Length of season

[bullish23]

18 weeks with the rivalry round.

Each Vic side travels to WA, SA, NSW and Qld once.

Each team gets at least 1 Friday and 1 Saturday night fixture.

Bye after round 9 with AFLW all star game and VFL v SANFL game with AFL listed but yet to debut players eligible.

Bye pre finals with u/18 all star game.

Standard Finals 8 as we have now.

MCG GF


Eventually in 2035 there will 2 new teams and then we can have a 20 team / 20 game comp with rivalry round. Perfect.

 

[hawkman]

So all these injuries that have happened in the last 3 or 4 weeks, in a 17 week season wouldn't that mean they would happen in the middle of the final series

 

[The_Wookie]

Wasnt too long ago that we had 25 minutes + time on. No mid year bye. No end of season bye. And the ovals were generally mud and sand pits. This was the late 90s.

Totally randomise the fixture. And then change what has to be done for the sake of ground availability.

 

[HTT]

Wasnt too long ago that we had 25 minutes + time on. No mid year bye. No end of season bye. And the ovals were generally mud and sand pits. This was the late 90s.

Totally randomise the fixture. And then change what has to be done for the sake of ground availability.

25min plus time on didn’t necessarily mean the game was longer though. Time on was only added for goals

 

[Billy ray]

A simple adjustment they will no doubt do is making a qtr 18 mins plus time on. Should result in every qtr more like 27-28 mins rather than 30-31.
That wont upset me.

 

[Ned_Flanders]

Easy to work out for the interstate teams but how do you divide up the 10 Victorian teams?

Two options imo.

Geography

Geelong vs Bulldogs
Collingwood vs Carlton
Hawthorn vs St Kilda
Richmond vs Melbourne
Essendon vs North Melbourne

Or support

Collingwood vs StKilda
Richmond vs Bulldogs
Essendon vs North Melbourne
Hawthorn vs Carlton
Melbourne vs Geelong

 

[revo333]

Please bring in a best of 3 grand final series.

I'd love the melt on here and the media when the best team wins game 1 easily but their 2 best players get injured in 4th quarter junk time to let the other team win the next 2 games.

 

[Wacko23Jacko]

Two options imo.

Geography

Geelong vs Bulldogs
Collingwood vs Carlton
Hawthorn vs St Kilda
Richmond vs Melbourne
Essendon vs North Melbourne

Or support

Collingwood vs StKilda
Richmond vs Bulldogs
Essendon vs North Melbourne
Hawthorn vs Carlton
Melbourne vs Geelong

What about alphabetical order or shortest to tallest?

 

[Tex9798]

17 game season ideas will never work.

Are club/AFL/MCC memberships suddenly going to be cheaper?
Will these memberships now get you into less games? Presumably you can't have 11 home games if the season is only 17 rounds.
Are Fox Footy and AFL Live Passes suddenly going to get cheaper?
Will football still be played in Tasmania? Presumably not, why would Hawthorn and North want to play even less games in Melbourne and piss off their main fan base?

Players want it all, they want more money, they want free agency (but only the parts that suit them, none of this club can trade me whenever nonsense), they want 2 byes per season (which is why we have this dumb pre finals bye), now some of them want shorter games and shorter seasons, but I bet they wont want a pay cut.

Reality is if players are too tired then clubs should manage their lists better and give players more games off, which probably wont happen either as most clubs don't bat deep enough.

 

[Relton Roberts]

Do you know your proposal only drops off 4 games. How does the last 4 games in everyone’s fixture make the draw ‘unfair’?

Adding the 18th round contradicts everything you are arguing against. For example If WC playing Freo twice gives them greater advantage than that of Sydney getting GWS twice


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Ned_Flanders]

What about alphabetical order or shortest to tallest?

You can take the piss, but any system for selection of the match ups in Melbourne has to be imo 1) permanent and 2) doesn't relegate dogs, north, saints to low drawing default games

 

[Ned_Flanders]

Do you know your proposal only drops off 4 games. How does the last 4 games in everyone’s fixture make the draw ‘unfair’?

Adding the 18th round contradicts everything you are arguing against. For example If WC playing Freo twice gives them greater advantage than that of Sydney getting GWS twice


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

Noone is saying is perfect

BUT it's a s**t load fairer than the current 17 + 5

If you want fair, I can give you fair

12 team comp. Carlton, Richmond, Bulldogs, North Melbourne, StKilda, and Melbourne all relegated to the VAFA or the VFL permanently. That gives you 2 games against all teams.

Good luck removing one Vic team, let alone 6

 

[Toump Ass]

Who says they can't just increase ticket prices by $5-$10 across the board, and membership prices by $10-$20, to make up the difference?

A ticket to an AFL game is already extremely cheap when compared with top sports internationally, especially when you consider so few games are played compared to other leagues like the NFL, NBA, etc. If there's movement to be had and money to be "made up", it's there.

Foxtel, Channel 7 and the AFL are the ones losing the most and you can't make that up from ticket prices.

Also not sure if $20 to membership and $10 per game is viable, footy's pretty expensive for a lot of people (particularly with families etc.)

 

[Relton Roberts]

Noone is saying is perfect

BUT it's a s**t load fairer than the current 17 + 5

If you want fair, I can give you fair

12 team comp. Carlton, Richmond, Bulldogs, North Melbourne, StKilda, and Melbourne all relegated to the VAFA or the VFL permanently. That gives you 2 games against all teams.

Good luck removing one Vic team, let alone 6

The fixture will never be fair.

Even if we all play each other once it depends which side you get at home or away makes a huge difference.

For example if Richmond play West Coast in melbourne and Gold Coast away is easier than the opposite

The only way to have a true equal fixture is to play everyone twice, home and away.

Until then I think we just accept it for what it is

 

[Ned_Flanders]

The fixture will never be fair.

Even if we all play each other once it depends which side you get at home or away makes a huge difference.

For example if Richmond play West Coast in melbourne and Gold Coast away is easier than the opposite

The only way to have a true equal fixture is to play everyone twice, home and away.

Until then I think we just accept it for what it is

Did you even read my post?

I said 17 isn't perfect, BUT it's fairer than 17+5

 

[Relton Roberts]

What about 17 rounds with a FA cup style tournament thrown in there to fill up the rounds with huge prize money on offer so teams can try out their youth if they don’t want to risk injuries.
Teams on the fringe can chase some silverware and prizemoney.
And can show case some players by bringing in sanfl, wafl, vfl etc teams


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Wacko23Jacko]

You can take the piss, but any system for selection of the match ups in Melbourne has to be imo 1) permanent and 2) doesn't relegate dogs, north, saints to low drawing default games

I know mate
It would be pretty tough to find a draw for an 18th game that works and traditional rivalries certainly would be fair like you said.

 

[Mr north man]

18 weeks with the rivalry round.

Each Vic side travels to WA, SA, NSW and Qld once.

Each team gets at least 1 Friday and 1 Saturday night fixture.

Bye after round 9 with AFLW all star game and VFL v SANFL game with AFL listed but yet to debut players eligible.

Bye pre finals with u/18 all star game.

Standard Finals 8 as we have now.

MCG GF


Eventually in 2035 there will 2 new teams and then we can have a 20 team / 20 game comp with rivalry round. Perfect.

Who's the 2 new teams?

 

[mouncey2franklin]

AFL wont want to reduce games as that reduces revenue.

It is as simple as this.

Tie the executives' remuneration/bonuses to revenues, and what do you expect?

We follow lines of a business, folks.

My line is playing your line this week. The company seems to be promoting my line more than yours. They must be afraid that is has been too long since the supporters of this line tasted success.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

I have an idea why don't we just shred the rule book, piss on the hall of fame, and come up with a completely new sport

One could argue that has already happen. The Game of AFL is a very distant cousin to Australian Rules Football.

 

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

So all these injuries that have happened in the last 3 or 4 weeks, in a 17 week season wouldn't that mean they would happen in the middle of the final series

What a load of nonsense.

I can see why the coaches and players want a shorter season, I mean who wouldn't want to be paid the same money to work less and have more time off.

Pretending injuries are the reason is just BS.

 

[werdna78]

Here is how to make it all more workable & far more watchable :

- 22 clubs (where they are located is a completely separate discussion)

- 21-round season (play each other once)

- Final 12 (hate to say it but adopt McGuire's format, McIntyre Final 5 format for two groups with winners to play off in the GF)

- the 10 teams who miss the finals all get an extra pre-first round draft pick

- no mid-season or end of season byes

- 4 quarters of 25-mins plus time-on

- quarter-time & half-time breaks increased to 15-mins & 25-mins respectively

- teams of 18 players plus 4 reserves (no interchange at all)

- increase playing lists to 48

- keep Free Agency as is but allow clubs to trade players when & where they want without the player having a say in it

- all clubs to have a reserves team which plays a curtain-raiser before the senior match

Who's the 2 new teams?

Tasmania and Northern Territory

 

[Billy ray]

The fixture will never be fair.

Even if we all play each other once it depends which side you get at home or away makes a huge difference.

For example if Richmond play West Coast in melbourne and Gold Coast away is easier than the opposite

The only way to have a true equal fixture is to play everyone twice, home and away.

Until then I think we just accept it for what it is

This is why double up games should only be worth 2 premiership points. Cant smash the suns and carlton say and get 8 points.
Doesnt help with home v away games but afl should ensure that over a number of year the home games v away games between two sides is equal.

 

[Billy ray]

Tasmania and Northern Territory

Players wont play there because hot women between 18-25 wont live there

 

[LordLucifer]

Tasmania and Northern Territory

Canberra can have their own team surely.