AFL Ladder

All the latest information on the AFL Ladder of the 2009 season. Which teams are moving up, which teams are moving down and who may make it to the grand final. With commentary on the AFL Grand Final and the AFL results.

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The AFL ladder of 2008

Geelong might not have won back-to-back premiers, but 2008 was once again a story of their superiority over the rest.

The Cats were minor premiers again, as they had been in 2007, and sat proudly on top of the ladder for the greater part of the season.

In 2007 they had dominated, winning the minor premiership by 12 points from Port Adelaide and the West Coast Eagles. Geelong lost only four games during the regular season and finished with a 152% record - more than 40 percentage points clear of the next best team.

It was a record they could hardly have expected to better in 2008, but they somehow managed it by achieving 21 wins from their 22 matches, to secure top spot on the ladder by a massive 16 points from Hawthorn.

Hawthorn had been right up there early in the season, leading the table briefly and going on to lose only five games but though they managed a percentage of 131 it was still 30 behind the Cats.

With its final round victory, Geelong matched the 2000 Essendon Bombers' record of 21 wins in a season, and its only loss came in the surprise 86-point disappointment at Collingwood's hands.

Hawthorn finished the season by winning four of its last five games, and secured second spot on the ladder by six points over the Western Bulldogs. There was a chase on for the eight, with Collingwood snatching the final post-season berth by two competition points over Richmond.

Geelong won all 11 of its matches at home, while the second best home record was held by Adelaide who won nine and lost two. As usual there was plenty of interest in the market for who would win the first quarter of a match, and it was unsurprisingly Geelong who tended to do best in this area. The Cats won 14 first quarters, but so did North Melbourne who only just edged into the eight, and Carlton won 13 first quarters despite finishing 11th on the ladder.

No team likes to pick up the wooden spoon at the end of the season, but it was always on the cards that Melbourne would be forced to do so. They won just three games as they finished four points behind the West Coast Eagles.

That marked a complete transformation in the fortunes of the Eagles, who had finished third on the AFL ladder in 2007, while Richmond saw their fortunes improve almost as much as they challenged for a place in the eight just a year after winning the wooden spoon.