Get rid of NAB Cup, and give us a longer, fairer draw

 
Adrian Musolino Columnist

By , 17 Mar 2010 Adrian Musolino is a Roar Expert

Tagged:
 , , , , , ,

30 Have your say

Related coverage



Western Bulldog's Barry Hall during the AFL NAB Cup Round 02 match between the Hawthorn Hawks and the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium, Melbourne. Slattery Images

Finally, the real stuff is next up. The NAB Cup undoubtedly provides important preparation for AFL teams and allows the chance for the game to reach community centres, but it deprives us of a better and fairer season.

Without a NAB Cup, and with the expansion of the season on the horizon as the competition expands with the addition of Gold Coast FC and Greater Western Sydney, the AFL could not only strive to make its season more egalitarian but also crowd out other codes.

When discussing the possibility of an elongated season, a new finals format and the future of the NAB Cup, chief executive Andrew Demetriou said, “Not having a NAB Cup or Regional Challenge would provide four or five weeks of no football coverage. And as other codes elongate their seasons we actually want football to be talked about.”

He has, in my opinion, missed the point here.

By doing away with the NAB Cup, it would allow the AFL to elongate their season, meaning there’s no concern of no football coverage.

But also we need to ask, from an AFL perspective, if the NAB Cup really does help the AFL with awareness? For many fans it’s simply an unsatisfying entrée, which this year served up a surprisingly tasty grand final.

What’s interesting, in my opinion, is that the AFL under the current Demetriou administration has been so aggressive in its opinions of rival codes – think to last season’s advertising campaign which baited other codes and their stance on Australia’s World Cup bid – yet they persist with such a weak start to the AFL year with the NAB Cup at a time when the NRL gained significant traction with the Indigenous All Stars game, the Super 14 is well underway and the A-League is in its final series.

The NAB Cup and the NAB Challenge have some positives.

As Demetriou said, “We get to showcase the game, we allow people around the country to touch their players and connect to their teams that they wouldn’t normally see.”

But who is to say that preseason matches can’t still be played at suburban grounds? Teams, in association with the AFL, could still organise preseason matches to be held at these grounds over the course of, say, three weeks before the season proper. They won’t need the NAB Cup moniker and the tournament system to “connect” with fans.

The other argument for the NAB Cup, that it provides necessary preparation, needs to be examined.

Yes, it is crucial AFL teams build in to a season with the necessary training and preparation, but why do they need a whole tournament to do so? Could a handful of practice matches not achieve the same result? The tournament element is not the crucial ingredient in the preparation but merely playing competitive matches, which, for the teams who get knocked out of the NAB Cup in round one, seems to be sufficient enough anyway.

The NAB Cup doesn’t guarantee preparation without risk, and the injury toll from this season’s rendition, which includes Sam Fisher, Liam Jurrah, Ed Lower, Simon Taylor, Brad Sewell and Daniel Bell, robs their teams of these players when it matters most.

By elongating the season into the time the NAB Cup takes up, the AFL can not only counter rival codes but also increase fixtures so there can be more fairness in the draw. The more fixtures means the more teams playing each other twice and the more closer the AFL gets to an egalitarian season. It can also help build toward a more equal system in terms of how many times teams travel and how many leading contenders each team are forced to play twice.

Some will counter that a longer season is not possible due to fatigue and need for extended preparation.

But the AFL could simply allow for more rotations with bigger squads and perhaps bigger benches.

More rotation, with players rested if needed, will only add more intrigue to the season proper as clubs balance players’ longevity with putting their best team on the park.

The AFL needs to give the fans what they really want.

Let’s have less buildup and more of the real thing.

Enjoy sports? Enjoy a bargain? All Sports Online has your favourite sporting brands at up to 70% off. Online only, premium quality sporting goods and merchandise at discounted prices. Get a deal now.

Get a daily afl email

Our daily emails are only sent if there is content for the sport. You can subscribe to multiple daily emails; or get the daily Roar email with all our content in it.

We value privacy. More.