Ok we know that the bosses at the AFL want the two new teams in West Sydney and the Gold Coast and they have sorted the draft consessions starting from next years draft but what about the fixtures?
Recently Andrew Demetriou briefly mentioned adding extra rounds to the season, while I would love football all year round. I do not think it is possible for the well being of the players.
In an earlier post about the new teams it was briefly mentioned…
One good outcome of adding two new teams could be an even draw with every team playing each other once with half at home and half away and then next year they swap. So if Collingwood plays Fremantle at the MCG, next year they will play at Subiaco. This would mean instead of 22 rounds, you would have 17 rounds and the possibility of a proper State of Origin series.
The different writers at Kick2Kick has discussed these ideas, let us and others know what you would change or how you would set up the fixtures.
Kick2Kick 18 team fixtures suggestion
You would have every team play each other once which would account for 17 rounds and then you would have the Rival Round teams play a second time.
State of Origin carnival suggestion
This leaves four weeks left for a split round and a State of Origin series. I would break the states into two categories with an A and B and the bottom team of A gets delegated and the winner of B gets relegation into A.
A to start off with would be the traditional Football states of WA, SA, Vic and Tasmania and B would be Qld, NSW and NT. Which is similar as the under age carnivals. As time goes on with overseas players etc you could add an international or All Stars team to B.
imo this will be as even as you could ever get it without the players being too pushed to play too many games a year and you would get certain favoured clubs having to play out of Victoria for once.
Variables and other options
If you struggle to get enough players for the State of Origin series you could well get the state leagues to help top up the sides. However in looking at this years Hall of Fame match, I am sure it would not be a problem.
Other options for the fixtures could be:
- Split the 18 teams into two leagues (or divisions) and then after playing each other twice (home and away) and then extend the final series to include the top sides to play off.
- Or Keep it as the same but instead have a team play 5 teams twice instead of currently playing 7 teams twice
Conclusion and your suggestions
Adding teams on face value will confuse the fixtures so I think we would need to do something that will simplify them. Please if you want to add further thoughts and ideas to our suggestions or even your own, please do below.
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August 20th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
i suggest that if the AFL wants to have more rounds to accommodate more teams…possibly have the same sort of system that the NRL has in place. The NRL has no real pre-season comp, with just two or so practice games, and then 26 rounds but generally each round two or four teams have a bye, with each team having two or so byes in the year. that way we can have more rounds, the toll on players isnt at harsh and there is then, no point of having a split round as each team will get sufficeint rest. and still possibly have a week off to play some sort of Origin.
plus the addition of Monday nite football to rival the NRLs games on the monday nite? i just think the way that the NRL has done their competition is smart and maybe the AFL should take some notes as it might work out well…
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August 20th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
also i think the new teams should be
GOLD COAST SHARKS
WEST SYDNEY PANTHERS
and if eventually a team is created
TASMANIA DEVILS
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August 20th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
I agree that the Pre Season comp could be scrapped as no one takes it seriously and your idea has some good merits but I am undecided about byes, I personally hate them and find the “split rounds” annoying.
Do think your idea SunCity_Royal is a good idea though seeing we have 4 weeks of pre season, so this way the number of weeks etc will be the same.
Jermayns last blog post..Lose my Soul – Toby Mac
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