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Originally posted by Roylion:
I agree with you that finishing top spot should have more recognition. A suitable monetary award to the tune of $400,000-$500,000 to the top club. That alone makes it a prize worth striving for!
Originally posted by Roylion:
However I believe your proposal is flawed for several reasons.
My reasons are as follows:
1) I do not want the "season" broken into three seperate competitions. Pre-Season, H&A and post season.
Originally posted by Roylion:
2) It devalues the "Grand Final" as an event to the level of the pre-season Grand Final. For example, if the Brisbane Lions win the pre-season next February, well it will be nice but essentially it means nothing. The end of season competition (I will not call them 'finals') becomes similar. Will there be more prestige and kudos for the team winning the last match of the season, (essentially a lesser award under your proposal it appears) or the major premiership? For as you repeatedly say, surely the top team after 22 matches should be given the priority of the MAJOR premiership over a team winning four matches for a minor premiership.
Originally posted by Roylion:
3) I believe that while the current reward of a double chance for top spot has been diminished in recent years by the introduction of a final six and then a final eight, it can be addressed by methods other than Dan's. In my opinion, to restore a reasonable double chance as a reward for finishing in top spot, the finals should revert to a final five. So let's say Essendon win the double chance, go automatically into the second week, win that one (as you would expect) and go straight into the Grand Final.) Under a final five system a team finishing top spot need only win two matches in the final series to win the flag. A team finishing 2nd needs to win three, as does 3rd. They can still lose one match and still have a chance while 4th and 5th need to win four matches to win the GF. Lose one and they are out. Reverting to a final five and increasing the monetary award is in my view inherently better that the two competition system you are proposing. While we are at it, reduce the season from 22 to 15 weeks. Therefore we will have a 19 week season, with a final five. The top spot will get a effective double chance and the winner of the whole comp. will be decided over 19 weeks instead of the current 26. Instead of a current proportion of 15% of competition matches being finals, we would have a 21% proportion .
Originally posted by Roylion:
4) I do not want to know, perhaps weeks in advance who the 'premier' is going to be. This year for example there was no doubt from about Round 11 onwards who was going to finish at the top of the table. Sure in some years there will be close finishes, but in some eras under your system there may be many years perhaps where the premiership will be decided weeks in advance. With the major premiership effectively won, all other supporters of other clubs have to do is to sit around and wait for a knockout post season competition that is most likely to have less status that the Home and Away system and which my team even if they did struggle up to second could be knocked out in the first week! Where's the interest for me?
Originally posted by Roylion:
At least under the current system, as a follower of a lesser team than Essendon, I can follow the fortunes of my team with some interest, knowing that if they make the finals, the chance of winning the ultimate prize,is still there. Make the grand Final and who knows we may knock off the pace-setters. Ahhh, such is the unpredictability and excitement of the current system. Under your system Dan, the ULTIMATE prize has already been won, and all we have left is the chance of winning the last match of the year. Will coaches, players etc have the same urgency, spirit and fire in the post-season knockout competition knowing that the ULTIMATE PRIZE has already been won, or under the current system will they be pulling out all the stops to take that last step towards the "Holy Grail." (At this point I feel like breaking into a Hunter and Collectors song.)
Originally posted by Roylion:
Let the people decide!!!!
Originally posted by Roylion:
The point YOU miss Dan, is the fact that there is no "winner" of the competition until after the Grand Final. The winner of the competition is not known until approximately 5.00 pm on the last Saturday in September. Rightly or wrongly, (rightly in my view) at the moment, the Home and Away and the finals system are part of the SAME competition, despite the fact that in the finals component of the SAME competition, the format is different. Players still get credit for playing senior football for their club in finals, the same as they do in Home and Away matches. It's interesting that they don't get credit for senior games with their club for Ansett Cup matches, which is clearly a seperate competition. This is because finals and Home and Away are regarded as the same senior competition.
Sure the Grand Final is huge. Why? Because it is the culmination of the season, where the prize that clubs have striven for so long is decided. The last two teams left standing from the final eeight who themselves battled for supremacy over 22 weeks are striving for that position.
Dan would you agree that if the State of Origin (where the best footballers in the land play) was held after the Grand Final as was the finals match of the season, that it would become a hugely popular one-off match simply because it was the last/final match of the season. I doubt it? What are they playing for? A bit of fun. Which is more important a four week knockout competition amongst half of our AFL sides or a 26 week season where all sides compete and then some are eliminated through various means?
Sure there may be excitement in some years under your system, but my guess is that there would many 'boring' years. If 2000 had been the year your system had been introduced it would have been one of the most boring years on record. I would have lost interest months ago...because I know who the winner was going to be. Moreover I wouldn't be looking forward to the 2001 season as much either because there is a fair chance that Essendon is going to decide the premiership weeks in advance of Round 22. At least under the present system, there is some interest even if this occurred, because Essendon have NOT won the competition. That is yet to be won and if I qualify it could be my team that does it.
Under a final five system Dan, your victory over the Roos by 125 points would have propelled you into the Grand Final, with a week's rest, after a weeks rest, while all the other clubs battle it oout. Now even if the Grand Final were a knockout, if Essendon (who finished on top and were clearly the best team, had two weeks rest to get players to recover from niggling injuries, freshen up battle weary legs, etc.) could not win the game against a side (that may have played three hard finals games possibly suffering injuries on the way etc.,) then perhaps they don't deserve to be called the year's best team anyway. However upsets do occur and this is one of the things that makes our existing competition so exciting.
The point YOU miss Roylion, is the fact that it is "unofficially" a seperate competition anyway.
Originally posted by Roylion:
Same Olds said....,If the finals series is a continuation of the H&A series then why are there different rules for each. For example, if there is no "extra time" period in the H&A season why is the an "extra time" period in the finals. Well in the first three weeks anyway.
There is ONE different rule to avoid the possibility of draws. There is no doubt they are the same competition (officially or not) as the prize/reward all clubs are striving for competition (to win the competition) is the same as in Week 1 of the finals as Round 1 of the H&A.
Originally posted by Roylion:
Same Olds said: Even with the final five system with double chances, the top of the ladder team can lose in the grand final where the double chance can't even be used.
One of the attractions of our competition and indeed the Australian ethos, is the underdog that takes the prize against all odds. That is one of the main attractions in my view of watching sport..... any sport. Many of the most stirring moments in sport have come from a David defeating a Goliath. Finishing on top of the ladder stacks the odds of winning the flag heavily for that team....maybe not as heavily as it used to (and this is a problem).
Originally posted by Roylion:
Same Olds said "This happened this year (and in other seasons as well), where we were all just waiting for the finals to begin.
Speak for yourself. I take it you are an Essendon supporter. Even though top spot was decided, for me the competition was not yet over, as it would be under Dan's system. First there was the added interest of seeing whether Brisbane would make the finals, then what position they would finish in and then whether they could win enough matches to come up against Essendon and possibly against the odds win. Under Dan's system I woudn't really care where we finished, to compete in a four week end of season competition as the system is ALL knockout. Therefore my interest in the competition would be lessened and I would be less likely to go along and watch a do or die match. What for! The competition has already been won! At least the interest of finishing as high as possible means that my team could pick up a possible double chance and if so even if my team loses a match in the finals there is the possibility of living to fight another day (the next week). As well as that we are still striving for the competition prize.
Originally posted by Roylion:
Same Olds said: "In addition, when the season is much more closer between the top teams and the lower teams imagine the excitment (if the "new" system were implemented) of the last few rounds if you, your team that is, loses or draws a game and that result means you might not be able to finish on top."
Yes, that would be quite right, when the season is close and in most years would only be between two or three teams anyway. However what about the years when it is not close? There is plenty of excitement at the moment as each team strives to get as high as possible and a more favorable position including a possible top four position and double chance.
Originally posted by Roylion:
Same Olds said Why wouldn't the coaches and players "not be pulling out all of the stops" to win the end of season finals.
Because they are not finals! It is a seperate end of season competition. The ultimate prize, the flag whatever has already been won!
Same Olds said "Presently, coaches pull out everything in the H&A season, which at the end of the 22 rounds, basically means "nothing". So why wouldn't they(the coaches)have all the urgency in winning the "new" finals series. They would, in my opinion, because it is the best 8 teams in the country battling it out, in a knockout basis, for the "glory" of winning an elite finals series and to participate in the last match of the season."
The ultimate prize, the major prize, the Cup, the flag, whatever you want to call it has been decided. Presently at the end of 22 rounds, the competition winner still has to be decided, thereby giving players, coaches, officials and supporters motivation in order to be a part of the premier team. However under Dan's system, after the major premier has been decided, I don't believe the same motivation will be there. I know my enthusiasm for a four week completely seperate post season competition...(they are not finals) would be less.
.Originally posted by sbagman:
I think that Dan makes a valid point (I will wash my mouth out later) that the team that finsihes first needs more recognition. But I feel that this should be achieved either by:
ONE:
Going all the way with the analogy of Premiership/FA Cup. Have them as two completely seperate competitions. In your proposal Dan, they are still linked, because you have to finish in the top eight to compete in the Cup. So, have a winner takes all league, and a cup to replace the finals and ansett cup, maybe expanding it and inviting teams from outside the AFL for their moment of glory. This is too dramatic a change I feel.