It Makes Sense

[dimelb]

Here are a couple of straws that show the way the wind is blowing. The AFL Players Association wants an extra bye to help them through a long and wearing season (see The Players' Revolt in another thread).
In the middle of winter we are apt to forget the sights of February football: exhausted players stuck in front of huge fans (I'm sometimes stuck behind huge fans but that's another issue), heat-stressed players with ice vests, and so on. The intensity of the game seems to rise steadily. While the sub on the bench may have reduced the injury rate, the pace of the game is as high as or higher than it has ever been. To be playing it in February is lunacy.
It is time to rethink the fixture. We now have enough teams for a H&A competition of 17 weeks where all teams play each other once - the only way that is both genuinely fair way and truly national. I don't regard a split into different "conferences" as good for the game. Add in the finals and the preseason competition and we have football for more than half the year; the players have it for longer still. And we can start the whole process in March.
The main obstacle to commonsense is greed. I was going to say money, but the problem is not money, rather the attitude to it. It would mean accepting something less than $1.2 billion, but there would still be plenty for everyone. We will adjust, and before long we will wonder why we didn't do it sooner.
It makes sense. But that doesn't mean it will happen.

[ScottH]

You sound lie Sam Kekovich. You know it makes sense.
And it does.

Playing each other equal amount of times is THE only fair way to play a H&A season.
34 is obviously far too long, and 17 is just a tad short, but at least the player who play in September may be fresh enough to play some exciting footy.

Many people, esp pies fans, complain about having to play all the top teams twice and the lesser teams once.
This is all due to the greed factor you mention. All teams want to play a home game against the pies, as they know they'll get the people thru the gate and this brings in the $$$.

Good luck convincing the AFL that it is a good idea!!

[GongSwan]

Convincing Andy of anything would be like convincing Hitler not to attack Russia

[Xie Shan]

I always wonder if a promotion/relegation system similar to the EPL would work for the AFL, with the top 12 teams forming the 'Premier League' and the bottom six (including the Suns and GWS) playing in the equivalent of first division. The Premier League teams would all play each other twice over 22 rounds to bring fairness to the fixture, and we would have a final six instead of a final eight. You could probably add a couple more 'expansion' teams to the lower division to give them more time to develop without compromising the quality of the top tier of the competition, maybe one or two of the stronger VFL/WAFL/SANFL sides could field their own teams. Heck, why not bring back University/Fitzroy!

Of course, there would be fewer games, but there would also be fewer one-sided games. Though crowds and revenues would take a big hit if a big Victorian club like Collingwood or Essendon ever had a bad year and got relegated.

[dimelb]

And the coaches know it makes sense:

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/140431/default.aspx

[dimelb]

Three reasons to bump this thread:

1. It's the off-season

2. Cut draw to 17 rounds: Tigers' boss

3. 365 days of AFL can dull senses, alienate fans
The second article is as much a symptom of the need for change as the other.