NAB cup format

[FootyJunkie]

Exhibit A as to why we MUST have a preseason GF...

I had an idea that if you had a ladder for the preseason, then after the 2 games each side plays (or 3 if you want to include the "non-challenge" practice game), the top 2 play off for the NAB Cup. The NAB Cup game would take place the next time the two sides play each other in the season proper.

Just a bit of fun, to go with all the other little cups/trophies/shields teams win in matches through out the season.

 

[West Coast 06]

I Like, missus does not. She wants to watch Yes to dress 365 days of the year

LOL, my daughter watches that show on a loop!

 

[Shatterpoint]

Yes has been a great format.

 

[Yellow Feathers]

I love the idea... About time we had full-length matches.

And what's wrong with footy every single day for two and a half weeks leading up to the opening round? I love it. I get home from work every day and watch footy.

I wrote to afl.com in the feedback section to let them know of this man and his great love for the new format. Let's keep it.

 

[FootyJunkie]

NAB Challenge Ladder

Hawthorn 2 0 0 357.89% 272 76
West Coast 1 0 0 231.25% 148 64
Adelaide 1 0 0 201.69% 119 59
Sydney 1 0 0 153.33% 115 75
W.Bulldogs 1 0 0 119.64% 67 56
Richmond 1 1 0 119.54% 208 174
Melbourne 1 0 0 116.67% 98 84
Carlton 1 0 0 107.53% 100 93
Geelong 1 0 0 101.96% 104 102
Gold Coast 1 1 0 76.41% 149 195
Brisbane 1 1 0 60.56% 129 213
Essendon 0 1 0 98.89% 89 90
St.Kilda 0 1 0 83.58% 56 67
Collingwood 0 2 0 78.07% 178 228
Nth.Melb. 0 2 0 66.97% 146 218
GWS Giants 0 1 0 65.22% 75 115
Port Adel. 0 1 0 49.58% 59 119
Fremantle 0 1 0 43.24% 64 148

 

[MAAAATTDAAAAMON]

Really like the format. 1. There's always something to watch. 2. No farcical cup. Keep the same next year and beyond

 

[Papa Juggs]

I don't care about anything that isn't on free to air.

I think abolishing the night premiership is a bold move but it doesn't really matter too much.

I was already off put by the commercials after EVERY SINGLE GOAL and not being able to see a replay because of it.

I'm really off put by the road the AFL has gone down in recent years. I will not be forced onto Foxtel to be able to enjoy the sport. I'd rather just not bother.

 

[Hipster Doofus]

I don't care about anything that isn't on free to air.

I think abolishing the night premiership is a bold move but it doesn't really matter too much.

I was already off put by the commercials after EVERY SINGLE GOAL and not being able to see a replay because of it.

I'm really off put by the road the AFL has gone down in recent years. I will not be forced onto Foxtel to be able to enjoy the sport. I'd rather just not bother.

Seems like you have a bit of a vendetta against paid tv...do you watch Saints games when they're only on Foxfooty?

 

[Hipster Doofus]

And +1 for liking the new format, everyday I can watch and read a little snippet of how teams and more importantly their younger players are tracking

 

[underthestars]

Call it the Foxtel Cup and let viewers vote on twitter for the winner. The rest of us wouldn't have a clue what's going on?

 

[Riccardo11]

Call it the Foxtel Cup and let viewers vote on twitter for the winner. The rest of us wouldn't have a clue what's going on?

The Foxtel Cup is already a thing, it's the state leagues knockout comp. Foxtel and the leagues put pretty much zero effort into it, though.

IMHO, the Challenge format is absolute rubbish. The pre season cup was always a glorified practice match series, but at least there was some prize money and a trophy in it. Now it's an utter waste of time.

 

[FootyJunkie]

NAB Challenge Ladder

Hawthorn 2 0 0 357.89% 272 76
Adelaide 2 0 0 181.67% 218 120
West Coast 1 0 0 231.25% 148 64
Sydney 1 0 0 153.33% 115 75
W.Bulldogs 1 0 0 119.64% 67 56
Richmond 1 1 0 119.54% 208 174
Melbourne 1 0 0 116.67% 98 84
Geelong 1 0 0 101.96% 104 102
Carlton 1 1 0 83.85% 161 192
Gold Coast 1 1 0 76.41% 149 195
Brisbane 1 1 0 60.56% 129 213
Essendon 0 1 0 98.89% 89 90
St.Kilda 0 1 0 83.58% 56 67
Collingwood 0 2 0 78.07% 178 228
Nth.Melb. 0 2 0 66.97% 146 218
GWS Giants 0 1 0 65.22% 75 115
Port Adel. 0 1 0 49.58% 59 119
Fremantle 0 1 0 43.24% 64 148

 

[kid_a]

Don't mind having a bunch of pre season games with nothing on the line, allows clubs to just go out and experiment with game plans, positions etc.
18(technically 19) days of footy in a row is good.

I wouldn't mind seeing something like the Charity Shield in England brought in.

Maybe have the reining premiers play a VFL all star team or something (WAFL all stars if the premiers are a WA club, SANFL if a SA club etc).

Conversely I'd like to see maybe the reinging VFL premiers take on the AFL spooners of the year before.

Just some idea's.

In summary what we have today is much better than those stupid 3-way game day's and infinitely better than those damn group stage and ko stage format that was used circa 2001-02.

 

[FootyJunkie]

Conversely I'd like to see maybe the reinging VFL premiers take on the AFL spooners of the year before.

This could be dangerous.

Hawthorn Reserves vs. GWS.

 

[BluesMan]

[quote="Riccardo11, post: 31847533, member: 145085"

IMHO, the Challenge format is absolute rubbish. The pre season cup was always a glorified practice match series, but at least there was some prize money and a trophy in it. Now it's an utter waste of time.[/quote]
But thats the point...Why on earth do we need to have the trophy? I havent heard one good arguement for it yet.

 

[Jade]

I like, seems to be less of the league trying to make practice matches appear to be anything more than practice matches.

Nailed it.

We miss footy, it's games day after day and it's not trying to pretend to be anything other than a warmup.

 

[THE EQUALIZER]

My improvements for the 2015 NAB Challenge.

- All non-Victorian teams have 2 games in their own state and travel once.

- Victorian teams that travel 5 times or less in the season proper must travel twice.

- No derbies.

- No 6 day breaks.

- 2 games on Fridays and Saturdays at the expense of games on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

- Games must be played between teams that only meet once in the season proper.

- If round 1 of the main season remains a split round, then your 3 NAB Challenge games are against teams that play on the same weekend as you do.

 

[kid_a]

My improvements for the 2015 NAB Challenge.

- All non-Victorian teams have 2 games in their own state and travel once.

- Victorian teams that travel 5 times or less in the season proper must travel twice.

- No derbies.

- No 6 day breaks.

- 2 games on Fridays and Saturdays at the expense of games on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

- Games must be played between teams that only meet once in the season proper.

- If round 1 of the main season remains a split round, then your 3 NAB Challenge games are against teams that play on the same weekend as you do.

I like it.

Add to it,taking games to 'actual' regional grounds, not places like Joondalup or Geelong.

Kalgoorlie, Albany, Bunbury, Whyalla, Broken Hill, Mt.Gambier, Wagga-Wagga, these are the sort of places that some games should go to, I'd even maybe chuck a game up in PNG(league is defo's #1 up there, but trust me there is a big footy fan/playing base too) and NZ.

 

[EssendonNick]

I think it is an awesome format except they need to get rid of all the games at Etihad Stadium and bring the game to more regional areas as already said.
A packed country ground has so much of a better atmosphere than a mostly empty Etihad.

 

[master bate]

A couple of things I'd do to make it better.

1. Instead of the first 2 practice matches per team being broadcast as NAB Challenge then each teams final match not being on TV why not have each teams first match of the year as an unbroadcasted practice match and then have the remaining 2 leading in to round 1 on TV. That way you'd get more matches of higher quality featuring teams much closer to the round 1 best 22. It should help avoid the blowout losses of totally outmatched teams. Also then the first practice match could be played under conditions agreed on by the two teams that match their preparation ie. shorter quarters, more players eligible etc.

2. Instead of 18 games straight with 1 per day why not have Mondays and Tuesdays off to stop the monotony and have 2 games on each of the Saturdays and Sundays. I love watching footy but even I can't watch much of practice matches every day. A couple of days footy free would make the other 5 days better. And 1 or 2 of the weekend games could be broadcast on channel 7 and it would make sense for those to be the games at Eithad. Some free to air buzz for footy being back would be good for the game I think.

 

[master bate]

I like it.

Add to it,taking games to 'actual' regional grounds, not places like Joondalup or Geelong.

Kalgoorlie, Albany, Bunbury, Whyalla, Broken Hill, Mt.Gambier, Wagga-Wagga, these are the sort of places that some games should go to, I'd even maybe chuck a game up in PNG(league is defo's #1 up there, but trust me there is a big footy fan/playing base too) and NZ.

I've got no problem with the games in Geelong, Casey, Joondalup whatever place there is on the outskirts of Adelaide because they lead to a combination of city and country people getting access to the games. I don't know about Perth but Melbourne is so sprawled out these days that whilst you might be a pretty easy drive to Casey fields or Geelong it might be a real hassle to get to and from games at Etihad and the G in the regular season even though both stadiums are well serviced by trains. Plus VFL/SANFL/WAFL level stadiums are safe for players and easy to access facility wise I think they should keep those style games instead of the games at Etihad and then add the proper country ones.

Over time each team could play one home and one away game from the 18 games and could have rotating home grounds. Ie. Freo and West Coast could pick 4 places in WA and play 1 game a year at each of them every 4 years. Hawthorn and North could do Tassie. Melbourne could alternate between Casey and a NT ground due to our current sponsorship agreement with them, Geelong would obviously mainly do Geelong but could pick other Western District towns and a lot of the other Victorian teams could pick country areas linked to their community camps and by being semi regular at the area with a game on rotation they could grow followings.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

Bottom 2 teams from the previous season should be eliminated from the cup

1vs16, 2vs15 etc.
Knockout format
Lowest ranked teams host

This would limit tanking by the bottom teams as;
1. No team wants limited preseason exposure (finances, membership, etc)
2. Teams would want a potentially easier draw for the preseason

and subsequently the top teams who normally have less of a preseason are awarded by playing lower ranked teams

 

[le dominateur]

I think it is an awesome format except they need to get rid of all the games at Etihad Stadium and bring the game to more regional areas as already said.
A packed country ground has so much of a better atmosphere than a mostly empty Etihad.

Read on some other board that the contract for Etihad includes 5 preseason games per year.

 

[didaksrightfoot]

Conversely: Essendon won the double 3 times (84, 93, 00), Hawthorn same (86, 88, 91)

Notice that the last of those was in 2000... in fact, since then the only team to do the double was the Cat's in '09.

I really like the current format:
The purpose of pre-season is for clubs to get matchtime into players and prepare them for Round 1. Having a knock-out competition, and a "winner" can create a bit of a dilemma where fans may be pushing the club to focus on winning the game, rather than on preparing for Round 1 - and the two can often be quite different. (And I think in the past, you could argue that you were better off by not winning NAB cup games, because you could just focus on preparation in the other practice games).

I have actually had some interest in these games, not really caring who wins, but about preparation of individuals.

As fans, it is nice to be able to put some weighting on a "pre-season champion" (particularly when our club is not really a contender for the flag) - but I dont think most clubs would give it a second thought, particularly if it was at the expense of the right preparation for the season.

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

I like it too. Have only really watched the Hawks matches and bits of the other ones but it's great having a match each day. I liked seeing some of our younger players and those coming back from LTIs going around. Hated that round robin thing with the shortened matches, could not get into that at all.

I think the clubs prefer something like this where you have a set number of matches and you know how many you will play and when. With the knockout one you may end up with too few matches or more than you would have liked. This is just formalised practice matches, nothing more nothing less.