1. Scrap the priority pick
The 2010 season was an extremely refreshing one from the perspective that very little media focused on the issue of whether any teams were 'tanking' in order to gain a priority draft pick.
The priority pick system, particularly with reference to a priority pick before the first round of the draft, is distasteful by virtue of the fact that it relies on a threshold number of games to be won or lost by a particular team.
This will always create a disincentive to win, mainly because the reward (a priority draft pick) is way too tempting not to be appealing.
The idea is right - give a leg-up to a club who is not just struggling, but really struggling - but the incentive-based implementation of such an idea is skewed because the incentive is too great.
My suggestion would be to either scrap the priority pick, or award an extra pick at the end of the first round, not at the start. It won't eradicate the 'tanking' perception completely, but it will certainly lessen the rewards while still giving the club an additional leg-up.
2. Ease up on the betting
The AFL preaches responsible gambling to its players, yet its coverage is saturated in gambling-related material. It's a topic I could probably devote an entire article to, but I think the AFL - and many other sporting organisations around Australia - have gone way too far when it comes to involving gambling in the sport.
3. Don't pay a 50m penalty when someone plays on after an uncertain free kick.
Every now and again a marking contest takes place and a free kick is paid where it's difficult as a fan (and obviously as a player) to know who actually got awarded the free kick. It's not a criticism of the umpires, but sometimes both players might infringe on one another and it becomes hard to adjudicate.
A teammate of one of the players then might grab the ball and play on, and if that player's team had indeed been awarded the free, then no problem, play goes on.
However if it was the other team's free, then I think it's way too harsh to penalise them with 50m. He's basically rolled the dice and lost, because if it had indeed been his team's free and he didn't play on, he might have missed a golden opportunity. So expecting him to stop in this instance is unfair.
Common sense should be used to determine whether the player ought to have known the free kick was not awarded to his team.
4. Don't penalise a player for simply looking the wrong way
One of the rules, or perhaps a rule interpretation, that has gained momentum in recent years has been the awarding of free kicks when players are running with the flight of the ball in an attempt to make a front-on spoil.
Again, can the umpires please be instructed to use common sense here, and simply award a free only if a player actually infringes? Often in these contests a free kick seems to be paid simply because a player is not looking directly at the ball, or is facing his opponent - despite making little or no actual contact with his opponent.
5. Change the interchange infringement penalty
Nothing infuriates a footy spectator more than seeing a free kick paid off the ball for something that has almost no relevance to what is occurring in play. The best example of this is the current penalty for an interchange infringement where a free kick plus a 50m penalty is awarded to the opposition.
I acknowledge that a harsh penalty acts as a strong deterrent for such infringements, but the reality is that most infringements of this type in the last couple of years would have simply been accidental.
6. Don't fine players for accidental umpire contact
It's a contact sport. There are 36 players, three umpires, runners and other training staff, all running around an oval for 120 minutes. Accidental collisions will occur. Sometimes umpires and players get in the way of each other, they collide, pat each other on the back, and get on with the game.
I can understand wanting to protect umpires and set a 'protected area' from stoppages, and sure if a player deliberately makes contact with an umpire then rub them out for plenty, but it's a bit rich to fine players for accidental contact with umpires.
7. Only use alternative strips when needed
One thing struck me as odd from the earlier NAB Cup match between Geelong and St. Kilda - neither team was wearing their traditional jumper. Which made me ask 'why?'.
I am not naive enough to understand that money from jumper sale revenue is not a factor when it comes to clubs wearing alternate strips. However the strong sense I get is that a) most clubs would prefer to wear their traditional jumper as often as possible; and b) the AFL dictates which jumpers clubs will wear in any given match.
In my history of watching footy, there are probably only 3-4 genuine jumper clashes in the AFL (e.g. Collingwood v North Melbourne). Ironically, Melbourne v Essendon is one of those few clashes, yet earlier in the NAB cup both teams wore their traditional strip, at times making it confusing for players and spectators.
So my suggestion is very simply for clubs only to use alternative strips when a clash actually exists.
8. Give free-to-air viewers a weekly highlights show
If you are a Foxtel subscriber (with the Sports channels), you get access to every game of the AFL season. Wonderful if you've got it, but frustrating if you're like me and love your footy but miss out on seeing half the games every weekend because you don't have Foxtel.
Every Sunday night, these same Foxtel subscribers get the additional benefit of a one-hour show (The Winners), with extended highlights from all of the weekend matches. It's a great show.
Granted Foxtel are the ones producing this highlights show, but surely one of the FTA networks (or the AFL itself) could put together a similar show to be shown on a Sunday night each week, for those people who would love to catch at least a small snippet of action from the games they've missed.
Open Space is a platform for news, commentary, and debate and is now inviting readers to have their say where we will publish regular essays from readers.
Keep your submissions concise and address them to editor@afl.com.au.
