The results of the year (assuming no movement into and out of the eight, paints a different picture.
We had:
4 return games against the top 8 teams; and
1 return game against a mid tier team (NM)
In fact we have the worst ratio of games against top 8 teams:
12 - St Kilda
11 - Adelaide
11 - Brisbane Lions
11 - Essendon
11 - Geelong
11 - Sydney
10 - Fremantle
10 - Gold Coast
10 - Western Bulldogs
9 - Carlton
9 - Greater Western Sydney
9 - Hawthorn
9 - North Melbourne
9 - Port Adelaide
9 - Richmond
9 - West Coast
8 - Collingwood
8 - Melbourne
Now it makes sense that the Top 8 teams would have a slightly lower percentage of Top 8 games because they cannot play themselves, and that by losing to the Top 8 teams, teams like Brisbane and St Kilda make those teams Top 8, but it seems that the FIXture has had more of an impact this year than I have noted in the past, ie GWS, Haw, Rich, WCE only played 2 extra games against fellow Top 8 teams and Coll and Melb 1 extra game.
St Kilda played 4, Brisbane 3 and Carlton a measly 1
Brisbane should feel most aggrieved - finishing last but getting 3 against the top 8
Adelaide, Geelong and Sydney all finished in the top 6 teams and got their right whack, but FFS - 4 return games against eventual Top 8 teams and one Top 8 aspirant leaves me wishing for the days of two games against each team.
This also tells me that from the teams outside the top 4 - Discount Melbourne, Fear Geelong.
This is also borne out by the following quote:
freddyjasonmyer from r/afl wrote: ↑Mon 20 Aug 2018 12:18pm If you use the NFL-style Strength of Schedule (SOS) calculations, this is how it looks.
The higher the decimal, the harder the schedule. This does not factor in travel or anything else other than W/L records.
St Kilda .549
Geelong .533
Adelaide .530
Essendon .524
Sydney .514
Brisbane .511
West Coast .509
Carlton .501
Fremantle .501
Port Adelaide .497
Western Bulldogs .492
Richmond .491
Gold Coast .490
GWS .481
Collingwood .476
North Melbourne .474
Hawthorn .471
Melbourne .458