Should the AFL give more attention to the winners of the minor premiers at the end of the H&A season?

[Cleric]

Should the AFL give the team that finishes Minor Premiers get more praise from the AFL. Things like bigger money prizes, bigger trophy and a ceremony in the week off before the finals start could help raise the value of finishing first. As it stands, finishing first really gives you no more advantage than the other top 4 teams get in the finals, so what's the point?

The other side of the coin is that winning the premiership is all that counts and adding more prestige to finishing minor premiers might reduce the main prize, of winning the GF.

We have the AFL looking to add another competition trophy, yet we have one that they could give more attention to already.

 

[_Mike_]

To do this, they'd need to revert to something with similar mechanics to the McIntyre 5 system.. Minor premier is the only team to get a rest in week 1. That would be fair IMO

 

[hippyhippy]

Maybe change it so top 2 okay 7 and 8... instead of 3 and 4.

3 and 4 play 5 and 6.

 

[Billy ray]

No. Because it can sometimes depend on your double ups.
If it was everyone plays eachother twice. Sure.

 

[Simon_Nesbit]

No. Because it can sometimes depend on your double ups.
If it was everyone plays eachother twice. Sure.

This. Due to the unbalanced fixture, it's not really worth anything other than bragging rights for a week.

If they used the "perfect" ladder instead (last home, last away against all opponents) - maybe.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Well the McClelland Trophy has been changed this year to include finals performance (across both comps), so you don't get any trophy or prizemoney based solely on H&A performance anymore.

 

[Brenton Davy]

Not until each team plays everyone else the same number of times per season

 

[kickazz]

It's all about the premiership, but I have suggested before, that they could introduce a new trophy, that is not awarded every year, but only to teams who get the minor premiership / premiership double.

You could keep a tally of winners and present the special cup on Grand Final day if you like.

It's the only way people and clubs would give a shit about the minor premiership.

FWIW, winners this century would be:


2 - Geelong (2007, 2022)
2 - Collingwood (2010, 2023)
1 - Port Adelaide (2004)
1 - West Coast (2006)
1 - Hawthorn (2013)
1 - Melbourne (2021)

 

[Dan26]

For years, I've been on about giving more recognition to the minor premier. I would do the following:

• Give the minor-premiership a different name (Barassi Cup or something)
• Give all 40 players on the list of the winning club $50,000 each for a total cost of 2 million
• give the winning club $2 million (total cost 4 million when added to the players prize)
• award the trophy on the field after the game in which top sport is sealed.

There is not enough success in the industry. We used to have 12 teams and two trophies (the old pre-season cup, which before it was pre-season had mid-week games). Now we have 19 teams and one thing to win. So we've gone from 12/2 to 19/1

There absolutely needs to be another trophy with money and status given to it.

 

[Billy ray]

• give the winning club $2 million

what can the club do with this prizemoney? exempt from softcap?

 

[Dan26]

what can the club do with this prizemoney? exempt from softcap?

Well, Essendon is going to spend 1.2 million to resurafce their oval (they think it might have something to do with injuries). There's something (not that we are winning anything)

I'd get rid of the soft cap personally. It's a cap on excellence, so having it hurts the game.

 

[StillAtLarge]

Home and Away season is too compromised to reward teams for finishing top. What if the Cats smash Richmond by 15 goals (again) in the final round and finish 1st on percentage? It will have a hollow feel to it.
*Not Geelong's fault they play the Tiges twice obviously