In-built inaccuracy in the current ranking system

A fundamental principle of any good ranking system is that, although anomalies may arise, inaccuracies are not an integral part of that system.

In any accurate two-year ranking list the majority of players' position on that list will lay somewhere between their positions on the two one-year lists.

There will be exceptions. If those exceptions are easily predictable then that ranking system's credibility should be questioned.

There are 29 occurrences of a player having an end 2022-23 ranking outside their positions on the two one-year lists.

If we split those rankings between top 64 and the rest something rather striking occurs.

Of the 29 occurrences just three concern the top 64 places on the ranking list. They are:
Noppon Saengkham ranked 29 end 22-23 finished 27th and 26th on the two one-year lists;
Matthew Stevens ranked 44th finished 39th and 42nd; and
Scott Donaldson ranked 54th finished 48th then 49th.
All three share one pattern: consistent year-to-year performance; two-year ranking close to one-year positions.

Dropping below 64th two of the 26 follow that now familiar pattern:
Mark Davis (68th on the two-year list, 74th then 70th on the one-year lists); and
Hammad Miah (69th on the two-year list, 75th then 73rd on the one-year lists).

What of the other 24? Who are they? 23 of them fit into two groups. The other is Stephen Hendry whose appearance is explained because one-year lists include amateurs.

Five players whose end 2022-23 ranking is lower than it should be because their official ranking only takes account of points won 2022-23.
All four players that qualified for tour cards via the one-year list end 2021-22:
Michael White 78th (56th then 60th);
Ashley Hugill 79th (47th then 63rd);
David Lilley 82nd (64th then 65th); and
Allan Taylor 108th (58th then 101st).
And Lukas Kleckers, who regained his tour card via QSchool, 100th (81st then 82nd).
Lukas Kleckers in particular paid the price in the World Championship for these false rankings, losing a 2nd qualifying round match to Ashley Hugill. If an accurate ranking system had been in use he would have faced easier opposition.

Eighteen players out of 24 who were relegated at end 2022-23 - includes players regardless of whether they subsequently receive new two-year cards via QSchool or wildcard, etc.
Each of their end 2022-23 ranking is higher than it should be because 'competitors' in the official rankings were only credited points won 2022-23.
Without listing them all three examples:
Alexander Ursenbacher 87th (97th then 106th);
Craig Steadman 90th (103rd then 110th);
Stuart Carrington 70th (83rd then 83rd).
The six exceptions: four players who were provisionally suspended months ago; Marco Fu who practically missed the whole of 2021-22; and Alfie Burden.

Of course, there are solutions.........................

I'm not sure that it's the case that players should be somewhere between their 1-year and 2-year positions. The position of any player depends on that of others, and there is no linearity whatsoever on the distribution of 'ranking points'

For me, any ranking system should reflect the reality of snooker's structure.

(1) Not all tournaments can have the capacity to support 128 players
(2) The 'best 128 players' are not necessarily on tour (increasingly, with all these 'promotional tour cards')
(3) There are more than 128 players that need to be included
(4) In a global game, players won't necessarily be British, or based in the UK, so will expect to miss some tournaments

It's the rigid 128-player rule that's the root cause of all ranking problems. Let's develop a global ranking system for a global game.

lhpirnie wrote:I'm not sure that it's the case that players should be somewhere between their 1-year and 2-year positions. The position of any player depends on that of others, and there is no linearity whatsoever on the distribution of 'ranking points'

I agree. The problem isn't that there are 29 such occurrences, the problem is that the vast majority fall into two systemically-driven categories.

The WST ranking system is inaccurate as illustrated by: Stuart Carrington, Peter Lines, Mitchell Mann and Louis Heathcote all ending 2022-23 ranked ahead of Michael White and Ashley Hugill; this despite none of those four players finishing ahead of Michael White and Ashley Hugill on either of the one-year lists end 2021-22 and 2022-23.

Among these occurrences, only three involve players within the top 64 rankings: Noppon Saengkham, Matthew Stevens, and Scott Donaldson. These players demonstrate consistent performance over the years, resulting in their two-year rankings closely aligning with their one-year positions.