Bye structure alternatives

[MemoryLane]

Hello

I am aware that there is talk that the bye rounds will be consolidated to allow for a mid season draft period.

But in case that is delayed by a year, I would propose an alternative structure to AFL house for next year.

We all know they and journalists read BF/social media for their ideas.

I would make the bye rounds over two weeks.

Week 1 I would play off all the Vic sides against each other as close to rivalries as possible (5 total games)

In the weekdays preceding this round I would create a bunch of feature programs about each club and the VFL. Histories, legends, moments everything. A real celebration .


Week 2 I would have the interstate teams play (total 4 games) in their state rivalries.

Friday night - Showdown
Saturday arvo - Battle of the Bridge
Saturday night - Derby
Sunday arvo - Q clash.

Again in the weekdays leading up you have features on clubs and leagues (NEAFL, SANFL, WAFL,). Again, a real celebration of the clubs and state leagues. Their histories , legends etc.

Clubs could even use this as a chance to wear heritage jumpers too.

I think it'd be a really great couple of weeks to check out what you didn't know before from another part of Australia.

It would also allow the biggest rivalries in the AFL to get the airtime without competition.

Perhaps someone else could give me their take on how the Vics best matchup on such a weekend but using a Thursday night would mean zero clashes.

So, thoughts on the above?

Alternatives for how you would structure the bye/s?

 

[CarterS]

Would rather they keep it simple and just give us all a week off the footy, have to say I lose a bit of enthusiasm with 3 half rounds in a row.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

I'm finw with it as is. It leaves enough footy each weekend.
The main thing I would change is that teams coming off the bye play teams coming off the bye, and (ideal but less important) teams going into the bye play teams going into the bye.

 

[HTT]

One week off after R11

When the fixture is released, the games up until the week off are set in time slots. Games after this are floating like in R23 now
After about R6 or 7, which is early enough to pick teams that have either gone to shit or shot up the ladder, all remaining games are locked into timeslots. Due to the week off before, prevents an event like this year where Richmond v Brisbane is, at this stage, looking like one of the biggest games of the round, yet would force a 5 day break if made the Friday night game.

 

[MemoryLane]

One week off after R11

When the fixture is released, the games up until the week off are set in time slots. Games after this are floating like in R23 now
After about R6 or 7, which is early enough to pick teams that have either gone to s**t or shot up the ladder, all remaining games are locked into timeslots. Due to the week off before, prevents an event like this year where Richmond v Brisbane is, at this stage, looking like one of the biggest games of the round, yet would force a 5 day break if made the Friday night game.

Not sure Virgin would necessarily like this?

 

[Billy ray]

One round of byes at round 14
On that weekend the womens aflw final can be held. Their season can be run in parallel with the afl from end march.

 

[Handsuper47]

There's a super easy way to do it - everyone takes a week off and have the mid season trade/draft around that point.

 

[Kram]

Split it over 2 weeks instead of 3.

 

[BIRDBRAIN]

There really does need to be a moratorium on 'ideas'.

 

[4THAWN]

Not a big fan of the current 3 week shortened fixtures.

Really just makes for 3 generally sub-par weeks of AFL football.

Have 1 clear cut bye week with no matches.

Or you could even just play a 22 week season with a pre-finals bye and eliminate the traditional mid-season bye.

 

[adammania9]

The AFL lose a lot of clicks and money if there’s no footy over an entire weekend during the H&A season.

The best solution is bringing back split round which is coincidentally also a solution for SuperCoach players. 5 games on the first weekend, 4 on the next and boom goes the dynamite

 

[Bomberboyokay]

Would rather they keep it simple and just give us all a week off the footy, have to say I lose a bit of enthusiasm with 3 half rounds in a row.

Not going to happen. Week with no games = week of people watching other sports.

 

[caspian]

Shorten it to two weeks and make the fixture floating

I like the idea of a vfl/wafl/sanfl/neafl tribute round, but strikes me that you could just do them in regular H&A rounds. Doesn’t need the bye for it.

 

[MemoryLane]

Shorten it to two weeks and make the fixture floating

I like the idea of a vfl/wafl/sanfl/neafl tribute round, but strikes me that you could just do them in regular H&A rounds. Doesn’t need the bye for it.

You could do it anytime I suppose, it just works neatly with the bye because you could focus one weekend on Victoria and one round on everywhere else.

Really I guess the idea is probably more for the history buffs and the idea of documentaries etc could be done anytime really.

 

[dmac_55]

The pre finals bye should be changed to a pre GF bye. With floating fixture for R23 and the option to play Thursday games there is no need for a pre finals bye.

Let the bye happen when the GF teams are set and no difference in breaks and helps interstate teams travel.

Have the Brownlow etc on the Thursday or Friday night of the “week off” before the big day.

Basically the NFL version (I can’t believe that the AFL didn’t adopt this anyone in the first place)

 

[nobbyiscool]

I'd just take the one week off for all clubs.

The mid-season draft/trade period keeps the AFL in the news.

Have the (non-AFL listed) best from the VFL vs WAFL and NEAFL vs SANFL.

Have an AFLW All-star game.

And maybe even let the other codes know well ahead of time that you're going to be doing it and give them some air time. This won't happen - those who say "the AFL doesn't want people discovering other sports" are right - but the AFL doesn't lose a single thing by giving up some air time for other sports.

You take a mid-season bye, it's a natural fit for the years Melbourne hosts State of Origin. It gives the Storm some airtime vs the Roosters or Broncos (and maybe the Rebels, but no one gives a shit about them.) You have the Vixens/Collingwood derby in the netball and make sure the Adelaide and Perth teams have home games.

And from the AFL's perspective, the timing towards the end of June doesn't really give the round ball code any sort of leg up - which is really what they're worried about more than rugby league, rugby union or netball.

Again, I know none of this will happen, I just don't think the AFL loses anything from this, and those of us who are open-minded to other sports aren't bored shitless for a weekend.

 

[EDFL follower]

Why dont they just play 8 games a weekend for 9 weeks and give a bye to the 2 teams that are playing the following Thursday night

 

[parano1a]

Week 1 I would play off all the Vic sides against each other as close to rivalries as possible (5 total games)

In the weekdays preceding this round I would create a bunch of feature programs about each club and the VFL. Histories, legends, moments everything. A real celebration .


Week 2 I would have the interstate teams play (total 4 games) in their state rivalries.

Friday night - Showdown
Saturday arvo - Battle of the Bridge
Saturday night - Derby
Sunday arvo - Q clash.

I quite like this idea but would alter it slightly to include Swans v Lions as part of the VFL celebration round in Week 1.

Week 2: Showdown Friday night, WA Derby Saturday night, GC v GWS Sunday arvo.

 

[MemoryLane]

I quite like this idea but would alter it slightly to include Swans v Lions as part of the VFL celebration round in Week 1.

Week 2: Showdown Friday night, WA Derby Saturday night, GC v GWS Sunday arvo.

Ooooooh controversial!

Its an interesting idea.

I think the appeal of a local derby and no travel for any side would perhaps trump the Fitzroy/South Melbourne thing in the real world but I quite like your idea.