He is The Age’s best football journalist and also a great cricket analyst. But the normally astute Greg Baum has suggested an extension of the AFL premiership season and his arguments are seriously flawed. Baum’s complaint that the pre-season competition is a charade is completely justified. It seems that West Coast and Sydney, the leagues two best teams, view the competition as a burden imposed on them by the AFL. They play one game, lose, fulfil their obligation and get back to the long term planning of the season. When the best clubs are happy to lose it is hard to maintain that the competition has credibility. But one suspects the AFL would never consider completely abolishing the competition.
Baum’s real problem is that the pre season cup detracts from the real premiership season. The AFL draw is not completely fair, and as long as 16 teams are each playing 22 games it never will be. I assume that in calling for an extension to the season Baum wants 30 rounds – each team playing the others twice. This would be the only way to extend the season and make the draw totally fair. The first argument for this is fairness. The other is that extending the season would allow the AFL to fill this 2-month gap where International cricket has finished and AFL has not started. Australians do have an enormous appetite for sport, but perhaps only the most hardcore supporters could maintain enthusiasm for 34 weeks of football. If their team was winning.
And what about the players having to begin the season in February, the hottest month of the year? Baum’s argument is that clubs would learn to rest and rotate players. I believe most players would resist being rested. Most footballers loathe being injured, let alone being fit but still on the sidelines. And what of those players who are not footy obsessed? A 30-week season would put a massive strain on a player both physically and mentally, particularly if they or their team is not playing well.
The worst thing about the preseason cup is that teams field teams missing the best players. The standard is poor and the spectacle diminished. If clubs needed to rest and rotate champions then surely the game would suffer. And if the season was so long, no club could expect to maintain momentum all the way, so they would realistically prepare for down periods, and not be worried about losing certain matches.
Baum also argues that squad lists and the salary cap could be increased. More players on a list would mean more ordinary footballers getting a game. And yes, the AFL is massively wealthy, but most Melbourne clubs cannot happily afford a big increase in the salary cap. A much bigger salary cap would only widen the gap between Melbourne and interstate teams
Finally, Baum states that most complaints about modern football are concerned with it being too fast. In contrast, the AFL seems bent on speeding up the game at any cost. Whether you like the increased speed or not, the reality is that in modern football the fastest teams win. Kevin Sheedy has admitted to making a decision two years ago to build a faster team. Mark Williams says his 2007 Port team is the quickest he has coached. Rodney Eade is the game’s foremost believer in speed over anything.
Slowing the game down, for whatever reason, is not going to happen, particularly when top coaches feel that faster players win premierships. And even if the AFL did choose to slow the speed, a 30-game marathon season would not be the way to do it. The game’s quality and the game’s players would surely suffer. And so would the fans. And we suffer enough in February and March as it is.
