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Now that we have AFL Women’s up and running, it’s time we had a serious discussion about shortening the AFL home-and-away season.
There has long been debate about the best way to distribute matches across a 22-round season, with the idea of a 17-5 fixture one that crops up on a regular basis.
However now that we are watching AFL Women’s be crammed in alongside the men’s pre-season matches, it has me thinking that the AFL should take the opportunity to de-clutter.
How about just a straight up 18-match season where every team plays every other team once, and then a nominated rival twice?
Clubs could be left to their own devices to work out who their nominated rival should be – some would no doubt be static each year, some could be more rotational.
That would chop four weeks off the home-and-away season and might even eliminate the already suspect ‘need’ for a pre-finals bye week (though I’m one of the rare few who supports that idea).
Cut the pre-season matches to two games each – three is more than we need – and give the eight-week AFL Women’s fixture time to flourish on its own without needing to fit it in around the men’s game.
Matches starting in the AM hours, like Saturday’s Melbourne versus Carlton game, are just silly, and not giving the women’s game the investment it deserves.
It would only make things fairer in the home-and-away too. The NFL is smart enough to know that less is more, the AFL should take a page out of their book.
In fact, if we could retroactively make it so the 2016 season ended after Round 9, with North Melbourne 9-0 at the top of the ladder, that would be just about perfect.
Adelaide versus Brisbane is the most crucial game of the season
With the Crows and the Lions maintaining their perfect unbeaten records this week, you’d have to think they are the two teams most likely to appear in the grand final at this stage.
Of course, the two sides are yet to meet, and if no other challenger rises up to knock one of them off, then who gets to host the final will come down to the winner of that fixture.
As luck would have it, that match-up awaits us next week – one side will be the last undefeated team left in the competition, and in the box seat for the premiership.
It’s an Adelaide home game, which may see them go in as favourites, but you’d be mad to count the Lions out given they’ve had two interstate wins already so far.
We need a finals series
Look, in an eight-team competition, having only the top two qualify for any kind of post-season is just bogus. It’s already made five of the eight teams in the mix irrelevant.
The AFL said this weekend they might look at putting a top four system in place ahead of next year – I say that is an absolute must.
My ideal system for AFL Women’s right now would be ten teams with a top-five final series – the way the football gods intended a final series to work.
That’s probably a few years away, but for now, a top-four system at the very least is critical to keeping the competition interesting beyond the top handful of sides.
Pre-season predictions were a long way off
We were all going in pretty blind when it came to AFL Women’s, given that the teams had spent very little time together and we had no real indication of how they would all fit together.
Really, it’s not much surprise in that case that the pre-season predictions putting the Bulldogs and Fremantle as the top sides in the competition haven’t panned out.
The Dogs won their Round 1 match against a travelling Fremantle outfit, but have now lost three games on the trot, despite being yet to leave their home ground at Whitten Oval.
Fremantle haven’t put in poor efforts by any standard but for some reason just haven’t been able to get that breakthrough win. They’ve got Collingwood and Carlton both at home in the next two weeks and will hope to finally finish on top there.
Jack Billings is ready to come of age
Thinking back to 12 months ago, I remember myself and a number of other Roarers being very excited about the outstanding 2016 season we expected Jack Billings to have.
Things didn’t go to plan – he had a little trouble with injury and while he still played most games, he just wasn’t the force we thought he could be.
When your predictions don’t come off immediately, it can be easy to fall out of love with them and move on. Sometimes though, things just take a little more time than you expect.
Watching him play on Thursday night, I think Billings is now ready to have that season, and it could be a real wower. Best and fairest? All-Australian? I would put neither past his potential at this stage.
Some new faces could be just what Richmond needs
Repeat this with me three times: It’s only a pre-season match. It’s only a pre-season match. It’s only a pre-season match.
Okay, now that we’ve done that, let me say that I reckon Richmond looked like a different footy team on Friday night in their win over Adelaide.
Now, the win itself isn’t that impressive – with Adelaide missing Rory Sloane, Scott Thompson, and Brad Crouch, a loss would’ve been a very poor effort.
However, the Tigers played with a little more dare and dash than we have seen from them in recent years, and Dion Prestia, Josh Caddy and Toby Nankervis all had an impact.
Maybe they will crawl back into their shells once the real thing begins. I wouldn’t put it past them. But maybe some fresh faces to shake things up is just what the doctor ordered for this team.
I wasn’t kidding about Sam Mitchell
In January I said I believed that Sam Mitchell could take the West Coast Eagles to a premiership in 2016.
After watching him play in their colours for the first time on Saturday, I’m as confident as ever that it’s a very real possibility.
Yeah, okay, it was only against Fremantle in a pre-season match, but… well, I don’t need to tell you how good Sam Mitchell is. He’s good. You know it.
Oh, and just so those of you who don’t follow me on Twitter aren’t deprived of my rubbish takes, here’s one from earlier in the week for you to scowl at.
If I told you I think Sam Mitchell should be the Eagles captain, would you think I was crazy?
— Josh Elliott (@JoshElliott_29) February 22, 2017
But maybe I’m wrong about Melbourne
Earlier this week I said that St Kilda, not Melbourne, were the young upstart team ready to make finals this year. I am no longer even a little confident.
Let’s repeat that mantra again: It’s only a pre-season match. It’s only a pre-season match. It’s only a pre-season match. A pre-season match against Cartlon, even!
Still, on Saturday the Demons looked like everything I have long thought they could be.
Christian Petracca booted four goals, he may be more ready than I thought to step up and be that attacking weapon the Demons need. Christian Salem too.
If either or both can make the jump to elite or near-elite this year, then playing and winnings finals is very much in reach.
Rumours of North Melbourne’s demise are at least slightly exaggerated
Alright, alright, I know, North Melbourne fan talking about North Melbourne. You can just skip this one if you like. No one mention the part where it was a pre-season game!
Seriously though, as a Roos fan, I like what I have seen in the club’s two pre-season games to date, and the fact that both have ended in wins is pretty sweet.
Logic says that when you cut a bunch of experience from the list, you are going to drop off – and logic may well prove to be on a winner when the real stuff gets started.
But bottom four? Wooden spoon? There’s much more talent on this list than that, whether or not it spends a lot of time getting talked up in the papers.
There’s a lot to like about Essendon’s forward line
First you’ve got two impressive talls in Joe Daniher and Cale Hooker. They haven’t played a lot in combination yet, but it’s a better pair of talls than most clubs have.
However it’s the range of middle and small-size options that the Bombers have which should really be exciting fans.
Orazio Fantasia took big steps forward last year and should only improve, and the return of the underrated Travis Colyer will be pretty handy too.
Add in the potential for Jobe Watson to spend significant time there this year, and the excellent performances we’ve seen from guys on the fringe of the best 22 in this pre-season – Josh Green, Josh Begley, Jayden Laverde – and it’s an attack unit with some real weapons.