The "Bye"

[Syphoncom]

So, it seems almost anyone who manages to watch a few games can see the bye hasn't been great for teams this year. Not every team has lost after it, but considering some of the mismatches you'll get, I was greatly surprised when at one stage, I believe Geelong were the only team to win after a week off.

It's a curse!

How come then, that winners of a qualifying final who are put straight through to the prelims are generally favourites and expected to win?

Of course they're generally the better teams so not literally on the favourites ... but there's no big worry about how the layoff will affect the players.

I think the fact you've already got 22 or so games under your belt means fluctuation of performance after a week off is probably less likely (or, less severe).

Also, the brutal nature of finals and the intensity it requires probably has an effect on the losing qualifying finalists coming into the prelim final as well, so any effects on either side may be evened out.

Any other thoughts?

 

[Ricky90]

I'm going to go ahead and put this one in the 'too hard' basket.

The week off seems to benefit the teams in the finals, maybe because of the 23 games prior, who knows.

The mid year bye that we were so used to with a 16 team comp never gave us any talking points. But I guess that comes down to your opponent also coming off a week off.

At this stage I don't really know what you can attribute poor form after the bye to. But until it becomes more clear, I'm happy just to say that it's a mental thing of the being in holiday mode (in comparison to being in finals mode where glory is the only thing on your mind). Other than that we will never really know, huh?

 

[Vass]

I reckon during the bye teams have a bit of a holiday, and lose some form of consistency. Players go home, and the club gives players a week off. So, players may come back a bit off. In contrast the brake in the finals, the players stay training, and keep up their intensity so they are ready to for the preliminary final .