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Why McLachlan’s fixture proposal is a bad idea

Roar Guru
27th August, 2014
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Roar Guru
27th August, 2014
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1260 Reads

AFL boss Gillon McLachlan is advocating a radical change to the AFL fixture in future years. With many teams, clubs and fans unhappy with the current compromised draw, change is both necessary and inevitable.

Many ideas have been floated from reducing the number of rounds to rolling byes and conference systems.

Gillon’s favoured idea is to split the season into two phases. Phase one is the initial 17 rounds where each team plays each other team once. Phase two sees the eighteen teams being split into three groups of six, to play each other team in their group a second time over the final five rounds.

McLachlan’s idea has the top six teams in one group, the middle six teams in the second group and the bottom six teams in the third group. Supposedly this would have teams about equal in terms of ability playing each other to add spice to the final rounds.

But we know these teams are not really equal at all. The top four are a class above the rest while those in ninth to 12th are hot and cold. Which group would you rather be playing twice?

This year after Round 17, North Melbourne were in sixth place and Essendon were seventh. North would face Sydney, Fremantle, Hawthorn, Geelong and Port Adelaide in the final five rounds. A nightmare draw with a realistic chance of winning only one or two of those games. An optimistic supporter might hope for three wins but it would be uphill all the way for poor old North.

Essendon would face Collingwood, Gold Coast, West Coast, Adelaide and Richmond. None are soft games but all are winnable and four wins out of five would be a reasonable prospect. Happy days, with form and momentum heading into the finals.

Essendon would almost certainly leapfrog North under this scenario, while North would likely miss the finals altogether. Finishing seventh after Round 17 would all but guarantee you of playing finals. Finishing sixth would mean you could confidently book your end of season trip for early September.

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And if you are lucky enough to be 13th, like the Bulldogs, you will be rewarded with five easy games against the bottom teams. A solid five wins will see you rocket up the ladder and maybe sneak in to eighth spot.

How is this fair? The randomness of the draw needs to be maintained in those last five rounds. I would urge Gillon to go back to the drawing board. This idea is really bad.

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