What is the logic behind the early season byes?

[Gavin Excell]

I don't understand why they are necessary

It's ludicrous teams are having byes from R2

 

[eldorado]

I don't understand why they are necessary

It's ludicrous teams are having byes from R2

Purely to accommodate the ludicrous opening round...the opening round makes them necessary to have ASAP in order to have all teams on equal games ASAP (cyclones notwithstanding)

 

[Gavin Excell]

But then all teams get a bye again at the half way mark
The start of the season is a mess

 

[kickazz]

I don't understand why they are necessary

It's ludicrous teams are having byes from R2

It's so the AFL can employ people to **** around with something.

 

[Gavin Excell]

It's so the AFL can employ people to **** around with something.

Actually think there's a degree of truth to this
The game is so popular that anything they do is just about making a legacy statement as managers which ultimately wastes time and effort

 

[Father Jack]

This thread seems to be asking entirely the wrong question as it's obvious why we have the early byes; the real question is whether kicking off the season with half a round up north in order to lessen the NRL's head start is worth it or not. If it works for the non-footy states then fair enough, I can put up with the annoyance that the byes cause if there's an actual payoff to it

 

[Pistol Night]

So Dil can keep having this pissing contest with Vlandys. Let just go to Vegas too

 

[eldorado]

This thread seems to be asking entirely the wrong question as it's obvious why we have the early byes; the real question is whether kicking off the season with half a round up north in order to lessen the NRL's head start is worth it or not. If it works for the non-footy states then fair enough, I can put up with the annoyance that the byes cause if there's an actual payoff to it

That's the thing...if they want opening round exposure in the northern states, and big crowds, just schedule Sydney, GWS, GCS and Brisbane 4 home games in round 1...make them prime time if you want; Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday and Saturday night.

But I don't see what is gained by not having 5 other games on elsewhere the same weekend...

It's not as if the other games would draw crowds or media exposure away from the main players.

It's just wholly unnecessary...unless you're some marketing grad who needs a hot pitch to sell to the credulous AFL administration

 

[JustaBattler]

Clearly it is all about giving Collingwood a rest before they play Carlton.

 

[HairyO]

There is no logic. The clowns in charge dont have a clue what they are doing. They think up ways to make more money then cross their fingers and hope it works.

 

[FlowersByIrene]

The opening round is there for 1 reason and 1 reason only - 3 more prime time television games.

OR allows them to take 4 games that would ordinarily be on Sunday mornings and play them on Thursday, Friday and Saturday night (+ 1 Saturday day) thereby increasing the fees they get from 7 / Fox.

The bye is then necessary to compensate for the fact only 8 teams play the OR. The bye and only 8 teams playing OR is because the AFL can't extend the season by an extra round and play 24 games because of contracts with the AFLPA.

The obvious question is then why we don't just have a split round, where 8 teams play week 1 of Round 1, playing the same Thur, Fri, Saturday slits, and the remaining 10 play week 2 of Round 1, playing Thur, Fri, Saturday, Sunday. You would get the same number of prime time TV slots as you do with OR.

I guess AFL's approach on why a split round is not preferred is that: 1, their marquee teams that play OR like Collingwood, Carlton (2024), Essendon (2025), Sydney, Brisbane, Geelong don't then play the next week as a block, and they'd prefer to spread out those teams being off the air across a series of early byes rather than one big hit and; 2 it may make too much of an impact competition wise having half the comp play one week, then have 12-14 days off before their next game immediately. At least with the early byes they all play the next week then start rotating through early byes.

 

[flyinghi64]

Ahh the ole NOTHING round.
It is ridiculous and completely stuffs around with the first half of the season.
0 sense.
0 need.
Wait until the end of the home and away season, when it actually won't be.

 

[voorhees]

But then all teams get a bye again at the half way mark
The start of the season is a mess

everyone understands the season start is a total mess..
except the muppets at the AFL

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

But then all teams get a bye again at the half way mark
The start of the season is a mess

It is. Openingforafew Round causes so many problems, that the AFL handle almost as badly as possible.

 

[STPer18]

flOpening Round in QLD and NSW and their inability to host more than a handful of matches to open the season.