Which administration will have the courage to create a fixture with integrity that builds a more sustainable commercial model by giving every club an equal chance to be in the hunt?
Not this one – at least not while it keeps throwing up short-term ideas such as a mid-season competition that no one wants.
The AFL should start by having every team play each other once in the first 18 rounds (in a 19-team competition) and then build in match-ups between traditional rivals.
Bye-bye, bye?
The introduction of a pre-finals bye in 2016 has led clubs to second-guess the best preparation for a premiership. The Lions won the flag playing four finals following the week off for the second consecutive season. Add that to an increased number of top-four teams being eliminated in straight sets since 2016, and you have enough reason for a review.
A pre-grand final bye is not necessarily the right answer either.
Is there a need for a bye at all? There is definitely no space for one if a wildcard finals weekend is introduced.
Don’t stack Thursday nights
It doesn’t have to be Carlton, Collingwood, Hawthorn and Essendon every week. Rotate the clubs and the states in which the games are played so one supporter group isn’t being asked to watch their team every second Thursday night either live or on television. And when the time to finalise the floating fixture arrives, check form rather than membership numbers before deciding which teams play.
Thursday night flops: Essendon’s Archer May and Giant Tom Green.Credit: AFL Photos
Fix the sub rule
Geelong coach Chris Scott’s post grand final position – he’d be “rapt to see the back of the sub rule” – has weight. He has spent vital time during the third quarter of the Cats’ past two losing finals wondering whether to pull the trigger on a star player and sub them.
That situation puts pressure on medical staff and players and increases the risk of poor decision-making in vital moments.
Jeremy Cameron’s injury was a blow to the club’s premiership chances. But should he have been subbed out on Saturday?Credit: AFL Photos
With a cap on rotations, having five players available would ease the load on everyone on the bench and in the coaches’ box without speeding games up too much.
Get rid of the sub and have five players on the bench in games and, while we’re at it, in the All-Australian team.
Last touch rule
Please. Who is crying out for this? The theatre of decisions on “insufficient intent” has been accepted by supporters.
During the third quarter of the grand final, under enormous pressure, Geelong’s Tom Atkins hacked the ball down the wing towards his teammate. The ball dribbled out of bounds without anyone touching it and a boundary throw-in was correctly called for. The alternative – giving the ball back to the Lions – was unpalatable.
And another thing – the AFL should review many rules. Ruck nomination, the need for a bounce after each goal and the recall interpretation, and the protected area, just for starters.
No repeat of the Rankine schemozzle
The broad objective of stamping out homophobic slurs and attitudes in the game is important.
But the first question to be answered is how best to change behaviour on that front.
Izak Rankine spoke at Adelaide Airport on Tuesday night after being suspended for using a homophobic slur Credit: Getty Images
If suspension for on-field slurs is considered appropriate to do that (I’m still not sure) then the penalty, if a player is found guilty, needs to be set at three matches with the right to appeal. It’s within an appeals process that any mitigating circumstances should be considered.
Take mark and goal of the year seriously
Noah Anderson’s great captain’s goal this season should never have won the award (no offence, Noah). It was a one-two combination, centre-clearance goal that we see once a round.
In the social media age, where bite-sized highlights attract new fans, the mark and goals of the year must include finals, and the context of the game when the goal was scored should be irrelevant.
Collingwood’s Jamie Elliott and Sydney’s Isaac Heeney have taken the best marks of the season in the past two finals series – but won’t be celebrated as such because the current system only accounts for home-and-away matches.
It’s a highlight to be shown for generations, not a contextual piece for purists.
And while we’re on awards, we need a defender of the year award to complete the set: the Brownlow, the Coleman and the Frawley. In 2025, the winners would be Matt Rowell, Jeremy Cameron and Harris Andrews. That’s better than Brownlow placegetters.
Cut the music
Credit to the Lions for making John Denver singalongs great fun at the Gabba when Charlie Cameron kicks a goal. But it is lame at the grand final and can bugger off back over the border. Even worse is the ground announcer telling the crowd at a grand final to make some noise. No, no, no. It’s like telling a stranger to smile at a nightclub.
Father-son rule
Will Ashcroft celebrates the premiership.Credit: AFL Photos
Should the eligibility criteria remain at 100 games? No, make it 150.
What is the right price for high-end talent acquired as father-sons? It’s going to be complicated. But the picks sacrificed to gain a top 10 father-son prospect need to be much closer to where the bid is likely to come, meaning clubs should lose players or high draft picks if they want to keep it in the family.
Set and then forget for 10 years.
Make AFLW great
Now is not the best time of the season for AFLW. It doesn’t fit into footy fans’ viewing patterns and exhausts clubs. Players drafted in December have to wait until August before playing for their new team, putting their lives on hold at an age when they are already making huge decisions.
The standard of football is excellent. The investment is large.
The Saints have improved this season in the AFLW.Credit: Getty Images
But the crowds remain below-par and the game is not a barbeque stopper.
Matches should be played at a limited number of venues and the season should climax with the grand final played on the weekend before the men’s finals (or wildcard round).
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