The 2013 AFL season offered us a once-in-a-full-moon scenario where the battle for a finals berth extended to the ninth placed team.
Admittedly, there were still technically only eight teams competing in the finals due to Essendon’s disqualification but it presented an exciting run in to the finals for about four more clubs.
What if every year from now on, the ninth and tenth placed teams on the ladder at the end of the home and away season qualified for the finals?
AFL FINALS FORMAT EXPLAINED: HOW DOES THE AFL FINALS SYSTEM WORK?
The idea of an expanded finals series is nothing new. The AFL to their credit have thought about a ten-team finals format already.
According to their preferred format, an extra week would be added at the start of finals where the teams finishing seventh to tenth would play off in sudden death elimination finals while the top six would be afforded a bye or rest.
Week two of finals simply reverts to the current format.
The advantages of an expanded ten-team finals series would be that more teams would be in finals contention for longer, thus minimising the number of dead rubbers at the last rounds of the season, not to mention the extra revenue it would bring to the AFL.
While the AFL’s ten-team finals format seems reasonable, I would say it is incomplete. I would propose an improved version, that would create more games and more excitement for the AFL, clubs and fans.
Let’s have a finals series of five weeks, which is an addition to the current four-week format.
I will keep the concept of having teams seventh to tenth playing off in sudden death elimination finals, with the seventh and eighth teams awarded home finals thus ensuring advantages for those teams.
Unlike the AFL concept, I would not give the top six teams a rest in week one.
Instead, only the two top teams (first and second) will be afforded a week one rest. They have been the best two teams over the course of the season and deserves the extra advantage over teams three and four, let alone the sixth team.
In week one of the finals, I would stage qualifying matches for the teams third to sixth where obviously third plays sixth and fourth plays fifth.
The two winners are then awarded the right to challenge teams one and two in the second week of finals for the right to leapfrog into a hosted Preliminary Final.
Meanwhile, the two losers would continue into next week hosting finals against the two winners of the seventh to 10th placed knock out finals.
This crucial difference in format provides the AFL with two more cut-throat finals and I feel sufficiently rewards the two most outstanding teams in the season with a deserved bye in week one.
By week two, the finals returns to a more familiar format as we are left with eight teams; where the top two ‘seeds’ join in and play the next two best challengers and another cut throat elimination final beckons for the four lower teams.
Week three will remain as is as will week four (preliminary finals) and week five (Grand Final).
I believe expanding the AFL Finals to five weeks and ten participating clubs will be the next important advancement for the competition.
The majority of opposition will argue that the current format is fine so why fix it? But the benefits to the competition and all stakeholders are enormous.
Four extra matches in the finals will beef up the coffers of the AFL. The advantages for participating clubs are substantial also.
Not only will it give two more teams (ninth and tenth) the honour participating in the finals but it will ensure every season is played out until the very last week of the home and away rounds as multitudes of teams, perhaps up to 15 battle it out for a finals spot.
Once we reach the finals, the top six clubs are all guaranteed at least one home final each.
The top two clubs in the season are provided an incredible advantage over the others with the potential for two weeks off out of a five-week finals campaign and is richly deserved. There is just so much to gain, surely this is a no-brainer for the AFL?
On a side note, if the AFL wants to ensure the fairest and even playing field for all 18 clubs in the competition, it would do well to restructure the home and away season.
The format I would advocate would be a 21-game season consisting of:
1. 17 home and away matches against every other team in the league.
2. 1 match to be designated ‘rivalry round’ to ensure derbies are played twice a year.
3. 3 more ‘double up’ matches to be determined by random selection from ‘zones.’
Clubs are divided into three zones determined by finishing position from the previous season (1-6, 7-12, 13-18). Every team simply plays three teams from the three zones to complete a 21-match fixture.
So there you go. An exciting expanded finals series on the back of a fair balanced home-and-away season fixture. Attention AFL, are you reading this?
Robbie
Guest
I like the theory, but I doubt the AFL intends to keep 18 teams in the comp. Within 5 - 10 years a few more Victorian teams will be moved interstate
Jacques of Lilydale
Guest
Every child wins a prize
Football United
Guest
Yeah but no one likes it, plenty don't even like finals in the first place. It exists solely for the tv rights while the AFL can afford to make decisions about the size of finals without crippling itself.
Timmuh
Roar Guru
Quite frankly, eight is too many. History shows that outside the top four it is very rare that a genune premiership tilt can be mounted. The finals exist as a way for determining a premir. Nothing more, nothing less There is therefore a case that the ideal number playing finals is four. Personally, I feel the best number is six. That would allow some scope for a good team to play finals after a horror injur stretch while minimising what are in essence wasted spots taken up by those who can't reach top four. The AFL will not drop teams and matches, but certaiknly should not be looking to expand what are basically wasted matches, in terms of potential for finding a premier, with the label of "final" attahced to them.
GT
Guest
How about this instead. Add 2 more teams to the comp, say Tassie & NT, then split the whole lot into 2 divisions. Then have a final 5 in each division, and a promotion of the 2 top teams from division 2 and the relegation of the 2 bottom teams in division one.This would put a stop to any "tanking". The main benefit of this 10 team format would be that each team would play the other teams twice per season, once at home and once away, making it a true home and away competition that is fair to all teams, not like the current situation where each team only plays 5 teams twice and the other 12 teams once. That is hardly fair, especially considering some of the Victorian teams hardly ever leave Victoria. 2 divisions would also have closer games as the competition would be more even, no more of the thrashings dished out presently by the stronger teams over the teams in the bottom half of the ladder.
JamesP
Guest
Agree with the consensus here...aside from the financial reasons there is no need to do this. Perhaps when Gold Coast and GWS become competitive and there is more equalisation across all teams it could be an option. Interesting to see if the AFL puts this on the table when they start thinking about the next TV rights agreement...
JamesP
Guest
6 A-league teams contest finals out of a table of 10 so I would be keeping my mouth shut if I were you.
fatboi
Roar Rookie
lol. woke up with egg on my face
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
maybe an irish gaelic football team as well
Rising Power
Guest
34 round season, no finals. Top team wins the Premiership. Top 10 go into the World Championship of Australian Rules qualifying stages, competing against the best clubs around the globe for the ultimate glory and a voucher for kmart. Maybe in 100 years.
vocans
Guest
There's probably a better case footy-wise to be made for a top 6. Money-wise is always another story.
James Shehan
Guest
Pretty much agree with all the other posters. Having more than half the teams in the finals would be ridiculous. The finals are supposed to be about the best teams competing. I don't want to see it cheapened just for a bit of extra cash. Bottom line if you aren't good enough to finish in the top half of the ladder, then you don't deserve to play finals.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
I agree, reduce it to six. Add another round to the regular season if need be, just bring the finals back down to those who can actually win it.
Samual Johnson
Guest
There is no point in going beyond a final 6 simply because the teams outside even the top 4 are not competitive with the top teams. So it is just a waste of everyone's time. They have 22 games to get into the top 4 and over that time it sorts out the wheat from the chaff. On top of this over the past 20 odd years, the first week of the finals has notoriously low attendances. This year was different because of Carlton and Richmond which is a historic rivalry. If that was Fremantle v Port
Maca
Guest
Sorry fatboi, I disagree with much of your premise. What you're suggesting is expanding the finals to include more mediocrity, thereby pouring more money into AFL pockets and giving mediocre teams fans something to cheer for in September, or is that August? I'll keep this short - if a team/club aren't performing well enough to make the 8 then they simply need to improve their performance in future years, and it's for the supporters of that team/club to insist that happens. Allowing the team/club to "hide" their poor performance by appearing in an expanded finals does nothing to encourage that improvement. I think your suggested changes to the draw are minor - and as I understand it that model is already being considered by the AFL.
Brian
Guest
There is an issue with interest in end of season games. My solution would be to have the last 5 rounds of the regular season become a qualification for the finals. Rounds 1-17 all teams play each other once Rounds 18-22 Top 6 playoff for finals position, Middle 6 playoff for last two finals spots, Bottom 6 playoff for top draft picks Than Finals. That way we can keep the finals to 8, kepp up interest for bottom clubs whilst solving the fixture and tanking issues.
James
Guest
With you Craig...why not invite a team from each state comp and then choose another one out of a random number generator?
langou
Roar Guru
Spot on
Australian Rules
Guest
Terrible idea. When the AFL flagged a 10-team finals series a few years ago, it was howled down. The benefits given here, seem to be: 1) It would boost the coffers of the AFL (like they need it); and 2) It would bestow on 9th and 10th the honour of playing finals (a fairly vague reason, if one at all). Ultimately, it would cheapen the finals. Put bluntly, 9th and 10th = a mediocre season. I understand the ALeague needs to do it, mostly for financial reasons, but the AFL doesn't.
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
that is "invitation"