Clubs debate push for 26 rounds
14 March 2007 Herald-Sun
Damian Barrett
AN EXTENSION of the AFL's home-and-away season to at least 26 rounds will be tabled for discussion at next month's annual meeting of club chief executive officers.
Hawthorn's Ian Robson has backed his president Jeff Kennett's call for debate on removing the pre-season competition and making all inter-club games part of the premiership season.
"Obviously Andrew (Demetriou, AFL chief executive) has already set a very significant agenda item – the boys behaving badly – but we will look to have this discussed as well," Robson said.
"Let's not fall for the trap, and I am not saying the AFL has or that the industry has, of looking at an extended season in isolation.
"Inevitably, there is overlap and on this there is more overlap than perhaps meets the eye.
"Inevitably, a conversation on this topic takes you to other places rather than it being just about the amount of games in a season."
Robson acknowledged critics of an extended season had a right to worry about morale attached to lowly performing teams.
"I accept that, but if you apply that logic to its natural conclusion does that mean we should go back to 18 games?" Robson said.
"All we are saying is that if we are going to play now, we should play for four points.
"We don't have the promotion-relegation thing that spikes interest in the bottom end of the table as much as finals does at the top end.
"But how a club approached a longer season would pose a number of strategic challenges.
"And whether it's Hawthorn with Max Bailey (knee reconstruction) in January or it's Collingwood with Sean Rusling (shoulder), if we lose somebody now we can not replace them, we are locked in.
"So, if we are going to put them at risk, put them at risk for the ultimate result, and the ultimate result is not prizemoney, it is the four points."
Robson said England's Premier League soccer and gridiron in the US did not have six-week lead-ins.
"If you had 26 games, you would have 11 clubs you play twice, that's a 50 per cent improvement at the stroke of a pen," Robson said.
"It is about challenging, and it is not about being disrespectful about NAB (the pre-season competition sponsors)," Robson said.
"If we can't have a debate about how we want to take control of what the competition looks like, then obviously we are poorer for it.
"If you say we want to play 26 games, that has implications on list size, on a second tier competition and on the draft and the draft age."
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