The AFL needs a bit of a shake up, so here are some ideas that could spice things up.
Let’s start off with a controversial one.
Reduce the season to 18 games
With the Players’ Association sayikng the season is too long, and fans complaining that double-up games are unbalanced, here’s a solution: drop the season down to 18 home-and-away games.
Teams play each other once, with one double-up game against a chosen rivals (Showdown, Derby, Battle of Bridge, Q Clash). Home and away matches would rotate across each season, so Collingwood would host West Coast in one season, then travel to Perth the next.
Broadcasters would obviously be displeased about losing 36 games, across how many hours of coverage. But I would counter that less is more, and knowing you only have nine home games rather than 11 will encourage people to watch more games.
More byes
From Rounds 3 to 12, there should only be eight games, so each team gets a bye. Then, where Round 17 would be, have an entire weekend off, which would se all players being sent away from their clubs (barring injured players, who are doing recovery stuff), and letting them have a genuine week off.
They’d be expected to still follow diets and do gym sessions, but they’d get away from the football grind, and take a well-deserved break before pushing towards the finals.
It would also allow officials to have a guilt-free break. The assistant coaches can take the weekend off, and go skiing. The trainers can go watch their kids play weekend football and relax without racing back to club duties.
The rolling byes (where two teams have breaks during the season) artificially extends the season, while not affecting broadcasters too badly. If anything, it enables more flexibility, as teams having the week off can easily play Thursday or Monday night football.
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Grand final stays in the afternoon
We have always done this, so why change? I enjoy the BBQ lunch on grand final day, followed by the game, then the BBQ dinner (because you probably didn’t clear anything up after the lunch).
From a purely practical point of view, an afternoon game finishes around 5pm, the players don’t get back to the change rooms until say 6:15pm, then celebrate with their teammates and family. Have a shower and something to eat, while enjoying a sponsored alcoholic beverage, they then join the commoners for the afterparty around 9pm.
If we move that to the night-time slot, the game would finish at 10pm, meaning the players wouldn’t get out of the changerooms until closer to midnight. And it would be such a long day for the players and officials that most would be gassed. They would still kick on, but exhaustion would hit sooner.
The entire argument that the pre and post-game entertainment would be better at night is silly. The grand final is the entertainment. You could put re-runs of Australian Idol on the big screens at halftime and I wouldn’t mind – I watch the footy for the footy. If I want to see Alice Cooper or Good Charlotte, I will go to their concerts.
Photo by Scott Barbour/AFL Media/Getty Images
Bye-bye Gold Coast Suns
While the AFL apparently needs a presence on the Gold Coast to keep their global domination plans intact, the Suns are doing more harm than good.
Where Greater Western Sydney is more about taking a sliver of the western Sydney market, the Gold Coast is just a joke that stopped being funny.
Move the licence to Tassie, and give the region to the Lions. They can stay the Brisbane Lions, just get them to play a couple of games in the Gold Coast, and team up with clubs like the Bulldogs, Saints or North Melbourne to ‘sell’ a home game to the Gold Coast.
Draft pick lotteries, free agency picks, and trade-only picks
The AFL can pretend taking doesn’t happen, but why would Carlton or the Suns bother trying to win when they can get Pick 1 (and in the Suns’ case, two very high picks with restricted free agency)?
Bracket the bottom four together, giving a 50 per cent chance for the team bottom to get pick 1, 25 per cent for 17th, 15 per cent for 16th and 10 per cent for 15th. That way, at best they can increase their odds, but not guarantee themselves top pick.
Free-agency compensation picks should be scrapped, as clubs have no incentive to force a trade when the compensation pick is a better outlet. Your compensation for losing the player is the salary cap room and list space.
Lastly, I would introduce ‘trade only’ compensation picks. Carlton and Gold Coast are both muted to be looking at compensation picks to bolster their lists, but they both don’t need the best 18-year-old in the country, they need premium, ready-made talent.
So, make it a trade-only pick and force the clubs to trade it away.
So there we are Roarers, a few thought bubbles for the weekend that may serve as a conversation starter.
Samuel Ord
Roar Guru
Yeah spot on Rick well said. From an AFL perspective it's better for them to pay to keep the Gold Coast Sun in action. If they (admit they made a mistake) and scrap the club, they'll lose a foot in the door of the Queensland market (thus leaving Brisbane the only territory owned in all of Queensland) and that's unacceptable in such a huge state.
Samuel Ord
Roar Guru
I love the idea of a regular season being 36 rounds so much. I always think of it like the AFL becoming closer to the NBA. Over the course of a much longer season you're forced to use more of your full playing squad. Maybe even extend every list to 55 players or something. We'd see more and more young talent. That way in a regular home and away you'd be forced to use resources better, ie; a player like a Dangerfield or a Martin would only ever play 25 out of a possible 36 regular matches or something. The only problem is you'd have to deal with audience burnout. People are usually already pretty fatigued with footy by round 22. Especially if they aren't going to watch their team play finals. Aussie Rules is definitely more demanding than football (soccer) though. Longer game time. More physically demanding. Bigger playing area. If you make the grand final you're playing 25 games v 40.
bryan
Guest
Back in the analog TV days, skilled Camera Control Unit (CCU) operators could control the picture black level to the point that a player could stand straddling the shadow line, & still be correctly rendered. The CCUs in modern digital TV are all automatic & have major problems with this.
Aligee
Roar Rookie
I think the game last night was the 3rd highest H&A crowd for Spotless. Bit by bit, little by little, there is no perfect storm like Super league or Tony Lockett coming aboard at the right time.
Timmuh
Roar Guru
Whether Tasmania deserves a team based on sentiment is another question again. On finances and growth (the AFL's apparent criteria), not a chance. And I agree GWS aren't going to drop Canberra any time soon, I think they should. Without showing commitment to their supposed region the people in western Sydney aren't going to get on board the "Mexican" game. Even with that commitment it will be a long, slow process to get a decent level of support.
MQ
Guest
IN fact, the Suns' home attendances have averaged higher than the Giants both last year and the current season.
MQ
Guest
Saved me the effort, quite clearly it would be hard for anyone to ignore such largesse. Also, the extra 4,000 Canberra members probably helps boost support numbers somewhat. Even with all of that and a bit more success than the Suns, the Suns' figures aren't all that far behind, all considering.
Aligee
Roar Rookie
Well they wont drop them if the ACT government continues to sponsor them 23 million over ten years as well as upgrading Manuka etc for them.
Paul D
Roar Guru
Who would know. It’s probably gonna happen but not for a few more years yet
Republican
Guest
......they won't drop Canberra like the proverbial hot spud until they are certain to be out of the woods so to speak, which may be never the case. Mercenary plastic concoctions are a blight on the DNA of our code and an insult to the loyal heartlands i.e. Canberra & Tassie Timmuh. You of all people should know that, given your sometimes parochial support for the wild west..........
Timmuh
Roar Guru
There were a lot saying that. My view was always that GC would get the higher starting following, but GWS would probably overtake them. What almost nobody foresaw was the dramatic difference in on-field results, which always impact off-field. That is probably especially true for new teams without a ready-made supporter base outside of traditional footy areas. But, for now, despite the on-field results hindering them GC still draw a decent non-heartland attendances and often stronger than the Giants. What is absolute, is that both in the medium term will be far stronger off-field than any theoretical Tasmania or Canberra teams could ever hope to be. GWS really need to get out of Canberra though, and show commitment to their actual home base. Tacking "Greater" on the front doesn't make Canberra a part of Western Sydney. (Note to the FFA, Wollongong isn't part of southern Sydney either.)
MQ
Guest
An incredible result, underscores how big womens footy has become in Qld.
MQ
Guest
The Gold Coast was always the AFL's focus. When North decided to reject the offer to move there, the AFL had to move to a Plan B, and that was adding an 18th club, i.e. a 2nd Sydney team. So back in 2010, there was broad acceptance amongst the commentariat of putting a team on the Gold Coast, one way or the other, but this 2nd Sydney team idea looked very much like a 2nd best option at the time. It doesn't look like that now. Worth mentioning that many seem to think that the Suns' had the same concessions as the Giants, but that's completely false, they were nowhere near the same. In the Giants' first draft, they had something like seven of the first 10 picks, and they got the top 3 picks the following year. On top of that, they were able to trade four 17 year olds for high draft picks, and to this day, they have continued to trade players picked in the first round for more draft picks - seven years after their first draft! The Suns have never had a fair go in comparison.
Aligee
Roar Rookie
Also over the years from the GC, you have Tippet, Hale, Beams, Riewoldt, Voss, Ashcroft, Renouf, Keating and probably many more 'unknowns'.
Aligee
Roar Rookie
What they should have done earlier is squared away Brisbane's training ground, facilities etc - what is happening with that ?
Aligee
Roar Rookie
Bit off topic again, QLD girls/womens AFLW under 18's has been the first team to beat Vic Metro http://www.aflq.com.au/queensland-record-first-ever-win-over-vic-metro-in-nab-aflw-u18-national-championships/ Scrap the Suns and you also risk putting the kibosh on Girls footy on the Coast
Aligee
Roar Rookie
Are you a Russian bot ?
Josh
Guest
GWS definitely do not represent Western Sydney. Canberra maybe, but Western Sydney doesn't look at that team and think 'you represent my home'..... like the Wanderers do.
Josh
Guest
Western Sydney is not the AFL's to cut up and buy and sell as they please..... and you wonder why people hate the AFL here, show some respect.
Republican
Guest
........better that both Tassi & Canberra be integral to the AFL elite than both the GC & GWS truth be told.........