We are pleased to announce exciting changes to the McKinnon Shield competition for the 2024-2025 summer season. These include changes to point scoring, introducing a Premier Division and First Division for clubs, a “powerplay” round, and medals for athletes of the First, Second, Third and Fourth placed clubs in each division based on the final league table position.

SUMMARY

Why Change?

We want to create an engaging, interesting, and rewarding club competition across the course of the summer that recognises both performance and participation.
The previous points scoring system was not understood by most clubs and was very time demanding for our volunteers to administer.

How does it work?

It’s a table-based system where athlete performance dictates points awarded.
There are separate scoring tables for male and female athletes and age adjustment factors such that an equivalent performance, irrespective of age, gender or athlete classification, is awarded the same number of points.

What points are scored?

Points are awarded based on a statistical athlete performance profile per event of between 100 and 600 points based on the performance of individual athletes.

100 Points – awarded for a minimum standard performance (approximately at the 0.5 percentile point).

200 Points – awarded for a performance at the 25th-percentile point

300 Points – awarded for a performance at the 50th-percentile point

400 Points – awarded for a performance at the 75th-percentile point

500 Points – awarded for a performance at approximately the 99.5 percentile point

600 Points – awarded for a performance equal to the World Record

If a performance falls between any of the above key performance markers, points are assigned in a linear pro-rata between those two markers.

Is it fair?

Points are designed to achieve a balance between rewarding performance and participation.
The points allocation provides an incentive to perform at an optimal level, while providing the club level athlete the opportunity to contribute to a club team score in a “meaningful” way.

Is this new point scoring system complicated?

Yes and no.
We have invested in appropriately tested software that allows all of this to happen quickly and with a minimum of volunteer time.
We are sure there will be learnings along the way and ask for your patience as we work to embed these changes.
Scores will be published very quickly, and we are working towards a “live” point score situation.

Why the Premier Division and First Division Split?

To retain athlete and club interest right to the end of the series, the split allows clubs of similar strength to compete on an on-going basis for an inter-club competition trophy throughout the entire season.

How does the Premier Division / First Division split work?

The first three rounds of competition will be grading rounds. After three rounds, the top ten clubs (based on the league table) will compete in the Premier Division for the McKinnon Shield. The remaining clubs will compete for the McKinnon Cup in the First Division.
Points for the first three rounds will be retained for the series and will count towards final placings in the Premier Division and in the First Division.

How will club points be awarded?

After each round of the McKinnon Shield Series, ladder points shall be awarded based on the total cumulative points earned by the athletes from the club for that round to create a league table. Ladder points are only awarded to clubs that score club points:

1st will be awarded points equal to the number of teams in the division. Each position following 1st will be awarded 1 less point than the team above. (e.g. 3rd position will be awarded one less point than 2nd).

Example

– If the division has 10 clubs – 1st = 10 points, 2nd = 9 points, etc. to 10th = 1 point.

– If the division has 11 clubs – 1st = 11 points, 2nd = 10 points, etc. to 11th = 1 point.

If clubs finish on the same club points at the conclusion of a round, ladder points will be combined and split evenly between the two clubs.

Did someone say “Powerplay”?

Yes, clubs will have the opportunity to play one (1) “powerplay” each season to double their Ladder Points for the individual round (i.e. from 8 points to 16 points for a 3^rd placed club in a division with 10 clubs). The “powerplay” can be played during any round after round 3.
Strategy is key to the successful use of the “powerplay”.

How will I see my club points?

All athletes point scoring results and club league tables will be available at:

www.aai.resultshub.com.au

But wait, there’s more.

Athletes from clubs that finish first, second, third and fourth in the Premier Division or First Division who compete in five (5) or more McKinnon meets will receive a medal based on the ladder position of their club.

WHAT IS THE BEST CHANCE OF SUCCESS IN THE McKINNON SHIELD SERIES?

Before changing to the new points scoring system, we modelled a range of scenarios based on previous McKinnon Shield days to determine what effect it could have. From all the modelling and testing that we carried out, the key finding was:

“The more athletes a club has attending and competing at a McKinnon Shield Series Day, the more points the club will gain and the better league ladder position they will be in.”