I'm going to use a couple of examples particularly close to my own heart, the 2006 and 2018 West Coast premierships.
For those who may not remember or weren't old enough to remember - Channel 10 used to change the traditional countdown clock seen on all modern AFL telecasts to a count-up clock for the final 5 minutes of matches they televised.
This gave viewers at home a similar level of suspense to those who were at the ground. It meant that viewers didn't know when the siren would go, as we all know the count-up clock doesn't stop for stoppages and scores.
In blowouts this was largely redundant, but for close, nailbitting affairs like the 2006 Grand Final, it got the heart racing just a little bit more. Losing an idea of when the siren would go made me personally sit on the edge of my seat right up until the last stoppage on Sydney's right forward flank. When the siren went it was a release of pure elation.
Contrast this to the 2018 Grand Final, where once the ball went out of play in West Coast's right forward pocket we knew the game was done, as we knew there was under 10 seconds left thanks to 7's traditional countdown clock. At this point my family all started hugging and ya'hooing as we knew the game was done. Had the 5 minute warning still been in use, we would've still been glued to the tele. It would've made an already adrenaline rushing afternoon go up another notch. I may have actually died without the clock in this match.
