to pay tribute to our head coach Ivan Cleary, whose exceptional leadership continues to guide us to new heights, creating an environment where everyone can thrive. This success is a result of careful planning, strategic development, and the patience shown by our senior leadership. It's essential that we stay focused and keep pushing forward.”
The club nominated the Panthers Foundation to receive an A$10,000 grant in recognition of their success.
“The Panthers Foundation's aim is to be a source of community pride and something that our fans and members resonate with and endeavour to be a part of. We will achieve our goal by having a positive and lasting impact on the members of our community through inclusive education, local community and participation opportunities.
We are extremely delighted and grateful to be the beneficiaries of this grant – support like this is how we can continue to achieve our goals and impact more people in our community.” Peter Graham, Panthers Foundation Chairman.
GAIN LINE is grateful to Sydney-based actuary, Douglas Isles, who has generously donated this year’s prize of $10,000 to the charity of the winning team’s choice. Douglas noted “I love people, numbers, and sport, and having been introduced to GAINLINE’s work, have learned so much more about the role of cohesion on success both on the field and in business. It’s great to help support a cause like the Panthers Foundation which does so much good work in the community”.
GM of Sport at GAIN LINE, Simon Strachan has highlighted that “The Panthers are a benchmark club when it comes to long-term success. We as a business often use them as an example how to achieve on-field success when we are working with organisations in Australia and abroad, in fact there are some sporting teams that actively use the Panthers as a model for their own development and pathway structures”.
Runners-up were the Brisbane Lions AFLW team who were runners up in this seasons AFLW competition and have competed in the last AFWL finals series with 2 AFLW premierships to their name through the qualification period. The Brisbane Lions are 1 of 2 organisations to have both their women’s and men’s team appear in the Top 25, with the Brisbane Lions men’s team featuring in seventeenth position after their AFL (M) premiership this year.
In third place came A League Women’s Sydney FC, champions over the last 2 seasons and runners up in the 3 prior seasons. Sydney FC and the A League Women being a significant driver of the development and success of the Matildas on the world stage.
In fourth place overall, and with their first AFLW premiership and some long awaited success for the club, is the North Melbourne FC Kangaroos. A club that continued their strong performances from 2023 as competition runners up into a dominant 2024 season.
In fifth place came the Western Australia One Day Cricket team, with the One Day Cup having returned to ABST qualification following a home and away tournament format. A positive outcome for Western Australian cricket with their Sheffield Shield team also taking seventh spot on the ranking.
There are 13 current competition winners within the Top 25 showing how hard is it to come out on top in the overall rankings.
Since 2019, ABST has been an annual award over rolling five-year periods, with previous winners Melbourne Storm (NRL) in 2019 and 2020, Sydney FC (A-League Men’s) in 2021, Crusaders (Super Rugby) won in 2022 and the inaugural 2018 award, which was a 25-year period study.
Our annual analysis looks at every game in Australasian sporting competitions conducting a home/away or equivalent competition with Australian teams. Rankings consider rolling five-year outcomes (2020-2024), for 12 unique sports comprising 24 competitions, including 11 women’s leagues, and unisex esports, covering over 8,400 individual matches.
ABST evolved from GAIN LINE’s original research to understand what drives team performance and brings an analytical approach to understanding how relationships within teams (‘cohesion’) impact outcomes. This is often overlooked as conventional analysis tends to study talent and leadership. ABST seeks to measure and recognise success while emphasising that the way a team is built
