- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Roar Rookie
Joined August 2018
0
Views
0
Published
19
Comments
Published
Comments
Why should a six day break be so bad? I mean if you looked at next year’s fixture and at some stage your team have a bye then 7 days off then 6 days and then (if for argument’s sake Pies or GWS win the prelim) 8 days you’re hardly gonna pencil those games in as guaranteed losses.
What now for the Geelong Cats, the AFL's most interesting team?
That would be quite an interesting outcome. But can you tell me the last time TWO teams out of the top 4 played in the GF?
(BTW most of the time the prelim final is won by the team with the week off)
Five talking points from West Coast vs Collingwood
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
If the AFL wants to keep the pre-finals bye, it has to make more of it
Geelong may have still missed 5th though. Even allowing for the extra 5 points in Geelong’s FOR tally Melbourne’s percentage was better than Geelong’s with about 7 and a half minutes left in their game. If the Melbourne box was thinking they’d rather play the side they were currently 51 points ahead of instead of a Sydney team they’d lost to a fortnight ago the runners could have gone out and advised the players to make sure GWS didnt goal again.
Unprecedented strength in the bottom half of the eight
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.
If the AFL wants to keep the pre-finals bye, it has to make more of it
Nobody???
AFL teams want to get as many uninjured players from their best 22, moreso their very best few, playing lots of matches. They’re not interested in all players on their list playing 15 times each. Proper list management is about getting your best 22 on the park for these next 4 weekends. This is not like everyone getting a bat at beach cricket.
I’m glad we’ll see a few extra stars play in this final series
If the AFL wants to keep the pre-finals bye, it has to make more of it
Can you elaborate? Calling an idea “mickey mouse” gets no one anywhere
If the AFL wants to keep the pre-finals bye, it has to make more of it
Did you actually read my initial suggestion? I said you’d try and evenly divide the 10 teams into two groups of five. It may well be that the 25 players coming from the 9th to 13th are better than in the bottom 5 teams but you’d have 5 from some of the best teams and 5 from some of the worst teams to help even that out. Most years the two sides would be fairly evenly matched. But even then most years a coach won’t know if his players will be in the weaker or stronger team. Hell, often during round 23 he won’t even know if he’ll be fielding any players at all (i.e. his team scrape into the finals); quite a few positions in the bottom 10 might change that round; or even in the final H & A game of the year 3 of a bottom 10 team’s best 5 players hobble off badly enough to not play in this ‘super-match’.
As for game plan was that not always the case with State of Origin? Both teams would be in the same boat anyway. My match would be about the best available players doing what they try to do anyway performing well, which includes at times being selfless for the team cause.
Look, I think we’re stuck with the bye. The bye weekend is anticlimactic. But my suggestion is probably the closest we get to having some high-quality action in this lull. It all boils down to public interest. I reckon a lot of fans would be thrilled to see some of their players in action one last time, with the added benefit of a potential extra draft pick and a valuable big-match experience for their best. I reckon a lot of fans who have been watching several games each weekend would be thrilled to have one to tide them over before the final. The AFL would be happy with an extra game to profit from. The coaches would be happy with a potential extra draft pick to soften the blow of missing the 8. And there’d be plenty of players honoured to be chosen to represent their team, play in front of a large MCG crowd and win a draft pick that may turn their side’s fortunes around.
Honestly unless AFL fans would rather just complain about a weekend with no high-standard games my suggestion really does have great merit
If the AFL wants to keep the pre-finals bye, it has to make more of it
Why?! You have noticed how over the last decade there’s about half a dozen teams that nearly always play finals and half a dozen that don’t? No team’s going to deliberately miss finals just so they have a 50% chance of getting an extra draft pick. But a few extra top 15 picks over the last decade may have helped address the imbalances there currently are.
If the AFL wants to keep the pre-finals bye, it has to make more of it
Strangely as a Melbourne supporter my view on the bye has been the same each time (i.e. keep it but what to do with that boring weekend?)
If the AFL wants to keep the pre-finals bye, it has to make more of it
Argggggggggh! You’ve just about stolen my idea. 🙂 Anyway, what I suggest is over the bye weekend is two teams, comprised of players from the 10 teams that missed the finals, battling it out. It wouldn’t quite be the level of State of Origin, but it’d be the closest we’ll get these days. And it probably won’t quite be the level of the finals in week 1. But this match would be the best transition between round 23 and week 1 of finals.
Here’s how it would be done:
– Five good players are nominated by each club to represent them. Each team would consist of 25 players, and would have a few extra players on the bench. This buffer would mean it’s very unlikely that clubs could complain later that in an injury-riddled match one of their stars was forced to continue playing while injured. (There’d also need to be some safeguard with rotations to ensure some players are not over or under-used.)
– The bottom 10 clubs are equally divided into 2 sets of 5. Of course some years that’d be harder to do than others. But I’d suggest we use ladder positions. (Some viable combinations would be Team A comprising players from 9th, 10th, 16th, 17th & 18th vs Team B ( 11th to 15th) or 9th,11th,13th, 15th, 18th vs the rest)
– Hold the game at the MCG on the Saturday, probably in the evening
– Provide some incentive for the clubs, either money but preferably draft picks (Find a space in the draft such as from pick 11 to 15, or straight after the first round. The lowest club that played in the winning team would get the first of these picks, then the 2nd-lowest would get the 2nd and so forth)
Suddenly we’d have a game full of stars on both teams. Of course it’s not quite the same as State of Origin or a final but it’s damn near a hybrid. There’d be interest from fans seeing their team’s best play with better players and against better player in a high-pressure game, with incentives and hopefully a large crowd. By having it at the end of the season coaches couldn’t complain that it compromised their team’s year, and if there are bad injuries instead of players missing finals they’re likely to miss little or none of next year’s games.
This game would also be a chance for many players to get valuable experience playing in a finals-like atmosphere at the MCG. It could also be used as another chance for retiring players to be farewelled. Last week there would have been Victorian supporters watching some of their players say bye on the other side of the country. Some years fans only know that round 23 will be a player’s last game ONCE the results decide the final 8. This is another chance to say goodbye, especially given so many football fans can’t or won’t be getting to the grand final weeks later.
I don’t know about admission prices. But this match could be a real celebration of AFL.
All that the non-finalist teams could complain about is :
Putting Mad Monday back a week.
Playing in September (!)
Having players participate in a 23rd (instead of 22nd) game for the year
As long as there’s enough interest from AFL fans ( you know the ones crying out for a good game this weekend) this is a real goer. Thoughts?
If the AFL wants to keep the pre-finals bye, it has to make more of it
Cameron,
Do you barrack for Collingwood or the Eagles? I agree that the fixture isn’t perfect but should why should a team using their double chance get an extra two days break AND if it’s inevitable why should 2nd or 3rd get it rather than 1st? Yes, most years 1st will beat 4th in the first week. But if they don’t the week after they could play 5th (with one day extra off) while it may be that 3rd now play 7th (and TWO days extra off) The minor premier may have won 5 or 6 more H&A games than the 3rd team but now here they are watching this inferior side be given an extra advantage in week 2. Why? It makes no sense.
Surely the finals should be fixtured so that at worst teams will get at most an extra day’s rest than their rival in week 2 AND that it’s the top 4 side using their double chance getting that day. It’s fairer. I’m not sure how the possibility of Richmond (18 wins) facing Melbourne(14) in week 2 on the Friday (with a 7 day vs 6.5 day break) while Collingwood (15) play Sydney(14) on Saturday (with a 9 day vs 7 day break) would reward Richmond for winning 20% more games.
The Week 1 AFL finals fixture is a disaster
I agree about percentage. But the Demons have virtually the same percentage! You do realise if just one more Melbourne behind had been converted into a goal they’d now (JUST) have a better percentage than Geelong?
And as has been said the players in 2 bottom-six sides making their final interstate trip in long, gruelling years are hardly gonna find huge motivation when all they can do for an hour is try and reduce a huge deficit
Nine hot takes from AFL Round 23
Kaniel,
What a nasty post, especially hours after such a big win for Melbourne.
. Fine, you don’t like Melbourne but your state doesn’t? So there’s perennially hated Collingwood, drug cheats Essendon and Hawthorn that has been ridiculously successful but you’ve decided Melbourne give them a good run for their money? That’s funny. I would have thought the ‘loser’ sides like North, St Kilda and till recently Bulldogs and Tigers didn’t do enough to warrant hatred
No one gives a damn about Melbourne? Sheesh. Take your stereotypes elsewhere.
Eight hot takes from AFL Round 22
Yes, you are. Some might even call this slander.
What now for the Geelong Cats, the AFL's most interesting team?