I have posted this proposal before but I deemed it worthy of another posting now that the "AFL brains trust" have decreed that there must be another team from Tassie (huh?) and that there is to be a 10 team final series.

Here is my proposal. Stick to 18 teams with an eight team final series.

A more balanced draw for the home and away season

To balance out the draw, the teams should play each other once over 17 rounds. Home and away advantage (ie interstate travel for Victorian clubs) can be rotated each year.

At the end of the round 17, the teams should be placed into three groups of 6 viz. 1,4,7,10,13,16 / 2,5,8,11,14,17 / 3,6,9,12,15,18 or other suitable combination but NOT 1,2,3,4,5,6 etc.

The teams should play a round robin series of 5 games within their respective groupings giving a total of 22 games for the H & A season. All points earned in rounds 1-17 carry over. The draw for each group should be made by ballot so that the draw for each grouping will be unique to enhance the mystery.

This approach smooths out each team’s chances as no team should play multiple games against top teams or lower teams so that teams at each level have a fair chance to improve but no team gains an unfair advantage because of the opposition or the draw.

Theoretically, each team vying for finals should have a more even chance and there would be greater interest in each round.

Introducing a finals season

A week off after the H&A season gives the players a chance for a rest and refresh and offers the prospect of a finals season, distinct from the H & A season and different to the current finals series.

Divide the top eight clubs into 2 groups of four – 1,3,5,7 and 2,4,6,8 – each to play a round robin series to determine the top team in each group based on both wins and percentage. Every game will be important as, win or lose, percentage counts. And at the end, the two top teams play off in the grand final.

All four matches in the third week should be played at the same time so that teams can't game the system. The broadcasters would have the challenge to cover all four matches simultaneously using "round the grounds" images and reports. What a dynamic and exciting day of footy.

Pros

Enhanced excitement and interest in rounds 18 – 22 and four matches a week for the first three weeks of the finals where just winning will not be enough. The margin of victory and its effect on percentage will count as well. Every score will have real meaning.

The grand final would then be the ultimate match of the season with both teams having gone through an exhaustive process to prove their worth. Another week’s rest should be introduced to extend the promotion of the grand final and to ensure both teams are at their best.

Delete the byes to fit it into the length of the current season or start the season earlier now that the ‘G is no longer required for cricket.

Cons

Finishing 1 and 2 or top 4 might lose its appeal. The argument that the WB benefited from the bye (in 2017) is correct – but shouldn’t the best teams win, not the team with least injuries at the start of the finals. Injuries can occur in the finals that will test team lists but at least they could all start even.

Short notice to make arrangements for the last 5 weeks of the season. So what, arrangements for the current finals series are made on short notice so just extend the time with the extra week’s break factor in the additional complexity. That’s why Gil (now Andrew) is paid the big bucks.

Footy Awards Week

Brownlow, rising star, MVP, coaches and all other awards to be held in the week between the H&A season and the finals season to be known as "Footy Awards Week", an event in itself with daily functions with the Brownlow as the climax. What a celebration of footy. And then the final’s season of 13 matches without distractions. What joy.

Summation

What a dream – a much more exciting and interesting season in six phases – a pre season competition, the first 17 rounds, the final 5 rounds, Awards Week, three weeks of round robin preliminary finals (no semis, elimination or qualifying needed) and a MONSTER GRAND FINAL. That’s what footy is all about. Why not?

I like alot about this proposal @tiers. Certainly has a lot of potential to more fairly even out the draw. Big issue with basing the double-ups on last seasons lader positions is that teams often improve or get worse from one season to the next, based on injuries, the rise and fall of list profiles etc, such that a fair draw could only really be determined in retrospect - or on the fly as you are proposing.

Don't see it as being a big disadvantage of not knowing the last half dozen fixture games in advance as the league pretty much let the time/day of those float around at the moment anyway until a large way through the season.

Love the idea of going back to simultaneous games - was such an interesting feature of going to the footy on a Saturday or Sunday to check in on the other scores of games as they progressed, which I feel has been lost. The inability of teams to game the system is also a great feature.

Personally, I'd like some kind of weighting system applied in the finals system, or even just leave it as the system we had the past 10 years or so. I do like the sudden death elimination nature of finals, making prelims etc and that the best performing teams throughout the season get some reward for consistent performance throughout the season in the way of second chances, weeks off, home games etc, which I think all ultimately improves the theatre.

But all in all, I like this out of the box thinking.

4 hours ago, tiers said:

Here is my proposal. Stick to 18 teams with an eight team final series.

So here's the other million dollar question - which team gets cut?

...personally, I say North and put them out of their misery and send them South to Tassie, or Hawthorn since they love the place that much, they can make it a perminant home base.

Edited 9 hours ago9 hr by Rodney (Balls) Grinter