ABST brings a unique approach to answer the question “Who is the best Sporting Team”?

Sustained Performance as a Measure of Success: Like companies, sports teams' long-term success reflects strong governance.
ABST Methodology: Evaluates long-term success across different sports and competitions.
Recognition and Impact: Good governance is highlighted through the ABST rankings and highlights the team’s commitment to the community via a charity donation. $91,000 donated to the winners charities of choice to date.

North Melbourne Kangaroos AFLW: ABST2025 Winners

GAIN LINE Analytics is pleased to announce that Australasia’s Best Sporting Team for 2025 is the North Melbourne Kangaroos AFLW team. They were back-to-back Premiers with an impressive 29 straight games without a loss over two full seasons. An enviable record which does not happen by chance.

This is the first time that a women’s team has taken the #1 ranking in the ABST rankings with the North Melbourne Kangaroos now within an elite group of previous winners including the Penrith Panthers (NRL-M), Sydney FC (A-League-M), Crusaders (Super Rugby) and Melbourne Storm (NRL-M). 2025 also sees a shift in the Top 25 rankings with more women’s teams for the first time showing the ongoing maturing of women’s competitions.

In recognition of a women’s team taking out the #1 ranking and to highlight the ongoing positive development of women’s sport, a $6000 donation has been made to the UTS Bats AFL club. This will be used to kick off a perpetual scholarship program designed to promote female participation in grass roots AFL. This continues the commitment of ABST to community support through sport.

UTS Bats President Brian Gillard: ”We have grown women’s participation from one team 15 years ago to four now. We were the first club in NSW AFL to adopt the Women’s & Girls Charter (a commitment to making community football environments welcoming, safe and inclusive for women & girls) and we will continue to expand as the game grows in NSW. The kind generosity from Douglas will help strengthen our commitment to Women’s football in the East (and surrounds) and will continue to grow Women’s AFL in Sydney.”

Douglas Isles, investment professional and Ambassador of GAIN LINE Analytics, has been involved with ABST since its conception. For the second year in a row, he has made the charitable donation in a personal capacity. Douglas notes that “Having first spoken to GAIN LINE over a decade ago, I am a big believer in the benefits of cohesive organisations. I have also watched the boom in Women’s Sport and am delighted that we finally have a female team on top in ABST. In recognition of this I am excited to help UTS Bats give more girls the chance to participate in team sport.”

Methodology:

Australasia’s Best Sporting Team (ABST) brings a unique approach to answer the question “Who is the best sporting team?”. The ABST methodology evaluates long-term success across different sports and competitions. Like businesses, sports teams’ long-term success reflects strong governance. The annual ABST ranking aims to reflect sporting organisations governance through their long-term sporting achievements.

The ABST ranking also aims to highlight the impact of sport within the community with $91,000 being donated to charities aligned with the #1 ranked team since the inaugural ABST ranking in 2018.

To be considered in the ABST rankings a team must have played in each of the last five seasons of an Australian or Australian/New Zealand based fully organised and accredited home and away competitions. For each team in each competition, their win/loss record is analysed season by season, with recent years weighted more highly and an additional weighted bonus added for winning the competition. Team’s competition ladder position is ranked and weighted to determine in-season consistency. Win-loss record weights higher than ladder position. Stability of the competition is also included in the assessment as instability through inclusion of new teams or increased player movement reduces overall competition strength.

The methodology recognises consistency over seasons while also including the importance of finals and the strength of the competition. The ability to perform over the long-term is a strong measure of an organisation’s positive governance. 11 competition champions are within this year’s Top 25 showing how competitive the rankings are and why a team needs to be the best of the best to take out the #1 spot.

Top 25 Summary:

Top 3 Team by Sport

*denotes competition winner

1st - North Melbourne FC* / AFLW
2nd - Brisbane Lions / AFLW
3rd - Brisbane Lions* / AFLM

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1st - Adelaide Giants / ABL
2nd - Perth Heat / ABL
3rd - Melbourne Aces / ABL

1st - Waratahs* / Super W AU
2nd - Chiefs / Super Rugby Pacific
3rd - Crusaders* / Super Rugby Pacific

Top 3 Team by Region

1st - North Melbourne FC* / AFLW
2nd - Melbourne Storm / NRL
3rd - Melbourne City / A League W

1st - Sydney Roosters / NRLW
2nd - Waratahs* / Super Rugby W AU
3rd - Penrith Panthers / NRLM

*denotes competition winner

1st - Brumbies / Super Rugby Pacific
2nd - Canberra Brave / AIHL
3rd - Canberra Raiders / NRLM

1st - Hobart Hurricanes* / WBBL
2nd - Tasmania / WNCL
3rd - Hobart Hurricanes* / BBL

1st - Sydney Sixers / BBL
2nd - Tasmania / WNCL
3rd - WA / Sheffield Shield

1st - West Coast Fever
2nd - Melbourne Vixens*
3rd - Adelaide Thunderbirds

1st - Queensland Thunder* / AWL W
2nd - UNSW Wests / AWL M
3rd - Sydney University Lions / AWL W

1st - Adelaide Giants / ABL
2nd - Adelaide Crows / AFLW
3rd - South Australia / SS

1st - Chiefs / Super Rugby Pacific
2nd - Crusaders* / Super Rugby Pacific
3rd - Blues / Super Rugby Pacific

Top 25:

11 Men’s / 14 Women’s teams.
18 Unique Competition.
10 Unique Sports.
11 Individual 2025 season competition winners.

Total Ranking:

230 individual team.
126 men’s, 104 womens.
22 Unique Competition.
11 Unique Sports.

1st - Melbourne United / NBL
2nd - Townsville Fire / WNBL
3rd - Perth Wildcats / NBL

1st - Melbourne Storm/ NRLM
2nd - Sydney Rooster / NRLW
3rd - Penrith Panthers / NRLM

1st - Perth Thundersticks* / H1W
2nd - NSW Pride / H1W
3rd - Brisbane Blaze / H1M

1st - Canberra Brave / AIHL
2nd - Melbourne Ice* / AIHL
3rd - Melbourne Ice* / AWIHL

1st - Brisbane Lions / AFLW
2nd - Brisbane Lions* / AFLM
3rd - Queensland Thunder* / AWL W

1st - Melbourne City / A League W
2nd - Melbourne City* / A League M
3rd - Melbourne Victory / A League W

1st - West Coast Fever / Super Netball
2nd - Perth Thundersticks* / H1W
3rd - WA / Sheffield Shield

Honour Roll - Celebrating Previous Winners

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Honour Roll - Celebrating Previous Winners -