Geelong were the AFL's great comeback team for 15 years — that trait has quietly vanished since 2023

Across 2006-2026 Geelong have the best record in the league at winning from behind at three-quarter-time (24.4% of such games, vs a league baseline near 14%) AND the best at protecting a 3QT lead (92.0%). But the comeback half of that has collapsed recently. Their win rate when trailing at the last change ran 28.9% (2006-12), 25.0% (2013-18) and 28.6% (2019-22) — then fell to just 15.4% across 2023-26 (6 wins from 39 such games). Their lead-protection has stayed elite throughout (92.3% in 2023-26), so the modern Cats still close out games ruthlessly but no longer storm home from behind.

Melbourne have lost more games than any club despite winning the scoring-shot count — and it's almost entirely a post-2017 problem

Since 2006 Melbourne have lost 41 games in which they had MORE scoring shots than their opponent, against just 28 wins in which they had fewer — a net of -13, the most lopsided 'wastefulness' figure of any AFL club. Nearly all of that deficit has accumulated from 2017 onward: 2006-2016 the Dees were net positive (13 such losses vs 16 such wins), but from 2017-2025 they piled up shot-count-winning losses well beyond their shot-count-losing wins. So far in 2026, under the new coaching regime, it sits at 2 and 2. Their raw goal accuracy (52.7%) is only mid-pack, so this is a conversion-in-tight-games story, not simply bad kicking.