It's clear that the pre-finals bye is disadvantaging the top teams

[Reg Grundy35]

Collingwood finished 3rd . They are a top team. It didn’t effect them.

 

[Sedat!]

Says more about the unbalanced home & away fixture.

Not to mention the incredible financial leg up a certain team gets from Govt coffers and the taxpayer for doing absolutely nothing other than be located in a marginal electorate.

As compromises to the equity of the competition go, nothing comes anywhere near this.

 

[barnabyjones]

Stop being so reactive. When something happens we dont need every rule to change. Ppl are to sensitive and will run with anything the tv coverage brings up

 

[romeohwho]

Not sure yet whether it impacts but I just don’t like the bye-want to go straight on with the finals-can’t see any reason for it. Get rid of it.

 

[enobrien]

People need to stop looking for a reason the Tiges lost other than actually giving Collingwood credit for how they played from the get go.

Simply outplayed us at our own gamestyle, some of the best pressure and hands in tight we’ve been on the other end of in quite a while

 

[radiojake]

Collingwood finished 3rd . They are a top team. It didn’t effect them.

They also played last week, which I think is supposed to be the point of the OP

 

[tony__montana]

I was thinking about this during the week and last night. Sample
Size is still too small, but playing 1 game in 26 days is not great preparation at this time of year. I can see how a side could easily be off
Mentally

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Never seemed to be a problem with the final 5 system that everyone loves.

I'm sure you post this in every thread on this particular topic.

In the final 5 days teams didn't get mid season byes like they do now They played State of Origin, a lot of the players in SOO came from the top sides. Teams were out on their feet with little respite.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

If this was the case, why did Adelaide and Richmond still make the GF despite the week off?

Because Geelong and GWS were of a very poor standard for preliminary teams that year.

 

[mulz]

Regardless of results i would get rid of it. It adds nothing. The finals series has not been great so far regarding close games. Im not sure if it disadvantages the top 2 teams but it definitely doesnt help.


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[The Warlord]

Not sure yet whether it impacts but I just don’t like the bye-want to go straight on with the finals-can’t see any reason for it. Get rid of it.

If you take it away, there will very quickly be a repeat of why it was brought in.

Which people should have just dealt with first time round.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Recurring theme?? Has only three examples and one is the Bulldogs where everyone they versed had the same advantage.

It's dumb s**t knee jerk attitudes like this that allow for the rule changing environment that the AFL has to spread so far and wide

Was every team, after the pre-finals bye in 2016 able to bring back 5 best 18 players?

They don't get that extra week off and those players either don't come up or play underdone / injured.

You want everyone to have their best available but the AFL season is also part survival of the fittest.

 

[Gibbke]

It's not disadvantaging anyone. If WC lose, then a PF will feature a team from outside the top 4 for only the second time since the McIntyre system in the 1990's.

If anything, the bye simply evens the playing field a bit. Teams get a short break and have a greater chance of putting their best lineups on the field. You then theoretically have a greater emphasis on teams playing their best footy from the bounce to get over the line, as opposed to some arbitrarily gifted advantages being magnified because the lower ranked team is more fatigued coming into the match. How can this be bad...?

The bye only has one flaw - a footy free weekend with no cricket. That's what's f###ed...

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Does that fit with last year?
Collingwood were just too good tonight

Collingwood too good but also had momentum and continuity.

I really hope Melbourne smash the Eagles so the AFL revisit the stupid pre-finals bye.

 

[BF Tiger]

A sample size of three may be too small, but that's all the games the AFL needed to trial 6-6-6 and 18 metres goal squares.

Personally, I think we were flat and the one game in four weeks may have had something to do with that. Would we have beat the Pies otherwise? Who knows, but they were red hot.

Whole issue probably needs a statistician to have a look at it.

 

[RupieDupie]

IMO the bye can have an affect but it should be considered in the context of the season, including final few games, opportunity for players returning from injuries etc

For example,

The Demons had a good lead up into the finals series taking out Eagles, Giants, had a week off to recover and then has accounted for the Cats and Hawks. The bye has arguably helped Demons in the context of their finals preparation.

In comparison the Tigers were playing the Suns, Bulldogs, and then came up against Hawks in the first final (with all respect to the Hawks*). Had two weeks off in the previous three weeks, and then came up against a better seasoned magpies outfit. IMO the extra week off didn’t help Richmond.

*How’s that for passive-aggressive

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

The league has been incredibly even in the three seasons the extra bye has been in place. That more than any other factor explains these upsets.

The likes of Geelong and Hawthorn, when they were at their peak, would still steamroll to the grand final, bye a or no bye.

You missed Geelong's 2007 pf v Collingwood?

 

[Crusty Demon]

Is this a premature excuse thread?

Exactly. I thought the Eagles fans would at least wait until after they lose today! But no. Premature excuses for any poor performance today! I think having to travel across the country and play in front of 60,000 rabid WCE fans evens out the breaks WCE have had.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Collingwood finished 3rd . They are a top team. It didn’t effect them.

Collingwood are a top team. They have now played 3 weeks running. It was Richmond's first game in a couple of weeks.

Collingwood battle hardened and rolling.

 

[sherb]

There has never been three teams in the grand final

Yes, I was wondering about that too.....

 

[Furn2]

Richmonds form leading into the finals was average, this was always on the cards imo bye or no bye.

The Pies pressure combined with the pressure of being the top side, huge favorites and reigning premiers in a sudden death match was all too much.

Better sides than the 2018 Tigers have failed to get it done In September especially whentrying to go back to back.

 

[Benny78]

The first few posts are so stupid. Blindly using nothing more than a sample record for 2 seasons.

Try actually thinking about it. There's now a weeks rest when there wasn't before! Of course it disadvantages the top 2/4. The bottom 4 are essentially meant to be out of steam. The bye gives all 8 a clean slate. It's turned the finals into a separate breakaway comp. How can anyone ignore all that and say because a top 4 side won it one time, its not flawed. Wow!

 

[FrankCostanza]

Richmonds form leading into the finals was average, this was always on the cards imo bye or no bye.

The Pies pressure combined with the pressure of being the top side, huge favorites and reigning premiers in a sudden death match was all too much.

Better sides than the 2018 Tigers have failed to get it done In September especially whentrying to go back to back.

Richmond were only ever a couple of injuries away from coming back to the pack, last night proved that.

 

[Jables]

It's not disadvantaging anyone. If WC lose, then a PF will feature a team from outside the top 4 for only the second time since the McIntyre system in the 1990's.

If anything, the bye simply evens the playing field a bit. Teams get a short break and have a greater chance of putting their best lineups on the field. You then theoretically have a greater emphasis on teams playing their best footy from the bounce to get over the line, as opposed to some arbitrarily gifted advantages being magnified because the lower ranked team is more fatigued coming into the match. How can this be bad...?

The bye only has one flaw - a footy free weekend with no cricket. That's what's f###ed...

Now that everyone gets a rest they just end up being less match fit than their opponent. Richmond getting thumped by Collingwood should simply not be happening, I don't think the Tigers are so poor as to start the match the way they did, it's a PF ffs. That it's even possible that losing the first QF does not matter is crazy, I think we would have been well placed despite scraping into top 4 and losing the QF if we had been under less injury clouds.

They were never arbitrarily gifted advantages to get a week off, they've proven over the H&A season and QF that they are the team to beat. Now we do NOT get the best football match we can get if one team has played one game in 26 days or w/e it was Richmond did, that was a s**t PF.

As it is they should scrap the week off for the top 4 and play 1st against 8th or something, I dunnoh.

 

[The Warlord]

Remember how much Richmond sooking led to the introduction of the bye?

Now it comes to back to bite them.