30 Rounds - AFL must act

[Frankston Rover]

In the interests of fairness and credibility for the competition surely the AFL must go to a 30 round H&A season.

Every other major sporting code play home and away.

The EPL play 38 rounds, 19 home games and 19 away games.

Rather than have the useless and pointless NAB Cup, get rid of it and make it an even unbiased competition.

This way there can be no doubt about the fairness of the draw.

 

[rick James]

Footballers aren't good enough athletes to cope with it, unlike codes like hte NBA, EPL etc.

 

[ChrisFooty]

overkill the product

Players can't handle 30 games a year.

Grabage idea as always whenever someone mentions 30 rounds.

22 rounds is prefect! If you are too sad about the inequality of the draw, follow a diffrent sport (like NBL)

 

[Exe Gesis]

The preseason is needed. I won't go into the reasons.

Any idea about MORE games per year is not ideal. The AFL might like it re: $$ but it won't and shouldn't happen.

There's a better alternative out there.

 

[Frankston Rover]

overkill the product

Players can't handle 30 games a year.

Grabage idea as always whenever someone mentions 30 rounds.

22 rounds is prefect! If you are too sad about the inequality of the draw, follow a diffrent sport (like NBL)

Yeah as the EPL is struggling with overkill

Why is 22 rounds "perfect". It means teams play 7 teams twice and 8 once.

How is that fair?

It makes our competition one of the only leagues in the world where teams can play a side away but not at home.

The preseason is needed. I won't go into the reasons.

Any idea about MORE games per year is not ideal. The AFL might like it re: $$ but it won't and shouldn't happen.

There's a better alternative out there.

Such as?

What do you suggest to make the draw fair for ALL clubs?

 

[Exe Gesis]

I have no idea lol. I've thought about it a lot, and come up with multitudes of conference like or rotational like ideas, just like everyone else has the same sorts of ideas.

But there's one out there no one's thought of yet....

 

[Pessimistic]

Schedule the first 15 rounds - each team plays all the others.

After that split the top 8 from the bottom. Each plays the other 7 opposite to the first 15 rounds.

Top 6 teams from the top 8 'division' go into the finals have a week off. bottom two from top 8 play top two from bottom 8 in wildcard playoff

Then it is top 8 as now.

 

[Exe Gesis]

There's promise in that idea.

But there are many flaws still in ideas like that. It's basically the same system that's currently in place. Also, many bottom teams miss out on the annual derbies and blockbuster games the AFL relies on. For instance, Cwood v Essendon return games. etc.

Also there's that whole problem of from year to year teams missing out on playing other teams due to seedings.

There's promise....keep thinking.

 

[boomer03]

AFL players run harder faster and longer than all other football codes. An extra 8 games in the year would kill. Plus it would stretch the season into the hotter months.

 

[Hap Hapablap]

man imagine if the league is expanded theyll be even more problems. lol. seriously i really dont know what we could do. two conferences of 8 teams would be pretty sweet. i find it the only solution at the moment. a 30 round is impossible maybe 28 rounds if the league is brought down to 14 is ok.

 

[nesski47]

In the interests of fairness and credibility for the competition surely the AFL must go to a 30 round H&A season.

Every other major sporting code play home and away.

The EPL play 38 rounds, 19 home games and 19 away games.

Rather than have the useless and pointless NAB Cup, get rid of it and make it an even unbiased competition.

This way there can be no doubt about the fairness of the draw.

I agree. That will eliminate some of the unfairness that currently plagues the game. 30 rounds, play each other twice. get rid of the pre-season comp, only half the teams half of the time treat it with respect, and then at least we wont have to endure the ridiculous rule changes they promote during it.

 

[Upgrayedd]

because of the damn physicality of thr afl, most teams would be completely ****ed by 30 rounds, more injuries, serious ones ect
i would love 30 rounds, but not much players could cope with 30 rounds of football, it would shorten careers

 

[Didaics]

Go back to the 12 Victorian teams and 22 rounds, home and away.

Problem solved.

 

[Exe Gesis]

The only thing I can think of is...

a) 15 rounds only. The AFL misses out on so many games and $$ it won't sit. The teams will suffer such a drop in money it won't sit. Something like that can only work in huge nation like USA where teams are owned by billionaires and crowds are so high the money rolls in + merchandise.

b) Split the 16 team comp into 4 divisions of 4 teams based on geography best that it can. Each team plays 6 inter-division games (home/away), then plays all the other teams in the other divisions once only. Total 18 games. Then top two teams from each division move into the finals. Etc. The problem with that is lost $$ from 4 rounds and the TV contract stipulations. But the divisions can be arranged so that rivalries are maintained.

That's all I can think of for now.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Can't get rid of the preseason. It's needed.

Expansion of game to developing regions. Allowing coaches, clubs, umpires, players, etc to acquaint themselves with new rules and procedural structures from year to year. Etc.

If we did remove it, it would help slot in just an extra 4 or so rounds only.

Plus...30 rounds is just far too much toll on a football players life.

 

[Jimbob]

Go back to the 12 Victorian teams and 22 rounds, home and away.

Problem solved.

Yea, you could do that for a year until you all go broke!

 

[Exe Gesis]

Example of division system....

West - WCE, Fremantle, Port Adelaide, Adelaide
North - Brisbane, Sydney, Kangaroos, Melbourne
East - Richmond, Carlton, Cwood, Essendon
South - Hawthorn, StKilda, Western Bulldogs, Geelong

Just an example. But the problems with this system in regards to financial benefits for all clubs equitably and TV game slots, etc...just still isn't fair.

 

[Jimbob]

In the interests of fairness and credibility for the competition surely the AFL must go to a 30 round H&A season.

Why bother with 30 games? The simple answer is to get rid of some teams! Why do we bother with the Kangaroos? Nobody supports them, they don't win games and they are broke.

Why is St Kilda and Western Bulldogs in this comp? One flag in 100 years and nothing close since god knows when?

Time to cull some teams, either relocate and pay your own way or piss off!

 

[woosh_era]

14 teams, 2 full rounds. Its the only answer. One day you lot will pull your arsehat off and realise it.

 

[royalist]

Go back to the 12 Victorian teams and 22 rounds, home and away.

Problem solved.

Another,way get rid of VFL strugglers. Problem solved.

 

[Inferno]

30 rounds a year could work if you had enough split rounds.

 

[Chewy]

In the interests of fairness and credibility for the competition surely the AFL must go to a 30 round H&A season.

Playing each other twice doesn't necessarily make things fair. You might be drawn to play West Coast the very week they are missing Judd, Cousins, Kerr and Cox though suspension or injury. Maybe you get lucky by drawing one of the top sides when they are going through a flat patch, or maybe you're unlucky and get drawn to play one of middle ranked sides whilst they are on a hot streak.

22 rounds is long enough for most of the luck to even itself out. It isn't perfect, but it never will be, even with 30 rounds.

Every other major sporting code play home and away.

Wrong. The NFL don't.

The EPL play 38 rounds, 19 home games and 19 away games.

And they play FA Cup, League Cup and European competitions.
They also play a non-contact sport that lasts 90 minutes. Most AFL players struggle to get through 22 rounds without jabbing themselves with painkillers each week. It's a marathon already and you're asking them to play another 8 rounds? Get real...

Rather than have the useless and pointless NAB Cup, get rid of it and make it an even unbiased competition.

Clubs have always played 3 or 4 practise games and the NAB Cup has simply taken over this role. Footballers need a few games to tune up. You've watched the standard of these early games. Can you imagine if these were played for premiership points? What a joke! Where would the credibility of the competition be if the ladder was decided by results from those games. What's credible about the previous year's premier losing their first four games and finishing mid-table, all because they were a month behind in their preparation and less fresh than their rivals?

This way there can be no doubt about the fairness of the draw.

The unfairness has less to do with the actual match-ups and more to do with the scheduling. The match ups balance themselves out, in my opinion. You might get one or two teams finishing a few spots higher or lower than they really should, but I think the issue is overplayed.

Of far greater concern is the institutionalised, financial inequities (blockbusters, public holidays, travel and friday nights, etc)

In playing terms, I also think their should be greater parity in the number of night games each side plays, uniform breaks between games where no sides gets more than a day's rest than their opponents and also avoidance of glitches like the one where Collingwood got to play everyone the week after the Subiaco curse, or their amazing run of MCG games over the last 2 months of the season. Teams shouldn't have to travel more than 2 or 3 weeks in a row

 

[Marklar_33]

15 minute quarters plus time on

Occassional midweek matches, minimum 4 day breaks

Fit 30 rounds into 26 weeks

 

[Marklar_33]

30 rounds a year could work if you had enough split rounds.

!!!!

How many do you think? 5

Run the season from Feb to November?

 

[Upgrayedd]

!!!!

How many do you think? 5

Run the season from Feb to November?

gives them a week before pre season