Nobody knows what awaits the AFL once COVID-19 is gone.
Idealistically, everybody wants to believe the AFL will remain an 18-club competition and it’ll be business as normal.
Regardless of the landscape, the reality is the AFL are presented with a unique opportunity to reboot the competition.
The current model
I’ve never been a fan of the haphazard way the AFL expanded.
It worked well in Western Australia and South Australia because these states already had elite Australian rules competitions. These states were Aussie rules mad.
They were also effectively states divided into two fan-bases: in WA, Perth and Fremantle; in SA, Adelaide and Port Adelaide. Building teams here has worked. They draw support. They have identity. They have passion.
But in the non-traditional Australian rules states?
Sydney struggled in New South Wales. Brisbane struggled in Queensland. Both clubs had to be propped up with the hope that success would entice fanaticism in those cities. At least Sydney carried over their South Melbourne supporters. Brisbane found some identity when they merged with Fitzroy.
Greater Western Sydney and Gold Coast get so-so crowds at home, and a sprinkling on the road. Some of their games with lowly Victorian-based clubs at the MCG make for terrible viewing. They hark back to the old days when a reserves game would be screened on Sunday from Lakeside Oval.
Some will counter that the Giants and Suns are generational projects. Well, look at some of the younger Victorian clubs. Did generational cultivation give them a big fan-base, or a so-so fan-base? Do we really expect these new franchises to be powerhouses in 50 years? Gold Coast certainly isn’t doing itself any favours to win fans.
(Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
It might be an unpopular belief, but the AFL should have forced Victorian clubs to move to each locale. It might have initially disgruntled fans, but as the demise and rebirth of Fitzroy proved, most of those fans found their way back to the new entity. It also would’ve infused these new franchises with identity and history, and brought in an existing fan-base.
I’ve supported Collingwood for over 40 years. The GWS Giants pipped us in the 2019 preliminary final, and I feel nothing toward the Giants. If that had been, for example, the GWS Demons, however, then I’d be a lot more passionate.
That’s what this game is meant to be about: passion.
But that’s been diluted.
In the new AFL, merging might solve a number of issues for several clubs, ranging from financial needs to creating an identity and building immediate stature.
The fixture
Everybody simply accepts the fixture now as an idiosyncrasy of the AFL. It drives me mad the way we stop questioning things because the AFL just never does anything about them. Then it becomes this cute oddity we occasionally scoff at.
Not everybody plays one another twice. That means the competition is always going to be skewed predicated on a club’s fixture. Think about the seasons where a middling club gets to play a struggling club twice. Think about the way we look at the ladder and qualify some clubs’ positions by who they’ve played.
The other issue is that clubs will often play one another twice before they’ve played everybody once.
How is that fair?
Some have insisted everybody should play one another twice, which would prolong the season. I couldn’t think of anything worse.
(AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy)
By Round 11, your bottom four to six teams are largely set. Imagine subjecting them to 13 more games. Teams from about seventh to 15th are just killing time. Do we need more games to establish that? The top four – and usually the top two – have already been identified.
We don’t need longer seasons to establish the pecking order.
Something else that’s a concern with a longer season is the attrition. Come the finals, I want to see what the best teams have to offer, rather than teams that have fallen in and are struggling with injuries.
One of the other problems with the current competition is that expansion has diluted the talent pool. Every round, there are any number of mediocre games.
We should be looking at a way to lift the standard of the competition rather than lower it.
The finals
The best finals system was the final five. The minor premier drew the biggest advantage, getting a bye in the first week of finals. The top three all had double chances. Fourth and fifth were constantly playing sudden death.
No system since the five five has been as fair.
The final eight is actually a bit of a farce – especially now they’ve introduced the pre-finals bye. There’s no advantage for finishing top. Finishing second is just as good as finishing first.
In some cases, finishing fifth or sixth might be better than finishing third or fourth if it means navigating tricky interstate assignments.
As for the finals themselves? Well, if first and second both win in Week 1, all they’re doing is biding time for a fortnight. If they lose in the second week, then finishing where they have has not advantaged them at all. Arguably, with the pre-finals bye, it hurts them to play so little over three weeks.
(AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy)
With the final five, the minor premier’s first game was the second semi-final (in Week 2 of the finals). If they won, they went straight into the grand final. If they lost, they went into the preliminary final – another chance to make the grand final. How good is that? Finishing minor premier gave a club two routes into the grand final.
Given the current use of the final eight, it would seem the fairest system they can implement, but it’s still one full of redundancies.
Looking forward
If I was given autonomy – and I know much of this is wishful thinking, and some will consider it radical and idealistic – here’s what I’d do.
As far as the regular season goes, everybody plays one another once. While interstate assignments are always going to give fixtures certain weighting (e.g. playing West Coast in Perth is tougher than playing them at home), at least playing one another once is fairer than what’s currently going on.
This is my plan for the end of the season.
The teams that finish 15th to 18th play a home-and-away round robin, which then determines the top four picks in the draft. Yes, this might mean the wooden spooner doesn’t get the number one pick. My response is this: so? Let’s stop rewarding abject failure. Make these teams aspire.
The teams that finish ninth to 14th play one another once, at the end of which a ladder is drawn. First plays fourth, second plays third, and the two winners go through to their own final. I’ll admit, I’ve struggled to find the right incentive to reward the victor. I would suggest they’re rewarded with pick five in the draft, and the finalists get a marquee fixture the next season, such as the Queen’s Birthday. I would give them Anzac Day, if you can wrest that from Collingwood versus Essendon.
The top eight teams are the finalists. They play a round-robin competition, with the home-ground advantage always going to the higher team. At the end of it, first and second from the round-robin ladder play in a best of three grand final series.
Now’s your time to truly scoff. Three grand finals?
I’ve been a champion of the best of three grand finals forever.
A best of three would cater for interstate grand finals.
It would also accommodate injured players and suspensions.
And it would introduce a brilliant tactical element where you would see coaches addressing what hurt them the previous week, having to cater for conditions or different venues, and trying new strategies to find an edge.
You also create different levels of excitement through rematches, such as watching teams having to come back from one-nil down.
I’ve never been a fan of this philosophy that the grand final is won by the best team on the day. I want the grand final won by the best team of the season.
Make that team prove that they can not only win the big one, but win it again.
Again, I know all this is idealistic. But what it does is that it gives meaning to the clubs come the end of the season. They’re all playing for something, rather than half the competition just killing time.
Also, with this system, the season isn’t much longer than it is now.
TeamAustralia
Roar Rookie
Hey Mr Right, Re your comment "This heavy support hasn’t had to continue for the Lions or the Swans." Does NOT apply to the Brisbane Bears , who while doing okay on the footy field, are still a financial basket case after 34 years in Qld - $102 million from the AFL last 5 years....and the uninformed keep bagging the Suns at $112 million over the past 5 years.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
BTW, Bobby Skilton who only ever played in one final throughout his whole career stated that he was against the move to Sydney at the time but in hindsight has said it was the best decision the club ever made. With their limited resources, South were never going to be in the premiership window if they stayed in Melb. But they have won a couple of flags since & consistently played in finals since the mid 80s. He is a trues Swans man. I wonder if true Swans supporters share his views?
TeamAustralia
Roar Rookie
I didn't watch AFL games on a regular basis for over a decade and a half. Aussie Rules belongs to the people and not to the AFL, so thankfully plenty of local footy to keep me interested. Foundation Member of the Suns so get my fill of AFL these days - hopefully it won't take us 93 years to win our first flag. ???? Once the VFL decided to go national Fitzroy's days were numbered - can't stop progress but that doesn't mean that you have to like it. On a side note my old mate Barry Rogers (who has since passed away) took South Melbourne to Sydney and was very successful in taking a fair slice of the Bloods family with him - a truly great sporting Administrator.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
Appreciate the feedback & I admire long term fans. I can only imagine what a bad taste it must have left in a lot of Fitzroy fans. Plenty of non Victorian clubs have received a lot of funding over the years. I think you would understand the AFL wanted to expand the game into to the both the 1st & 3rd largest cities in Australia to gain major national sponsorship from Foxtel, Toyota & other corporations. I don't think they lost any sponsorship by not bailing Fitzroy out. This heavy support hasn't had to continue for the Lions or the Swans & I don't believe this will continue long term for GWS. My feeling is it will have to continue for the Saints, Demons, Bulldogs & North. Due to your previous experience, I am interested to know if you think there is any other solution? BTW, my friend was a long term Fitzroy fan who's allegiance didn't head to Brisbane, she transferred her membership to Carlton. Did you lose interest in the game or did you start following another Melb club?
TeamAustralia
Roar Rookie
Sorry for the delay in response Mr Right, I've been neck deep with business challenges. All I said was a loathe the Brisbane Bears - am I not entitled to that opinion? And if it was a merger as the AFL and the Bears claim then why do the Bears list their game record holder as Simon Black when Kevin Murray played more games for Fitzroy? Heavy Funding huh? Hasn't been an issue for the AFL giving St Kilda $102 million over the last 5 years (only $10 million less than the Suns in that same 5 year period). You remember St Kilda, the team that took 93 years to win their first flag. The club that has been going 147 years and is still the AFL's charity program.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
TA, we haven't had any feedback from you? So I undertake you don't have any answer that would have kept Fitzroy viable except for heavy funding?
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
You are good ghost no doubt but I’m banking on you dropping a few in these weird circumstances whatever they may be, then facing the Eagles away in a preliminary where I think you get done.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
How many long term North, Doggies, Saints or Demons fans are going to stand up & accept a merger is their only way forward? The only way there will be any change in Melbourne is if the AFL mandates extreme low level funding for Victorian based teams. "swim or sink theory". All Victorian based teams will be really p*ssed off that interstate teams are receiving the $$$ so it is never going to happen.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
True tiger fans will always remember that exciting run into the finals. Watch the replay of the final couple of minutes of that Swans game. When Richmond won that game by 3 points I remember seeing Dusty, Cotchen, Rance & Riewoldt hugging each other & this inspired Richmond supporters. They replicated this euphoria 3 years later as you well know. I wouldn't begrudge long term Bulldogs fans of their first & only premiership in their lifetimes. This wouldn't have occurred with a top 5. Our great sport is funded by hopeful supporters. Lets keep as many of them as hopeful for as long as possible & practical.
Naughty's Headband
Roar Rookie
I think they were doomed with the advent of the professional era. Prior to the current socialisation of revenue they were never going to survive. The only way to survive was success, and to succeed in those days you needed money (ie. Carlton and Collingwood) Moving them to Brisbane at least saved some of their history. We decidedly as a family to switch to Footscray because my mum is a westie and has always been a Footscray fan so they were always our second team. We always had an affinity with underdogs, and as proud Victorians couldn’t follow a team from some far off place so the choice was easy.
The Brazilian
Roar Rookie
Yeah, fair point. We beat the Swans to make the 8 only to be bundled out like the average team that we were. I get it that it keeps fans interested for longer but as for quality finals action I still maintain a Final 5 is best. I read somewhere here on the Roar that a recent final between Port Adelaide and WC was the best game of the series that year. The truth is that was an awful game riddled with errors, neither team a genuine finals contender. It was, however, a close game decided by a dodgy Luke Schuey free kick. Maybe exciting for WC and Port fans I suppose but that was a game I didn't need to see. Top 5 is best.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
IAP, it would be good to get some insight from a Fitzroy fan. You had only won 1 premiership in previous 70 years? Very small supporter attendance. So what steps should the Football Club have undertaken between 1975-1995 so the club could of remained competitive & viable? Please don't comeback & tell us endless AFL handouts were the solution. What was your mindsight regarding following another team? Do you choose one & why?
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
TA, it would be good to get some insight from a Fitzroy fan. You had only won 1 premiership in previous 70 years? Very small supporter attendance. So what steps should the Football Club have undertaken between 1975-1995 so the club could of remained competitive & viable? Please don't comeback & tell us endless AFL handouts were the solution. What was your mindsight regarding following another team?
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
Yes you make a good point. Too many teams would be done and dusted early in the season with a top 5.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
TTF, I remember seeing media of footage of packed Richmond pubs on the 30/8/2014. There was Tiger fever in the air due to the fact that their team had won their last eight games. One more win would have their team in the finals for just the 2nd time in 13 years. They won in an upset, finished the season in 8th spot & these fans were ecstatic. Given final format options, how many of your fellow tiger supporters would have preferred to have their team performing in the Top 8 end of year circus or wanted the season over after about round 14 with the top 5 format back in 2014 when you only had a mid strength side?
Winnie the Pooh (Emperor of China)
Guest
Everyone plays everyone twice a season, then the league has a chance to make back the money lost through this Chinese virus. The players can quit if they don't like it.
Lukey Miller
Guest
I think all 18 teams should survive. It may be an 18 round season with every team playing each team once - with the addition of a tradition round (Collingwood v Carlton; Adelaide v Port; Sydney v GWS; WC v Freo etc.). Retain 16-17 minute quarters and then have only 40 interchanges per team, per game. The aim should be to try and make the game as attractive as possible. For instance, it would be great to have much less of all 44 players contesting in a 50 metre space (largely a creation of coaches - so good luck with that!). If we are going to reset then it would make sense to actually improve the game. Lastly, the game needs to deal properly with head high contact. A consistent and firm approach might save the game down the track. The AFL's current inconsistent and weak approach will cost it a fortune in the not too distant future.
The Ghost
Guest
Dream on Peter! The mighty Tigers have this one in the bag ( if the season gets off the ground again ). Eat ‘em alive Tigers!
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
See you in November for the GF then WCE. After you knock the Tigers out in the preliminary
RT
Roar Rookie
I guess it is an advantage only afforded to West Coast.