Women's Footy Melbourne captain Daisy Pearce slams suggested changes to the AFLW fixture as ‘gimmicky’

[Rob]

Pretty sure the FIFA World Cup reference will just be a precursor for an eventual Group Stage/Knock Out format for the Women’s league.

Which could work I guess?..

They clearly have about an 8 week window to work with here.

That's only by choice through. And longer term it's not really sustainable.

9 rounds + finals really is a no brainer if you've got 10 teams.

 

[randyzany]

Their whole aflw 'competition' is a gimmick, has been from the start. Something thrust upon the public, for pc sakes, that had little to no demand. Talk about delusional.

 

[swiftdog]

Tell me, how many people go to these games? How much per ticket? Commonsense that the AFL doesn't want to pour more money into it when most of Australia don't give a s**t. Don't worry 'little boy' (marvelous insult) I'm sure every single woman loves AFLW, my girlfriend is totally the only one who dislikes it.......totally.

I’d hazard a guess that most of Australia doesn’t give a s**t about the AFL in general. Hardly an argument against AFLW.

 

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

Good on her for calling it out.

Gill has clearly let us know what he thinks of AWFL.

 

[Starburns_]

Surprised that the AFL didn't schedule the finals during the AFL season as they only need to find clean air for 2 games in one week.

Still reckon it's a bit of an overreaction though, they couldn't seriously have expected that the number of games would increase with the number of games.

The season should start in the Aug/Sep pre finals bye week. That's round 1.

Then have a rest for a week for AFL finals week 1, then continue during the semi finals and prelim weeks - rounds 2-3.

Break for the grand final, then rounds 4-7 in October. 8-11 in November. 2 weeks of finals in late Nov/Early Dec.

11 rounds with 12 teams is perfect.

Get it in and done before the big bash starts. Easy enough to work around spring carnival (which is really only 3 or 4 big Saturdays in October/Nov) and test cricket etc.

There will never be enough time in the late summer/Autumn time and no one will want to consistently watch women's footy when the men's stuff is up and going. Better to start and overlap with the men's (as above) and then get clear air to finish the season. Also has the benefit of mostly being played in Spring when the weather isn't as hot and the ground aren't as firm = less ACL's.

There will have to be some shuffling around with grounds (although most of the current ones are dedicated football ovals) and with state league seasons finishing by early August to allow for a short preseason period but that can only be an advantage I think. Get the women after they've played a 10 game VFLW season, given them a freshen up and then put them in for the top level for a decent season.

Switching the season to then makes sense from a fixturing standpoint, but the AFL currently take advantage of the season starting after fans have been starved of the game for 4 months. Would it attract the same level of attention coming after a long AFL season than it does as a prologue of sorts?

If they ever get it to a point where it's 15 weeks long, then perhaps an October-November/February-March split-season might be the best option.

For those complaining about costs it's really not that hard for the AFL and clubs to recoup the costs with memberships and a tv deal. They don't need huge ratings, crowds or membership numbers to pay 30 girls about an average of 15k each.

Pretty sure the issue is that they don't currently have a TV deal (presumably because 7 either don't want a longer season or because they don't want to pay what the AFL deem it's worth), and if club memberships don't already include AFLW games, what incentive is there to buy one for a product that is already free?

Who does Daisy Pearce propose should pay for the additional television coverage and other costs incurred by more matches?

Think the problem is rather that there are too many teams for the available talent pool. There's also the issue of more women wanting to be paid more money. The players are in too much of a hurry.

^^This. There's a fair sense of entitlement in regards to a league that is only 2 years old and loses a fair amount of money.

Do you really reckon the girls are doing it for the money?

Pays peanuts.

No, but it'd be naive to think that a longer season wouldn't have naturally led to a push for higher pay.

Aside from that, even if the players and coaches didn't get more money, there would still be increased costs anyway.

I would have preferred one team per state, with their own identities

Something like this (if only in Victoria) would've been the smarter option long-term, but the AFL were in a rush to make it work so piggybacking of existing football club structures and fanbases was a quick and easy way to build the competition. Now they're essentially locked into letting every team in.

6 teams in each group. Play each other once. Two ladders to cover the two groups. Top 4 from both groups advance to a final 8 series over 4 weeks. The top two from each ladder get a double chance and home final in week one to the teams on top.

Example 1st from Group Pearce v 2nd from Group Blackburn
1st from Group Blackburn v 2nd from Group Pearce

This is where they're heading, the drop to 6 games is conditioning us for the introduction of conferences when the league hits 14 teams.

 

[footyfan1978]

This is where they're heading, the drop to 6 games is conditioning us for the introduction of conferences when the league hits 14 teams.

Yeah, that is what occurred to me earlier today that when it expands further they intend to play them in groups so all teams within same group can play each other once before a combined finals series is brought together for either 3 or 4 weeks.
If they get to 18 teams it will be three groups of 6 teams.

 

[Forever North]

The AFL knows that interest amongst the younger generation is dying. The game simply cannot grow any more in this country. There isn't a spare 5 million people to convert. Australian society is also changing, we have far more leisure choices to choose from nowdays. That's why the AFL dreams up these loss making exercises like AFLW, AFLX, expansion clubs, playing games in China etc and having a 2 week trade wankfest. It simply hogs the media landscape at the expense of cricket, soccer, tennis etc. They have plenty of media whores to push their bullshit agendas. Makes me sick. Once the grand final is over, that's it for me till mid March. Like I'm going to waste time following rubbish gimmicky crap at the expense of EPL, Champions League, Oz Open, cricket etc during the off season. Good luck to the girls in their AFL pursuits but it really is unwatchable tv.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Tell me, how many people go to these games? How much per ticket? Commonsense that the AFL doesn't want to pour more money into it when most of Australia don't give a s**t. Don't worry 'little boy' (marvelous insult) I'm sure every single woman loves AFLW, my girlfriend is totally the only one who dislikes it.......totally.

Did your girlfriend tell you that to.

 

[Starburns_]

Yeah, that is what occurred to me earlier today that when it expands further they intend to play them in groups so all teams within same group can play each other once before a combined finals series is brought together for either 3 or 4 weeks.
If they get to 18 teams it will be three groups of 6 teams.

Disagree on the 18 team expansion, reckon in that case they'll go with 8 games each per conference. By then the AFL will have a good idea how far they can stretch the league, if they can't go as high as 12 weeks (including finals), then they won't be able to go to 18 teams.

 

[Cdog71]

Their whole aflw 'competition' is a gimmick, has been from the start. Something thrust upon the public, for pc sakes, that had little to no demand. Talk about delusional.

It’s getting some traction with the kids, and the more participants in junior footy the healthier smaller local footy is.

 

[LongPause]

Lots of sad little men in this thread

Brilliant posting history, getting the quality over quantity approach.

 

[Warhorse]

I would tell to stfu and if she doesn't like it she can play elsewhere.

 

[NoobPie]

The AFL knows that interest amongst the younger generation is dying. The game simply cannot grow any more in this country. There isn't a spare 5 million people to convert. Australian society is also changing, we have far more leisure choices to choose from nowdays. That's why the AFL dreams up these loss making exercises like AFLW, AFLX, expansion clubs, playing games in China etc and having a 2 week trade wankfest. It simply hogs the media landscape at the expense of cricket, soccer, tennis etc. They have plenty of media whores to push their bullshit agendas. Makes me sick. Once the grand final is over, that's it for me till mid March. Like I'm going to waste time following rubbish gimmicky crap at the expense of EPL, Champions League, Oz Open, cricket etc during the off season. Good luck to the girls in their AFL pursuits but it really is unwatchable tv.

Headline:

Soccer fan declares he’d rather watch european soccer than women’s football

 

[realbez]

Brilliant posting history, getting the quality over quantity approach.

I don’t feel compelled to post here too often

 

[PAFC_1870]

I could never take AFLW seriously when the AFL immediately just went to a professional league, without naturally starting at junior levels and working their way up like they did with the recent AFL expansion teams.

Likewise, free admission sums it all up really.

Physical sports like this also make me squeamish on it, I think rules need to be compromised but they don't necessarily want to either... Sure there are a handful of elite players, but they are exceptions.

 

[mike91]

Did your girlfriend tell you that to.

Oh buddy, you're a special one.