The decision of the AFL to retain the pre-finals bye week is astounding.
On the one hand, you can understand the AFL’s logic behind the move; top-eight teams head into September well-rested and raring to go, and fans aren’t disincentivised to go to final-round matches by the looming threat of finals-bound clubs resting players.
On the other hand, it’s an idea which just didn’t work this year. At all. The reasons against the pre-finals week far outweigh those in favour.
The AFL’s one-week pre-finals sabbatical completely stalled the momentum heading into the finals. This season had one of the closest-fought top eights in recent memory, yet once the finals’ finishing order was sorted, footy fans were left with nothing to do for the best part of two weeks other than speculate about Travis Cloke’s future (speaking of which, does anyone know what’s happening with that Bulldogs trade?).
The meagre offerings of premature free-agent and trade rumours were no substitute for the rabid and frenzied excitement about the first week of finals footy.
Not only was it depressingly boring, it gave the AFL’s cross-code rivals, the NRL, a week as Australia’s top sporting dog.
It’s hardly taking the ‘do what your opponent least wants you to do’ approach to Australia’s ongoing code war.
More importantly, the pre-finals bye has turned what was once a massive advantage into a disadvantage.
A first-up win for a top-four team was once a significant benefit come finals time. Not only was there the significant psychological advantage of getting a win over a genuine premiership contender, but the luxury of having a week off in between the qualifying and preliminary finals would ensure a team’s players were raring to go for the grand final qualifiers.
On the evidence of this year, those sides aren’t ‘well-rested’ anymore. They’re rusty.
The AFL says the pre-finals bye “strongly contributed to brilliant September football with best players being able to be as fit/well-prepared as possible.” Tell that to the GWS Giants and Geelong Cats.
Both sides had earned the week off, yet both ended up losing in their preliminary finals – the Giants went down in a heartbreaker (or heartwarmer, depending on your point of view) against the Bulldogs, while the Cats were blown off the part by the Swans.
Those calling “coincidence” are simply looking for a convenient answer. I prefer to believe playing just one game in the preceding three weeks or so had a hell of a lot to do with GWS and Geelong’s losses.
One game in the best part of three weeks certainly isn’t the recipe for being as “well-prepared as possble.”
There’s also the issue of the bye benefitting only half of the competition. Prior to the introduction of the pre-finals bye, the AFL Players Association had been calling for a second week off during the season in order to give players a physical and mental break.
The logic of creating the space in the season for a second week off, only to stick it at the end of the season, out of the reach of more than half the side in the comp, was baffling.
Persevering with such a policy is doubly so, particularly after the post-season failures of Geelong and GWS this year.
Fans of the policy will point to the success of the Western Bulldogs as evidence of its benefits; without the pre-finals bye, it’s hard to imagine the injury-ravaged men from Footscray taking anything close to a full-strength side over to Perth for their first-week clash with the Eagles.
However, having an extra bye mid-season may have prevented some of their injuries occurring in the first place – that’s certainly part of the logic behind the AFLPA’s call for a second bye during the season.
But, for better or worse (almost certainly worse), fans and players are stuck with this week of mandatory boredom on the eve of the most exciting part of the season. One can only hope it’s just here to stay for the one additional year.
Perry Bridge
Guest
There's a couple of elements to this discussion. 1. We've accepted the need for a 2nd bye. If so, when is it. Currently post Round 23 and pre the finals. Is that ideal. 2. The 2nd bye is all taken care of over a single week, why can't this be the case for the 1st bye instead of the 3 week stagger that can clearly disadvantage some teams - take for example the flogging North Melbourne had leading up to their bye in the 3rd week in what was a fixturing catastrophe. 3. As much as the Doggies achieved the fairy tale this year - it is clouded in part in the judgement of many due to the impact on the 1st week victors of the top 4 clashes. Geelong certainly in the prelim were blown off the park early. The Giants less so. It's easy to in part overlook the tenacity of the Doggies, and clearly injuries during the season proper thwarted what probably would have been a top 4 finish (perhaps at the expense of Geel or GWS). Were the AFL to drop the bye immediately then that would be a massive question mark beside the Doggies. 4. so - it gets rolled over for another year and perhaps we must hope that a top 4 first week winner goes through unbeaten and hoists the cup just to validate the anomalous nature of the Doggies fairy tale triumph. 5. The week off - is actually a good thing in some respects - it gives people a chance to have a breather and contemplate their finals travel and ticketing arrangements. It's a tough slog for the supporters. It also gives local footy leagues a really nice opportunity to showcase their finals - some are already up to their semis or prelim finals by then.
Tricky
Guest
Have to agree with Kurt here - partly- "The relative outsider" or you could argue 1 of 7 teams of top 4 quality this year, 15 wins will be top 4 any other year. The ratings and attendances don't lie and to be honest I watched every finals game, uber impressed with the intensity, the ability of clean disposal under that intensity and the pure grit. Apart from the North game and the cats v swans, wc v dogs it seemed every team was in the contest even in the last quarter. The swans were a great example of fighting it out until the last second of the last game - every except North showed that quality
I hate pies
Guest
As much as I don't like the week off, it certainly helped my team in the finals series. It also created a great weekend of sport, with the AFL granny on Saturday and the NRL granny on Sunday. I think the mid season bye is the issue the AFL needs to sort, and hopefully they come up with a better plan for it for 2017. From a playing perspective, I always hated having the week off in the finals series; you feel like you lose a bit of touch and some fitness. No doubt it will effect the players. There's also the mental game of having to wait that long to play.
XI
Roar Guru
So its reasonable to assume that the finals were high-quality (which I don't agree with, I thought some were good, some weren't) but unreasonable to assume that it disadvantaged teams who earnt the home prelims?
Kurt
Guest
Crowds and TV ratings for the finals series were excellent. Where exactly is the evidence of alienation - talk back callers to SEN?
Mike Huber
Roar Pro
Me to How can they be "rusty" after 24 weeks of AFL football ?
Cat
Roar Guru
Doesn't alienate me in the least, doesn't even bother me.
Tim Holt
Roar Guru
The AFL and their want/love of alienating fans found a new low in this absurd bye............
Kurt
Guest
It's not possible to say with certainty, however it's reasonable to hypothesise that the quality of the finals series, and the fact that a relative outsider won the premiership, were at least in part due to the opportunity provided by the bye for players to freshen up.
correct sometimes
Guest
and that wouldnt have happened without the bye week?
Kurt
Guest
Yeah, what a failure the pre-finals bye was this year. Plenty of exciting, close, high-quality games, great attendances and TV audiences, and an outsider winning the flag for the first time in forever. What a bunch of fools running the competition.
me too
Guest
They're hardly at an optimum level if they're rusty from playing just one game in three weeks. It's all about the thursday night final. money is the ratio decidendi of the afl.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Weren't they record TV ratings for finals? Hard to argue with that. Oh, and we won our first premiership in 62 years - must be a good idea.
Handles
Roar Guru
I thought the bye worked really well. Most footy media (AFL 360 in particular) thought it was going to be a dud, and then agreed that it was not bad at all. It’s an idea which just worked this year. At all. The reasons for the pre-finals week far outweigh those against. Just ask GWS and Geelong you say? Did you see the coaches speak? Neither of them thought it was an issue, and I fail to see why they would cover it up if it was. They would have known that the chance to kill it was there, if they didn't like it.
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
Know a date?
Claza123
Guest
For SuperCoach players I personally love the pre seasons bye. If it wasn't for the bye half my team may have been rested.
Raimond
Roar Guru
You can't judge the Preliminary Final results on one season, especially considering that: *The Giants were playing their first ever finals series, and had probably over-achieved by making the third week of play-offs. *Geelong had serious deficiencies that even their fans have admitted to, and had only just survived against the struggling Hawks in the QF; they were also hammered by the Swans in Round 16 by a nearly identical margin. *Both Geelong and GWS failed to make the finals in 2015. The "momentum" argument is dubious as well. The Swans, for example, had a terrible month leading into the 2012 series, but turned that around when it mattered.
Bruce
Guest
I think if teams are worried about playing 1 match in 28 days (such as Geelong and GWS this year), then they could have the bye in round 21 (or thereabouts), giving 2 or so matches in the H & A season before finals. But then I suppose teams fighting for the 8 could be disadvantaged. But I'd say that's better than having prelim finalists disadvantaged.
TomC
Roar Guru
Anyone who wants to draw sweeping conclusions from one finals series is probably overreaching. But it seemed to work pretty well. It created more interesting contests and a better quality of football. It seemed to reduce the impact of travel, which has been crippling in previous finals series. I find it hard to believe that after almost six months of football a couple of weeks off really makes teams rusty - easier to believe that the break refreshes all teams. So I guess I'm not going to convince anyone who is in fact happy to draw sweeping conclusions like 'it doesn't work at all' from one finals series, but fortunately the AFL is going to press ahead with it next year and hopefully for more years to come, so at some point we'll have enough evidence to make a real decision.
dave
Guest
Earlier someone suggested having the state league's play their grand finals during the bye week.This would give us some football to watch and wouldn't hurt to draw more attention to our local leagues. After that the winners of the state leagues play off during the finals giving us more football to watch and It would be kind of like state of origin which no seems to be able to make function. As Freo was out this year I would be able to get behind the winning WAFL team. If It wasn't for the Dogs I probably would have stopped watching football starting on the bye weekend.