Sounds crazy doesn't it - but it isn't.
There is much discussion about what the right interchange cap should be for the AFL.
Well, certainly many icons of the game can't even agree what a good number would be. So what does that tell you? It tells you there is NO RIGHT ANSWER (In particular).
What do we love about our Great Game? UNCERTAINTY.
What do we hate about our Great Game? Being ruined by the coaches exploiting rules to the nth degree and potentially making the game boring.
What's the answer? Diminish the power of the coaches by having NO SET INTERCHANGE CAP. Thereby making it impossible for the coaches to game the interchange on a week-to-week basis.
Having a flexible interchange cap each round (and including finals) will mean teams have to develop greater flexibility to deal with the different circumstances each round. It will be fair for all teams playing in a given round so as not to disadvantage a team the following week.
So what happens?
Each Wednesday night - before teams are named - the AFL will conduct a random draw to determine how many interchanges each team will get for that Round's matches.
It could be 40 per game, 60 per game, 80 per game, 100 per game, 120 per game, or unlimited interchanges. 6 different possibilities.
What do we get? Uncertainty. The coaches will hate it - but - the game is not designed to be easy for the coaches.
This new idea is innovative and unpredictable - exactly what we like about our Great Game.
What else does this do? It gives us a sample size of games each year with which to judge the various different levels of interchange against each other. After a few years we would have an idea about what level works best, or we could just - ideally - keep the unpredictable varying interchange.
It will make our game UNIQUE again, more so than it has appeared in the last few years, and it will be at the cutting edge of innovation which proves our game is able to innovate and stay ahead of the pack.
Truly why our game is the greatest game of all - as we all know.
Discuss.
There is much discussion about what the right interchange cap should be for the AFL.
Well, certainly many icons of the game can't even agree what a good number would be. So what does that tell you? It tells you there is NO RIGHT ANSWER (In particular).
What do we love about our Great Game? UNCERTAINTY.
What do we hate about our Great Game? Being ruined by the coaches exploiting rules to the nth degree and potentially making the game boring.
What's the answer? Diminish the power of the coaches by having NO SET INTERCHANGE CAP. Thereby making it impossible for the coaches to game the interchange on a week-to-week basis.
Having a flexible interchange cap each round (and including finals) will mean teams have to develop greater flexibility to deal with the different circumstances each round. It will be fair for all teams playing in a given round so as not to disadvantage a team the following week.
So what happens?
Each Wednesday night - before teams are named - the AFL will conduct a random draw to determine how many interchanges each team will get for that Round's matches.
It could be 40 per game, 60 per game, 80 per game, 100 per game, 120 per game, or unlimited interchanges. 6 different possibilities.
What do we get? Uncertainty. The coaches will hate it - but - the game is not designed to be easy for the coaches.
This new idea is innovative and unpredictable - exactly what we like about our Great Game.
What else does this do? It gives us a sample size of games each year with which to judge the various different levels of interchange against each other. After a few years we would have an idea about what level works best, or we could just - ideally - keep the unpredictable varying interchange.
It will make our game UNIQUE again, more so than it has appeared in the last few years, and it will be at the cutting edge of innovation which proves our game is able to innovate and stay ahead of the pack.
Truly why our game is the greatest game of all - as we all know.
Discuss.