The Last 10 Debut Seasons

The Last 10 Debut Seasons

James Caughlin James Caughlin

It’s like something out of a Disney movie, but it is happening in real life as the Tasmanian Jack Jumpers have just made the NBL Grand Final in their first season of existence.

Having only just made the playoffs in the final round of the regular season, pipping traditional mainstays Perth, the Jack Jumpers stunned minor premiers Melbourne United in their best of three Semi Final series.

Now they will seek to win it all when they take on the Sydney Kings for the title, capping a Cinderella season.

Joining a league as a new team is fraught with issues, from adjusting to a new location, to dealing with injuries and putting functional systems into place, not to mention starting a new team during a pandemic.

While some start off on a high with the unknown factor early on in the season, they can fade towards the end of the year.

To put what Vegas has done into perspective, the Ladbrokes Blog takes a look at some of the other debut seasons for sports teams in Australia and the USA.

NBL – South East Melbourne Phoenix

Debut Season: 2019 – 9-19 record, 8th place

Prior to the team from the Apple Isle, the NBL’s newest team was the South East Melbourne Phoenix, who joined the league in October 2019.

It started off well with the beginning of a burgeoning rivalry with Melbourne United, winning 91-88 to announce their intentions to the city.

They also won their first home game against the Brisbane Bullets and were in second place after six rounds.

Unfortunately, the momentum ground to a screeching halt, going 4-17 the rest of the way.

A-League – Macarthur FC

Debut Season: 2021 – 11 Wins, 6th Place, Lost Semi Final

Admitted to the A-League as a part of the 2018 expansion to 12 teams, the Bulls won out over several other bids with the league looking to add another team in the greater Sydney area.

Ante Milicic guided the club through a fairly arduous two seasons and he will depart the club at the end of the current campaign.

With a squad assembled in the midst of the pandemic, the Bulls made their debut in December 2020, defeating Western Sydney 1-0 at CommBank Stadium.

That helped them reach the A-League Finals where they stunned the Central Coast Mariners before losing to eventual champions Melbourne City in the Semi Final.

NRL – Gold Coast Titans

Debut Season: 2007 – 10-14 record, 12th place

Gold Coast were competitive throughout their opening season despite suffering a handful of massive defeats.

Their first game was a close 20-18 loss to St George however they won three of their next four, including a 28-16 win over the Brisbane Broncos.

A four game midseason winning streak had them in fourth place at the end of Round 15 however they only recorded just two wins in their final ten games saw them drop to 12th.

AFL – GWS Giants

Debut Season: 2012 – Last in AFL

After a two seasons in lower level competitions getting the sides ready, the Giants began their life as an AFL club in 2012.

It was not an ideal season as the Giants won just two games during their debut season.

They played their first game against the Swans and went down by 100-37 and that 63 point margin would be topped on a few occasions throughout the year.

It took seven rounds before GWS got their first win over Gold Coast winning 94-67.

Super Rugby – Moana Pasifika and Fijian Drua

Debut Season: 2022 – Ongoing

With a massive overhaul in the makeup of Super Rugby, somewhat forced by the travel restrictions of the last few years and also in part because the tournament needed a revamp, two Pacific Island teams were admitted for the 2022 campaign.

It had been asked for in the past and with the South African clubs, the Jaguares and Sunwolves no longer a part of the tournament, the Drua and Moana Pasifika were born.

As travel is still not quite back to pre-2020 freedoms, the Drua were based out of Australia for the early part of the season before playing their first home game in Suva last weekend in front of an impressive crowd.

They have only won once so far, defeating the Melbourne Rebels,

Moana Pasifika have had a pretty rough go of it in their debut Super Rugby season, forced to base themselves in New Zealand and dealing with Covid playing havoc on their schedule forcing multiple postponements.

They battled through an arduous opening eight games taking on the New Zealand clubs and managed to record what is their only win to date against the Hurricanes 24-19 in extra time with this beauty.

Can either side pick up a second win in the final month of the season?

It’s certainly not out of the question.

NBA – New Orleans Hornets

Debut Season: 2002 – 47-35 record, eliminated in first round of the playoffs.

This one is a little bit messy with history being chopped and changed in subsequent seasons.

After some arduous research, it has been decided that the NBA’s newest franchise should be considered as the New Orleans Pelicans despite initially playing in the city as the relocated Charlotte Hornets for the 2002-2003 season.

Their first season saw them make the playoffs with a 47-35 record but lost in the first round to Philadelphia.

Since then, the Hornets rebranded as the Pelicans in 2013 with the Hornets name and history has being transferred back to the Charlotte team that started off as the Bobcats in 2004, but is now once again the Hornets.

Confused? Us too.

NHL – Seattle Kraken

Debut Season: 2021/2022 – 27 wins, 3rd Worst Record in the NHL

We have just seen the NHL’s newest franchise wrap up its debut season and while the Kraken (yes they really chose that name, why they did is still a mystery) had their moments, it was about what everyone expected.

The notoriously raucous sporting city of Seattle has been waiting for another professional team to replace the departed Sonics from the NBA, and the NHL stepped in to fill that void.

Admitted to the league for the 2021/2022 NHL season, Seattle began with a six game road trip, starting against the second youngest team in the league, the Vegas Golden Knights, where they went down 4-3.

Two days later they won their first game in Nashville by the same scoreline, holding out at the end for their first points.

It was just asking a bit much for the Kraken to emulate the Golden Knights run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2018, as they failed to post a winning record in any month and finishing near the bottom of the NHL with a record of 27-49-6

NFL – Houston Texans

Debut Season: 2002 – 4-12 record, finished last in AFC South

After several years of frustrating scheduling, forced byes in weeks 1 and 17 and uneven conferences, the NFL welcomed the Houston Texans in 2002 to restore parity and create a 32 team league.

Their first game could not have gone any better with an early touchdown pass from first overall draft pick David Carr to give them a win over state rivals Dallas.

From there it was downhill as Carr took a beating meaning the Texans finished 4-12 and with the third worst record in the league.

They at least had a cool intro for their first game.

MLB – Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Debut Season: 1998 – Both Finished Last in their Division

Baseball’s last expansion featured new teams in Arizona and Tampa Bay, although neither team really made a huge impact in their opening season.

Wade Boggs (of The Simpsons fame) was the biggest name on Tampa’s roster however they lost 99 of their 162 games and finished last in the AL East, going a meagre 1-11 against the Yankees, who would go onto winning the World Series.

Arizona took six goes to get their first win and were just 3-13 by April 16.

A final record of 65-97 had them at the bottom of the NL West by 12 games at the end of the season.

MLS – Charlotte FC

Debut Season: 2022 – Just Started

Teams are coming into the USA’s professional soccer league thick and fast so by the time you read this, another two teams could very well be in the competition.

Under the ownership of Carolina Panthers boss David Tepper, the club was admitted to the MLS in 2019 and just began competitive play.

They signed former Premier League winner Christian Fuchs but currently find themselves in 20th place in the MLS with three wins, six losses and one draw.

Their high point so far was their first home game against the LA Galaxy, which drew a phenomenal crowd to the Bank of America Stadium of over 74000.

Aussie midfielder Riley McGree was briefly contracted to the club after signing from Adelaide United but a successful loan spell at Birmingham City in late 2020 saw him sold to Middlesbrough before the club could kick a ball in anger.