I personally don’t like the idea of conferences, but after seeing how the Under-21s hockey tournament uses them, I had a thought regarding the AFL.
What if the AFL uses conferences, in combination with the bye and some other tweaks, to give the television executives what they want: more meaningful end of season games before the finals.
A few simple admin thins to start with. All clubs play each other once in the first 17 rounds, with one ‘split round’ to appease the players’ association’s request to have two byes.
At the conclusion of the 17 rounds, the AFL ladder would be split into three groups: top six, middle six and bottom six. Another bye round would take place until the next part of the fixture is formulated.
To immediately address people saying ‘what about ground availability if they only have a week’s notice’. That’s why there is a week bye, and AFL can reserve most of the grounds, knowing that an Adelaide, Perth, Queensland or NSW team will likely be playing a home game there each week and the Docklands and MCG will be used.
Now, where my little thought bubble deviates a little from the norm is that the results from each team’s matches roll into the new group ladders. So, using the current AFL ladder, Fremantle’s results against Sydney, West Coast, Hawthorn, Richmond and Western Bulldogs would be counted. This rewards teams for beating their fellow top teams and punishes teams for being flat track bullies. This would also apply to the middle and bottom six groups too.
From there, the usual top six automatically make finals, with the middle six playing for position seven and eight in finals. By keeping the previous results, it hopefully keeps it more interesting than simply rewarding a team for finding form at the pointy end of season, and protects teams that started strong and fall away a little in August.
The bottom six obviously still remains a problem child for the AFL and for my conference design. As a possible fix, the second and third round draft picks could be allocated based on ladder positions as a reward (potentially upgraded pick 24 to pick 19). In nearly every conference system article, there isn’t really much incentive to the bottom six teams except playing for pride.
There are obvious challenges, one being the risk that marquee double-up games are lost. By pure fluke, the Western Derby, South Australian Showdown, Queensland Clash are all maintained. Sydney loses the Battle of the Bridge, and the Victorian teams are scattered between the groups so potential big clashes are lost.
As for ground availability, which I alluded to earlier, each club would have five remaining games, with nine clubs having three more home games, nine having two. A logistics challenge to be sure, but that’s why people who aren’t me are paid money to make these decisions.
The people in charge of fixturing would have models based on rough predictions where teams would finish, and ‘should’ be able to avoid ripping a team off. Worst case scenario, the Victorian clubs might have to play an extra ‘away’ game in Melbourne, but I’m sure they could work around that issue.
Alternatively, there is a chance that there are two games in South Australia or Western Australia on one weekend, but I’m sure the locals wouldn’t mind.
So what do you think, Roarers? There is nothing wrong with the current system, but exploring alternatives is always a fun exercise, and allows me a glimpse at how much of an administrative and logistical nightmare it is to come up with a ‘fair’ AFL fixture.
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