I apologise if I am proposing a new a slant on an old idea but I have been thinking about this for a while and reckon its a fair idea.

Just as a warning I am lending heavily from the structure used in most North American competitions where the total number of competing franchises is near or above 30.

The main premise to my proposal is to break the current 16 teams into 2 distinct divisions or conferences. For the purpose of this exercise we will call them conference A and conference B. Each conference will contain 3 non-Victorian and 5 Victorian teams. Logically and for logistic simplicity you pair the SA teams and the WA teams and split Sydney and Brisbane. Here is an example of how I think you could split the 2 conferences:

A

West Coast

Fremantle

Sydney

Collingwood

Essendon

Nth Melbourne

St Kilda

Geelong

B

Adelaide

Port Adel

Brisbane

Hawthorn

West. Bulldogs

Carlton

Melbourne

Richmond

Now for the benefit of this spilt. Under this system each team would play every other team in their conference twice, once at home, once away (2*7 = 14 games). While each team plays the 8 teams in the other conference only once (1*8 = 8 games) 4 of them away and 4 at home. This results in each team playing a total of 22 games per season. This would mean that each and every season you would know roughly the composition of the fixture before it was even drawn up. Ideally the teams from the opposite division you play away this season you would play at home the next season. Under this system each Victorian based team will play no less than 4 and no more the 5 games outside of Victoria each season.

You could manipulte the composition of the 2 conferences all day long but I think this system works well for the following reasons:

2 derbys and 2 showdowns each year

Brisbane to Adelaide and Sydney to Perth are similar distance trips

The 2 biggest drawing Victorian sides (Essendon and Collingwood) will play twice each year

The next 2 biggest drawing Victorian sides (Richmond and Carlton) will play twice each year

The draw is the same each year which simplifies team planning, travel and nullifies the argument of inequitable or soft draws whereby clubs seem to enjoy less interstate games or more than one game againt the top/bottom sides

Fixture scheduling is simpler as the draw structure removes objectivity

Geelong can have 6 games at Skilled each year, 3 against the interstate teams in its conference and at least 1 against the interstate team from the other conference. This means that the lower drawing Victorian sides such as Melbourne, West Bulldogs, St Kilda and Hawthorn could take turns playing there no more than once every 2 years.

Finals structure:

8 sides will contest finals

The top 3 sides from each conference automatically qualify for finals (6 teams)

The next 2 teams will be considered wildcards and these will be awarded to the 2 teams outside the previous 6 with the best records, regardless of conference (2 teams)

Finals Week 1

4 games will be played

The top team from each conference will play the team that finised second (at home) in qualifying finals (QF1 & QF2) for a spot in the prelim final

The two teams finishing third will play the wild card teams (at home) in elimination finals (EF1 & EF2). The 3rd placed team with the best record will play the wild card with the worst record.

After week 1 two teams will be eliminated and 2 will be through to a prelim final in 2 weeks time

Finals week 2

2 games will be played (SF1 & SF2)

Losers from QF1 and QF2 will face the winners from EF1 and EF2. QF teams will play at home with the best record from the home and away facing off against the work record

After week 2, 2 more teams will be eliminated

The 2 winners will face the winners from QF1 and QF2 in week 3.

Finals week 3

QF1 and QF2 winners face SF1 and SF2 winners at home. The highest rated team at the end of the home and away facing the lowest rated team at the end of the home and away. The winners are through to the GF in week 4

Finals week 4

Grand Final at the MCG.

The finals series itself is very similar to what is curently in place (if not identical) and could be modified, suggestions welcome.

Overall the only negative I can see from the system overall is the AFL will find it more difficult to maximise attendances by not being able to schedule as many blockbuster games per season as humanly possible as they will be constrained to the overall structure of the league. This will prevent some leveraging of existing rivalries, however I think it will increase the liliehood of new rivalries being formed.

Let me know what you think.

Good theory, but will never happen!

No games such as the following :

Collingwood v Carlton

Collingwood v Melbourne

Collingwood v Richmond

Essendon v Carlton

Essendon v Melbourne

Essendon v Richmond

Essendon v Hawthorn

Andrew D and his boys would rather sit in a circle and play soggy sao than let this happen!!

Good idea though

NBA style yo.

Could possibly work but there would probably need to be a few more teams for it to work well.

the A vs B All-star game would be good though

Good theory, but will never happen!

No games such as the following :

Collingwood v Carlton

Collingwood v Melbourne

Collingwood v Richmond

Essendon v Carlton

Essendon v Melbourne

Essendon v Richmond

Essendon v Hawthorn

Andrew D and his boys would rather sit in a circle and play soggy sao than let this happen!!

Good idea though

Krazy read carefully... those fixtures would still occur once a year.

You play every other team in your conference twice, and the teams in the other conference once.

Krazy read carefully... those fixtures would still occur once a year.

You play every other team in your conference twice, and the teams in the other conference once.

Correct, those teams will still meet once per year, sharing home fixturing in alternate years.

I know its a bit complex and takes some reading but I thought it would generate a bit more debate; not too worry thanks to those who took time to read it.

this is my idea, a bit more radical, but I think it would be amazing for the competition once gold coast and west sydney enter the competition...

17 rounds, everyone plays everyone once... season ends for the bottom 10 sides, with the top 8 sides all playing each other again in what I call the "post season"... top 4 sides then play off in prelims followed by the grand final...

benefits of this system:

everyone plays everyone once

sides languishing at the bottom don't have to stagger to get to the end of the season

the "post season" would feature blockbuster football for seven weeks... only the best sides playing the best sides...

would result in increased tv rights... i'm sure the free to air channels would pay extra if they got top of the table clashes every week for seven weeks... it would be like an 9 week finals series... and you have the same amount of weeks of football...

would result in increased tv rights... i'm sure the free to air channels would pay extra if they got top of the table clashes every week for seven weeks... it would be like an 9 week finals series... and you have the same amount of weeks of football...

Except that there is only 4 games a week as opposed to 9...

Won't happen

TBG, i have seen this before i really like this format and would love to see it implemented.

however, i dont think it ever will unfortunately.

it is a lot fairer and the top 6 with the next 2 best records is a good idea.

you can be sure though that someone at AFL HQ wont like this for the simple reason that it is different (if it aint broke dont fix it, the draw is one of the unpredictable things we love yadda yadda yadda...)

it will take someone with balls to implement this and Demitriou knows he is on a winner with his job and wont do anything to risk his position, that and he has some abnormal fixation with west sydney and the GC.

this is my idea, a bit more radical, but I think it would be amazing for the competition once gold coast and west sydney enter the competition...

17 rounds, everyone plays everyone once... season ends for the bottom 10 sides, with the top 8 sides all playing each other again in what I call the "post season"... top 4 sides then play off in prelims followed by the grand final...

How would they decide who gets what home game?

I think you're right Cactus. It seems each AFL boss comes in with 1 major goal for their term and for Vladimir its to introduce new clubs in the GC and West Sydney. Tackling an additional item such as the fixture and competition structure can be left for the next head administrator in his mind.

you can be sure though that someone at AFL HQ wont like this for the simple reason that it is different (if it aint broke dont fix it, the draw is one of the unpredictable things we love yadda yadda yadda...)

I think it'd turn off a fair few fans, too.

I think it'd turn off a fair few fans, too.

why?