- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Dale Thomas of Collingwood marks over Daniel jackson of Richmond during the AFL Round 04 match between the Richmond Tigers and the Collingwood Magpies at the MCG, Melbourne. Slattery Images
One concept that forms the bedrock of our society’s values is that of fairness. That everyone is free from bias, dishonesty or injustice.
The AFL fixture system is about as fair as me going out on the town on a Saturday night with the 2008 Hawthorn premiership team, getting involved in a competition with them to see who can chat up the most women.
However, in the game of lust there are no rules and not all men are created equal. In a sporting competition, the opposite has to be true for the integrity of the event.
From next year the draw will become increasingly unequal. On Monday the AFL confirmed in an announcement that the league would remain with the existing 22 round season and final eight format. This means that each team will play only five teams twice and the rest only once.
In the short term this is a decision I applaud. The league is already going through enough change with the introduction of two new teams. A year or two of stabilisation is required.
Moving forward the problem is that the current 22 game season is the legacy of a bygone era. The fixture system has not adapted or matured as the league has grown around it. It is time some real thought was put into AFL fixtures in order to restore some equality in the draw.
Here are the main issues with the AFL fixtures/draw:
Issue 1: Playing only six, and from next year five, teams twice and the rest of the teams once is inherently unequal. Too few teams can get lucky and play an extremely poor side twice in a season or, alternatively, get unlucky and have to play an extremely good side twice.
For example, West Coast banked two wins a year in the late ’90s due to the advantage of playing Fremantle twice a season when the Dockers were about as competitive as a bunch of vegan emo teenagers with iron deficiencies.
Issue 2: There really isn’t any true rhyme nor reason to the schedule from year to year. Everyone plays each other at least once, each of the interstate teams play the other team from their state twice and Collingwood get whatever they want.
The rest appears to be decided at the AFL Commission end-of-season ‘Mad Monday’ party by way of the annual apple bobbing contest.
Yes, I realise that teams can submit requests for next season’s fixtures to the AFL Commission for consideration. Seriously though, what a waste of everybody’s time that is.
The current system makes it difficult for clubs to plan from season to season. It particularly makes it difficult for those clubs who have deals to play games in other states, such as Hawthorn and North Melbourne, to forecast which games they intend to play interstate the next season.
Issue 3: High profile Melbourne teams don’t have to travel interstate as often as the lower profile Melbourne teams. The AFL Commission bowing to their requests to play other high profile Melbourne teams twice as marquee match-ups is what facilitates this.
Issue 4: The distance teams on the eastern and western seaboards of the country (Queensland, NSW and WA) have to travel for away games puts them at a disadvantage. Everything from preparation right through to recovery is impacted by the extra travel. This is particularly pertinent when they travel to play each other.
Issue 5: The draw favours Collingwood. Okay, so that is kind of a repeat of points two and three. But we can’t have a debate about fixtures without having the obligatory digs at the fact that Collingwood receives one of the easiest draws year after year.
So how do we solve the AFL’s fixture problems? Let’s play, ‘Who Wants to Work at the AFL Commission?’ Here are the options to solve the fixtures dilemma:
Option A: Play each team twice.
On the surface the number one way to have an equitable draw would be to have each team play each other home and away. The problem is that from next year it would mean a truly impossible 34 round season plus finals.
The AFL would have to increase squads to somewhere around 60 players and have the season go for nine months of the year. Fans would have to accept more meaningless games (can you imagine sitting through 13th vs 14th in round 32?), accept that the quality of play will drop, accept that the length of player’s careers will shorten in terms of years, and accept that they may need to take out a personal loan each year in order to pay for their season tickets/membership.
Though with that last point maybe NAB could tie in a promotion? How about the NAB “borrow against your first born child for your footy season ticket loan”? Lengthy name but I think it could catch on. You can’t say I don’t think about the sponsors…
So if we are willing to ruin the game as we know it then option one is the runaway choice.
Option B: Play each team once.
The second option would be to have each team play each other once in a season. The caveat would be that if you play a team one year at home then you would play them away the next year (and vice versa).
Not quite as fair as Option A, but still fairer than the current system as it provides balance across two seasons of footy. But for this to happen though the AFL and the clubs would have to accept less games, which in essence means less money for all concerned.
I can’t exactly see Andrew Demetriou and the club presidents rushing to lock in Option B saying, “Less money? That’s a great idea! All this cash has been holding the AFL back for years.”
Unless communism makes a surprise rise to prominence in Australia, Option B is on the scrapheap too.
Option C: A conference system.
Split the competition into two or three conferences or divisions. You play every team in your conference/division twice and everyone else in the other conferences/divisions once. For those teams that you only play once a year, again the caveat would be if you play a team at home one year then you would play them away the next year (and vice versa).
Americanised? Yes. But what isn’t nowadays? Even my spell-check is telling me I should be spelling the word Americanized.
Besides, I’m not sure copying the Americans carries a valid argument as we haven’t exactly been original with putting in place the old single table format either. I’m pretty sure that had been done before it was implemented for Australian Rules Football.
Would conferences be confusing? Possibly. But the average AFL fan is a damn site more knowledgeable and intelligent than they were 20 years ago (and a damn site more handsome too… By the way, learned reader, I really like that shirt you’re wearing. The VB logo really brings out your eyes).
Would conferences be fair? Not entirely. So that is a black mark. However, it would be a significantly fairer than what is currently in place as it would address all four of the key issues we identified earlier.
How exactly would it do that? Well issue one, too few teams playing each other twice, would be resolved by a two conference system as the season would be expanded by a couple of games; thus decreasing the advantage of playing a poor side twice.
Additionally, if each conference were to be a separate ladder then the advantage is further diminished by the fact that any teams playing a poor side twice, or good side twice for that matter, are only competing against each other for ladder position.
Issue two, there being no real rhyme nor reason to the schedule, would be resolved by providing the team’s with a stable and relatively known schedule from year to year.
Issue three, the lack travel by high profile Melbourne teams, would be mitigated by having an even amount of interstate teams in each conference, and issue four, the burden of travel for teams on the eastern and western seaboards, would be eased by ensuring teams on opposite extremes of the country aren’t in the same conference.
The conference system then meets the dual objectives of keeping the draw fair while not significantly increasing or decreasing the number of games.
Option D: Do nothing.
“There is nothing wrong with the draw. It’s served us well throughout the history of the league to this point. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”
Codswallop.
The system is broken. It isn’t fair. 22 games is all well and good when you have 12 Victorian teams, but this is now a national league and everything that can be reasonably done to create the fairest system possible for all teams needs to be put in place.
When it comes to the draft and salary caps the league is all about equalisation. Surely the same principles should be applied to the draw?
Besides, I don’t think you’ve read this far in order for me to suggest we should all sit on our hands and ignore the issue like a 21-year-old bachelor who lets dishes pile up in the kitchen sink.
“What’s the smell in your kitchen dude? Can’t you smell that?”
“Yeah I was hoping the AFL fixtures would do themselves.”
So, let’s use our ‘Ask the Audience’ lifeline. The results are in:
Option A – Play each team twice: No votes.
Option B – Play each team once: No votes
Option C – A conference system: 1 vote.
Option D – Do nothing: No votes.
Option E – I don’t care. Stop bothering me with your silly sport questions as I’m trying to watch ‘Outrageous Fortune’: 1 vote.
I agree that I probably need a more comprehensive test group than just my girlfriend and I, but as you can probably tell my preference is to go with Option C – a conference system.
How would such a system work? What teams would be in what conference? How would the finals work?
Well, unlike the 2009 Hawthorn side, I’m not just a pretty face. I ask questions and I will give you answers.
So, let’s not lock in a conference system until we’ve seen all of the evidence. As such, next week I shall proudly unveil Lee’s AFL conference and finals system, or LAFLCAFS for short.
In this modern age of LOLs, ROFLs, LMAOs and BRBs, I think it has a nice ring to it. Although if there are enough suggestions and possible tweaks I’ll consider changing it to TRAFLCAFS (The Roar’s AFL conference and finals system).
Keyboards at the ready…
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.