Expansion IS IT TIME FOR TWO DIVISIONS ??

[Coolangatta]

Is it fair to make north/eagles/richmond show up every week and get smashed by 50pts?

A second division allows for more competitive games overall.

If each division started with 10 teams and expanded to 12 eventually, having 3-4 teams relegated or promoted each year should aim to minimise entrenchment at either end.

Will never happen. Could you imagine Carlton and Collingwood not playing a single H&A against each other, ditto derbies etc and the AFL being okay with that?

The competition will stay single tier at 20, but if it ever goes beyond 20, I think we’ll see NBA style conferences.

 

[Rob]

Will never happen. Could you imagine Carlton and Collingwood not playing a single H&A against each other, ditto derbies etc and the AFL being okay with that?

The competition will stay single tier at 20, but if it ever goes beyond 20, I think we’ll see NBA style conferences.

That doesn't make sense....if we had 22 we wouldn't need conferences. 21 games plus maybe 1 double up.

Conferences are about draw integrity, not a lot of point to them outside that. Not that the AFL gives a stuff about integrity much anyway.

 

[The Tilt]

The competition will stay single tier at 20, but if it ever goes beyond 20, I think we’ll see NBA style conferences.

I don't know why you think more than 20 teams makes conferences a good idea. When Tasmania enter, we'll likely move to a 24 game season. With that length, you could go to 25 teams (which will probably never happen anyway) and have a basically even draw with everyone playing everyone else once.

Conferences aren't going to happen. There's no need for them.

 

[RedV3x]

I don't know why you think more than 20 teams makes conferences a good idea.

That's easy - fan fatigue.

With the WAFL and SANFL teams would cycle through.
With the VFL most teams would cycle through.
With the AFL some teams just aren't going to cycle through even with equalisation measures.

In the NFL, with 32 teams they have 8 conferences of 4 NOT 4 conferences of 8.
In the NFL they make a big deal about being a conference winner presumably to maintain fan interest.
In the AFL (and NRL) we don't even applaud the minor premier.
Though we do have have a lot of themed games etc in the AFL.

If the AFL and the AFL broadcaster want to maintain the highest level of interest then they'll have to devote more energy to promoting benchmark achievements.

 

[Coolangatta]

That doesn't make sense....if we had 22 we wouldn't need conferences. 21 games plus maybe 1 double up.

Conferences are about draw integrity, not a lot of point to them outside that. Not that the AFL gives a stuff about integrity much anyway.

I don't know why you think more than 20 teams makes conferences a good idea. When Tasmania enter, we'll likely move to a 24 game season. With that length, you could go to 25 teams (which will probably never happen anyway) and have a basically even draw with everyone playing everyone else once.

Conferences aren't going to happen. There's no need for them.

Yeah, I understand the math, but at a certain point, being 23rd on the ladder in a 24 team comp is just a bridge too far.

I can’t think, off the top of my head, of any major leagues that are single tier with over 20 teams.

Just look at what they say about the VFL now, that it’s too Frankenstein.

 

[RedV3x]

IMO it would be very hard for Australians to adopt the NFL style conferences but if you accept equalistion measures then the first step is quite minor.
If we accept that each team has to play every other team at least once (unlike the NFL) then with 20 teams then that's 19 games plus another 3 for 4 team conference or another 4 games with 5 team conference.
Four team conferences ensure more derbies.
Western conference - W.A. and S.A.
Northern conference - Qld and N.S.W.
Big conference - Collingwood, Essendon, Richmond, Carlton
Eastern conference - Hawthorn, St. Kilda, Melbourne, North Melbourne
Southern conference - Tasmania, Geelong, Bulldogs, Canberra

EDIT: i would prefer N.M. and Canberra in the same conference though.

 

[Cubs2Lions]

IMO it would be very hard for Australians to adopt the NFL style conferences but if you accept equalistion measures then the first step is quite minor.
If we accept that each team has to play every other team at least once (unlike the NFL) then with 20 teams then that's 19 games plus another 3 for 4 team conference or another 4 games with 5 team conference.
Four team conferences ensure more derbies.
Western conference - W.A. and S.A.
Northern conference - Qld and N.S.W.
Big conference - Collingwood, Essendon, Richmond, Carlton
Eastern conference - Hawthorn, St. Kilda, Melbourne, North Melbourne
Southern conference - Tasmania, Geelong, Bulldogs, Canberra

Ideally, reckon conferences will only take place once 24+ teams are in the competition but your proposal has merit and would help fixturing if conferences were implemented once Tasmania and possibly Canberra's entry in the big league.

Depending on the long-term future and outlook of the AFL landscape once 24 clubs do enter the competition/s, I would personally go 3 divisions of 8 clubs in each resulting in following structure:

Central Conference: Carlton Blues, Collingwood Magpies, Essendon Bombers, Geelong Cats, Hawthorn Hawks, Melbourne Demons, New Zealand Saints*, Richmond Tigers

Northern / Eastern Conference: Brisbane Lions, Canberra Freeze, Darwin-NT Kangaroos*, Gold Coast Suns, Newcastle Hunters, North Queensland Crocodiles, Sydney Swans, Western Sydney Giants

Southern / Western Conference: Adelaide Crows, Fremantle Dockers, Joondalup Bulldogs*, Norwood Scorpions, Perth Sharks, Port Adelaide Power, Tasmania Devils, West Coast Eagles

* - St. Kilda, North Melbourne and Western Bulldogs all relocated to interstate clubs.

Every club would play each team in their conferences twice (H & A) resulting in 14 matches, before playing 4 teams in each of the other two conferences resulting in 8 matches and 22 in total (23 weeks with 1 mid-competition bye).

Top 4 from each conference would play in a 12 team final series as a whole ladder system, which would be calculated and broken in 2 groups of 6 that are played simultaneously as something like:

W1: A5 vs. A11
W1: A7 vs. A9

W2: A1 vs. A7
W2: A3 vs. A5

W3: A1 vs. A3
___________________________
W1: A6 vs. A12
W1: A8 vs. A10

W2: A2 vs. A8
W2: A4 vs. A6

W3: A2 vs. A4
___________________________
W4: A1 vs. A2

It should be noted though that the GF would be played at the home state's venue (providing stadium can reach minimum of 65-70k). As an example, Canberra would have to host the GF at the SCG or Accor and Darwin would have to play at the GABBA given these are just 2 examples of small clubs who wouldn't have appropriate facilities in their own city.

With that model and given the AFL wanting more club success and trophies to be given out, you could also play a bottom 12 final series (teams 13-24) as well to play for a Premiers Plate and cash prize, which would work (in conjunction with premiership finals but earlier timeslots) like:

W1: A17 vs. A23
W1: A19 vs. A21

W2: A13 vs. A21
W2: A15 vs. A17

W3: A13 vs. A15
___________________________
W1: A18 vs. A24
W1: A20 vs. A22

W2: A14 vs. A20
W2: A16 vs. A18

W3: A14 vs. A16
___________________________
W4: A13 vs. A14

This proposal (while not perfect) would be the ideal way of possibly expanding the competition to a far more national audience especially in the east-coast states like NSW & QLD and would limit travel for all clubs involved as best as possible. The only issue regarding this idea is having to relocate 3 VIC clubs interstate, which wouldn't go down too way for their own self-interests but the AFL needs to decide soon if they want to continue being a VIC-dominant competition or a national one where the sport is greatly exposed in every state and territory in Australia.

 

[EBERT THE KING]

I think the Wildcard round is a way of the footy public being conditioned to playing slightly less footy in the regular season.

Here is what i think will occur moving forward.

20 teams - Tassie and Canberra or NT (toss of coin)

Play everyone once
Play gather round

= Every team plays 20 games

Total 200 Games

Plus
2 x wildcard games
9 x finals

= 211 Games

At the moment we are at 216 games. (23 x 9 + 9 finals)

TV deals aren't slowing down off losing 5 games, whilst increasing the number of eyes on the wildcard games, compared to the dead rubbers.

You will also see demand for tickets increase when clubs go from hosting 11 home games down to 9 or 10 depending on the season.

 

[Coolangatta]

I think the Wildcard round is a way of the footy public being conditioned to playing slightly less footy in the regular season.

Here is what i think will occur moving forward.

20 teams - Tassie and Canberra or NT (toss of coin)

Play everyone once
Play gather round

= Every team plays 20 games

Total 200 Games

Plus
2 x wildcard games
9 x finals

= 211 Games

At the moment we are at 216 games. (23 x 9 + 9 finals)

TV deals aren't slowing down off losing 5 games, whilst increasing the number of eyes on the wildcard games, compared to the dead rubbers.

You will also see demand for tickets increase when clubs go from hosting 11 home games down to 9 or 10 depending on the season.

I hate wildcard round.

What they should do is have gather round and wildcard round be one in the same.

1 v 2, 3 v 4, 5 v 6, 7 v 10 (loser eliminated), 8 v 9 (loser eliminated), the rest.

Highest ranked teams get the AO games, lower ranked get the smaller grounds. Or whatever state it’s played.

Then just have a normal top 8 finals series after that with the pre finals bye.

But if they really want to expand the finals series, then just go to conferences and be done with it.

20 teams, 4 conferences, 5 teams each conference.

Conference winner = top four, week off.

8 best of the rest playoff for spot in finals.

Then finals series is straight knockout, 8 down to 4 down to 2.

There’s gonna be more than 20 teams one day so I think conferences will eventually happen whether people like it or not

 

[EBERT THE KING]

I hate wildcard round.

What they should do is have gather round and wildcard round be one in the same.

1 v 2, 3 v 4, 5 v 6, 7 v 10 (loser eliminated), 8 v 9 (loser eliminated), the rest.

Highest ranked teams get the AO games, lower ranked get the smaller grounds. Or whatever state it’s played.

Then just have a normal top 8 finals series after that with the pre finals bye.

But if they really want to expand the finals series, then just go to conferences and be done with it.

20 teams, 4 conferences, 5 teams each conference.

Conference winner = top four, week off.

8 best of the rest playoff for spot in finals.

Then finals series is straight knockout, 8 down to 4 down to 2.

There’s gonna be more than 20 teams one day so I think conferences will eventually happen whether people like it or not

That is wildly convoluted.

 

[The Tilt]

I hate wildcard round.

What they should do is have gather round and wildcard round be one in the same.

1 v 2, 3 v 4, 5 v 6, 7 v 10 (loser eliminated), 8 v 9 (loser eliminated), the rest.

Highest ranked teams get the AO games, lower ranked get the smaller grounds. Or whatever state it’s played.

Then just have a normal top 8 finals series after that with the pre finals bye.

But if they really want to expand the finals series, then just go to conferences and be done with it.

20 teams, 4 conferences, 5 teams each conference.

Conference winner = top four, week off.

8 best of the rest playoff for spot in finals.

Then finals series is straight knockout, 8 down to 4 down to 2.

There’s gonna be more than 20 teams one day so I think conferences will eventually happen whether people like it or not

 

[Coolangatta]

That is wildly convoluted.

Fair call. Wouldn’t have a problem with them keeping the top 8 as is.

 

[Roylion]

I don't see the need for two conferences for the home and away season. I doubt the competition will move much beyond 20 teams, so have 19 home and away rounds where every team plays each other once. Even with 22 teams have a 21 round home and away.

Having said that, for the finals I'd prefer to top ten teams to be divided into two finals conferences where two final 5s to play off. One final five to be ladder positions 1,3,5,7,9 and the other 2,4,6,8 and 10.

Soemthing like this, and for clarity, I'm going to assume the higher placed team wins every final.

Week 1
1 bye, and 2 bye
Qualifying Final 3 vs. 5 and 4 vs. 6 (Winner to play 1 and 2. Loser to play winners of elimination final)
Elimination Final 7 vs. 9, 8 vs. 10 (Loser to be eliminated, winners to play losers of Qualifying final. (more often Teams 9 and 10 would be eliminated)

Week 2
First Semi: 5 vs. 7, 6 vs. 8 (Losers eliminated)
Second Semi: 1 vs 3, 2 vs. 4 (winners through to the Final and have another bye, losers play winners of First semi final in Preliminary.)

Week 3
1st Preliminary final: 3 vs. 5 (loser eliminated, winner through to final)
2nd Preliminary final: 4 vs. 6 (loser eliminated, winner through to final)

Week 4: Final 1 vs. 3, 2 vs. 4 (winners through to Grand Final and losers eliminated

Week 5: Grand Final 1 vs. 2 (Winner is season premier)

13 finals matches. Currently the final eight has nine games.

Obviously this could be tinkered with such as giving the team finishing 1 a greater advantage and maybe go 1,4,6,8,10 and the other 2,3,5,7 and 9. Possibly a crossover could be factored in as well to avoid a repeat of final games.

 

[Coolangatta]

I don't see the need for two conferences for the home and away season. I doubt the competition will move much beyond 20 teams, so have 19 home and away rounds where every team plays each other once. Even with 22 teams have a 21 round home and away.

Having said that, for the finals I'd prefer to top ten teams to be divided into two finals conferences where two final 5s to play off. One final five to be ladder positions 1,3,5,7,9 and the other 2,4,6,8 and 10.

Soemthing like this, and for clarity, I'm going to assume the higher placed team wins every final.

Week 1
1 bye, and 2 bye
Qualifying Final 3 vs. 5 and 4 vs. 6 (Winner to play 1 and 2. Loser to play winners of elimination final)
Elimination Final 7 vs. 9, 8 vs. 10 (Loser to be eliminated, winners to play losers of Qualifying final. (more often Teams 9 and 10 would be eliminated)

Week 2
First Semi: 5 vs. 7, 6 vs. 8 (Losers eliminated)
Second Semi: 1 vs 3, 2 vs. 4 (winners through to the Final and have another bye, losers play winners of First semi final in Preliminary.)

Week 3
1st Preliminary final: 3 vs. 5 (loser eliminated, winner through to final)
2nd Preliminary final: 4 vs. 6 (loser eliminated, winner through to final)

Week 4: Final 1 vs. 3, 2 vs. 4 (winners through to Grand Final and losers eliminated

Week 5: Grand Final 1 vs. 2 (Winner is season premier)

13 finals matches. Currently the final eight has nine games.

Why should 1, 3, and 5 play higher-ranked teams?

Other than that, I agree about H/A.

I don't really care about WA3 and SA3. AFL IMO would like a presence in NQ, I still think ACT as team 20 and maybe one day NT and NQ come in. Don't have to have NZ etc.

But AFL's a great game, grow it where you can, and just figure out how to structure comp as you go along. You don't say no to team 23 etc because you don't know how to shape the comp, you figure it out as you go along.

But if 22 teams: play once across 21 games. 10 home, 10 away, 1 gather round. If 24, 23 games. If ever more than 24 which would presumably be 70+ years away, I think that's when you look at conferences. You may consider it beyond 20 just to give clubs something else to play for.

I like your finals system but flip it around: 1 gets 4,6,8,10, 2 gets 3,5,7,9.

 

[danster168]

Sure. Have all the clubs kissed by Father/sons and NGA's in one division (Collingwood, Dogs, Brisbane, etc.) and the rest in the other division. It's not an even comp anyway so may as well just have diff divisions.

 

[Roylion]

I like your finals system but flip it around: 1 gets 4,6,8,10, 2 gets 3,5,7,9.

That could happen to give the first placed team a greater advantage than the second placed team.

 

[RedV3x]

Don't have to have NZ etc.

Consolidation Vs expansion ?
Canberra is consolidation with a good opportunity for growth.
WA3, SA3 even NT are consolidation, so I'm not interested.
The AFL was well under way in N.Z. and in fact the statistics for N.Z. were much better than GWS w.r.t. participation.
GWS is the hardest sell because of the amount of negative activity (and GWS has to be applauded for their effort)
New Zealanders may follow rugby but at worst indifferent to the Aussie game not derogatory as in some places.
The AFL hasn't started on theoretical target population centres like Newcastle, Wollongong, Townsville etc.

 

[Coolangatta]

Consolidation Vs expansion ?
Canberra is consolidation with a good opportunity for growth.
WA3, SA3 even NT are consolidation, so I'm not interested.
The AFL was well under way in N.Z. and in fact the statistics for N.Z. were much better than GWS w.r.t. participation.
GWS is the hardest sell because of the amount of negative activity (and GWS has to be applauded for their effort)
New Zealanders may follow rugby but at worst indifferent to the Aussie game not derogatory as in some places.
The AFL hasn't started on theoretical target population centres like Newcastle, Wollongong, Townsville etc.

Auckland and Newcastle would be good targets for expansion after Canberra. Biggest untapped populations that aren’t too far away from Australia that could work. I’ve often said a 3rd WA and 2nd Brisbane for 21-22 but like you said, WA3 would be consolation and Brisbane kinda would be too since they already have a team. I mean some places like GC aren’t going to have more than one team.

 

[rdrdrdrd]

Mick Malthouse has recently stated that the current 18 team AFL competition be split into 2 divisions – 10 teams in Div 1 and the other 8 teams in Div 2 with 2 teams from each division getting promoted or relegated each year.

I don’t know what he would do when Team #19 Tasmania joins the comp unless there’s a merger between 2 Melbourne based teams in Tasmania’s initial season.

I made a post to this thread back on August 21, 2020, suggesting 2 @ 10 team divisions and Mick’s recent statement caused me to revisit my thoughts and I will now post an updated version of how my suggestion works – hopefully Mick likes it!

Here we go…



What about this set up for the AFL to be up and running by 2028?
Sorry about the length of the post but I think I’ve covered all the existing AFL problems, annoyances and inequalities in one shot.
For 2028 it could be a total of 20 teams playing in the AFL with the Premier League (Div 1) and AFL Championship (Div 2) each comprising 10 teams.
I have added 2 new teams and rebranded 2 existing teams.
Gold Coast Suns have not worked in their current set up and are currently doomed to join the long list of failed Gold Coast sporting franchises. Rename them as the Northern Suns and play their home games across 3 venues at Carrara, Darwin and Alice Springs. This gives the AFL fans living in Darwin and Alice Springs a home team to barrack for a few times a year, rather than just 2 fly in fly out clubs who promote the game and hold coaching clinics for one week and are never seen otherwise. No need to radically revamp the Guernsey or colours – and the NT along with PNG (currently under attack from the NRL) can become the exclusive recruiting zone of the Northern Suns players.
Rebrand GWS to the Eastern Giants and relocate half of their home games to Canberra. The western suburbs of Sydney are rugby and soccer fans and will only be token passive fans of GWS at best. Canberra has a ready-made AFL fan base just waiting for a team to support and like Darwin and Alice Springs deserves the chance to have a home team to follow.


19th team to join the AFL – Tasmania – no further discussion needed here.
20th team? For this exercise I have just punted on a third Adelaide team. It could be a third Perth team or a regional team but this post is not to debate who the twentieth team is but what to do with a 20 team AFL competition.

For the purpose of this post let’s say the 20th team into the AFL comp is SA3 team Sturtwood (a merger of two of the stronger SANFL clubs Norwood and Sturt).


Division One (based on top 10 teams from the 2024 season) – Brisbane, Sydney, Port Adelaide, Geelong, Eastern Giants, Hawthorn, Bulldogs, Carlton, Collingwood, Fremantle.
Division Two – Essendon, St Kilda, Northern Suns, Melbourne, Adelaide, West Coast, North Melb, Richmond, Tasmania, Sturtwood.


For the minor round each team plays 18 games – 9 home and 9 away. Port fans would note that there would be no Showdown against the Crows but would they care seeing their 9 home games would be against Brisbane, Sydney, Geelong, Eastern Giants, Hawthorn, Bulldogs, Carlton, Collingwood and Fremantle?
Bragging rights would be simply reminding Crows fans “We’re in the big time you’re not…”
Fremantle and Brisbane fans would also enjoy this scenario.
So the minor round consists of 90 games (18 rounds @ 5 games) for each division = 180 games in total with 10 games a week – hence the AFL could program Thursday night games which could become Div 2 Night and maybe some Friday night double headers featuring Perth night games to commence after an Eastern State game has finished.
In 2024 there were 198 minor round games followed by 9 finals matches – a total of 207 games for the season.
In 2028 the finals would be top 6 for each of the 10 team divisions. That would create 5 finals for each division and 10 finals in all bringing the total number of games for the season to 190. Seventeen games fewer than the current fixture but all irregularities and unfairness with double up games has been removed – each team prior to the major round simply plays everyone else in their division once at home and once away. No more double up games and bonus wins against weak opposition simply because your club resides in the same state as the weak team – think of Sydney/GWS and WC/Freo in the early years.

The Finals have the traditional method for a top 6 finals series.

Week 1 – Semi Finals - 3v6 and 4v5
Week 2 – Prelim Finals – 1 v winner of 4/5 and 2 v winner of 3/6
Week 3 – two winners play in Grand Final

Yearly promotion and relegation is easy – the 4 teams that miss the Div 1 finals would be relegated to be replaced by the 4 Preliminary Finalists from Div 2.

No Div 1 teams tanking to improve draft selections – simply if you miss the finals you’re relegated.
The Div 2 Semi Finals between the victors of 3/6 and 4/5 would become epics as the 2 winners earn promotion for Div 1.

September in 2028 would be scheduled like this:

September Week 4 – Sat Arvo - Div 1 GF – all us traditionalists remain very happy.

September Week 3 – Fri Night – Div 1 Prelim Final; Sat Arvo – Div 1 Prelim Final; Sat Night – Div 2 GF – the AFL and TV networks get their much-wanted night grand final to be played in the home state of the higher ranked team. Sunday would be kept AFL-free for the various state league grand finals.

September Week 2 – Fri Night – Div 1 Semi Final; Sat Arvo – Div 2 PF; Sat Twilight – Div 2 PF; Sat Night – Div 1 Semi Final.

September Week 1– Fri Night – Div 2 Semi Final; Sat Night – Div 2 Semi Final – The AFL keeps the pre finals bye for the Div 1 teams. The focus this weekend is then solely on which 2 Div 2 teams win these Semi Finals to earn promotion to Div 1 for next year.

August Week 4 – Floating Final minor round for both divisions – have all 5 Div 2 games done by Saturday night. Some Div 1 games can play on Sunday seeing that they have the following week off.

Minor round would be 18 games so mid-season split rounds would still exist to keep the players union happy.
Pre-season games? Easy – each team plays two games as usual but against teams from the ‘other division’. So states would still get a showdown or local derby of sorts should their two state teams be in different divisions for the upcoming regular season.

Round One of the minor round would be very enticing – no team would have played each other at all in the buildup to the season and also no more Richmond/Carlton supposed blockbuster to kick things off. The first game of Round One should be the previous season’s Division One Grand Finalists playing on a Thursday night in the home state of the reigning premier who can then unfurl their premiership banner and perform all other premiership ceremonies at the perfect time for their fans and the massive TV audience.

Anzac Day at the MCG – time to remove the Essendon/Collingwood ownership. Simply make the MCG Anzac Day game played between the two highest ranked Victorian teams of the previous season – in this example Hawthorn and Geelong players and fans get the opportunity to enjoy the Anzac Day experience. And two other Victorian teams would get the opportunity to play on Easter Monday.

The draft would be as normal with the bottom team of div 2 getting the first pick and then work your way up – each round is 20 picks – no trading of future year’s picks allowed – that is one of my personal irritants.

The Brownlow Medal remains as is for Division One – a new medal would be created for the Division Two League – players would be polling votes for the Adam Goodes Medal – this allows the AFL to properly recognise the on and off field achievements of the much-loved dual Brownlow Medalist.



Wonder if Mick Malthouse would like this suggestion?

 

[Coolangatta]

Mick Malthouse has recently stated that the current 18 team AFL competition be split into 2 divisions – 10 teams in Div 1 and the other 8 teams in Div 2 with 2 teams from each division getting promoted or relegated each year.

I don’t know what he would do when Team #19 Tasmania joins the comp unless there’s a merger between 2 Melbourne based teams in Tasmania’s initial season.

I made a post to this thread back on August 21, 2020, suggesting 2 @ 10 team divisions and Mick’s recent statement caused me to revisit my thoughts and I will now post an updated version of how my suggestion works – hopefully Mick likes it!

Here we go…



What about this set up for the AFL to be up and running by 2028?
Sorry about the length of the post but I think I’ve covered all the existing AFL problems, annoyances and inequalities in one shot.
For 2028 it could be a total of 20 teams playing in the AFL with the Premier League (Div 1) and AFL Championship (Div 2) each comprising 10 teams.
I have added 2 new teams and rebranded 2 existing teams.
Gold Coast Suns have not worked in their current set up and are currently doomed to join the long list of failed Gold Coast sporting franchises. Rename them as the Northern Suns and play their home games across 3 venues at Carrara, Darwin and Alice Springs. This gives the AFL fans living in Darwin and Alice Springs a home team to barrack for a few times a year, rather than just 2 fly in fly out clubs who promote the game and hold coaching clinics for one week and are never seen otherwise. No need to radically revamp the Guernsey or colours – and the NT along with PNG (currently under attack from the NRL) can become the exclusive recruiting zone of the Northern Suns players.
Rebrand GWS to the Eastern Giants and relocate half of their home games to Canberra. The western suburbs of Sydney are rugby and soccer fans and will only be token passive fans of GWS at best. Canberra has a ready-made AFL fan base just waiting for a team to support and like Darwin and Alice Springs deserves the chance to have a home team to follow.


19th team to join the AFL – Tasmania – no further discussion needed here.
20th team? For this exercise I have just punted on a third Adelaide team. It could be a third Perth team or a regional team but this post is not to debate who the twentieth team is but what to do with a 20 team AFL competition.

For the purpose of this post let’s say the 20th team into the AFL comp is SA3 team Sturtwood (a merger of two of the stronger SANFL clubs Norwood and Sturt).


Division One (based on top 10 teams from the 2024 season) – Brisbane, Sydney, Port Adelaide, Geelong, Eastern Giants, Hawthorn, Bulldogs, Carlton, Collingwood, Fremantle.
Division Two – Essendon, St Kilda, Northern Suns, Melbourne, Adelaide, West Coast, North Melb, Richmond, Tasmania, Sturtwood.


For the minor round each team plays 18 games – 9 home and 9 away. Port fans would note that there would be no Showdown against the Crows but would they care seeing their 9 home games would be against Brisbane, Sydney, Geelong, Eastern Giants, Hawthorn, Bulldogs, Carlton, Collingwood and Fremantle?
Bragging rights would be simply reminding Crows fans “We’re in the big time you’re not…”
Fremantle and Brisbane fans would also enjoy this scenario.
So the minor round consists of 90 games (18 rounds @ 5 games) for each division = 180 games in total with 10 games a week – hence the AFL could program Thursday night games which could become Div 2 Night and maybe some Friday night double headers featuring Perth night games to commence after an Eastern State game has finished.
In 2024 there were 198 minor round games followed by 9 finals matches – a total of 207 games for the season.
In 2028 the finals would be top 6 for each of the 10 team divisions. That would create 5 finals for each division and 10 finals in all bringing the total number of games for the season to 190. Seventeen games fewer than the current fixture but all irregularities and unfairness with double up games has been removed – each team prior to the major round simply plays everyone else in their division once at home and once away. No more double up games and bonus wins against weak opposition simply because your club resides in the same state as the weak team – think of Sydney/GWS and WC/Freo in the early years.

The Finals have the traditional method for a top 6 finals series.

Week 1 – Semi Finals - 3v6 and 4v5
Week 2 – Prelim Finals – 1 v winner of 4/5 and 2 v winner of 3/6
Week 3 – two winners play in Grand Final

Yearly promotion and relegation is easy – the 4 teams that miss the Div 1 finals would be relegated to be replaced by the 4 Preliminary Finalists from Div 2.

No Div 1 teams tanking to improve draft selections – simply if you miss the finals you’re relegated.
The Div 2 Semi Finals between the victors of 3/6 and 4/5 would become epics as the 2 winners earn promotion for Div 1.

September in 2028 would be scheduled like this:

September Week 4 – Sat Arvo - Div 1 GF – all us traditionalists remain very happy.

September Week 3 – Fri Night – Div 1 Prelim Final; Sat Arvo – Div 1 Prelim Final; Sat Night – Div 2 GF – the AFL and TV networks get their much-wanted night grand final to be played in the home state of the higher ranked team. Sunday would be kept AFL-free for the various state league grand finals.

September Week 2 – Fri Night – Div 1 Semi Final; Sat Arvo – Div 2 PF; Sat Twilight – Div 2 PF; Sat Night – Div 1 Semi Final.

September Week 1– Fri Night – Div 2 Semi Final; Sat Night – Div 2 Semi Final – The AFL keeps the pre finals bye for the Div 1 teams. The focus this weekend is then solely on which 2 Div 2 teams win these Semi Finals to earn promotion to Div 1 for next year.

August Week 4 – Floating Final minor round for both divisions – have all 5 Div 2 games done by Saturday night. Some Div 1 games can play on Sunday seeing that they have the following week off.

Minor round would be 18 games so mid-season split rounds would still exist to keep the players union happy.
Pre-season games? Easy – each team plays two games as usual but against teams from the ‘other division’. So states would still get a showdown or local derby of sorts should their two state teams be in different divisions for the upcoming regular season.

Round One of the minor round would be very enticing – no team would have played each other at all in the buildup to the season and also no more Richmond/Carlton supposed blockbuster to kick things off. The first game of Round One should be the previous season’s Division One Grand Finalists playing on a Thursday night in the home state of the reigning premier who can then unfurl their premiership banner and perform all other premiership ceremonies at the perfect time for their fans and the massive TV audience.

Anzac Day at the MCG – time to remove the Essendon/Collingwood ownership. Simply make the MCG Anzac Day game played between the two highest ranked Victorian teams of the previous season – in this example Hawthorn and Geelong players and fans get the opportunity to enjoy the Anzac Day experience. And two other Victorian teams would get the opportunity to play on Easter Monday.

The draft would be as normal with the bottom team of div 2 getting the first pick and then work your way up – each round is 20 picks – no trading of future year’s picks allowed – that is one of my personal irritants.

The Brownlow Medal remains as is for Division One – a new medal would be created for the Division Two League – players would be polling votes for the Adam Goodes Medal – this allows the AFL to properly recognise the on and off field achievements of the much-loved dual Brownlow Medalist.



Wonder if Mick Malthouse would like this suggestion?

Appreciate your time and imagination.

I’d have to say no need to change the single tier structure of the competition at 20 teams.

If it ever goes beyond that, sure, but we’re not ready for that yet.

As for Gold Coast, I think they’ll be fine. Good crowds and grassroots participation for a club that’s never played finals. Some success (and a Southport merger to become the Gold Coast Sharks wouldn’t hurt) will see them succeed on and off the field.

As for the Giants, they need to go all in on Western Sydney to try and crack the market.

Give Canberra their own team, they can be team 20. Upgrade Manuka and they’ll come. They’re got the funds.

Look at divisions or conferences in the 2050s which is when we’ll go to 21 teams if we ever do.