NAB cup, Home& Away and tanking - the craws solution

[The Craw]

Ok… I have been sitting on this for a long time, so here is my solution.

Split the AFL into 2 conferences. A & B – 8 teams in both = 16 teams

The teams are ranked the season before – from 1 to 16 .

The first top 7 ranked teams are automatic Conference A teams with the 8th rank a wildcard. The subsequent 8th team (the wildcard) is decided by the NAB cup.

The bottom 9 ranked teams play in conference B with an exception for a team to gain a wildcard into conference A Via the NAB cup

In the NAB cup games are played by the ranking of the teams as per the end of the season ie: the winner of the premiership is rank 1 the runner up rank 2 and so on as per the ladder.

The NAB cup is played so that
rank 1 Vs rank 16
rank 2 Vs rank 15
rank 3Vs rank 14

and so on…. The team that finishes the highest rank amongst the team ranked 8th through to 16th gets the wild card 8th rank in conference A.

In conference A and conference B each team plays each other twice. Total 14 games.

After each team playing each other twice in their respective conferences, the top 4 teams from each conference the then join to be conference A and the bottom 4 teams from each conference join to be conference B.

They then play each other once to decide the final 8. Total 7 games.

So far we have a total of 21 games for the season.

The teams that finished top 4 in conference A have the right to play home games therefore the 1st ranked team after 14 games gets the right to play the last 7 games at home therefore in total 14 home games and 7 away… the 2nd ranked 13 home and 8 away and so on.

The teams that Bottom 4 in conference A have the right to play home games because they qualified in the Conference A the previous year or by the NAB cup wildcard, therefore the 1st ranked team after 14 games gets the right to play the last 7 games at home therefore in total 14 home games and 7 away… the 2nd ranked 13 home and 8 away and so on.



At the end of each team playing each other once in the revised conferences the top 4 teams in conference A qualify for the finals and have a week off.

The bottom four teams in conference A play the top 4 teams in conference B for the remaining 4 spots in the top 8. This gives the bottom 4 teams originally in conference A, a chance to be part of the final if they have performed well over the year as well as the other bottom 4 teams in conference incentive to still perform to the very end of the season thus eliminating tanking for drafts pick as they may still be in with a chance of making the finals.
So round 22 is the qualifying round for the remaining spots in the top 8 with the bottom 4 teams from conference A playing the top 4 teams from conference B (top 4 from Conference A having a week of) and it would look like this


Conf A – 5th Vs Conf B – 12th
Conf A – 6th Vs Conf B – 11th
Conf A – 7th Vs Conf B – 10th
Conf A – 8th Vs Conf B – 9th

The highest ranked winner would finish 5th the second highest 6th the third highest 7th and the fourth highest 8th thus making up the final 8.

A total of 22 round

Then the normal final series comes into effect.

What this does is rewards teams for finishing high on the ladder. If it is no performing it is dropped and a team that is up and coming gets a chance in the latter stages of the season.

The NAB becomes relevant for at least 9 teams as the will try to be that 8th team in conference.

Crowds are maximized as there is a reasonable chance for all teams to make the finals.

Tanking is minimized as all teams will want to get into conference A as it will be the main games that TV will want to televise.

I hope you understand it… really not that complicated when you think about it and I think it covers all bases in regards to rewarding teams for effort as opposed to tanking.

Thoughts anyone ???????

[saint66au]

*Adopts Maxwell Smart voice*

"Chief...could you just repeat the bit after.. "here is my solution""?

Sorry...with your nickname and all..had to do it

[Bernard Shakey]

Still just practise games, so no reason to go all out for win.

[True Blue Sainter]

I reckon maybe in about 20-25 years, it might not be too far-fetched to see a 20 team AFL - with 2 divisions (10 teams each). Gold Coast, that shotty Western Sydney side, a Tassie side, and possibly a NT/Northern QLD all stars side?

[Moorabbin Saints]

I reckon maybe in about 20-25 years, it might not be too far-fetched to see a 20 team AFL - with 2 divisions (10 teams each). Gold Coast, that shotty Western Sydney side, a Tassie side, and possibly a NT/Northern QLD all stars side?

I'd prefer 19 rounds plus a final 10 if we had 20 teams.