The Finals Bye Round

[Bulldog1954]

It’s great, it gives teams who capitulate in the finals an excuse, regardless of how flimsy it is. Everyone wins.

 

[Max Caddy]

Overreaction much?

So basically I only a slightly smaller blight on the game then the Essendon saga?

I said 'one of'.

I'm allowed to hate it. Most do

 

[nahnah]

I like it, gives teams time to get players back

 

[greatwhiteshark]

The AFL are brilliant at this stuff, they bring something in which no one likes and just say stuff what the people like we will just keep doing it and eventually the sheep will agree with us.
They are absolute masters of it. Look how many people like it now. It is so funny.

 

[iluvparis]

I said 'one of'.

I'm allowed to hate it. Most do

By most you mean 36% of posters so far

 

[Max Caddy]

By most you mean 36% of posters so far

Poll is currently running 67% negative 33% positive.

Why do you even care anyway?

 

[catman2006]

Gives teams a chance to get their best players back, but dulls fans momentum of being excited for finals

 

[Gaben]

Greatly diminishes the value of the 2nd round finals bye, puts a lot of teams back on level pegging which I'm sure the AFL is okay with because they love enforced equality.

Not complaining this year though, it probably benefits us more than any other team.

 

[Kram]

The AFL are brilliant at this stuff, they bring something in which no one likes and just say stuff what the people like we will just keep doing it and eventually the sheep will agree with us.
They are absolute masters of it. Look how many people like it now. It is so funny.

With all the travel we do anyone that supports a WA team and is against it is an idiot.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

With all the travel we do anyone that supports a WA team and is against it is an idiot.

Maybe we should have a bye after every 4 games? You know to ease the massive burdon on the poor extremely fit young players.

 

[wagstaff]

Don't see why the Brownlow can't be moved to the bye weekend so there's a major footy event for that weekend.

But it's not a big deal if it just stays like it us. Media types moaning about 'loss of momentum' in terms of public interest in footy because of the bye weekend is a load of nonsense.

 

[Snarls Barkley]

Wouldn’t go as far as saying I like it but it’s killed off the resting of 10+ players in the last round of the season. Don’t think anyone liked it when those Ross Lyon Fremantle teams did it but it was balanced out a bit that they’d earned a top spot already. Was a farce when Brad Scott’s North did it against Richmond in 2015 to finish 8th and then got the advantage of a more rested group when they played in the EF.

Not sure what they can do to make this off week more interesting. It’s good they’ve made it awards week to try and give you something but the telecasts of those awards are long and boring and I tend to lose interest 10 minutes in. It’s one week without footy, I’m sure I can survive.

Don’t agree with the momentum killing factor. Think it’s mainly Geelong fans who moan over everything other than their team not being good enough in the past few seasons. Won’t hear them moaning if they win the flag this year.

 

[Duskfire]

I don’t mind it, means the best players have a week to get over niggles and we see a better standard of finals.

I do think the AFL is missing a scheduling opportunity to fill the gap though, maybe the last round or first week of finals of each states U/18s comps could be telecast so we could get a good view of potential draftees?

Does it bring a better standard of finals? There’s no real evidence of that. Bulldogs is probably the only example where it worked. But I also feel like it stifles teams momentum. Eagles in 2016 looked completely off compared to the month they played previously. Richmond in 2018 looked slow and sluggish in the prelim etc etc.

I am not an AFL player, but I play sport and exercise a lot, and I couldn’t think of anything worst then having a week off just when the extra gear is needed to click in. I wonder if they did a poll of AFL players what they would prefer.

Who knows, maybe I am wrong. I just feel there is no correlation between the bye and better quality finals.

I do agree there should be something on in the bye. Not sure why they don’t have the Brownlow. Have it on a sat or fri night.

 

[Max Caddy]

Greatly diminishes the value of the 2nd round finals bye, puts a lot of teams back on level pegging which I'm sure the AFL is okay with because they love enforced equality.

Not complaining this year though, it probably benefits us more than any other team.

For some teams (ie: mine) it's probably considered a disadvantage to potentially only play 1 game in 3 weeks of finals.

 

[iluvparis]

For some teams (ie: mine) it's probably considered a disadvantage to potentially only play 1 game in 3 weeks of finals.

Then tank in the QF final - problem solved.

 

[Gaben]

Wouldn’t go as far as saying I like it but it’s killed off the resting of 10+ players in the last round of the season. Don’t think anyone liked it when those Ross Lyon Fremantle teams did it but it was balanced out a bit that they’d earned a top spot already. Was a farce when Brad Scott’s North did it against Richmond in 2015 to finish 8th and then got the advantage of a more rested group when they played in the EF.

Not sure what they can do to make this off week more interesting. It’s good they’ve made it awards week to try and give you something but the telecasts of those awards are long and boring and I tend to lose interest 10 minutes in. It’s one week without footy, I’m sure I can survive.

Don’t agree with the momentum killing factor. Think it’s mainly Geelong fans who moan over everything other than their team not being good enough in the past few seasons. Won’t hear them moaning if they win the flag this year.

Mmm, I'm not so sure. Richmond's finals run last year could definitely mount a case for the bye being a momentum killer. They were clearly the better team coming into the PF, all signs pointed to them winning but they came out flat after playing 1 game in 3 weeks. We came out full of fire having traveled West but getting done in a close one, coming back and building some momentum against GWS and then rolling it over into the next week.

Bye - Game - Bye - Game vs. Bye - Game - Game - Game.

Considering the majority of the year is 21 games straight, I don't think it's farfetched to suggest that the alternating playing and bye might distrupt teams. Like I said earlier though, the momentum factor is also combined with the fact it just really diminishes the value and reward of earning the bye in the 2nd round of finals. How much more valuable and welcomed is the bye if you hadn't had a break since mid-season compared to 2 weeks prior?

Providing you stay relatively injury free, I think there's a big possibly that playing straight through is the better option.

 

[LoungeLizard]

I reckon a month off, then a couple of practice matches before finals would be better.

Then every player

The AFL are brilliant at this stuff, they bring something in which no one likes and just say stuff what the people like we will just keep doing it and eventually the sheep will agree with us.
They are absolute masters of it. Look how many people like it now. It is so funny.

Or
As soon as the AFL change something, everyone hates it, because most can't handle change.

 

[Cleavy]

'It's here for the foreseeable future': Gill backs pre-finals bye

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan has defended the competition's pre-finals bye

www.afl.com.au

Gil's spin is ridiculous!

 

[craffles]

Does it bring a better standard of finals? There’s no real evidence of that. Bulldogs is probably the only example where it worked. But I also feel like it stifles teams momentum. Eagles in 2016 looked completely off compared to the month they played previously. Richmond in 2018 looked slow and sluggish in the prelim etc etc.

I am not an AFL player, but I play sport and exercise a lot, and I couldn’t think of anything worst then having a week off just when the extra gear is needed to click in. I wonder if they did a poll of AFL players what they would prefer.

Who knows, maybe I am wrong. I just feel there is no correlation between the bye and better quality finals.

I do agree there should be something on in the bye. Not sure why they don’t have the Brownlow. Have it on a sat or fri night.

I have zero evidence to back up what I’m saying. I just like seeing the best players fit and on the park I guess.

Having played footy myself as well I get what you’re saying though, momentum can be infectious

 

[HTT]

Mmm, I'm not so sure. Richmond's finals run last year could definitely mount a case for the bye being a momentum killer. They were clearly the better team coming into the PF, all signs pointed to them winning but they came out flat after playing 1 game in 3 weeks. We came out full of fire having traveled West but getting done in a close one, coming back and building some momentum against GWS and then rolling it over into the next week.

Bye - Game - Bye - Game vs. Bye - Game - Game - Game.

Considering the majority of the year is 21 games straight, I don't think it's farfetched to suggest that the alternating playing and bye might distrupt teams. Like I said earlier though, the momentum factor is also combined with the fact it just really diminishes the value and reward of earning the bye in the 2nd round of finals. How much more valuable and welcomed is the bye if you hadn't had a break since mid-season compared to 2 weeks prior?

Providing you stay relatively injury free, I think there's a big possibly that playing straight through is the better option.

I think we were pretty flat in general by the prelim last year. The bye didn’t help but it also wasn’t our biggest issue.
Since the bye was introduced teams that have won QFs have gone 3-3 in PFs. But I reckon only 1 of those losses has a legitimate claim that the extra bye affected them, Geelong 2016 who were simply jumped by the Swans, think it was like 7 goals to 0 at quarter time, and the cats were in good form at the back end of 2016.
The Bulldogs/Giants prelim could have gone either way, the bye definitely helped the dogs but I don’t think it specifically hindered the Giants if you get what I mean - the dogs were just hot, and fresh enough.
Similarly last year the bye probably helped you a bit as it was only your 3rd consecutive week playing, but you were on fire while we had tailed off a bit.

I’d give it a couple more years before making a judgement. If at the end of next year it’s a 6-4 or 7-3 record for QF winners, I reckon it’s ok. I hated how weeks 2 and 3 always seemed to follow the same script making them somewhat pointless. Now there’s a real chance that an SF winner can win a PF, which didn’t happen for a long time at one stage there.

If it ends up 5-5 or worse though, it should be reconsidered for sure.

 

[QueenslanderTiger]

I absolutely 100% loathe the bye.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

I reckon a month off, then a couple of practice matches before finals would be better.

Then every player

Or
As soon as the AFL change something, everyone hates it, because most can't handle change.

Change is great to make something better, but change just for change sake doesn’t really achieve anything. It’s in the eye of the beholder to determine if the change has improved something.

 

[Hoops]

Could someone tell me why round 23 is is still a floating fixture until five weeks out? Wasn't it because they could fixture the finals more fairly when there was no bye.

 

[BIRDBRAIN]

Pre-Grand Final bye makes so much more sense. You could have the brownlow medal, the AA team announcement, maybe an all-star game between non-gf sides. All weekend a celebration of the good things about the game. Rather than this 'Brad Scott rested players and bookies got upset so we canned the round' weekend. Right now it's a celebration of all the worst things about the game.

 

[Lockatronicus]

But when else would we play the EJ Witten cringefest?