http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-08-24/say-byebye-to-the-final-bye-says-clarkson

Did it really help Dogs when they did the seemingly impossible?

Will it help us if we make the finals?

Hope so.

Not sure why clarkson is complaining about it, if hawks were sitting 7th I doubt he would say anything, I think the bye before finals needs to run its course for few years before you can make a call on it either way, last year just could have been 1 out of the box, finishing top 4 would still be anyone's goal 

  On 24/08/2017 at 23:39, leave it to deever said:

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-08-24/say-byebye-to-the-final-bye-says-clarkson

Did it really help Dogs when they did the seemingly impossible?

Will it help us if we make the finals?

Hope so.

Yes, it was the reason the bulldogs won the final.  A week earlier and they would not have had Libber and a few others on the park.

Sydney are resting Handleberry and Papley this.  They are happy to finish 5th or 6th and get a home final.  Those guys will get two weeks off and the whole team gets one week.  The Swans then only need to win 3 games against teams they have beaten this year.

Strategically played by the Swans.

I agree with Clarkson.  Finishing top 4 might be a poisoned chalice. 

The best place to finish is 5th or 6th.  Week off plus home final then win 3 in a row.  Every side will back themselves in on that deal.

 

  On 24/08/2017 at 23:45, brendan said:

Not sure why clarkson is complaining about it, if hawks were sitting 7th I doubt he would say anything, I think the bye before finals needs to run its course for few years before you can make a call on it either way, last year just could have been 1 out of the box, finishing top 4 would still be anyone's goal 

Personally I don't love the idea even though in many people's eyes it made the finals last year more exciting. I do agree we probably need a few years of it to make a proper judgement.

One year is too small a sample size to do anything with but speculate. 

Every team had the bye, Doggies played the best footy that month. 

  On 25/08/2017 at 00:00, PaulRB said:

One year is too small a sample size to do anything with but speculate. 

Every team had the bye, Doggies played the best footy that month. 

Agree. Every club benefitted from the bye last year. The particular injury timing the Dogs had in one year is no reason to drop the bye forever. I like it because it gives every club the opportunity to freshen up before a tilt. I would've thought the AFL would want to see the best footy played during all finals games. Otherwise get rid of the final 8 and return to final 4. Give the bye a couple more years before passing judgement.

I'd like to see other footy activities during the finals bye week. Brownlow, AFLW grand final, etc

  On 24/08/2017 at 23:54, layzie said:

Personally I don't love the idea even though in many people's eyes it made the finals last year more exciting. I do agree we probably need a few years of it to make a proper judgement.

It will be interesting that if it continues and bottom final 8 teams win the flag(especially Dees) they will review it.

And if that if holds will top teams feel jibbed?

Not  a big fan of Clarko but I think he has a point.

  On 24/08/2017 at 23:48, Lucifer's Hero said:

Sydney are resting Handleberry and Papley this.  They are happy to finish 5th or 6th and get a home final.  Those guys will get two weeks off and the whole team gets one week.  The Swans then only need to win 3 games against teams they have beaten this year.

Resting players would be too clever by half. I think people are reading into this a little too much. Both players are listed as injured.  The impact on those players (if just rested) would be that they won't have played a game for 20 odd days by the time the line up in their 1st final. Not going to happen me thinks

Out: D.Hannebery (hip), T.Papley (knee)

Agree helped them big time. Not sure why the bye round cannot be before Rd 23 instead, or make Rd22 a split round.

The bye was introduced because the AFL didn't have the courage to do what they should have done which was suspend Ross Lyon (and Brad Scott the next year) for not picking the best possible team to play in the final round. They may not have been "tanking" in the traditional sense, given that the team they picked tried to win, but they didn't give their teams the best possible chance of winning the final home and away game. Suspending a coach for a few weeks, say 4, would surely fix the problem.

Once again, the AFL introduced a "solution" which just created a different problem. 

Zero chance Dogs win it with back to back trips to Perth. They may have still beaten the Eagles because they were terrible in that Elim, but they'd have crashed against the Hawks.

 If they want a second bye it should be at round 19-20, freshen them yup to then get three before before finals.

If  your top four and win first final then you get a rest after 4 games. 

  On 25/08/2017 at 06:54, Gorgoroth said:

 If they want a second bye it should be at round 19-20, freshen them yup to then get three before before finals.

If  your top four and win first final then you get a rest after 4 games. 

Imo if they've got to have the pre finals bye, at least have something on then.

I think an AFLW state of origin of All Stars match would go down well.

  On 25/08/2017 at 06:55, praha said:

Imo if they've got to have the pre finals bye, at least have something on then.

I think an AFLW state of origin of All Stars match would go down well.

Not sure if that is meant to be a bit cryptic...

...because that is exactly what is scheduled.  SOO (Vic) vs Allies (All Stars).  It is on Saturday night Sept 2 at Etihad.  It will be telecast on Ch 7. 

Our Daisy is captain of the Vic team.

The Bulldogs also tanked the last round in 2016. They went to Perth resting at least five players and lost to a bad Freo side. Win or lose they could not have changed from 7th position. Teams will tank the last round bye or no bye if they can gain an advantage.

  On 24/08/2017 at 23:39, leave it to deever said:

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-08-24/say-byebye-to-the-final-bye-says-clarkson

Did it really help Dogs when they did the seemingly impossible?

Will it help us if we make the finals?

Hope so.

Absolutely. They had injuries and needed the rest

  On 24/08/2017 at 23:45, brendan said:

Not sure why clarkson is complaining about it, if hawks were sitting 7th I doubt he would say anything, I think the bye before finals needs to run its course for few years before you can make a call on it either way, last year just could have been 1 out of the box, finishing top 4 would still be anyone's goal 

Clarkson can say it now because they won't make finals. He's not speaking his own book. And he's right altho there is a sample size of 1.

Its interesting because the rewards for top 4 were too great. Now any team 5 to 8 thinks they can win. Top 4 still get home ground advantage and can afford to lose a final.

Overall if all 8 teams think they can win then that's good for football and the crowds. 

Te real question is what is the disadvantage of playing effectively 1 game in a month. Both teams that went straight to the prelims lost. If that happens again watch out.

Said it before but gws were a kick away from a gf and choked when 14 points up. Wouldve killed any anti-bye logic. Added onto the fact that gws snd geel werent even finalists the year before and had a bit of luck getting into prelims (isaac smith missing, rich beating geel by 36 at 3/4 r23, adel losing to wce and gifting gws top 4 against a team they have wood over in syd 

Even this year there are 10 prelim matchups i can think of that will be 50/50. Will we blame the bye if gws beat adel in adel? Or syd beat geel again in melb? 

  On 25/08/2017 at 07:15, Lucifer's Hero said:

Not sure if that is meant to be a bit cryptic...

...because that is exactly what is scheduled.  SOO (Vic) vs Allies (All Stars).  It is on Saturday night Sept 2 at Etihad.  It will be telecast on Ch 7. 

Our Daisy is captain of the Vic team.

I....did not know this.

My problem with the bye is that it kills the public momentum of the season for supporters.

It will only take another sport to capitalise on the absence of AFL and watch the AFL come roaring back. Horse racing or NRL perhaps if not soccer?

My bet is that they will come up with a formula that adds another week (not necessarily more games) to the final series.

  On 25/08/2017 at 07:57, praha said:

I....did not know this.

I suspect most people didn't...it is a terrific idea so good on your for offering it here.  I just read it yesterday and not many people have heard about it as it hasn't been promoted.

http://www.afl.com.au/womens/stateoforigin

That is a shame because it will be hard to fill Eithad if people need to come from interstate or change their plans to get there.

and hey presto what arrives in my inbox....

a free entry to the Caulfield horse races for AFL and club members on 2 September

  On 25/08/2017 at 08:02, Lucifer's Hero said:

I suspect most people didn't...it is a terrific idea so good on your for offering it here.  I just read it yesterday and not many people have heard about it as it hasn't been promoted.

http://www.afl.com.au/womens/stateoforigin

That is a shame because it will be hard to fill Eithad if people need to come from interstate or change their plans to get there.

Nothing a few thousand free tickets can't fix!

  On 25/08/2017 at 08:00, Diamond_Jim said:

My problem with the bye is that it kills the public momentum of the season for supporters.

It will only take another sport to capitalise on the absence of AFL and watch the AFL come roaring back. Horse racing or NRL perhaps if not soccer?

Yes, agree with this. It's a free kick to other codes and other forms of entertainment. 

And another thing. Clarko and Roos may bang on about this bye and its impact on the integrity of the game (i.e. fairness for the teams that finish top 4), but what about questioning the integrity of the whole bloody fixture? A fixture with 18 teams and 22 games.

I bet when we beat Adelaide away, they will tarnish it with bye talk.

Are we not going to have a wild-card weekend as from next year and haven't the Presidents of the clubs signed off on the concept?

Wild-card weekend would pit 7th vs 10th and 8th vs 9th whilst the top 6 clubs have the weekend off. 

The idea may have been shelved but here's the original story ... AFL fixture revamp: Finals wildcard round increasingly likely in 2018