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Wanderers' 5-4 thriller no argument against a single-stage season

26th April, 2016
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It's an enormous week in Australian football - and not just because the A-League kicks off for another season. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
Expert
26th April, 2016
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These are exciting times to be alive in Australia. First, there was an exclusive video message from Johnny Depp and Amber Heard in which the actor looked as bitter as a Central Coast Mariners season ticket holder.

And then there was the game. The Game. A 5-4 roller-coaster of a thriller in the semi-final of the playoff series is something special.

They say that you never remember a losing semi-finalist, but when it is like this, then both participants will never be forgotten.

To have such a special game play out at such a crucial stage does not happen often.

I saw quite a bit on social media about how this one game shows beyond doubt that the end-of-season final series is a better system than the single-stage season that is standard in Europe.

That makes as much sense as Melbourne Victory making the 11-hour flight to Shanghai just the day before a crucial Asian Champions League showdown.

What then would be the conclusion if the grand final produces a stand-off, where both teams prefer to stay in their own half for 120 minutes and wait for a penalty shootout?

A couple of weeks ago, people were telling me that it was a shame that there was a final series at all. The feeling was that the end to the regular season was the best ever and the team who ended up in first in that race deserved the championship.

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Ultimately, it is a matter of preference. Having a final playoff series guarantees end-of-season drama. Even if the games are poor, the occasion ensures tension, attention and excitement, where one mistake or moment of genius defines a season. Throw in an exciting 90 minutes and it can be off the scale.

Every goal is a huge deal, every mistake has consequences that can be massive.

When there are 27 or 38 games a season, then there is not the same immediacy. A defeat does not mean the end. There is time to recover from any setback, time to tumble when things look to be going well.

Playoffs guarantee drama in a way that single-stage seasons do not, but having a playoff series also does diminish the meaning of the preceding regular league campaign.

You are not spending months to find out who is the best, second, third etc. but determining who gets home advantage in a playoff series. It’s not same.

Single stage seasons are more natural than the artificial playoffs. Take the top six of any European league and put them into a knockout situation and the games would be huge, but you will take something special away from everything else.

But when a season does come together it is special – a natural convergence of the footballing heavens, more delicious as you never know when it is going to happen. Sometimes it happens. Sometimes not. Just like life.

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I prefer a single-stage season as the best ones are emotional journeys, stories that build slowly with twists and turns, ups and downs that can leave you exhausted at times. A playoff series interrupts that.

Perhaps it is my European background, but I also accept that one size does not fit all. I used to enjoy the playoffs in Korea before they changed the format.

Until there is promotion and relegation introduced in Australia, there has to be a finals series of some sort, as the prospect of one team running away with the title when there are no other issues to be settled is not a pleasant one.

But while it is possible to disagree as to which system is better or which is best-suited to Australia, no game – matter how thrilling – can be held up to prove that the other is obsolete.

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