Dear AFL: Give us a break

Adelaide six day break, Collingwood eight (first time they have had a shorter break). Don't run out final quarter lose.

Yes Joe every team want's a piece of the Anzac day game NOW that it has shown to be so popular but they didn't want it when it was originally put forward. Using the deaths of Diggers to try to make a point is to me nothing short of disgusting and shows how low you are willing to stoop to make your point. As far as "being bothered" it is customary in the English language to start a sentence with a capital letter so why don't you "bother" to do so ?

seriously? you are whining about Essendon and Collingwoods "ownership" of the anzac day game even though every other club would like to play that game? believe it or not there were a few blokes outside of melbourne who fought and died for this country, to have the game only allowed to be played by the same 2 melbourne clubs is a bit offensive. What about melbourne teams forcing inter-state team rivals to travel even further by playing their home games in tassie in order to get an unfair advantage? Essendon couldn't even be bothered to travel a couple of hours down the road by bus, could you imagine what they would do if hawthorn or north made them play in tassie?

a fair call to have all the players rested for that game. It is pretty unreasonable to have a perth based team catch two flights to get to tassie in order to play a melbourne side...could you imagine the whining from melbourne clubs if the eagles or dockers played some home games up at exmouth or down at esperance. Hawthorn are basically cheating by picking the team with the longest distance to travel in order to get an unfair advantage over them.

What a bunch of sooks. Especially West Coast Ducks fans. Not one team has played on a 4 day break, Essendon and Collingwood have. That could have long term implications far beyond a 6 day break blah blah. If your team is not good enough, its not good enough.

Remember there were about ten outs for Freo when they played the Hawks in Tassie in about round 21 a few years ago. People said they shouldn't flirt with form but about two weeks later they beat the Hawks in a home final, with all their stars playing big games after the extra rest!

Good point Matt. I gave the win to the Pies as the home team (and regular MCC tenant). See correction note below... >I forgot to say in the case of two teams playing each other off the same break, the home team was selected as the winner. Thanks Tom for the reminder.

almost was.

Given that Collingwood and Essendon (to use one example) both had the exact same break leading into ANZAC Day, shouldn't that be counted as a draw on your ladder?

Actually, I take that back. It happened in 1995, they did lose both games convincingly (Freo's first year in the comp too), but they did make the finals for the first time that season, losing narrowly to eventual premier, Carlton, in the first week.

I remember one year the Bears experimented with staying in Perth for consecutive away games. I don't think it helped them all that much.

There is some merit in that MIB. Pretty sure Geelong stayed on the Gold Coast for a week last year before playing Brisbane in their second QLD match in a week.

okay - regarding breaks. Given the full time professional environment now - how about we have 'road trips'. The QLD/NT road trip for the toggies. Start in Brisbane, play the Lions on Sunday arvo, next week, the Suns on Sat arvo, the week after, someone or other in Darwin Saturday night. All the while based out of......well, who knows where.......but, given 2 weeks to acclimatise on a mini 'tour' and not flying back and forth and get those pesky interstate trips out of the way. I'm not sure how serious I am on this - but, from the perspective of going to Perth - would even a Sunday game followed by a Friday night game with Eagles and Dockers back to back - get it over and done with - would that short break between games more than be made up for by only trekking to the West once and staying in the Quest apartments in Perth for a week.

Shooter, in those three games they had the same break as the Power, and a longer break than West Coast! And in the other game, against the Bulldogs, the margin was the same at 3/4 quarter time as full time. There's a discussion going on on another article about the Roos midfield's youth and lack of endurance. I think those two things are more likely explanations.

Difficult with so many Melbourne teams having little travel during the year vrs the non Melbourne teams having to travel nearly every fortnight (up to 10 times a year). This partly overcomes the fact that the home team (either melbourne team playing visitor) or non Melbourne playing a travelling visitor) has a tremendous advantage. But playing 20 games in and around Melbourne is a terrific advantage but the fact that there are now 8 "interstate" sides means that will even out somewhat...

Good idea re Anzac Day Lats. Dr. Turf just said on Melbourne radio SEN, North have faded badly in their their last three final quarters. I'm tipping they lament the fact their opponets have all had a longer break! We all thought they had a dream draw at the beginning of the season with GWS, Gold Coast, the Bulldogs and Power in the first eight rounds but look at them now!

For example, on Anzac day, you could have 3 games on the same day.. Pies Versus Dons at midday, Port versus Crows 2pm.. Eagles versus Dockers 5pm (EST).. over the next 2 weeks, those 6 sides could all play each other with exactly the same recovery times.. ergo, following Sunday.. Sunday and then Saturday.. just an Idea :-)

Boys, I raised this point last week when the Bombers thrashed the Eagles. WCE had one less day to recover, and had to travel... Bombers fans all said I was a whinger. But the fact is, an extra days break is a big advantage in AFL.. as is playing at home.. so teams should get either; a.) home ground advantage or; b) the extra days break... No team should get both an extra days rest and home ground advantage. Back in the old days... Melbourne games were on Saturday, Interstate games on Sunday.. so all teams eventually ended up having the same recovery times.. I really think we need to go back to this system.. Im an Eagles fan, but feel for the Saints, who had to travel to Subi and play a top side with a days less rest.. same thing the Eagles had to do the previous week against the Bombers.. Its not whinging.. its facts. Really enjoyed this article by the way :-)

If a team has two or three 6 day breaks in a row, it probably starts to show.

honestly don't think a 6 vice 7 day break difference is worth anything. As long as you have had 6 days you should be clear to go.