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Solving the AFL’s draw and player management issues

Roar Guru
28th July, 2014
11

The AFL’s draw faces a number of challenges, we all acknowledge that. The current format of 22 rounds is set in stone and won’t be reduced.

Players want two byes per season, making for a 24-week season and they also want minimum six-day breaks between games. TV wants more time slots and the AFL itself wants blockbuster matches.

Here is an interesting solution to these problems, some of which came from the comments of other Roarers on this website.

Eliminate the two bye weeks, reducing the length of the home-and-away season back to 22 weeks, to lessen the ground availability issues with cricket.

Play two Friday night games each week, one in Victoria and one interstate. Channel Seven and FOX could each show one game live and one game delayed, much like Channel Nine do with the NRL on Friday nights. This should also help in giving each team the six-day breaks they demand.

Introduce a rolling bye where two teams have a bye each week between Rounds 3-20, i.e. play eight games per week instead of nine. This would give each team two byes. The impact on television and TV rights deals would be minimal. And the start of the season and final two rounds would feature all teams playing.

The result of all of these changes would be to have each team play 20 matches over 22 weeks. Each team would play every other team once, that’s 17 games with three games able to feature state rivalry rounds and blockbusters. It’s a lot fairer, and each team would play every other team at home and away over two years.

And here’s the big idea.

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Limit each player to 18 games maximum in the home-and-away season. Each player would have two personal byes.

This would enforce an extra two weeks rest for every player. Player fatigue could be better managed during the season and in the lead-up to finals. Player longevity may also be enhanced.

It would also mean young or new players would get valuable game time and experience, allowing for better informed list management decisions.

It would also introduce a new level of coaching strategy into the game. When do you rest your star players? Do you rest them all against weaker teams and risk losing? Do you rest them late in the season to freshen up for finals? Do you rest specific players against specific opponents?

Limiting players to 18 games per season may not be such a radical idea anyway.

Many players have injuries during the season, forcing them to miss games. Games where players were injured would count towards their two personal byes. Suspensions would not count however.

Many players are rested during the season already, particularly older players where long interstate trips are involved. And Fremantle rested half its side in the last round a few years ago, conceding a loss to Hawthorn by about 100 points in Launceston but allowing their players to freshen up and defeat Hawthorn in a final a few weeks later.

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Many teams already experiment with players in different positions, particularly those not in contention for finals. So omitting players to give youngsters an opportunity is also nothing new.

Players and coaches are already employing these tactics, let’s just make it compulsory.

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