Fixture structure (399th time!?) 2 conferences brings some fairness e.g. geelong get all home games and finals at kardinia

Pessimistic

Cancelled
30k Posts 10k Posts HBF's Milk Crate - 70k Posts TheBrownDog
Sep 13, 2000
86,852
42,951
Melbourne cricket ground. Australia
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Horks
—even home and awy fixture
—correct seedings in finals
—teams wanting home finals get them

So

2 conferences. One is the 9 teams sharing MCG or Docklands, the other is the teams with home grounds not in melbourne (yes including Geelong)

Home and away season - teams play other eight teams in their conference twice, and the teams in other conference once makes 25 games
Alternate home and away between the conferences. The final order in each conference

Finals - top three in each conference go into their own pool finals. The grand final (at the MCG sorry) is between the winners of each conference finals series. To avoid the situation we had with aflw conferences, two further places in each finals series are filled by the next best four teams

So theres five in each finals series, which is played off as the old final five, one of the best finals series versions ever

In the finals:
The Melbourne pool plays all the finals at the MCG, a neutral ground for melbourne teams. It want a problem to anyone for decades.
For the Australa pool. The higher team plays the final at their home ground whather it be kardinis, gold coast, homebush, brisbane, SCG adelaide oval or perth stadium. Each pool is completely fair and let there be no arguments, they get what they have been asking for

Disadvantages:

Theres plenty, but arent people saying fairness should be the over riding imperative?

By the way, l dont like the conference idea
 
Last edited:

JayJ20

Brownlow Medallist
Aug 28, 2016
17,146
26,093
AFL Club
Essendon
So Geelong basically travel all the time and the rest of us play in Melbourne for most of the year.

giphy.gif
 

JohnZ

Norm Smith Medallist
Mar 10, 2016
7,757
11,594
AFL Club
Geelong
They get 12 home games and finals
You really think the AFL would do that?

Increase the AFL to 24 teams. Create EPL style divisions instead of NFL style conferences.

Bottom 4 of Div 1 switch places with Top 4 of Div 2 each year. Each division plays 22 games (allows for a full H+A season for all clubs within a division).

Div 2 plays a top 4 finals series over 3 weeks with a GF on the saturday of the 3rd week of finals
Div 1 plays a top 5 finals series over 4 weeks with a GF on the saturday of the 4th week of finals

Finals
Week 1
Thursday: Div 1 2v3
Friday: Div 1 4v5 (loser eliminated)
Saturday: Div 2 1v2
Sunday: Div 2 3v4 (loser eliminated)

Week 2
Thursday: Div 1 1v2 (winner into the GF)
Friday: Div 1 3v4 (loser eliminated)
Saturday: Div 2 2v3 (loser eliminated)

Week 3
Friday: Div 1 2v3 (loser eliminated)
Saturday: Div 2 1v2 (winner -> premier)

Week 4
Saturday Div 1 1v2 (winner -> premier)
 

kid_a

Club Legend
Apr 5, 2010
2,317
1,177
Perf
AFL Club
West Coast
Other Teams
Hammarby IF, East Freo, Glory
If you are going to do conferences it should'nt be Melbourne teams in one and the rest in another, it should be:

Conference A-
5x Victorian clubs
2x WA clubs
2x NSW Clubs

Conference B-
5x Victorian clubs
2x SA clubs
2x QLD clubs

This at least evens out the travel factor somewhat.

but, no need for conferences. 18 is a good number for a sole division.
 

Pessimistic

Cancelled
30k Posts 10k Posts HBF's Milk Crate - 70k Posts TheBrownDog
Sep 13, 2000
86,852
42,951
Melbourne cricket ground. Australia
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Horks
You really think the AFL would do that?

Increase the AFL to 24 teams. Create EPL style divisions instead of NFL style conferences.

Bottom 4 of Div 1 switch places with Top 4 of Div 2 each year. Each division plays 22 games (allows for a full H+A season for all clubs within a division).

Div 2 plays a top 4 finals series over 3 weeks with a GF on the saturday of the 3rd week of finals
Div 1 plays a top 5 finals series over 4 weeks with a GF on the saturday of the 4th week of finals

Finals
Week 1
Thursday: Div 1 2v3
Friday: Div 1 4v5 (loser eliminated)
Saturday: Div 2 1v2
Sunday: Div 2 3v4 (loser eliminated)

Week 2
Thursday: Div 1 1v2 (winner into the GF)
Friday: Div 1 3v4 (loser eliminated)
Saturday: Div 2 2v3 (loser eliminated)

Week 3
Friday: Div 1 2v3 (loser eliminated)
Saturday: Div 2 1v2 (winner -> premier)

Week 4
Saturday Div 1 1v2 (winner -> premier)

How does the draft work? Its a hidden shitshow at the moment but sending all the best players to div 2 would show it up completely

And no they wont. But it might shut Geelong up for a while. Its also showing up the nice little raket theyve got going which they should stfu about quite frankly
 

Pessimistic

Cancelled
30k Posts 10k Posts HBF's Milk Crate - 70k Posts TheBrownDog
Sep 13, 2000
86,852
42,951
Melbourne cricket ground. Australia
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Horks
If you are going to do conferences it should'nt be Melbourne teams in one and the rest in another, it should be:

Conference A-
5x Victorian clubs
2x WA clubs
2x NSW Clubs

Conference B-
5x Victorian clubs
2x SA clubs
2x QLD clubs

This at least evens out the travel factor somewhat.

but, no need for conferences. 18 is a good number for a sole division.

That arrangement doesnt provide the finals fairness that I highlight. The conferences MUST heve their own finals series or theres no point
 

JohnZ

Norm Smith Medallist
Mar 10, 2016
7,757
11,594
AFL Club
Geelong
How does the draft work? Its a hidden s**tshow at the moment but sending all the best players to div 2 would show it up completely
Draft would continue to work as it does currently. Draft pick 1 goes to 12th in Div 2 up to pick 12 going to 1st in Div 2, then pick 13 going to 12th in Div 1 up to pick 24 going to 1st in Div 1.
 

Truckosaurus

Brownlow Medallist
Oct 19, 2009
14,686
35,310
Perth
AFL Club
West Coast
Geelong don't want all home games at Kardinia. They get more money with home and away games against big Vic clubs being at the MCG, which is why they keep doing it. But when the AFL follows the same logic with finals (where it gets the gate)...
 

Pessimistic

Cancelled
30k Posts 10k Posts HBF's Milk Crate - 70k Posts TheBrownDog
Sep 13, 2000
86,852
42,951
Melbourne cricket ground. Australia
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Horks
Draft would continue to work as it does currently. Draft pick 1 goes to 12th in Div 2 up to pick 12 going to 1st in Div 2, then pick 13 going to 12th in Div 1 up to pick 24 going to 1st in Div 1.

You dont see a problem there? Ps dont knowhow it would work wit conferences either
 

AndyD

Club Legend
Dec 23, 2006
1,009
373
Melbourne
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
No need for conferences, but a 26 game fixture could solve most of the problems for an 18 team comp. You’d play every team once, and then double up against 9 other teams. You could then never go more than 2 years without playing every team home and away. Given a team would have 18 double up games over a 2 year period, it would also ensure derby/showdowns etc could be held every year. Using Adelaide as an example, assume in year one, they doubled up against Bris, Carl, Coll, Ess, Freo, Gee, GWS, Gold Coast and Port, then in year 2 they double up against Haw, Mel, NM, Port, Rich, St Kilda, Syd, WCE and WB. The double up for the interstate clubs is obvious, with the Vic clubs it gets a bit tricky but Coll/Carl, Ess/Rich, Haw/Gee, Mel/NM, Saints/Dogs seems about right. There could be some minor quibbling about Collin/Carl/Rich/Essendon wanting to play each other twice every year, but under this scenario it would still happen every other year, and the double up team could be rotated every couple of years to change it up.

The major issue with going to 26 games is obviously the extra 4 games. Finding time in the fixture isn’t a big deal considering the length of the pre season and the byes through the course of the season. It’s the physical toll the additional 4 full games would have on the players bodies etc. However, reducing quarter times by 2 and 1/2 minutes a quarter would mean players would only play an extra 60 minutes over the course of a season (Working on 20 minute quarters x 4 at 80 mins a game x 22 games for 1,760 minutes of game time against 17 and 1/2 minute quarters x 4 at 70 mins a game x 26 games for 1,820 minutes of game time). Normal time on rules would apply as currently, so it wouldn’t be a strict 17 and 1/2 minute quarters, it’s just that current quarters would end 2 and 1/2 minutes earlier (so a 32 minute quarter now would end at 29 and 1/2 minute mark instead).

Instead of worrying about “Wildcard” rounds, this would give broadcasters an additional 4 round of games that matter with only 60 minutes of additional game time required. It would also ensure all clubs would be sure they would get a home game against the bigger drawing clubs at least once over every two years and the associated financial benefits that come with those games. Each club would also be able to either sell more memberships for the additional two games, or charge more for exisiting memberships. I think for most people, if that is the trade off for existing games being 10 minute shorter, they would take it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

JohnZ

Norm Smith Medallist
Mar 10, 2016
7,757
11,594
AFL Club
Geelong
You dont see a problem there? Ps dont knowhow it would work wit conferences either
Well for starters, you'd probably want to couple it with a proper AFL reserves comp where every AFL game has a curtain raiser before it.

You could then impose restrictions, like draftees can't play Leage for the first 1 or 2 seasons, and that the reserves team has to be 50% 25 years or under.

And with that list sizes would probably grow to 60 or so. Is 1,500 players becoming quite a lot, yes, but if the AFL wants to continue to grow it's revenue from broadcasting (and elsewhere) I'm not sure where else it could gather it from.
 
Oct 16, 2006
7,790
7,445
Melbourne
AFL Club
Geelong
So Geelong basically travel all the time and the rest of us play in Melbourne for most of the year.

giphy.gif

The OP is just making us an interstate side.
I don’t think the OPs idea is a bad one tbh, I don’t want it but it’s not much different to what’s already in place regarding travel.
We would travel 8 times a year, only 2 more than we normally do and still less than the other sides in ‘our’ conference.

The Melbourne sides travel either 4 or 5 times a year which isn’t much different than what’s already in place.

The more I think about it the more it makes sense. I personally don’t want it but it’s not that bad of an idea.
 

The Blue Baggers

Premiership Player
Apr 7, 2013
3,919
3,280
AFL Club
Carlton
Current system is fine, not perfect but nothing ever will be realistically

The current system is not fine , 5 random double ups is @#&*

Option A - play everyone once 17 games , minimum 9 in your home state

Option B - add Tasmania , 9 home / 9 away / 1 bye
 
We will eventually go to conferences but what a wanky tanky thing to do.

We'd be better off going back to conferences divided by the states, so we can all enjoy games with two opposing supporter bases.

I will call these conferences SANFL, WAFL, TFL and VFL. On the next day, I will create light.
 

Pessimistic

Cancelled
30k Posts 10k Posts HBF's Milk Crate - 70k Posts TheBrownDog
Sep 13, 2000
86,852
42,951
Melbourne cricket ground. Australia
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Horks
The OP is just making us an interstate side.
I don’t think the OPs idea is a bad one tbh, I don’t want it but it’s not much different to what’s already in place regarding travel.
We would travel 8 times a year, only 2 more than we normally do and still less than the other sides in ‘our’ conference.

The Melbourne sides travel either 4 or 5 times a year which isn’t much different than what’s already in place.

The more I think about it the more it makes sense. I personally don’t want it but it’s not that bad of an idea.

I'm not actually a fan of what I put, but it does achieve what I stated. the H&A could possibly be tweaked 25 games is too long

One consequence would be Geelongs home games against the big melbourne teams, would be at kardinia and every other year (each team)

Easter Monday down the highway?
 
Oct 16, 2006
7,790
7,445
Melbourne
AFL Club
Geelong
I'm not actually a fan of what I put, but it does achieve what I stated. the H&A could possibly be tweaked 25 games is too long

One consequence would be Geelongs home games against the big melbourne teams, would be at kardinia and every other year (each team)

Easter Monday down the highway?

Yeah I know, I don’t think your idea is a bad one.
My club argue’s they want all these home games with big clubs and home finals.
This gets it.
Longer season may not go down well and I don’t think travel changes all that much but personally I like our current 9 home games situation which differs from the clubs stance.
Playing interstate sides twice over Melbourne ones is also not as fun but still i think your idea works.
 
I would much prefer a 17 game season, with games spread out a bit - so teams might get 2 or 3 byes during the year, for a 20 round season.

Alternate playing teams at home one year, and away the next. It's a fair fixture, and a few extra byes might be good for players to freshen up from niggly injuries, or have some time off for mental welfare.

The season is already too long for those that can't make the finals with meaningless games and players being put out for surgery with 4 rounds left in the season.
 
Back