What if a side won the premiership from 10th?

[PowerfulPies2023]

Good or bad? It would be a Cinderella story

 

[Dirty Bird]

And what if Australian Football conquered the world?

I mean, it'd be great. But it's never happening, so why ask such a stupid question.

 

[Shack18]

Will never happen, afl have in effect shrunk the real finals to six teams who have a realistic chance of winning the comp

 

[Rod Stroker]

Watch us win it from 16th

 

[AstonSouffle]

For it too occur you’d need a fluke occurrence of a team somehow getting all their away games at their home stadium / home state, yet they be simultaneously good enough to win 5 finals in row yet bizarrely not good enough to put together such a streak because then they’d have likely finished higher than 10th to begin with if they had.

So it would never happen.

 

[Piggy Smalls]

I hate the change to the top 8 for this stupid wildcard.

But... if my team wins it from 10th I'll admit I was wrong.

 

[revo333]

Possible, if one of the early season premiership favourites got a stack of injuries and they all came back for just before finals.

A genuine 10th team probably isn't going to win 5 in a row.

 

[Piggy Smalls]

Possible, if one of the early season premiership favourites got a stack of injuries and they all came back for just before finals.

A genuine 10th team probably isn't going to win 5 in a row.

Yeah I agree with this. Someone like Sydney last year would still have been dangerous come finals if they'd had a way in (pretty sure they finished 11th but I think my point is made).

 

[iameviljez]

Will never happen, afl have in effect shrunk the real finals to six teams who have a realistic chance of winning the comp

Years ago, we said this about teams winning it from positions 5 through 8.

If we play this game long enough, then it will happen one day.

 

[Meteoric Rise]

The only possible way a team will win a flag from 7th-10th is by doing a North Melbourne 2015 and effectively awarding themselves a pre-finals bye by resting a load of players in matches approaching finals, more or less forfeiting those games.

This was once deemed so unpalatable the solution brought in to counter it....was the pre-finals bye.

 

[Purple Suit]

The only possible way a team will win a flag from 7th-10th is by doing a North Melbourne 2015 and effectively awarding themselves a pre-finals bye by resting a load of players in matches approaching finals, more or less forfeiting those games.

This was once deemed so unpalatable the solution brought in to counter it....was the pre-finals bye.

Nah,
The only way a team could win it from 10th would be if they were a rag tag bunch of players thrown together by a club who actually wanted to tank to get draft picks. When the assistant coaches & players find out that they are suppose to lose, they could get together say “there’s only 1 thing left to do, win the whole F’ing thing” and go a massive run mid way thru the season.

 

[NetworkNerd]

IMO it would have to be a side with recent premiership experience that started the season off poorly (injuries etc) before coming home with a wet sail

Collingwood 2024 is an example

 

[StillAtLarge]

I honestly hope this happens just to make a mockery of this 'everyone gets a prize' aka plays finals initiative

 

[Andyy]

Top 8 of 18 is OK for finals. At least all finalists are better than the majority.

Top 10 is pathetic. You can be below average and still be playing at the pointy end.

Really takes the shine off IMO.

 

[Syd]

Yeah I agree with this. Someone like Sydney last year would still have been dangerous come finals if they'd had a way in (pretty sure they finished 11th but I think my point is made).

10th

 

[Viceregal]

Nah,
The only way a team could win it from 10th would be if they were a rag tag bunch of players thrown together by a club who actually wanted to tank to get draft picks. When the assistant coaches & players find out that they are suppose to lose, they could get together say “there’s only 1 thing left to do, win the whole F’ing thing” and go a massive run mid way thru the season.

Sounds like the plot of several mediocre movies...

 

[SaintSteele9]

Winning the five straight against sides that finished higher would be some sort of feat. Mind you it’s probably only marginally harder than what 7th and 8th have it now too I guess

 

[iameviljez]

IMO it would have to be a side with recent premiership experience that started the season off poorly (injuries etc) before coming home with a wet sail

Collingwood 2024 is an example

Honestly, if the Bulldogs actually ran hot for five weeks running, they could have been in with half a shout this year.

 

[Purple Suit]

Sounds like the plot of several mediocre movies...

 

[Piggy Smalls]

Honestly, if the Bulldogs actually ran hot for five weeks running, they could have been in with half a shout this year.

The Bulldogs didn't get close to 5 wins against the top 8 all year. Absolutely no chance they'd do it 5 weeks in a row. Their team balance is so heavily stacked to their top 6-8 players, and lack of depth gets heavily exposed in finals

 

[SC_Power]

Even if it happened, doesn’t mean it justifies the decision to give them the opportunity.

The media would lap it up, the supporters and players of the Cinderella team would go apesh*t about an iconic moment in their history, of course. Listen to AFL planted media stories about how great it is for the game, and for supporters, and how the top 6 get a guaranteed home final, and everyone complained when it went from a final 4 to 5, again from 5 to 6, again from 6 to 8.

But they omit the clear and obvious fact that we’ve been moving from

• a one state finals series where 4 wins with no travel gets you an unlikely flag to
• a national game where teams that need 5 wins get a seat at the table, and half the comp would have to travel every week to do it.

It is a fundamental shift and they won’t acknowledge it. The competition equivalent of giving a gambler another chance to win by handing over the dice and rolling snake eyes twice. It’s embarrassing and we all know it.

And we all know it’s not about opportunity or hope, it’s about money for the AFL competition.

 

[kickazz]

Much more likely is that we might get 10th somehow win two or three finals only to be completely belted in a proper final - and everyone then thinking what a waste of a spot it was.

 

[Piggy Smalls]

Even if it happened, doesn’t mean it justifies the decision to give them the opportunity.

The media would lap it up, the supporters and players of the Cinderella team would go apesh*t about an iconic moment in their history, of course. Listen to AFL planted media stories about how great it is for the game, and for supporters, and how the top 6 get a guaranteed home final, and everyone complained when it went from a final 4 to 5, again from 5 to 6, again from 6 to 8.

But they omit the clear and obvious fact that we’ve been moving from

• a one state finals series where 4 wins with no travel gets you an unlikely flag to
• a national game where teams that need 5 wins get a seat at the table, and half the comp would have to travel every week to do it.

It is a fundamental shift and they won’t acknowledge it. The competition equivalent of giving a gambler another chance to win by handing over the dice and rolling snake eyes twice. It’s embarrassing and we all know it.

And we all know it’s not about opportunity or hope, it’s about money for the AFL competition.

Really good point. Hawks for example could finish 10th and still play 3 'home' finals, including the granny. While the interstate team in 7th gets one home final and then a month of travel.

 

[Hamingja]

Possible, if one of the early season premiership favourites got a stack of injuries and they all came back for just before finals.

A genuine 10th team probably isn't going to win 5 in a row.

Add the team having a hard draw to your first sentence as well.

Often the teams that have the setback are too far back and torch themselves trying to stay in touch with the 8.

If a team in the above situation doesn't need to red line to try and make the 8 and instead can just cruise for 10th and then prep themselves for a big month, it could definitely happen.

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

Honestly, if the Bulldogs actually ran hot for five weeks running, they could have been in with half a shout this year.

That's a big if. They beat no one aside from the Giants in the 8. They were way off really.