AFL 2011

The AFL has announced a new-look NAB pre-season cup, which will feature 'lightning round-robin football' in the first round.

Given that 18 teams makes a straight knockout impossible without byes or qualifiers, here's what the AFL has done (from afl.com.au)

The clubs have been divided into six pools of three, with members of each pool gathering at one venue to play games consisting of two 20-minute halves.

The competition gets underway on the night of Friday, February 11, when Adelaide, Port Adelaide and Melbourne meet at AAMI Stadium.

Collingwood, Carlton and Richmond will clash a day later, while West Coast, Hawthorn and Fremantle are scheduled for Subiaco Oval on Sunday, February 13.

Round one will continue on the following weekend, with Essendon, the Brisbane Lions and St Kilda meeting at Etihad Stadium on Friday, February 18.

GWS, the Sydney Swans and Gold Coast have been set down to play at Blacktown on the Saturday night...

Geelong, North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs complete the opening round at Skilled Stadium.

The teams that top their pools will automatically gain a place in the second round, while the two best-performing runners-up will also progress as wildcards.

The teams that will have to endure the long wait while their opponents play off are Adelaide, Carlton, West Coast, Essendon, The GWS nobodies, and Geelong. The Blues and Cats can justifiably feel a bit dudded by the AFL given that at least one of their better-treated opponents finished well down the ladder.

I heard another pre-emptine whine about the new format on SEN: the team that has the 'long break' while the other two mobs slug out the second game will know exactly what they need to score to beat one of those teams, and will have had half an hour to look at the other's style, tactics, etc.

Not that I GAF of course. For years the pre-season comp has been Mickey Mouse but with these changes it has moved to Donald Duck.

hope Horse continues the Roosy tradition of not giving a hoot about the pre season comp...GWS will get its first win

I think the Roos tradition is pretty well established across 99% of the AFL - but if any club finds itself one match away from the kind of payout on offer here they''d be silly not to try to get their mitts on it.

Fred Nerk wrote:I heard another pre-emptine whine about the new format on SEN: the team that has the 'long break' while the other two mobs slug out the second game will know exactly what they need to score to beat one of those teams, and will have had half an hour to look at the other's style, tactics, etc.

Not that I GAF of course. For years the pre-season comp has been Mickey Mouse but with these changes it has moved to Donald Duck.

organised by Elmer Fudd and Foghorn Leghorn

Another worst kept secret in footy was confirmed today with Bomber Thompson returning to Essendon as an assistant to Hird.

lardy, what have been your thoughts on Ablett and Bomber leaving?

I wouldn't begrudge Bomber for returning to Essendon except that he spent most of the year hammering home the need for loyalty and to stick together whenever he was asked about Ablett's future. The way he left will probably end up as an unfortunate stain on what was otherwise a pretty 'grouse' four years.

As for Ablett, one of the things I've liked about Aussie Rules footy, when compared to other club sports, is that there's always been a strong sense of loyalty from players to their clubs. The father/son rule, even in the current bastardised state that's been reactively changed because of sooking about the players Geelong picked up from it, is a fantastic rule. Other sports don't have strong family ties to clubs, how many legendary father/son combinations are there for the Yankees, Lakers or Manchester? Nor do these clubs even have many great players who played out their career at the single club. In the NBA Shaq is now lining up for his sixth team, something that isn't unheard of in many other sports, whereas it's extremely rare to hear of a player in the AFL lining up for more than three or four teams.

I hope Ablett's departure doesn't signify a trend of players in the AFL taking bigger salaries over staying at the clubs they've spent years playing with, or in Ablett's case spent 20 years supporting. I know it's a professional sport these days and that it's probably inevitable that it will happen, but if it does I'm not sure if I want to stick around for it.

one of the things I've liked about Aussie Rules footy, when compared to other club sports, is that there's always been a strong sense of loyalty from players to their clubs

I wouldn't suggest it's altruistically-driven 'loyalty', more that it's very difficult for a player these days to wind up playing footy for the club he supported as a kid due to the draft and limited movement options after that.

But the AFL does have a much lower level of turnover when compared to other major sports, and I believe it's impossible these days for a player to start the season with one club and finish it with another, except in remarkable situations such as a player dying during the season (which hasn't happened yet under the current rules).

The bulk of player movements see young-ish players who are drafted by one club, who play a handful of games there, and then move on.

Occasionally more experienced footballers who have manged to get just enough game time to keep their position on a club's list get a better offer from another club
and the clubs work out a trade, usually for draft picks, during 'trade week'. It's worth noting that in some years the number of trades can be counted in single figures.

High-profile players changing clubs doesn't happen very often at all. My bet is that Ablett would never have left Geelong without the Gold Coast coming on libe with more money than Goid to spalsh about. Likewise IMO Chris Judd probably never would have left West Coast had that club not become an ill-disciplined, ineffective drug-den with a poor culture.

The forthcoming days of free-agency will change that picture a bit, but the salary cap, which seems to be far more rigidly policed in the AFL than in other sports that have one, should mean player movement won't become the cattle trade seen in other codes.

"Likewise IMO Chris Judd probably never would have left West Coast had that club not become an ill-disciplined, ineffective drug-den with a poor culture"

A couple of points against your Judd theory ...

Judd and Kerr are best mates ...Kerr was as big a "problem child" as Cousins but was lucky enough that he never got addicted to the sh!t he was taking ...

Carlton's "culture" has gone downhill under Judd's leadership

He was just doing what the velvet chequebook wanted wasn't he?

embee wrote:Carlton's "culture" has gone downhill under Judd's leadership

The Blues aren't dishing out huge dollars under the table any more.

Zat wrote:

embee wrote:Carlton's "culture" has gone downhill under Judd's leadership

The Blues aren't dishing out huge dollars under the table any more.

Only because Visy's enviromental ambassadorship is above the table

You're just jealous. You know that the AFL needs a strong Carlton.

Ross wrote:Another worst kept secret in footy was confirmed today with Bomber Thompson returning to Essendon as an assistant to Hird.

lardy, what have been your thoughts on Ablett and Bomber leaving?

I wouldn't begrudge Bomber for returning to Essendon except that he spent most of the year hammering home the need for loyalty and to stick together whenever he was asked about Ablett's future. The way he left will probably end up as an unfortunate stain on what was otherwise a pretty 'grouse' four years.

As for Ablett, one of the things I've liked about Aussie Rules footy, when compared to other club sports, is that there's always been a strong sense of loyalty from players to their clubs. The father/son rule, even in the current bastardised state that's been reactively changed because of sooking about the players Geelong picked up from it, is a fantastic rule. Other sports don't have strong family ties to clubs, how many legendary father/son combinations are there for the Yankees, Lakers or Manchester? Nor do these clubs even have many great players who played out their career at the single club. In the NBA Shaq is now lining up for his sixth team, something that isn't unheard of in many other sports, whereas it's extremely rare to hear of a player in the AFL lining up for more than three or four teams.

I hope Ablett's departure doesn't signify a trend of players in the AFL taking bigger salaries over staying at the clubs they've spent years playing with, or in Ablett's case spent 20 years supporting. I know it's a professional sport these days and that it's probably inevitable that it will happen, but if it does I'm not sure if I want to stick around for it.

pretty depressed about losing our best player and coach, thanks for asking

bomber was an equally great coach as he is a turd of a person,,,the guy is a fev with intelligence

I am sad to see Bomber go but suspect in the end it was his loyalty to his original club which took him back, and it's hard to criticise him for that. He could have been more transparent about it a bit earlier, perhaps, but the Cats were in the frame for the last two games and he was probably trying to keep a lid on it until the end of the season ... it wouldn't have helped to have been open about it 2-3 weeks earlier.

Overall he did so much good for the club that I doubt he will leave too many harsh critics behind.

GWS Giants eh?

I do believe we now have a gurnsey more hideous than the poo and wee of Hawthorn.

with all the orange, it would have made more sense if the side was from the Nullabor or Alice Springs.

Obviously trying to channel the West Tigers NRL supporters...but does look more at home in the NT.
Must be already planning for relocation.