You’re AFL President for 10 years, what direction do you take the league into?

[Supercoach Bargain]

Division 1:

12 teams, 22 round fixture. Home and away.

Final 5, traditional structure.

2 WA teams
2 SA teams
2 QLD teams
2 NSW teams
3 Victorian teams
1 Tas team

State league (WAFL SANFL etc) is division 2.

Top grade ammos div 3.

All Divisions 12 teams max to ensure timing across the league.

Whoever finishes last in Div 1, plays the Div 2 premier in their state for promotion/relegation. Never hear about tanking again.

Div 1 can only recruit fron Div 2. There will be a clearance fee, to ensure the viability of the lower leagues. A single salary cap across all state/country leagues.

Div 2 teams can play for promotion, develop players or both.

Through the year Div 1, 2 and 3 play an FA cup style knockout, always at the lower graded sides ground, this ensures ground owners keep plenty of surfaces at top standard and a windfall for them for doing so.

 

[FootyJunkie]

Division 1:

12 teams, 22 round fixture. Home and away.

Final 5, traditional structure.

2 WA teams
2 SA teams
2 QLD teams
2 NSW teams
3 Victorian teams (Melbourne Demons, Victoria Victory, Geelong Cats)
1 Tas team

 

[AndyD]

Create a proper National elite junior/feeder league for the AFL. Partner up with about 3-5 private schools in each state as they’d be more likely to have exisiting infrastructure to build upon to support such a set-up and would happily go along if they could get the flow on benefits from being associated with such a thing for the cost of 20 or so scholarships per year. Fox Footy would have free Saturday/Sunday morning programming as a lead in to their afternoon games and allow the AFL to make the draft into an actual event, because people would have greater familiarity with the new draftees.

Whilst I usually abhor racial quotas, 5 of the scholarships could be set aside for indigenous children. Having seen the kids from Clontarf towel up Victorian APS kids, I don’t think anybody would see those children as unworthy/making up the numbers and would expect most schools would end up taking more than 5 indigenous kids per year, especially in WA. It would also assist with the retention of indigenous players once they make the AFL as it should provide better preparation to the demands of playing in the AFL

This would also allow the AFL to schedule games/base the teams in the junior comp in developmental/growth or even under serviced areas. A team made up of the best Riverina/Tasmanian young talent (or teams representing their schools) will draw reasonable local support, and help ensure those areas remain viable pipelines of talent into the future.


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[BringBackTorps]

If we're starting from now, and not in some idealistic utopia?

1. Add a Tasmanian team. Just a tasmanian team. A bye is not a dirty word. WA3 is a pipedream while the WAFC hold licenses, and nothing else is a realistic proposition.
2. Bye shares in the Seven Network and take over 7mate. (note precedent for something like this has occurred with Rugby in NZ taking 5% share in Sky sports NZ)
3. Start an "AFL Network" streaming service.
4. Play games on Thursday nights rotating from city to city, with periodic double headers on Friday nights.
5. Allow AFL teams in non victorian areas to host matches on their states public holidays.
6. Randomise the draw for all fixtures over a 2 year period.
7. Phase out non contractual distributions to clubs ie. compensatory payments. Teams that cant survive without these handouts offered demotion to their state competition.
8. Two week preseason to 2 weeks, extend main season.
9. A moratorium on rule changes unless a preponderance of medical evidence requires it.
10. Professionalise umpires.
11. Allow all clubs a home game in the preseason or primary season at their traditional home ground.
12. With the Grand FInal locked in to the MCG until 2057, kick start a post season Origin series with matches in states other than Victoria where possible.
13. Expand the International Cup to allow immediate ancestral connections (as the RLWC has done successfully) and increase international development funding.
14. Establish a Commission into grassroots football to get to the bottom of issues routinely ignored by the top league.
15. Continue to expand the womens competition until its a full season, in so far as its commercially viable to do so.
16. Establish a separate womens league executive with its own CEO and seat on the Commission.
17. Draft age lifted to 21.
18. TAC Cup modified and expanded to number of AFL clubs, replacing Academies and similar programs.
19. No compensation for out of contract players

You have many good points here, but I disagree with your points 7 & 19. The rich clubs would only become more powerful & more successful, the less wealthy clubs would nearly always occupy the bottom rungs of the ladder- & your views are contrary to the AFL's equalisation philosophy (based on the NFL's ie "on any given day",ideally, nearly every team can have a reasonable chance of beating their opponent. This generates MUCH greater crowds, ratings, broadcast rights $,general media interest, sponsorship etc.)

The rich clubs already have strong advantages (due to their better corporate connections) with Third Party Agreements; & with better post-AFL career employment opportunities, for their retired players, in the private sector.

Re point 4, it is almost certain that there will be more Thur. night games in future years (assuming Tasmania enters the AFL c .2025, as the 19th team).
As the AFL owns Docklands, it would make FAR more money if all Thurs. night games are there (& the roof can be closed).
Why do you think Thur. nights should be shared around Aust.?

Re point 10, making umpires full time professionals would have very little impact on the standard of umpiring- & many umpires would resign from umpiring, as they would not want to be full time umpires (& jeopardise their professional careers).

A possible improvement would be to allow Boundary Umpires to award frees in only these 2 absolutely clear areas:-
. pay holding frees when a player doesn't have the ball
. pay high contact frees
(Field Umpires often have their vision restricted by the big nos. around the ball; & these 2 frees sometimes happen off the ball).

Your point 9. is also too restrictive. All that is required, when rule changes are considered, is whether the objectives in the AFL's Charter of The Game are being met.

Re point 13, I doubt foreign AFL national teams would want permanent, local players playing in the International Cup. It would always be dominated by NZ.

Re point 7, why do you want the draft age lifted to 21?

Re point 18, it would be too expensive to have non-Victorian NAB U18 (TAC) teams included. The NSW & Qld Academies are performing so well, because they are branded as GWS, Sydney, Brisbane & Gold Coast (many more players from these states are going into the national Draft).

I would add compulsory, random hair testing of all players at least once pa, for recreational drugs also- any infringement, 12 month ban & compulsory counselling etc. for the player (who pays for the counselling). Can rejoin the AFL in 12 months, if hair testing in the ban period shows they are clean.

Players are being drafted at 18 y.o.,often taken away from their home- the AFL must become serious about banning drugs. Drug-using players can be blackmailed, forced into "lying down" in games etc- the AFL must eradicate this cancer on the game, & its floundering reputation. Everyone has heard the continuing rumours, apparently well founded, about many players.
It is a privilege to play in the AFL- many tens of thousands want to. If you want to use recreational drugs, then find another career. This policy would be in the long term interests of AFL players also, the AFL needs to be a buddy to them.

 

[Elite Master]

Do any Marngrook supporters actually watch Marngrook? Reminds me of politicians who support open borders while living in all-white neighbourhoods themselves.

It's a pretty crap show tbh with even worse production values. Yet somehow if you're seen to be watching Marngrook it gives you instant credibility. It's embarrassing.

 

[Leeda]

50 percent discount on memberships for women.. I'll be riding on the horses... yah yeah... the pink vote...
horror of horrors.. the GF lands in MCG city at 2:30pm on the last Sat in Sept..

shush... I am not shouting... the 'baby' is asleep...