AFL of the future

[Synth]

In the next 10 or so years I would say its a certainty that the AFL gets a nation wide second division but with no relegation.

Why relegation cant work.

Our population is way to low for starters and with the current draft system the AFL forces you to bottom out at some point unless your lucky. So basically the AFL will force you into relegation at some point and I can't see any fan happy with that.

The AFL would have to give more control to the clubs regarding list management. Things like larger salary caps and free agency to compensate for the draft system.

 

[Tranquilli37]

In the next 10 or so years I would say its a certainty that the AFL gets a nation wide second division but with no relegation.

Why relegation cant work.

Our population is way to low for starters and with the current draft system the AFL forces you to bottom out at some point unless your lucky. So basically the AFL will force you into relegation at some point and I can't see any fan happy with that.

The AFL would have to give more control to the clubs regarding list management. Things like larger salary caps and free agency to compensate for the draft system.

Yeah youve touched on afew points i made earlier bout why the relegation wont work.
Good point though, teams need to bottom out eventually, and the AFL would lose big $$ once one of a bigger sides drops out of a top division.
This is probably the reason for a salary cap. Otherwise it would be similar to the EPL, where a billionaire buys a club and can throw money wherever they please, hence why you have the same big teams winning it every year.
Also to note, there isnt enough talent in oz to ensure each teams have 22 superstars in the line up. Soccer has the luxury of being an international sport and can pick players from any corner of the globe at the right price.

 

[asanque]

If Vlad stays in charge:
1. No more FTA television
2. No internet streaming of matches
3. No more bumps
4. Less tickets for finals for members and more for corporates
5. Less umpire scrutiny and more incorrect, inconsistent decisions
6. MRP - see above
7. More stupid rules that are unable to be easily enforced and completely unnecessary.
8. More AFL teams which are not financially viable.
9. More priority draft picks.
10. More poor fixturing.

And of course, bigger pay packets for Vlad.

 

[LenardWashington]

Are there any other Melbourne clubs still in serious debt other than North and Melbourne? Also how are the Bulldogs looking money wise?

 

[CaptainChardonnay]

One thing's for sure, one day we'll be playing regular games at Demetriou Stadium....

 

[CaptainChardonnay]

If Vlad stays in charge:
1. No more FTA television
2. No internet streaming of matches
3. No more bumps
4. Less tickets for finals for members and more for corporates
5. Less umpire scrutiny and more incorrect, inconsistent decisions
6. MRP - see above
7. More stupid rules that are unable to be easily enforced and completely unnecessary.
8. More AFL teams which are not financially viable.
9. More priority draft picks.
10. More poor fixturing.

And of course, bigger pay packets for Vlad.

Hawthorn continue to miss the 8 and continue to blame "injuries"...

 

[memberforever]

Are there any other Melbourne clubs still in serious debt other than North and Melbourne? Also how are the Bulldogs looking money wise?

Will post a profit for the third year in a row.

Future:

Extra $1 million from stadium deals
Extra $1 million from renting out space at the new development.
Extra $1 million from Bulldogs Hilton, once its been built.

 

[ManUtd]

A bit off topic, but heres what we should have in the future.

Online streaming of games - Would love to be able to buy a $150 package to watch all North home and away games live online, ala NFL.

Even fixture or as even as it will ever be without having true home and away - 17 rounds once there are 18 teams, playing each team once. *flameshield*

Umpires don't have microphones - dont want to hear another umpire refer to a player by a nickname

 

[NatheM]

Cheerleaders.

 

[Alpha Male]

Alpha male

love the concept

was just wandering what you would do with the finals system for all the teams? would you stick with the top 8 or move to a top 10, or perhaps a wildcard entry in that week between the season and hte finals ala NFL

thought....

Gunslinger I would keep it as a final 8 with the system that is in place now.

1v4 and 2v3 for Prelim spots etc,

I think that when half the comp can play finals it dilutes it just a tad. Full credit to your mob for getting there this year but I think we all know whoever finished 8th this year really didn't deserve it.

A final 8 in a 20 team league would mean that teams would have to win more than half their games in order to play finals. Some years would be different, like this year was, but I think it would work better staying at 8 teams.

I'd also look at trying to organise more of a reward for finishing higher on the ladder. I think it would have to be a financial deal. Finish on top and the club gets $500,000 for development of training venues etc. Something like that. It's hard to predict the kind of money that would be involved 15 years from now.

I want to touch on the "regional game" idea I had as well.

I think that if every team hosted one game in a regional part of the country it would be huge. Every team would have to play one home game AND one away game. If this meant that a game like North v Richmond went to Ballarat, so be it.

Those of us who live close to the city are lucky to see our teams play. It's not a right.

I was in Swan Hill 2 weeks ago and one of my old man's mates has been a life long Bombers fan. The guy has to be in his 60's. Never been to a game. It's just not possible to drive down, see the game and drive back for some people. Giving them one or 2 games per year at a cheaper rate (say 70% of normal price) would have a massive impact on the community.

Adelaide/Port Adelaide - Central AUS - Alice Springs. Both teams to play a home game here every year.

Brisbane/Gold Coast - Far North and Central QLD - Toowoomba, Bundaberg, Mackay, Rockhampton, Townsville, Cairns and a game in Mt. Isa every couple of years.

West Coast/Fremantle - Greater WA - Albany, Geraldton, Carnarvon, Port Headland and Broome. Rotate over the years.

West Syd/Sydney/Canberra - NSW - Tamworth, Dubbo, Coffs Harbour, Port Maqaurie etc. I don't care if it's NRL territory.

Tassie/Hawthorn - Tasmania - Hobart. Both teams to play a home game here.

Bulldogs/Essendon - Northern Territory - Darwin. The Dogs play up there already and Essendon have a big connection with the Aboriginal community up there also.

VIC Teams - The rest of the VIC teams would rotate through places like Albury/Wodonga, Mildura, Ballarat, Bendigo, Mornington Peninsula etc. Geelong would still keep Skilled Stadium as a home ground but it wouldn't count as a regional game.

I don't care if only 8,000 or 10,000 people come to these games. It's only 2 geams per team per year and with the AFL owning Etihad the clubs are going to be viable for a long, long time.

I'd also consider teams playing a training match (Under 25's) over the summer at an international venue. It wouldn't be every team, every year but maybe 4 teams (2 Games) every year. Playing a scratch match in London, New York, Cape Town, Dubai, Tokyo etc would do wonders for the development of teams as well as expose the game to an international audience. If your team only had to do this once every 5 years I don't think anyone could complain.

Sorry again for the long post...

 

[Tranquilli37]

Good post again Alpha. I like the idea of regional matches, but the AFL wont be able to 'stomach' the idea of losing so much $$. They try to do that sort of thing usually preseason, but im guessing even that will be scrapped sometime soon.
I also like the idea on maintaining the same finals system with a top 8, even if there is 18 or 20 teams, it makes it even more meaningful to make the finals.
On a side note, for those that mentioned only playing eachother once in a season(so 18 teams 17 matches or 20 teams 19 matches), i dont think that will happen. I think if anything like Alpha mentioned playing rivals twice will happen. I can see a 25 or 26 round year being realistic if the four or so preseason weeks are scrapped.

 

[Tulip]

Are there any other Melbourne clubs still in serious debt other than North and Melbourne? Also how are the Bulldogs looking money wise?

Melbourne are now only a few 100k's away from the black. Not sure abot how North are going

 

[asanque]

Hawthorn continue to miss the 8 and continue to blame "injuries"...

Sydney continue to play "ugly football" was just so obvious it wasn't worth putting in.

Given Vlad's "love" for Sydney (re: his opinion on Sydney's style of football and the recent fine to Roos), and given most of the points in my post were about AFL in general, I suggest someone has a serious case of Hawthorn envy.

 

[gunslingerzero]

How about a medal for back men

seeing that the forwards have the coleman, and midfielders always win the brownlow, how about something that recognises the best backman in the league!

 

[NTRabbit]

How about a medal for back men

seeing that the forwards have the coleman, and midfielders always win the brownlow, how about something that recognises the best backman in the league!

As voted by the goal umpires, The Steven Silvagni medal.

To go along with that, as voted by the players the AFLPA Darren Milburn Medal.

If someone wins both in a season, the medals are able to interlock at the right spot and angle.

 

[nuggets]

6 team final series with the top 2 teams getting a bye the first week, the shorter final series will be offset by the longer season... the less the better when it comes to finals - no teams with 50% win records make it, and we won't see 100 point floggings

 

[Blur]

Add trampolines to the oval, like they did on Slamball.

 

[nuggets]

Would also like to see adjustments to the current salary cap system to become a more 'soft cap' like the NBA's system, in particular they should adopt a similar 'qualifying veteran exception' in which clubs are allowed to go over the cap to resign players who have spent a certain amount of years with the club - in the NBA it is 3 years, it could be done on a yearly basis or on a games basis in the AFL (100 games perhaps?).

Now some of you might complain that this will advantage the richer clubs or the clubs with current stock piles of studs so to counteract this they could set up a NBA style 'luxury tax threshold' which means you pay the league dollar for dollar for every dollar you exceed the luxruy tax line by. For example let's say the salary cap is 8 million, the league will allow clubs to exceed this amount to pay these qualifying veterans, but there is a luxury tax line drawn at 8.5 million meaning that for every dollar of team salary in excess of 8.5 million the club would have to pay the league a dollar.

 

[Perry Pie]

20 teams as suggested, but with a third team in WA instead of Canberra.

Fixtures to be based around 4 stable groups of 5 (8 games home and away) with all other teams played once each season. Will give 23 games in total. The extra "home" games half the teams get each season could be played at neutral regional venues (idea stolen from earlier post).

Groups who play each other twice ?
WC, Freo, New Perth, Adel & Port
Bris, GC, Syd, WS and Tassie
Coll, Ess, Carl, Rich, Haw
Geel, Foots, NM, Mel, Saints

A single ladder and finals as now. 16 players on field, 6 interchange? If a Melbourne teams wants to move/goes broke then a Canberra team can be introduced.

 

[Perry Pie]

In the meantime, with 18 teams. 2 choices
Option A. 3 groups of 6 play each other twice each season. (22 rounds)
One group non victorian, one group victorian, one group 4 vics + 2 non vics.
Each season the composition of the groups changes. Teams in the mixed group in season 1 alway play in the non mixed group the following season.

Option B. 2 groups of 9 play each other twice - everyone else once. (25 rounds)
9 vics, 8 non vic + 1 vic team. There would need to be an incentive for the vic team to play in the non vic group (its not the travelling that is the problem, its the gate reciepts).
Who would be the vic team in the "national" goup? Melb? NM?

 

[Tranquilli37]

In the meantime, with 18 teams. 2 choices
Option A. 3 groups of 6 play each other twice each season. (22 rounds)
One group non victorian, one group victorian, one group 4 vics + 2 non vics.
Each season the composition of the groups changes. Teams in the mixed group in season 1 alway play in the non mixed group the following season.

Option B. 2 groups of 9 play each other twice - everyone else once. (25 rounds)
9 vics, 8 non vic + 1 vic team. There would need to be an incentive for the vic team to play in the non vic group (its not the travelling that is the problem, its the gate reciepts).
Who would be the vic team in the "national" goup? Melb? NM?

This grouping idea is sort of growing on me, but may not be realistic, id say it would remain as the one grouping/ladder.
On a side note, i dont know how feasable a Canberra team would be, it would be based on the demographics of the area at the time. I would think the AFL is trying to reduce the amount of teams and may be waiting for one to fold(similar to the Kangas acouple of years ago where they tried to relocate them to GC), and then relocate to ACT or Tassie.
Not too sure bout an extra team from WA, extra info required if someone wants to shed some light??
There wont be an extra medal for defenders or ruckman or whatever. They get there chance for recognition by making the AA squad. I know what your saying though, they are just as important as every other player on the ground but are often the forgotten ones.

 

[gbatman]

the fast players will have to wear a weight (handicapped). Hahahahaaaaaaah no.

 

[cos789]

On a side note, i dont know how feasable a Canberra team would be, it would be based on the demographics of the area at the time.

Canberra was once a bright prospect with a number of submissions .
Crowds would be Ok but not fantastic . Corporate support is spread thin and they need to have a better stadium .Can be built up over time .

. I would think the AFL is trying to reduce the amount of teams and may be waiting for one to fold(similar to the Kangas acouple of years ago where they tried to relocate them to GC), and then relocate to ACT or Tassie.?.

I think the AFL is having a bit each way . The new GC will be better than a relocated NM in the long term .They won't reject the the idea of new teams but certainly will look at relocation of troubled teams as a cheaper fix .

Not too sure bout an extra team from WA, extra info required if someone wants to shed some light?.

Theoretically the population and expansion is there .
However it's difficult to define a new geographical area as the city as defined along North/South lines and any present regional area doesn't quite cut it . And there is no real need to expand in WA until the two present teams recover and we get a stadium that can hold the crowds .

.

 

[Tranquilli37]

Good educated post Cos789. I was thinking along those lines, thanks for shedding some light.

 

[Godzke]

Rule 13.4.1

Any player who so much as looks at an umpire will be reported for demonstrative behaviour.