Finals Bye - Keep it or Ditch It

[CM9000]

Just starting this thread to find out whether the bye was a failure or success.

For me, personally, I think it is one of the reasons we lost.

 

[Godfather32]

Just starting this thread to find out whether the bye was a failure or success.

For me, personally, I think it is one of the main reasons we lost.

If you're saying we lost because the bye enabled the Bulldogs to bring in more of their injured players then you're starting to sound like Dockers ex-coach Excuses Harvey. If we couldn't beat a reasonably full strength Bulldogs side at home then we didn't deserve to progress anyway.

 

[CM9000]

If you're saying we lost because the bye enabled the Bulldogs to bring in more of their injured players then you're starting to sound like Dockers ex-coach Excuses Harvey. If we couldn't beat a reasonably full strength Bulldogs side at home then we didn't deserve to progress anyway.

Not at all, I think it's solely got to do with our team.

 

[bkozican]

The question is why is the 1st bye hated but teams win to get the 2nd bye?

 

[bkozican]

We didnt lose because of the bye! We lost because the team thought the Bulldogs would fold over here...instead they outplayed us everywhere. The bye is a weak excuse

 

[CM9000]

We didnt lose because of the bye! We lost because the team thought the Bulldogs would fold over here...instead they outplayed us everywhere. The bye is a weak excuse

On any other day at home, even at full strength, Footscray wouldn't have beaten us. I think it does have some merit.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

On any other day at home, even at full strength, Footscray wouldn't have beaten us. I think it does have some merit.

What a baseless comment.

Baseless.
Baseball.
Corey.
Corey Adamson.

NOW I'M MAD AGAIN

 

[bkozican]

On any other day at home, even at full strength, Footscray wouldn't have beaten us. I think it does have some merit.

If the bye can mess with the players that much then what does that tell you about the team...mentally weak.

 

[CM9000]

If the bye can mess with the players that much then what does that tell you about the team...mentally weak.

I wouldn't say their mentally weak given the circumstances.

 

[bkozican]

I wouldn't say their mentally weak given the circumstances.

Extreme circumstances?

We beat the top 3 teams then fold out at home...over hype. The group is fragile

 

[Godfather32]

I wouldn't say their mentally weak given the circumstances.

Stop it with this circumstances crap, we had 1 first 22 player out injured and were coming off a weeks rest, playing at home. That's about as ideal circumstances as you can get and we came out and played like it was a meaningless preseason game in suburban Adelaide.

 

[Keys]

Had my doubts on the bye but I think it worked out well for the most part

Sides get to recuperate for finals and I think all clubs had players that may have been doubtful without the bye including us

The Thursday final worked well (except the result) and it avoids a Sunday final which means no side has to deal with a 6 day break in the 2nd week

They need to make more of the bye weekend somehow although the women's game provided a good stage for them to get exposure

 

[CM9000]

Extreme circumstances?

We beat the top 3 teams then fold out at home...over hype. The group is fragile

Stop it with this circumstances crap, we had 1 first 22 player out injured and were coming off a weeks rest, playing at home. That's about as ideal circumstances as you can get and we came out and played like it was a meaningless preseason game in suburban Adelaide.

Give me an example of a team that makes the grand final one year, then an elimination final the next.

Give me an example of a season where one team list half its playing list, one couldn't perform because of bad coaching and another has been in a rebuild phase for nearly a decade.

Give me an example of a team which beat 3 top 4 teams in a row (apparently the first time in 100 years), has displayed it can handle high pressure footy, with all the best momentum of every team in the competition, and falls at the final hurdle for whatever reason.

I would call those extreme circumstances.

 

[Eastern Rangers]

Kill it, it benefits faster sides. Good teams over the home and away seasons deal with fatigue and injuries.

 

[Godfather32]

Give me an example of a team that makes the grand final one year, then an elimination final the next.

Give me an example of a season where one team list half its playing list, one couldn't perform because of bad coaching and another has been in a rebuild phase for nearly a decade.

Give me an example of a team which beat 3 top 4 teams in a row (apparently the first time in 100 years), has displayed it can handle high pressure footy, with all the best momentum of every team in the competition, and falls at the final hurdle for whatever reason.

I would call those extreme circumstances.

Those aren't circumstances that lead to us losing though. Extreme circumstances would be if we had 10 of our best 22 out injured, or if the entire team had food poisoning, or if Subiaco oval was unavailable so we had to play at the WACA.

 

[CM9000]

Those aren't circumstances that lead to us losing though. Extreme circumstances would be if we had 10 of our best 22 out injured, or if the entire team had food poisoning, or if Subiaco oval was unavailable so we had to play at the WACA.

Yeah, the second one isn't really why we lost he final, more so why we got there in the first place, but anyway, don't you think 2 weeks is a little too long?

I'm thinking about the mental side of things. Don't you think 2 weeks to soak in the media and hype would kill momentum and confidence?

Let's not also forget the anxiety of an elimination final i the first place, and the pressure on our group to make amends for last year.

I saw the 2015 Eagles for 3 weeks in a row against top 4 side, then they put in the worst performance of the year at the most important time. How does that happen?

 

[Godfather32]

Yeah, the second one isn't really why we lost he final, more so why we got there in the first place, but anyway, don't you think 2 weeks is a little too long?

I'm thinking about the mental side of things. Don't you think 2 weeks to soak in the media and hype is a little too much?

Let's not also forget the anxiety of an elimination final i the first place, and the pressure on our group to make amends for last year.

Nah, I didn't mind it, I think if it stays they'll probably move a lot of other events to that weekend as well to fill in the gaps.
If the pressure and hype gets to them that much then they're too mentally weak to win the GF anyway (as we've seen).

 

[Javelin]

Forgetting the argument about whether or not the Eagles lost because of the bye, as a fan I've never been more disinterested in the AFL finals. For the past 15 years I've insisted on watching every game of the finals, but this year I could barely be bothered, and that included the Eagles game. All enthusiasm I had for the finals was washed away due to the bye, and for that I say it has to go.

 

[The Dodger]

It did feel like a momentum killer as a fan. But it is good for teams to get players back as you want the best playing finals.

 

[ZergMinion]

We probably would have won if the Bulldogs had to travel two weeks in a row to Perth without a week off, and if they didn't get some of those players back (though maybe not with the attitude we turned up with), so in a sense you can assign a portion of the blame to the bye. However the bye has achieved it's goal of no mass resting in round 23 and aside from our shocker and North's predictable effort it has produced some great finals so far.

The bulldogs are now in with a genuine shot which they wouldn't have had otherwise (they can thank the bye for getting Hawthorn off an 8 day break instead of a 6 day break for instance). That by itself is pretty exciting.

I'll wait till after the grand final to finalize my opinion, but for now I don't hate the bye, despite it not helping us this time round. We still should have won regardless and a Thursday final would have set us up to go deep.

 

[Truckosaurus]

I've been to a lot of Thursday night games and I can't remember us winning one. I remember two putrid losses to Richmond where we didn't seem capable of running (sound familiar), the loss to Essendon (Boogate?), the loss to Adelaide earlier this year where we had two good quarters at least, and now this final. Am I missing a win somewhere or do we have issues with preparing for Thursday night games?

They're also a nightmare to get to.

Therefore, I'm opposed to anything that gives the AFL an excuse to stick us with one.

 

[javaguice]

Was shit for us this year. Might benefit us one day. If gws lose because of it afl will scrap it. Right now they think it's awesome coz dogs won.

 

[Woutizmoo]

Terrible idea AFL. Hopefully will be gone next year, I think im in favour or rivalry round for last round means no one shld have to travel that much

On SM-G930F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[eagles rule]

The purpose of the bye was too stop teams fielding a reserves side in the last game .Integrety ,betting and damaging fringe teams hopes of making finals all compromised .
The bye did eliminate the bad aspect of Rd 23 so agree on some way with it .
Remember when we were relying on Sydney to beat Richmond whilst we had to beat GC to make finals .

 

[new breed]

Only nine games in the finals series , makes the whole finals series longer less attractive ....plus all the trade talk starts earlier .

Don't like it , fine any club that is deemed to have rested or played teams outside the integrity of the game ....big fines $200k .