i have been meaning to write this for a while and was going to wait till the fixture is out but after another absurd decision of having a wildcard finals system i thought id write this today.
opening round
this is unnescary completly especailly since they now have one game in victoria which to be fair was a required fixture on the 60th aniversery of the saints only flag to date but we don’t need 10 teams to start the year we need all 18 to play week 1 and the afl is going too far with the northern focus over the years such as the addition of hthe suns and giants before tassie without the same stupid conditions and not really giving consideration to the perth market either which i will cover in my next point.
gather round
one of the many problems is its an extra home game for the adelaide sides and an extra match for every club while interesitngly one of the complaints of the fixture last year was the cats having an easy draw they had the hardest gather round match first place crows in adeliade (but they still won amazingly the cats). if they have to keep it they should expand it to having two with the 2nd in perth on fairness as the northern states already have opening round and maybe have the perth clubs play the adeliade clubs those weeks so no team is disadvantaged compltely.
thursday and sunday night footy
has to be severely limited and never during the school term and really should go back to one per year holy thursday on that topic good friday shouldn’t have been a fixture if they keep good friday its hould include north but not two games. also it should not replace saturday as a free to air game at all. and sunday night footy should never be a thing if there has to be one maybe easter sunday night as thats always in the shool holidays. kings birthday eve is an unneeded marque game for the night (always a sunday). on that note i think anzac eve as well should not be an automatic fixture unless it falls on a friday or saturday (anzac day on a weekend).
drafting
father/son rules for clubs near the bottom of the ladder that year doesn’t need to change same wiht accedemy but teams near the top especially constant ones like brisbane, geelong and prrobably collingwood should have massive limitations on who they can get through the system as the draft is meant to help weaker clubs. tasmania needs good picks when they join.
free agency
needs to be csrapped it has never been fair on the weaker clubs and teams like sydney consistantly have abused it. there needs to be encouragement if they keep it for the weaker clubs to get good players.
cost of llving allowance
has to be scrapped if they try and bring it back.
double up fixturing
every team should only have one automatic double up collingwood should not get both richmond essendon and carlton next year only one of tem really as they were 3rd/4th the highest of those was level 11th. the only double ups automatically are adeliaev port, gws v sydny, gold coast v brisbane, freo v west coast but on this year only the sydney and q clashes are acctually really required as they are sort of fair matches the ohters are a long way apart on the ladder. finals rematches should generally be double ups as are big aniverserys this year should be st kilda v collingwood and bulldogs v sydney double ups for the aniversery of breaking 60+ year flag droughts and if the bulldogs get an interstate home team at the g has to be sydney for the same reason.
venues
the only team who should get priority at the mcg is melbourne thats always been their home ground. hawks should only get 1 home game at marvel till the tassie deal ends a year if that as the gs their other home ground and if they play 4 in tassie (which i don’t know if the deal is over now or in 2028 when tassie joins). essendon and carlton should only get 4 at the g per year the traditional maxmium for a non-home ground especially when the tassie deal ends. i’m still torn on the bulldos games at ballarat as its something i never understood but id say no more then 4 per year. suns can keep two games in darwin for now.
thoughts on future clubs
i have no idea on who the 20th side will be the afl will need one eventually but there is no certanity on where there can be one i think maybe a 3rd perth side is the best option at this stage but i have my doubts that or canberra. they need to keep the 10 victorian clubs none can be disolved or relocated and if two have to merge than they should all and that wuold be a logistical nightmare looking at geographacy the most logical ones would be bulldogs/geelong essendon/north, collingwood/carlton, richmond/melbourne, and hawthorn/st kilda the main problem with this your merging two of the clubs with the biggest supporter bases and your merging two of the worse 3 on the field in recent times and no i don’t support that at all also hawthorn and st kilda aren’t located near each other at all geographically but all the others are clearly close to each other so that would be by default. i can’t see south melbourne returning in any form sadly (Fitzroy were folded for financial reasons south didn’t have to leave for sydney). the only options otherwise are canberra and naother regional victorian side likely based in ballarat and i think those might be better. we are years off a northern territory team even if you combine it with north queensland (which should have been selected north queensland before gold coast but thats another story).
pre finals bye
is ruined by wildcard round but has to stay and i don’t think should be moved to before the grand final.
concussion protocols
are needed but maybe scale it depending on how bad it is and needs doctors views.
score review
should have a quick check on all-scores and if questioned do a full review like the nrl.
captains challenge
i think thats a rare idea from the nrl that the afl should adopt so that we don’t have major umpire errors i feel for you crows fans.
wild card finals
one word no.
later season
again no they have to work around the gridiron somehow.
night grand final
no and less night finals i’m glad we don’t have saturday night prelims anymore (its always twillight). also first should get the first pick if they win week 1 of when they play even if it means sydney for instance don’t get their pick of home grounds as in 2012.
marque fiixtures stay or go. regular ones.
richmond v carlotn round 1 keep
essendon v hawthorn round 1 keep
brisbane v collingwood easter thursday keep
hawthorn v geelong easter monday keep
essendon v collingwood anac day maybe alternate who essendon play.
melbourne v richmond anzac eve not needed.
essendon v richmond dreamtime keep
essendon v carlton kings birthday eve scrap
melborune v collingwood kings birthday keep but again sometimes chaneg who melbourne play.
freo anzac round home game keep
gold coast indigenious round darwin keep
melbourne alice springs game scrap it has had no benefit yet maybe should be alteranted.
north bunbury give it time.
hawthorn v brisbane indigenios round don’t know if thats traditional but has been two years in a row around that time so keep for now.
no return to overseas games ie china nz (there once was a practice game in dubai i think in 2008 and in south africa in 1998)
other weird celebrations that don’t get much publicity ie hawthorn v st kilda blue ribbon cup don’t need adjjusting.
after the siren shots on goal should not be allowed or harder to do.
that was a long post hope it gives people room to think
Harrison’s world 