The Daily Maggot’s proposal for a new AFL Fixture
After almost 2 seasons writing largely defamatory articles about the football industry, The Daily Maggot has decided to give something back.
Today, we propose a new fixture structure for the AFL which we think will cure many of the deficiencies of the current draw.
Our proposal may be similar to other ideas out there (eg a recent article posted on TheRoar.com.au and discussion on Big Footy), but we have not intended to steal anyone’s idea. Given the countless number of times Before The Game has shamelessly ripped-off our material, blatant plagiarism is an issue close to our hearts.
Our proposal
Under our proposal, the season is to be broken up into three parts:
1. Regular season – Rounds 1-17. During the Regular season each team will play all other teams once. To combat concerns regarding home ground advantage – if Melbourne plays West Coast in Victoria during one season, they will play in Perth the following season.
2. Pre finals – Rounds 18-22. During Pre-finals, the league will be broken into three temporary divisions.
- Division 1 – Teams who finished 1st-6th during the Regular season.
- Division 2 – Teams who finished 7th-12th during the Regular season.
- Division 3 – Teams who finished 13th-18th during the Regular season.
During Pre-finals each team will play the other 5 teams in its division once. The location of the game depends on where those teams met during the Regular season. For example, if West Coast played Sydney during the Regular season in Perth, they would meet in Sydney in the Pre-finals.
Teams in Divisions 1, 2 and 3, will have different incentives.
- Division 1 teams will be guaranteed the top 6 spots for the finals series and will play-off for their ladder position. The win / loss record for Division 1 teams from the regular season will continue during Pre-Finals. For example, if Hawthorn finished on top with 15 wins during the Regular season, they would carry these wins into Pre-Finals.
- Division 2 teams will play-off for the final 2 spots in the top 8. Again, the win / loss record for Division 2 teams from the regular season will carry-over to pre-finals.
- The season for Division 3 teams will effectively end. These teams will compete in a new ‘mini-season’ where they play-off to determine their order in the National Draft. The winner of the mini-season will get pick 1, and last-placed pick 6. Division 3 teams will not carry their win / loss record into the mini-season. That is, the mini-season will start fresh.
3. Finals – The top 8 finals series will remain as it currently is. Finals will be comprised of the six Division 1 teams and the top two Division 2 teams.
Benefits of our proposal
This proposal will address 3 recurring issues of the current fixture:
- There will be an even draw. Each team plays each other once, and who a team plays twice will be determined by their ladder position. This will mean Adelade will never finish in the top-4 again, without clearly deserving it.
- There will be no tanking. The bottom 6 teams will be competing for pick number 1 in the National Draft. Everyone will have an incentive to win.
- There will be close and relevant matches at the end of the season. All matches will mean something (whether a team is playing for a finals spot, or a higher pick in the National Draft). Although the AFL may lose some control of fixturing (ie you couldn’t guarantee two Showdowns, Derbysor whatever the Qld and NSW rivalry games are called in a season), we would argue the AFL will increase interest, attendance and ultimately revenue given the significance of each match.
If you like this idea, please post in on your Facebook / Twitter accounts. Let’s get this out there to ensure our great game is no longer compromised.
Cheers
Catfish Pig
August 10, 2012 at 10:09 am
Has Marty Pask approved this proposal?
James
August 10, 2012 at 10:15 am
Sensational idea for a fixture – hope it gets looked at
Well done Team maggot
Get around him!
August 10, 2012 at 10:20 am
I like it gents although until someone who actually uses reason and logic takes over as head of the AFL, there will be no changes to the flawed draw. Demetriou is driven by crowd numbers and ticket sales. full stop.
c-rat
August 10, 2012 at 10:32 am
My issue with this is that tanking may still exist, but just at a different time. For example, if a team is sitting in 12th on the ladder coming into rounds 16 & 17 with no realistic chance of securing one of the last 2 finals positions (because their win-loss record carries over), then they would be better off tanking in those games and ensuring they get to play off for the number 1 draft pick against the worst teams in the comp, instead of aimlessly playing against the other Division 2 teams in games that don’t mean anything for them for the remainder of the season.
The best way to avoid this would be to have the Division 2 teams go into the ‘pre-finals’ with a fresh record as well and play off from scratch for the remaining 2 finals spots. That way, there is always incentive to earn a spot in the highest division possible.
All in all I like the concept and your way of thinking but I think some areas need reviewing.
TheMaggot
August 10, 2012 at 10:34 am
Good points C-Rat. That maybe a concern. However, typically (look at this season) 11th and 12th are still finals chances at round 17 (eg Carlton and Richmond this year).
Danny
August 10, 2012 at 10:49 am
Nice idea, but it will never pass muster at AFL House. Any fixture that leads to the possibility of Essendon, Collingwood, Carlton & Richmond playing each other only once in a season will not meet the demands of either the AFL bosses or the TV rights holders, from both gate receipts and ratings perspectives.
The AFL would look at that draw and say “This means if Collingwood finishes 1st, Essendon 8th, Carlton 13th and Richmond 16th it’s possible that the only ‘return’ match would be between two team fighting it out for not much.”
There’s no easy way to fix what the AFL has created, not if you consider the fact the AFL desires maximum gate and TV revenue far more than they do a fair fixture.
TheMaggot
August 10, 2012 at 11:38 am
A very good point. However remember Geelong vs St Kilda in Rd 12 2009? Both undefeated and fighting for top spot. Champion vs Rising Challenger. The game was a sell-out and the TV ratings were through the roof (pun sort of intended). Neither team was from the alleged Big 4 (for what it’s worth, on recent history I think any of Geelong, Hawthorn or St Kilda could easily replace Essendon or Richmond in this out-dated group of 4 rivalry) yet it captured the entire country’s attention.
Remember the great Port Adelaide (yes, they were good once) vs Brisbane battles in the early 2000′s?
Imagine similar games being played during rounds 18-22 each year – I think the increased interest and attendance would more than offset any loss from, say, Richmond not playing Carlton twice.
Moreover, in terms of TV revenue, I think you would generate far more viewers from relevant games.
I think the interesting situation is the exact opposite of your scenario – what happens when Collingwood, Richmond and Carlton are all in the top 6 at the same time (sorry Bombers, not happening any time soon)? Or if Freo and WC are both in the top six? Or if they’re all fighting it out for the last two spots in the eight?
Tim
August 10, 2012 at 10:52 am
Not sure that the bottom 6 team playing for the Number 1 draft pick. It assumes that the bottom six are equally competitive. At the moment there is a six game difference between 13th and 18th. Sure, there is an incentive to win but how would the bottom team be able to turn around a horror year to win 4-5 games out of 5 to claim the pick that they need? You can’t assume all teams at the bottom tank and that they can just turn it on when they need to.
It also gives the teams that are 7th or 8th bottom the opportunity tank for a spot in the Div 3 pre finals and easily aquire a top pick, something that Richmond or Carlton might have done this year.
Maybe look at the way premiership points are distributed. In the first five round every year you are rotated through a group of six teams (3 year rotations). These rounds you get two points for a win. Then the next 17 games you play every team once for four points a win.
Sarren Deidl
August 10, 2012 at 11:26 am
I agree, it’s so hard for genuinely terrible teams to get better under the proposed system. How on earth will Port Adelaide ever break out of the 3rd division?
TheMaggot
August 10, 2012 at 11:41 am
Maybe with the bottom 6, you have 16th-18th playing off for pick 1 and 13th-15th playing off for pick 2.
So the first 6 picks will look something like this:
Pick 1: “Winner” of 16th-18th
Pick 2: “Winner” of 13th-15th
Pick 3: “Second place” of 16th-18th
Pick 4: “Second place” of 13th-15th
Pick 5: “Third place” of 16th-18th
Pick 6: “Third place” of 13th-15th
Brad
August 10, 2012 at 11:20 am
No.
Its a silly idea. Pre-Finals? What are we a bloody talent show on 7?
Well actually, its not a silly idea, the idea is sound but do we actually want to have such a convoluted system. Its like people complaining about the Draft and suggesting all kinds of play offs and systems to determine the top pick. The NBA have that right, with a percentage of balls in a barrell. The worst team in the League have not gained the No. 1 pick in that system since Dwight Howard and the Magic in 2004. Only 3 teams with the worst record have won the NBA lottery since 1990
The only fair way is to have a 17 or 34 round season, and a 17 round seaosn is still bias. What if, say a Essendon draw GC, GWS, Port and Freo as their 4 interstate trips, while a Geelong draw the Lions, Swans, Crows and Eagles? How about teams like Freo who keep getting stuck with Tasmania trips, or Port with Darwin trips. They have to travel interstate every 2 weeks, but end up going to all ends of the country while the Pies, Blues, Dons ect dont leave the big stadiums.
There are too many inequities in the draw outside of who plays who that to change that aspect will only open up further flaws.
The biggest flaw i see is that the 13th team currently (Brisbane) would most likely win the ‘mini season’ and get the No. 1 pick. How does that help a team like the Dogs or the Power who actually need it?
Still any idea is at least worth looking at.
Alan Smithee
October 9, 2012 at 4:46 pm
Agree. Too convoluted and in line with the AFLs “we know its not broken but lets smash it up and then fix it”. Next, in the pursuit of evenness and fairness, you’ll be asking that if Hawthorn plays 16 games at the MCG during the year and makes the GF, it can’t play the GF at its home ground. Just stop it!
Dave
August 10, 2012 at 12:24 pm
Really interesting idea but far from perfect. First of all, the idea of simply alternating home and away games is too simplistic – it will mean that you’d have a near identical draw in the odd years and in the even years. As such, you could
have a crap draw in those even years and a great one in the odd years. More intelligent would be to make sure that over, say, a six year period you play 3 home games against a particular team and 3 away games to ensure a bit of variety.
The most obvious problem I can see is 12 or 13 weeks the 11th placed team starts tanking (because let’s face it, even if they make the finals they’re not going to win the flag) so they can assure themselves of the number one draft pick by winning the mini-season. There’s a huge difference in this system between coming 12th and 13th. The difference between getting pick 7 and getting a top 2 pick.
Another problem with this model is that it seems a touch convoluted with this notion of ‘pre-finals’. It seems more logical to have a 17 game home and away season, go straight into finals and to put all teams who miss the 8 into a pool (with equal chances) for draft picks.
Further, as the closeness of this season has shown, 5 weeks out seems very premature to be deciding that 7th isn’t worthy of a home final.
Problem is though that you might as well cut the home and away season down to 17 rounds, play finals as per usual for the top 8 and have a pool system for the draft for all clubs who don’t make the finals.
My solution would be:
- 24 rounds in the H&A season
- First 17 rounds you play every team once
- Round 18 every team with an extra home game plays a team with an extra away game. Drawn completely at random.
- Final 6 weeks are drawn completely at random but ensure 3 home games and 3 away games.
- Existing top 8 system is used
- Draft works in pools with equal chance (1-4, 5-10, 11 – 18)
- Possibility of priority picks/cash injection from the AFL for chronically struggling teams (finishing 11th or lower for 5 years or more)
Benefits:
- As fair a draw as possible without playing every team just once (or just twice which would make the season untenably long)
- As little incentive as possible to tank while still aiding struggling teams. Only incentive to tank is between 10th and 11th but hopefully all teams will be in finals hunt until possibly the last week.
Demon
August 10, 2012 at 12:40 pm
You are labouring under the misapprehension that the fixture is not solely designed to maximise revenue.
Hans
August 10, 2012 at 12:48 pm
Spot on Dave! U r an inspiration to our community and a highly respected member of our organisation. Keep up the good work!
Age
August 14, 2012 at 9:46 am
I agree that the draw needs to be looked at in some way, and the ideas thrown up are very interesting, however I dont see it as a do or die situation. Whilst I agree, I also believe that the AFL have grown this game over the last 10-15 years in a way no one could have ever imagined. The AFL are a true national competition, competing with a so called NRL who only believe the east coast is worthy of participating, and include New Zealand in their “National Comp.”
If Adelaides draw is as easy as we all think and they are not worthy, then they should be shown up in finals by the best of the best right? I think that stuff will take care of itself for the most.
I dont disagree when people say that the big teams play each other more often as a cash grab and to generate crowds. Why wouldn’t they? I am the first to sit and watch a blockbuster on a Friday night. If the Gold Coast and Port played a Friday night I would be anywhere but watching it.
I wouldn’t say that any team over the last 10 years has not won a premiership they didn’t deserve… They haven’t been a mid range team and cruised through due to an easy draw and fluked a premiership. Lets just put things into perspective thats all I am saying
Tanking and draft picks however, really do need to be looked at. Lottery system seems to be the go. The whole notion of top 10 can be extremely overrated at times. Sure # 1,2 & 3 are ideal, but its not the be all and end all. Dayne Beams in the paper yesterday. No 29. Turning into a superstar. James Hird??? Last pick if I am not mistaken??