The third year of the AFL’s pre-finals bye felt like a real season momentum killer, unlike the two which preceded it. We cannot abide this going forward.
The pre-finals bye is sure to be the early week talking point, given so precious little actual football news is doing the rounds at present. We have moved onto early trade news, with clubs positioning for raids on opposition players and free agents informing their current clubs of their intentions.
That is the reality of football in 2018 and there is no use complaining about it. It’s happening for two reasons: many clubs have made their first list changes prior to players beginning their end-of-season leave, and because there’s no actual football to talk about.
(And before someone points this out to me, yes I am aware Australian rules football is played in competitions that are not the AFL. It’s just not my jam)
Now in its third year, the pre-finals bye has acted as a handbrake on the competition. The first year it was all new and exciting, while the second year it was more a mild inconvenience that hadn’t yet progressed to frustration. And there was more going on too: the AFL Women’s All-Star game filled up the Saturday night slot which this year was completely vacant.
In my day job, some public sector clients talk about this vague concept known as ‘place activation’. It’s a snappy way of saying that once you build something you better do something about getting people to use it. We’re at that point now with the pre-finals bye; the AFL has to do something about filling the 11 days of space between the Sunday of Round 23 and the first final.
The current awards are not enough. There is a decent level of diversity in the league’s current honours structure, but most of them lack any semblance of buzz or excitement. The AFLCA Champion Player of the Year is announced by press release. The All Australian announcement show is a disgrace. The AFLPA MVP gets it mostly right. The Rising Star voting system is a total mess, and is not helped by the fact its major sponsor seems to care more about being able to wine and dine its clients at a lunch than the prestige of the title.
If it were me, I would introduce another set of awards voted on by members of the media, which is how the highest honours are granted in most US sports. Votes are transparent, and the people who make them are genuine in their care to ensure the history of awards are respected. Either that or move the Brownlow Medal ceremony forward – it is, after all, a home-and-away season award.
Still, the awards are not adequate compensation for a football-free weekend. And the EJ Whitten Legends Game is not adequate, period.
Like Channel 9’s The Footy Show, the Legends Game appears a concept that should be put out to pasture. This year’s game was held in Adelaide in front of about 9000 people (according to Austadiums) and had a free-to-air TV audience of 380,000 (around 200,000 less than a typical Friday night game). It was entertaining for reasons that did not relate to the game itself, a sure sign the game has transitioned to the farce stage.
The lack of a Saturday night activity stuck out this year. Cancelling the AFL Women’s All-Star Game was probably the right call given so many players were reaching the pointy end of their respective seasons, but HQ did nothing about filling the gap. This cannot persist next season and beyond.
My suggestion is one I have written extensively on in the past: bring in an NBA-style All-Star Weekend centred on players signed to teams who haven’t made it into the finals series. Have them compete for cash in skills contests, set shot goal kicking, high flying marks; select teams for the All-Star game with a player draft for a bit of extra off season holiday money; get some charities involved if that’s what it takes to get these things off the ground in 2018.
Patrick Cripps would be a shoe-in for any pre-finals All-Star game. (Photo by Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images)
The League may also consider a prime time under 18s round robin or something similar, to whet everyone’s appetite for the draft. Something. Anything.
The AFL will have to do something, because the pre-finals bye seems here to stay. The League has already confirmed its working assumption is next year’s fixture will have a week off between Round 23 and week one of the finals. So, the place is made, and now it’s time to activate it properly.
Which brings me to the impact of the bye on what ultimately matters: who wins the premiership. There has been a lot of talk about this over the weekend, because there’s nothing else to talk about.
Plenty have claimed it erodes part of the advantage of finishing in the top four, with some of those pointing to the Western Bulldogs’ premiership as proof. These are grand statements indeed to be making on just two years worth of evidence. But even if you were to look at the evidence, the results are mixed.
Of the four qualifying final winners in the pre-finals bye era, two have made it to the grand final and two have not. However, it is worth noting the two who did not were beaten in the first half of the first quarter of their final (Geelong losing to Sydney in 2016) and lost by a goal (GWS losing to the Bulldogs in 2016). No one batted an eyelid when Adelaide and Richmond dispatched the Cats and Giants in last year’s finals series.
This year is unlikely to yield anything material on this front either. The Tigers enter the week of their qualifying final as one of the shortest-priced premiership fancies in living memory. Two teams sitting in the bottom half of the eight (Melbourne and Geelong) hold the second and third best percentages in the competition. The Dees are riding the hottest form streak in the league and are expected to go well this September.
If they win it all, does that mean the pre-finals bye took away too much of the advantage won by Richmond, West Coast, Collingwood and Hawthorn? Or is it because they were the best team in it and they just happened to finish in fifth place? Good luck untangling those Christmas lights.
Fortunately, this talk will fade into the background shortly, because there will be football and all will be right with the world. Let’s hope HQ learns from the mistakes of this year and gives us something worth paying attention to in next year’s pre-finals bye.
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
Sorry Aligee but I died of boredom halfway through your list.
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
Who cares.
vince "Go Roos"
Guest
I think the AFL should introduce a state of origin weekend for all the players from clubs that missed the finals. Clubs could have an extended bench to allow for a higher participation from all the players. I would love watching the Big V play as a kid and have sincerely missed the concept. It would a great chance to further fund the EJ Whitten Cancer Fund and allow the Big V to "stick it right up em" We could have the four teams play 2 games over the bye weekend and rotate on an annual basis. This would still allow for the current Legends game to continue as the Friday night game. This would also allow the AFL to test all the new rules at the highest level before they are finally decided upon.
IAP
Guest
I'd say that injury counts as a week off, and maybe say that the bye has to be taken after round 5 or something. Really, these blokes aren't even playing for 6 months without a break. They could get through the year without a bye at all.
IAP
Guest
It doesn't warrant elaboration. Having players play with members of opposition teams to win draft picks is the most ludicrous suggestion ever made on this website.
Seano
Roar Rookie
Guaranteed they can fill the stadium in Darwin.
Aligee
Roar Rookie
The Allies are about as popular as the Axis at a Churchill and Roosevelt meeting.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Not the Allies idea again. Of the 30 players named to represent the Allies, expect over half to immediately sign themselves in for some much needed off-season surgery.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
1. Players aim to complete their 22 games in a manner which allows them to finish finals, so that they get a crack at their one and only objective, to win the premiership. There is no other objective. Once you're out of contention for the premiership, that's the end of the season for you. That's it, it's over, time to have a fag and beer and wait for pre-season training to commence. 2. At least in Victoria, on the whole, we have been pretty ambivalent towards state games. Yes, occasionally they'd drum up the interest, but it never took long for it to drop back to it's true level of interest, which was close to zero. We follow our clubs, and all the players want to do is win a premiership, that's their sole focus. Any activity that is put on during the finals, the period which they are aspiring to be part of, is doomed to failure, especially a contrived "all-stars" game (which obviously can't be a true "all-stars" game because the real stars are playing finals).
chuznut
Guest
I don't mind the sound of that in theory, but I think it'd get a little too complicated. For the players welfare's sake, you'd have to have some rule along the lines of they can't play more than 14 rounds in a row, otherwise a player who may miss round 1, for whatever reason, could potentially then be asked to play every single round for the rest of the season, which wouldn't be fair on them for either their physical or mental state. It would be difficult for a lot of them to ask the coach for a week off, even if they desperately needed a break, as they'd be seen as not being a team player. Also, a player may be scheduled to have a week off next week, but then another player goes down injured the week before which could throw it all off. Eg. Scott Lycett may have been due to have the week off in round 18 of this year, but then Nic Nat goes down in round 17 for the rest of the season. All of a sudden WC would be forced to play at least 1 game during the final rounds without either of their 1st or 2nd choice ruckman, even if Lycett was fine to play.
chuznut
Guest
I'd only have each set of bye rounds over 2 weekends each (eg - Round 8 = 4 games, Round 9 = 5 games, then Round 18 = 4 games, Round 19 = 5 games). If they did it that way, to me, over rounds 18 & 19, the players wouldn't go away on a small holiday like they usually do in the first bye round. Instead - the players would all still be on deck, allowing the coaching staff to fine tune their training/game plans and just allowing the players with any niggling injuries to recover a bit before the final month of the regular season. That's basically what the teams do who get a bye in the second week of the finals, and it usually makes them stronger, rather than halting their momentum. I don't think it would help or hinder any teams more than others, as they would all be in the same boat. I think that would make the final 4 rounds of the season a lot better, because you know that all the players are going to be fresh, so any team that is still in finals contention will be able to make a serious tilt at it. Coaches could still potentially rest players during round 23, even though they had a bye 4 weeks before, but you'd think that it'd be pretty unlikely that they'd do any mass changes to their roster for the final round. They'd only do it for the few players who genuinely need another rest, which I think is fine and well within their rights. Doing it this way will keep the season (including finals) over the same amount of weeks as it is now, but we would avoid having a weekend with no football at all. I know that having 4 games over 1 weekend isn't great, but it's a lot better than 0 games. It would also mean that the top 4 teams have a genuine advantage again, in that they can potentially get a bye in round 2 of the finals, so they'll be fresher than the other teams, but still have enough match fitness built up. As opposed to now, where they have 2 byes in 3 weeks, which arguably could hinder them against teams who also had a bye 2 weeks before.
Aligee
Roar Rookie
Suspect you are taking the pizz -men V women would be carnage, absolute carnage. North Beach amatuer played Swan Districts WAFL club pre season, not sure of the score.
David
Roar Rookie
Hmm still no elaboration there. Draft picks help teams improve; not enough to deliberately throw games, but they help. I'm happy to see also-rans get picks , especially if they have to earn them and also NOT throw games.On top of that we get a match worth watching
Seano
Roar Rookie
Keep the bye and add state of origin on that weekend. All players not in he finals or in surgery are available and will be played accordingly. If any finals teams wish a player to have a run they can make a list available as to who can play but it’s not forced. Year 1 vic v wa Friday night at Optus SA V ALLIES in Darwin sat night Year 2 winners play each other and losers then on it goes for ever. Allies play at which ever ground bids and possibly SA plays at Norwood or north Adelaide (the pretty one) Vics play at dock lands and so on.
Confused
Guest
1. Australia ( minus finals players) V Ireland – international rules. I like this idea because these games are great entertainment. Definitely better than no footy.
IAP
Guest
I'd scrap the bye altogether. Just make it compulsory that every team has to give every player at lease one week off, at a time that suits them. They could make it two weeks if they need to. And to enforce it make sure the players aren't allowed at the club during that week.
IAP
Guest
Re. point 3 - there's no point doing an FA cup style knock-out. The teams would come from the VFL, SANFL or WAFL every time. They may as well play them against each other, which they already do. I'd certainly watch that. Maybe we could show how progressive we are and thrown in the AFLW teams as well. The best women's team (being the previous year AFLW premier) can play off against the best 2nd tier mens team. It'd be a great spectacle, and really highlight women's footy and give them the prime time slot that they deserve.
IAP
Guest
I re-read it, just to appease you, and it's still ridiculous. It's probably ok as a concept for an all-stars game, but to play for draft picks it's absurd.
IAP
Guest
They're professional athletes. It seems quite likely to me.
David
Roar Rookie
A round 19 bye would help. Actually would you stagger the bye , say, from round 17 to 19 or just have a whole weekend without games? Both would still bring up problems. Both could still potentially ruin the momentum of some teams and help others. But teams still can play their last H & A game knowing the result won't affect their finals hopes. It'd still be quite easy for a coach to rest players in round 23 alongside round 19, or rest newly-injured ones. At least the finals bye probably stops some players risking 2 weeks off.