Money grab, pure and simple. No team will ever be capable of winning or having a serious tilt at a flag from 9th or 10th. Although I do agree with dropping the NAB cup and having a longer season. Here's an idea that I had a few years ago when it became obvious to me that not all teams are playing on a level playing field due to the uneven draw:
The season goes for 30 rounds, no NAB cup and no mid-season breaks, so that every team plays each other twice. Every player however, is only allowed to play a maximum or 24 games in the season (excluding finals). How the club manages it's list would be one of the skills in getting the team through the season - you would rest players that were less suited against certain teams or were carrying niggling injuries etc - but no-one can play more than 24 games regardless. Pretty simple but would ensure that you got a much more realistic or honest 'best 8 teams' playing in each final series.
Just an idea.
