Opinion Non-Crows AFL 13: Offseason

[kirky]

Not a great start to pre-season for our friends down the road

Didn’t he have foot issues when he was at South Adelaide and Kangaroos?

 

[StonesThrow]

Wildcard round should include 17th vs 18th playing off for pick 1

If:

Stop suggesting ideas for the AFL to steal

Then:

I'm sick of change for change sake

 

[screech]

I actually don’t hate ‘wild card’ finals. It will keep games more interesting throughout the year before the inevitable dead rubbers begin, teams less likely tank, clubs can get finals experience before truly ready to compete etc.

It works in a lot of US sports because they have divisions, so it’s a way to even it up if your team is in a harder division. And teams can actually win. Dodgers just won the World Series coming through the wild card.

From an AFL perspective it is a way to even up the uneven fixture double ups etc. since we don’t play everyone twice home and away it’s very possible final finishing positions aren’t actually indicative of where each team should be ranked. Wild Card will allow more teams opportunity to level out the finals.

I’ve also been an advocate for more finals. Going from 4 games to 2 games to 2 games to 1 is so anticlimactic.

I just think they’re way too early. They should have gone to this once TAS and team #20 came in. 10 teams in finals out of 18 is way too many.

Would rather a "proper" finals system. Every finals system in our game should aime to fairly get to the traditional final 4. The top 5 and top 6 systems both achieved this, but it was abandoned once we went to top 8 in order to maintain it being held over 4 weeks.

Now that they are willing to expand to 5 weeks, it is an opportunity to rectify this. The winners of the Qualifying finals should go into the traditional 2nd Semi, with the losers having some form of series with the winners of the Elims to play off in the traditional 1st Semi. From there 2nd Semi winner goes straight to the GF and there is a single Prelim for the remaining spot.

 

[Pugsley]

Didn’t he have foot issues when he was at South Adelaide and Kangaroos?

That was a heart problem at the Kangaroos.

 

[Scorpus]

It'd be interesting to see the modelling on how far in advance the finals teams are now effectively locked in under a 10 team system.

For example in 2025, the top 8 was only locked in in round 24 with the potential for 9 teams making it in the final round, but there was an 8 point gap between 10th and 11th in round 21, effectively ending the battle for finals at that point

 

[Bovo]

Not a great start to pre-season for our friends down the road

Early days though

 

[Bovo]

That was a heart problem at the Kangaroos.

How can that be? The Kangaroos lack heart

 

[Pugsley]

How can that be? The Kangaroos lack heart

He should have stayed as they were a perfect match.

 

[Slippery Pete]

The hilarity will come when 7 v 10 or 8 v 9 also played each other the week before.

Example: 7 beats 10 in the last round to secure a top eight finish.

10 beats 7 in “wildcard” round and knocks them out of the eight.

I understand this can happen where you meet in the last minor round and then again the next week in finals, but people understand and accept the delineation there.

The absurdity of this system will be exposed if you’re not actually calling these games finals. It will just be like two minor round games where the first result could be completely insignificant.

 

[kirky]

The hilarity will come when 7 v 10 or 8 v 9 also played each other the week before.

Example: 7 beats 10 in the last round to secure a top eight finish.

10 beats 7 in “wildcard” round and knocks them out of the eight.

I understand this can happen where you meet in the last minor round and then again the next week in finals, but people understand and accept the delineation there.

The absurdity of this system will be exposed if you’re not actually calling these games finals. It will just be like two minor round games where the first result could be completely insignificant.

And the odds of this scenario playing out is?

Who bloody cares, people will still go to the Wildcard Finals.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

That was a heart problem at the Kangaroos.

ice, Ice, Baby...

 

[Soggy2112]

It's not the AFL making a case that the stadium changes things. Peter Gutwein announced it as a the centre of the Tasmanian proposal to the AFL for a team.

The decision on whether there should be a team without a new stadium has already been made. That decision is no. Every independent study has shown a lack of viability.

There is absolutely zero requirement for the AFL to put teams into unviable markets, whether that is Hobart or Townsville.

I am completely okay with the AFL saying no, a team in Tasmania is not viable. If that’s the call they make I can 100% see why and I’d probably agree with it.

I think this was an error on both parties. The Tasmanian government should not have made a stadium a centre of their bid, and the AFL should not have accepted the bid on the basis of the stadium.

However, now we’re in a position where it seems the AFL is effectively saying, if stadium is built the way we want it yes, if not then no. Rather than working with the Tasmanian government on what is best for Tasmanian footy (which may not be a team in the AFL), they’re bullying them in to paying for a new stadium that there are clearly major concerns about. There now bullying the government, knowing that no one will want to be the government that failed to get Tassie an AFL team.

 

[Soggy2112]

The Tasmanian Government had the roofed stadium as a part of their presentation to get the license.

It was part of the "ignore your studies, we have a plan" proposal.

The AFL is holding them to it, as they ****ing should.

Your last sentence would be valid IMO if we were talking about two businesses. We’re not. We’re talking about a state government and a not for profit sporting league. There obligations are to the people of Tasmania, not their bank accounts.

If a team in Tasmania isn’t viable, it isn’t viable, stadium or not. The AFL needs to commit to making it happen, or not, regardless of what happens with the stadium.

Right now it seems that the Tasmanian government is having to choose whether to build the stadium and have a team, or not. I’m not okay with the AFL putting them in that position.

Just make the call, team or no team, then work on the potential stadium.

 

[pjcrows]

What’s the downside?

Rewards mediocrity for no reason.

 

[Mr MysteryGuest]

Ben Rutten is ports new head of footy.

we tried to bring him back a year or two ago, but didn't want to move again unless it was for a senior assistant gig (or higher.

It's a shame we couldn't get him to replace what's-his-face

 

[ams4crows]

Imagine being so utterly shit as a club for 20 years that the AFL change the rules to give a chance at winning a final because more teams will be involved now.

 

[1970crow]

Rewards mediocrity for no reason.

We already do that with 7th and 8th. And there are reasons. Increased TV rights, adding to 2 games to an empty weekend, increased stadium revenue, which benefits clubs in the grand scheme, extra interest in the games at the end of the season. There’s simply not a single negative and at least a few positives of varying degrees.

 

[1970crow]

The hilarity will come when 7 v 10 or 8 v 9 also played each other the week before.

Example: 7 beats 10 in the last round to secure a top eight finish.

10 beats 7 in “wildcard” round and knocks them out of the eight.

I understand this can happen where you meet in the last minor round and then again the next week in finals, but people understand and accept the delineation there.

The absurdity of this system will be exposed if you’re not actually calling these games finals. It will just be like two minor round games where the first result could be completely insignificant.

As you said, that can happen now, so no change there. Certainly not a backward step.

 

[Barneythecrab]

Jandakot, or further south again (e.g. Mandurah)?

True, just thought proximity to city,
dense population around canning vale and rockingham.

 

[MarcusP2]

The hilarity will come when 7 v 10 or 8 v 9 also played each other the week before.

Example: 7 beats 10 in the last round to secure a top eight finish.

10 beats 7 in “wildcard” round and knocks them out of the eight.

I understand this can happen where you meet in the last minor round and then again the next week in finals, but people understand and accept the delineation there.

The absurdity of this system will be exposed if you’re not actually calling these games finals. It will just be like two minor round games where the first result could be completely insignificant.

This just happened in the AFLW, though Carlton won both games.

 

[ams4crows]

This just happened in the AFLW, though Carlton won both games.

WAs it North and Hawthorn too or did they get a game in-between

 

[brucetiki]

This just happened in the AFLW, though Carlton won both games.

Same with North Melbourne v Hawthorn (again, North won both games).

Brisbane and Melbourne played in the 2nd last round too (Melbourne won the minor round game, Brisbane won the final)

 

[Soggy2112]

We already do that with 7th and 8th. And there are reasons. Increased TV rights, adding to 2 games to an empty weekend, increased stadium revenue, which benefits clubs in the grand scheme, extra interest in the games at the end of the season. There’s simply not a single negative and at least a few positives of varying degrees.

The thing is that we’ve actually moved in a positive direction now where those teams are generally pretty good sides. You now have to win 55% or more of your games usually to make the 8.

This change brings it back to where a 50-50 record or sometimes even a losing record is enough.

 

[kirky]

At the moment, 7th and 8th get an advantage by getting a weeks rest with all the other finals teams.

Do they deserve that? No.

 

[Tex Danger]

It'd be interesting to see the modelling on how far in advance the finals teams are now effectively locked in under a 10 team system.

For example in 2025, the top 8 was only locked in in round 24 with the potential for 9 teams making it in the final round, but there was an 8 point gap between 10th and 11th in round 21, effectively ending the battle for finals at that point

Offsetting that though is that there’s now a far bigger emphasis on needing to be top 6

In current system, often a Vic team it makes no difference if they’re 5th or 8th, they may play at mcg regardless.

Now there’s a significant emphasis on teams needing to make the top 6 (and within that further incentive to make top 4, and then most of the time to make top 2 but the same issue now resolved from 5-8 may exist inside too 4 for Vic teams)

I’m not a big fan of the wildcard weekend necessarily, but I think now having more “tiers” Of importance within the top 8 isn’t going to be a bad thin