It's Called the Asterisk Cup for a Reason

[bigred]

Whoever wins it this year will have overcome more adversity than any club since the WW2.

[skeptic]

Would be ecstatically proud of the boys if they brought the flag home this season.

The asterisk would be mentally toughest and most adaptable in an extremely challenging, dynamic season

[freely]

Let's hope we get into the asterisk finals first.

[Munga]

Awwwww, all the big clubs supporters having a whinge that the competition too hard, all that fixture favouritism lost. It is as fair this year as it has been for many decades. Everyone has to travel. Everyone plays each other once. Everyone has to manage ALL of their list for optimal performance. Everyone has to be professional and get on with it.

Asterisk my arse, this will be the fairest and hardest earned premiership for decades. And by "fairest" I'm excluding all the draft and salary cap concessions some clubs are still handed.

I love this season (apart from the low scores and interpretations), it's as level playing field as you could get. People have just forgotten what "fair" means. If you want to put an asterisk next to this year because it's different, you also need to put an asterisk next to every other that has been different, which would wipe out about 90% of the seasons! Seriously, are people looking for anything to whinge about?

[CQ SAINT]

Games*In*Qld*. Love the Asterisk***

[Secret Kiel]

Let's hope we get into the asterisk finals first.

Pay that.

[stevie]

Been an asterisk since 2016 with the pre finals bye lol but that won’t happen this season so it’s unasterixed once more.

Love to see the 17 game season permanent Won’t happen obviously but it’s just perfect. The Scarlet Pimple has been a big advocate of it for years. The only words from his mouth you’d ever listen to

[Waltzing St Kilda]

Other Asterisk Cups in the AFL period:

'91 Hawthorn -- salary cap cheating.
'92 WCE -- state team, steroids
'93 Essendon -- salary cap
'94 WCE -- state team, steroids
'95 Carlton -- salary cap cheating
'97 Adelaide, because they beat us.
2000 Essendon, salary cap cheating
'01 Brisbane, COLA, Fitzroy merger
'02 Brisbane, ditto
'03 Brisband, ditto
'05, Sydney, COLA, Barry Hall not suspended
'06, WCE, high as kites
'07, Geelong, mysterious supplements, Dank, Dr Ageless
'09, Geelong, ditto
'10 Collingwood, Human growth hormone
'11, Geelong, mysterious supplements
'12 Sydney, COLA
'16, Western Bulldogs, umpires

[saynta]

Asterisk cup or not. I'LL TAKE IT Gladly

[desertsaint]

Other Asterisk Cups in the AFL period:

'91 Hawthorn -- salary cap cheating.
'92 WCE -- state team, steroids
'93 Essendon -- salary cap
'94 WCE -- state team, steroids
'95 Carlton -- salary cap cheating
'97 Adelaide, because they beat us.
2000 Essendon, salary cap cheating
'01 Brisbane, COLA, Fitzroy merger
'02 Brisbane, ditto
'03 Brisband, ditto
'05, Sydney, COLA, Barry Hall not suspended
'06, WCE, high as kites
'07, Geelong, mysterious supplements, Dank, Dr Ageless
'09, Geelong, ditto
'10 Collingwood, Human growth hormone
'11, Geelong, mysterious supplements
'12 Sydney, COLA
'16, Western Bulldogs, umpires

forgot 2017 Richmond. came 3rd. Home finals against second, forth, and first.
2019 Richmond. came 3rd. Home prelim against first.

[tony74]

Cos when everyone reflects in 10 years they’ll comment that this flag was worth two premierships for the adversity the teams had to put up with.

[The_Dud]

Cos when everyone reflects in 10 years they’ll comment that this flag was worth two premierships for the adversity the teams had to put up with.

Thanks Tony. Glad to hear from someone who really knows what the clubs are thinking.

[saynta]

Cos when everyone reflects in 10 years they’ll comment that this flag was worth two premierships for the adversity the teams had to put up with.

☺

[Munga]

Other Asterisk Cups in the AFL period:

'91 Hawthorn -- salary cap cheating.
'92 WCE -- state team, steroids
'93 Essendon -- salary cap
'94 WCE -- state team, steroids
'95 Carlton -- salary cap cheating
'97 Adelaide, because they beat us.
2000 Essendon, salary cap cheating
'01 Brisbane, COLA, Fitzroy merger
'02 Brisbane, ditto
'03 Brisband, ditto
'05, Sydney, COLA, Barry Hall not suspended
'06, WCE, high as kites
'07, Geelong, mysterious supplements, Dank, Dr Ageless
'09, Geelong, ditto
'10 Collingwood, Human growth hormone
'11, Geelong, mysterious supplements
'12 Sydney, COLA
'16, Western Bulldogs, umpires

Brisbane were injectors too, whatever it was. And the Hawks crimes go all the way back to 1971

[bigred]

Cos when everyone reflects in 10 years they’ll comment that this flag was worth two premierships for the adversity the teams had to put up with.

Exactly right.

[perfectionist]

Besides which, we are fourth. The last quarter against PA was as good a quarter of Saints footy as I have seen in the last 60 years. It may be a false dawn, and the couple of injuries to mids has me worried, but who knows?

[Jacks Back]

Cos when everyone reflects in 10 years they’ll comment that this flag was worth two premierships for the adversity the teams had to put up with.

That'd be right. We might finally win something worth two premierships and only get one.

[Zed]

Until you get every team playing each other twice (once home and once away) then every year is an asterisk year . No year is “even” or “fair”.

[Ghost Like]

Until you get every team playing each other twice (once home and once away) then every year is an asterisk year . No year is “even” or “fair”.

This year may just be the pre cursor to the realisation of that. However, the best we can hope for is a 17 game season with home & away transposed each year.

OR

A two conference system, allowing each team to play the other in their conference twice & alternating H&A with the other conference - a 25 game H&A season, no pre season.

OR

A similar AFL money spinner, 3 conferences, play those in your conference twice & those in the other conference once - a 22 game season. Conferences set up for the Blockbusters. I imagine, Richmond, Essendon, Carlton, Collingwood, Melbourne and Hawthorn would be the big one for the AFL. We'd likely find ourselves with Brisbane, GCS, GWS, Sydney and North. Leaving all those west of the CBD in the other conference.

As Zed said, nothing will be fair until we all play each other twice. That will require bigger lists, shorter games & likely dilute the product.

[ausfatcat]

Whoever wins it this year will have overcome more adversity than any club since the WW2.

Should be a Premiership + cup if a Vic side wins this year!

[Secret Kiel]

Until you get every team playing each other twice (once home and once away) then every year is an asterisk year . No year is “even” or “fair”.

This year may just be the pre cursor to the realisation of that. However, the best we can hope for is a 17 game season with home & away transposed each year.

OR

A two conference system, allowing each team to play the other in their conference twice & alternating H&A with the other conference - a 25 game H&A season, no pre season.

OR

A similar AFL money spinner, 3 conferences, play those in your conference twice & those in the other conference once - a 22 game season. Conferences set up for the Blockbusters. I imagine, Richmond, Essendon, Carlton, Collingwood, Melbourne and Hawthorn would be the big one for the AFL. We'd likely find ourselves with Brisbane, GCS, GWS, Sydney and North. Leaving all those west of the CBD in the other conference.

As Zed said, nothing will be fair until we all play each other twice. That will require bigger lists, shorter games & likely dilute the product.

The elephant in the room is the number of clubs in the comp. There are too many clubs in Melbourne.

[Ghost Like]

Or too many Artificially Inseminated Clubs being Gold Coast, GWS and arguably Fremantle but WA is a football state.

This pandemic may force the AFL's hand on Vic clubs if sponsors become harder to secure in the future. Even before this crisis my belief was the number of clubs in Melbourne was unsustainable by a couple. Fortunately the product had always demanded massive revenue from a hungry audience.

I do believe all will survive this but a fresh course may be chartered for the medium to long term. This makes our current Board and Admin vital for the present and the future - if the planets align like they did for the Doggies in 2016, then 2020 will be far from as asterisk, it will be our foundation.

[saintspremiers]

It’s an Asterix Cup because Eddie will spend years bitching and moaning about the Pies having to play 4 games in 13 days over three States.

And how Pendles & De Goey got badly injured due to not being able to play 99% of their games at the MCG.

As Nat’s What I Reckon would say:

“Fcuk Collingwood”

[Sanctorum]

"The Asterisk Cup" is an invention of the media seized upon by the doomers and gloomers on this forum (one in particular!) to whinge about all sorts of issues bubbling in the AFL pot, like too many Melbourne clubs, billions spent on expansion teams, the AFL in control of clubs, insolvency experts scraping through the remains of St Kilda FC etc.

The 2020 AFL Premiership Cup is what will be awarded to the team that wins the Grand Final, and nothing will ever detract from that as a worthy and valid achievement - except of course by the miserable detractors!

[Cordz2]

This article perfectly highlights the significant integrity issues with the results of this season.

I am still yet to be convinced that whoever wins this years flag, assuming the season is completed, will not feel like a hollow feeling. There just is no way to compare this years flag with full strength flags.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-28/ ... n/12496526

I get what you're saying also that article, but - I'm not sure why you need to be convinced that it's not an asterix season for it to be valid. As Benno88 mentioned above - there's many more challenges in front of the players and clubs this year than any other year. In many ways - playing everyone once makes it the most equitable season ever. I keep hearing the coaches say it'll be the most difficult of flags to win.

There's horrible inequities built into every season - blockbusters, Derbies, Showdowns, Dreamtime, Anzac Day, Anzac Eve, MCG GF to mention a few. This year - WCE will prob now play the next 6 games in a row in Perth (some as 'away' games). But Richmond played their last 8 H/A games in 2019 at the MCG. How's that different? The Vic teams are undeniably at a bigger disadvantage having to be away from their home grounds and families for a long stretch. Bris are a flag fancy and may not leave Qld for the rest of the season. The whole thing is a complete clvsterfuck but, I don't think that whoever wins it should cop an asterix.

I just think that whatever happens - we'll complete a season and there'll eventually be a Premier and that team may have ended up traveling less or more than everyone else and dealt with challenges more or less than other teams.

It is an elite competition and one that is by design meant to be a grueling game AND season. To put the Astersik argument in context, look at it through the eyes of players from past flags. They certainly will argue their achievements were greater.

There is no doubt the players have been inconvenienced this year and from an uncertainty and logistics perspective, they have been challenged, and I'm really proud about how the boys are doing what's asked of them by their employer and that is to maintain the company line and contribute to the survival of league and club. They deserve credit for that. But believe me players are not like giddy fans, they know the difference between elite and astersik.

What puts you in any position to speak for how players think and feel?

How many game have you watched this year?

All of them knuckles. Even attended games and training.

Nice. Glad you've conceded this season is worth a look!

Though, you're now admitting you were actively trolling all season by saying you're not watching any games because it's not the real deal?

Or are you trolling now by pretending you're watching all the games and training when you're actually not?

You really don't pay attention do you.

Dud’s right - you make it up as you go along. You get a little kick out of saying - I don’t watch games, it’s the asterisk cup, and pouring pithy positives during bad losses. You’re a waste of space. You say nothing. Go to your mirror and <edited by mods> off.