Do the equalisation methods need tweaking?

[legend166]

It's officially the off season, so time for an off season thread!

So, in the last 15 years, 7 clubs have won flags. Those same 7 clubs have also been runners up 9 times in the last 7 years. It wouldn't be surprising if one of those 7 clubs won again next year, with Hawthorn, West Coast, Sydney and possibly Geelong aiming for the top 4 again.

Now, based on these figures it's pretty hard to say that the current equalisation methods employed by the AFL (that being the draft and the salary cap) aren't doing a very good job.

I think everyone agrees that a competition which has a healthy rotation of sides competing is much more enjoyable (unless of course your side is at the top). So what changes can be implemented to try and achieve this? Or is everything fine and once we have a few years of uninterrupted drafts we'll be okay?

I think we need to look at the structure of the draft. I don't think the way it works at the moment is ideal for the way Australian Football is played. There's probably no other team sport where the performance of one individual player is so relatively small. And yet the idea of the draft is that you can rebuild by getting to pick one player per round.

I think we should look at a draft that increases the amount of picks per round for the lower ranked side. Something like last place gets picks 1&10, second last gets 2&12, etc. Or something like that. Speed up the process of rebuilding through the draft.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Fixture needs to be tweaked first of all

 

[thebarry111]

Two teams need to be culled. The standard of football is getting worse every year.

 

[The Speaker]

Equalisation in an inherently unequal competition can only do so much.

And equalisation should not seek to have the same results for every club, otherwise there's not much point in the league at all. Just hand out the premiership to a different team each year and be done with it.

 

[legend166]

Fixture needs to be tweaked first of all

Which of the premiers in the last 15 years do you think would not have won if an even fixture was in place.

I agree the unequal fixture is dumb, but I think it does more to promote inequality off the field than it does on the field. Off course the two often go hand in hand, but I think there are other things that need fixing first.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Which of the premiers in the last 15 years do you think would not have won if an even fixture was in place.

I agree the unequal fixture is dumb, but I think it does more to promote inequality off the field than it does on the field. Off course the two often go hand in hand, but I think there are other things that need fixing first.

All of the above

 

[Rob]

You can't equalise good management.

 

[King Elvis]

Any team that challenges for a flag will generally do so for 2-4 years, it's the nature of it, while their list is in their prime.

Equalization is a joke with the fixture how it is, and, more importantly, with free agency.

 

[melbournemartin]

A team drafted, traded and developed well. They are now reaping the benefits.

Knee-jerk reactions, here we come.

 

[SSSSSS]

How to be a good team.

Step 1. Have a good administration.
Step 2. Draft well. There are gems late in the draft.
Step 3. Identify weaknesses and rectify them through trading.
Step 4. Make use of FA where beneficial.
Step 5. Have an excellent coaching team.
Step 6. Have an excellent game plan. (Usually innovative expanding on previous ideas or ahead of their time)
Step 7. Execute said game plan to ones abilities as consistently as possible.
Step 8. A bit of luck doesn't go a stray.

If all these things were easy we'd have a different team winning a flag each year.

As it currently stands only Geelong, Hawthorn and maybe Sydney have ticked these boxes. The best run clubs on-field and off-field naturally should be the best teams and win.

It all starts from the top. Why are Carlton, Brisbane, Essendon junk? They are run poorly.

 

[King Elvis]

How to be a good team.

Step 1. Have a good administration.
Step 2. Draft well. There are gems late in the draft.
Step 3. Identify weaknesses and rectify them through trading.
Step 4. Make use of FA where beneficial.
Step 5. Have an excellent coaching team.
Step 6. Have an excellent game plan. (Usually innovative expanding on previous ideas or ahead of their time)
Step 7. Execute said game plan to ones abilities as consistently as possible.
Step 8. A bit of luck doesn't go a stray.

If all these things were easy we'd have a different team winning a flag each year.

As it currently stands only Geelong, Hawthorn and maybe Sydney have ticked these boxes. The best run clubs on-field and off-field naturally should be the best teams and win.

It all starts from the top. Why are Carlton, Brisbane, Essendon junk? They are run poorly.

Spot on.

I look at the Crows - what's our Plan?

How are we going to achieve it?

Unfortunately, our appears to be to play finals, and be a good team; we aren't ruthless, we don't cull players who fail on the big stage, we aren't aggressive enough at trading in players to address specific Requirements (and trading out those who are surplus to requirements); we're pretty good, and that seems to be the level we've aimed for.

The Hawks are completely different. They know what their goal is. They know how to achieve it - and they do it.

 

[STFU Donnie]

A team drafted, traded and developed well. They are now reaping the benefits.

Knee-jerk reactions, here we come.

Nail. Head. Hit.

 

[STFU Donnie]

How to be a good team.

Step 1. Have a good administration.
Step 2. Draft well. There are gems late in the draft.
Step 3. Identify weaknesses and rectify them through trading.
Step 4. Make use of FA where beneficial.
Step 5. Have an excellent coaching team.
Step 6. Have an excellent game plan. (Usually innovative expanding on previous ideas or ahead of their time)
Step 7. Execute said game plan to ones abilities as consistently as possible.
Step 8. A bit of luck doesn't go a stray.

If all these things were easy we'd have a different team winning a flag each year.

As it currently stands only Geelong, Hawthorn and maybe Sydney have ticked these boxes. The best run clubs on-field and off-field naturally should be the best teams and win.

It all starts from the top. Why are Carlton, Brisbane, Essendon junk? They are run poorly.

See my previous post.

EDIT: I really feel this post needs better acknowledgement. A superb summing up of the issues.

 

[mfcrox]

Fixing free agency would be a good start.

Right now you can be Hawthorn, and have a free agent come to your club and fill a void in your starting 18, and also keep the first round draft pick that once upon a time you would have had to trade away. So they get potentially two gun players for the cost of one.

That's fair :-/

 

[hawkman]

Get rid of the salary cap floor for starters. Carlton players shouldn't be earning the same as Hawthorn players. All of sudden you will see the big clubs players get targeted on big deals

Will never happen because of the AFLPA

 

[Heeney2Franklin]

Which of the premiers in the last 15 years do you think would not have won if an even fixture was in place.

I agree the unequal fixture is dumb, but I think it does more to promote inequality off the field than it does on the field. Off course the two often go hand in hand, but I think there are other things that need fixing first.

Go back a few years do you think the ladder would look differently if say Collingwood, Hawthorn had to travel to Simmonds and play Geelong at home? or Collingwood travel to play Hawthorn at Tassie.

Remember even one loss could change the whole mix of the top 4.

 

[beta_condition]

People need to learn the meaning of equalisation in context to a competition

 

[Mitchell54]

Get rid of the salary cap floor for starters. Carlton players shouldn't be earning the same as Hawthorn players. All of sudden you will see the big clubs players get targeted on big deals

Will never happen because of the AFLPA

Mate, that's the last thing we want to happen. It would destroy the game. The wealthier teams would dominate(similar to soccer e.g. Barcelona, Man City etc.)

 

[SSSSSS]

How to be a good team.

Step 1. Have a good administration.
Step 2. Draft well. There are gems late in the draft.
Step 3. Identify weaknesses and rectify them through trading.
Step 4. Make use of FA where beneficial.
Step 5. Have an excellent coaching team.
Step 6. Have an excellent game plan. (Usually innovative expanding on previous ideas or ahead of their time)
Step 7. Execute said game plan to ones abilities as consistently as possible.
Step 8. A bit of luck doesn't go a stray.

If all these things were easy we'd have a different team winning a flag each year.

As it currently stands only Geelong, Hawthorn and maybe Sydney have ticked these boxes. The best run clubs on-field and off-field naturally should be the best teams and win.

It all starts from the top. Why are Carlton, Brisbane, Essendon junk? They are run poorly.

Just to expand I do believe there is a sense of 'haves' and 'have-nots' within the league. Some clubs are just genuinely behind the ball for various reasons be it financial, fanbase etc. I think equalisation methods should focus less on the on-field aspect (i.e drafting, trading and FA) and focus more on the administrative off-field side such as the fixture and financing. Hopefully the TV rights will benefit these clubs who have less to work with.

However while I can sympathize with these 'have-not' clubs it doesn't excuse them for being poor. It just makes things harder. It takes more creativity, innovation and planning for these clubs to improve their standings. An example of this being Hawthorn and their expansion within Tasmania. Perhaps it was a bit of right place and right time (see luck) but it was a risky venture that paid off massively setting up our fortunes to make our Premiership tilts. I think the new direction taken by the Bulldogs is very admirable and hopefully it pays off for them.

I can not sympathize for clubs such as Carlton and Essendon who have the means but do not have the want to make these hard calls and changes. Expecting things to happen rather than doing things is the dumbest possible way to chase success. There is no justifiable reason as to why these clubs who have access to a large fanbase, considerable financing and decent facilities can be so poorly run.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

A team drafted, traded and developed well. They are now reaping the benefits.

Knee-jerk reactions, here we come.

OP pointed out that we've only had 7 different premiers in the last 15 years, so it's hardly a knee-jerk reaction just to today's result.

 

[Crankyhawk]

Maybe reintroduce the old PP (round 1 if less than 5 wins) and accept that tanking will happen?

 

[King Elvis]

Agreed - a much better system than having it made based on no facts or data, just opinions.

Fixing free agency would be a good start.

Right now you can be Hawthorn, and have a free agent come to your club and fill a void in your starting 18, and also keep the first round draft pick that once upon a time you would have had to trade away. So they get potentially two gun players for the cost of one.

That's fair :-/

Free Agency is a disaster, and you've hit another reason perfectly on the head.

 

[Tas]

Hawthorn had finished rebuilding prior to the compromised drafts, the three years of compromised drafts denied the talent that clubs who hadn't finished rebuilding needed, this has seen the lack of any real contender arising that was caught in the comprised draft window.

I think West Coast have benefitted from yo-yoing from good team to a terrible team every few years, it results them in getting easier draw this year and also helped them to sneak in and pick up Gaff at pick 4, and Darling with a priority pick they didn't deserve during the compromised drafts. They didn't get a whole lot out of the other compromised drafts, but did pick up a fair bit of talent just prior to those compromised drafts.

Eagles are probably 2 class players short of where they would have been and other clubs that didn't suck bad enough to get priority picks and or look Melbourne-esque at times are probably 3-4 players short of better quality talent.

That is the problem with the draft as the talent distribution tool, when you manipulate the distribution of talent too much, you * the system up. Father son, Free Agency and FA compensation are other factors pushing talent further way from clubs that were in a window to push out the old guard of Geelong, Hawthorn and Swans.

They just do not have the top-end cattle, they have been denied their fair access to the talent pool by the AFL playing god with expansion and allowing the teams on top to access FA at no cost, of course you are going to have good quality players who want to have a shot at a flag towards the end of their career.

The AFL has created this monster, they handed out so many priority access of talent to Hawthorn and the Swans and they have been difficult to dislodge from the top, and they have denied the rest the same kind of access, of course they are not going to push them, we are waiting for their players to retire or get hurt, that isn't a functional system.

 

[Heeney2Franklin]

Wait what priority access to us?

 

[Tas]

Wait what priority access to us?

COLA has allowed you to lure players like Franklin and Tippett, Academy has already given you Heeney, will get Mills this year. Teams that end up in the top 4 don't need or deserve a leg up on the other teams trying to catch them.