Got me curious as to what our turn arounds were vs the perceived big clubs (Melbourne, Broncos, Roosters, Souths, Penrith), but ended up including all teams from each finals series.
2016
Sharks (7) Vs Canberra (8) Sharks Won 16-14
Brisbane (8) vs
Titans (6) Broncos won 44-28
Melbourne (7) vs Cowboys (7) Melbourne won 16-10
Penrith (7) vs Dogs (9) Penrith win 28-12
2017
Sharks (7) Vs Cowboys (10) Sharks Lost 15-14
Roosters (6) Vs Brisbane (8) Roosters won 24-22
Melbourne (7) vs Parra (8) Melbourne win 18-16
Manly (7) vs Penrith (7) Penrith win 22-10
2018
Sharks (6) Vs Roosters (7) Sharks Lost 21-12
Melbourne (7) vs Souths (8) Melbourne win 29-28
Penrith (8) vs NZ (8) Penrith win 27-12
Brisbane (7) vs Saints (8) Saints win 48-18
2019
Sharks (6) Vs Manly (8) Lost 28-16
Roosters (8) vs Souths (8) Roosters win 30-6
Melbourne (8) vs Canberra (7) Canberra win 12-10
Parra (9) vs Brisbane (8) Parra win 58-0
2020
Sharks (7) vs Canberra (7) Lost 32-30
Penrith (8) vs Roosters (7) Penrith won 29-28
Melbourne (6) v Parra (7) Melbourne win 36-24
Souths (9) vs Knights (9) Souths win 46-20
2021
Melbourne (7) vs Manly (8) Melbourne win 40-12
Roosters (9) vs
Titans (6) Roosters win 25-24
Penrith (6) vs Souths (7) Souths win 16-10
Parra (9) vs Knights (8) Parra win 28-20
2022
Sharks (6) vs Cowboys (7) Sharks lost 32-30
Penrith (8) vs
Parra (6) Penrith win 27-8
Melbourne (9) vs
Canberra (6) Canberra win 28-20
Roosters (9) vs Souths (9) Souths win 30-14
Some very interesting takeaways from looking at this. Of the 6 day turn arounds leading into a finals game: Titans lost 2016, Roosters won 2017, Storm won 2020, Titans and Penrith lost 2021, Canberra won 2022, Sharks and Parra lost. So of the 8 games since 2016 where teams have come off the back of a 6-day turnaround, only 3 have won.
The biggest takeaway for me is that in the last 7 years, we've played finals 6 times and in 5 of those matches our opponent has had a longer rest than us.
Below I looked at each team's average turnaround and average opposition turnaround since 2016.
| Team (appearances) | Average Finals Turnaround (days) | Opposition Turnaround (days) | Average Advantage (days) |
| Sharks (6) | 6.5 | 7.8 | - 1.3 |
| Penrith (6) | 7.3 | 7.3 | 0 |
| Broncos (4) | 7.75 | 7.25 | + 0.5 |
| Souths (5) | 8.2 | 7.8 | + 0.4 |
| Roosters (6) | 7.7 | 7.5 | + 0.2 |
| Storm (7) | 7.3 | 7.3 | 0 |
| Manly (3) | 7.7 | 6.7 | + 1 |
| Cowboys (3) | 8 | 6.7 | + 1.3 |
| Parra (5) | 7.8 | 7.4 | + 0.4 |
| Knights (2) | 8.5 | 9 | - 0.5 |
| Titans (2) | 6 | 8.5 | - 2.5 |
| Bulldogs (1) | 9 | 7 | + 2 |
| NZ (1) | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| Saints (1) | 8 | 7 | + 1 |
We are the only side in negative with enough data to say we've probably been slightly dicked. Titans got massively screwed in their two appearances as well, however. Take what you want from the above, but keep in mind that our game v the cowboys where they had 3 extra days will skew both ours and their average.
I couldn't be bothered looking at all teams further back from 2016, but I just looked at Cronulla.
2015 - Sharks (7) v Souths (9)
2013 - Sharks (6) v Cowboys (7)
2012 - Sharks (7) v Canberra (7)
2008 - Sharks (7) v Canberra (6)
2005 - Sharks (7) v Saints (6)
2002 - Sharks (6) v Roosters (6)
2001 - Sharks (5) v Brisbane (6)
2000 - Sharks (7) v Brisbane (9)
1999 - Sharks (8) v Brisbane (9)
Add these to the above data set and over 15 appearances we average:
- 6.6 days turnaround
- 7.5 days opposition turnaround for a -0.9 day advantage. I think that's enough data to say we've been dicked. We've had an advantage in 2/15 games and had a disadvantage in 10/15 games.
