Will the 2020 premiership have an asterix?

[one-eyed]

'This will be one of the greatest premierships ever won in AFL': But will it?

Rohan Connolly
The Age
21 May 2020

Step by tiny step, an AFL season aborted after just one round inches back towards a resumption.

We have an official date for a restart, June 11.

To that end, news stories about this or that injured player's chances of proving their fitness for round two have emerged.

Senior coaches are resuming their weekly media conferences.

All of which is making the beast which is the AFL industry these days just a little easier to feed than has been the case for the past couple of months.

In fact, one of those coach's news conferences on Monday produced an eminently quotable line.

But it wasn't the first time it had been uttered during the last eight matchless weeks.

And it's doubtful it will be the last, either.

Reigning premiership coach, Richmond's Damien Hardwick, asked about the challenges this unique season will present, had little hesitation in answering: "This will be one of the greatest premierships ever won in AFL."

That is already becoming a bit of a refrain. The cynic in me wonders whether clubs have been encouraged to get that message out there, not only to players they're trying to motivate as they pick up the tools again, but indeed to an entire AFL supporter base which, like all of us, has been pondering just how seriously we can take this season.

It's certainly a big call. Is it true?

Well, without dismissing whatever sort of season we end up with as a waste of time or even worthy of an asterisk, I'm not sure the hyperbole stacks up.

Implicit in that claim is that not all premierships are equal. And that on its own I can understand.

There are seasons when the heavyweight teams of the recent past may be in decline, other clubs succumb to a plague of injuries, the twists and turns of fate play a bigger role, and a flag may be "pinched".

There are others when great teams are at their very best, the depth at the top of the ladder is plentiful, and when winning a premiership may mean overcoming not just one but several highly credentialled opponents when the stakes are highest.

Hardwick refers more to the logistical and structural hurdles which will have to be overcome this year than the quality of the competition as such.

But you'd be donning the rose-coloured glasses to think the first factor isn't going to impinge significantly on the second in 2020.

There are degrees of disadvantage, of course, inherent in the AFL structure even in normal seasons, largely to do with the travel factor in such a large country and home ground and home state games.

But they have increased significantly with the demand that the two teams from both South Australia and Western Australia will have to be at least initially housed on the Gold Coast, playing games ordinarily scheduled at home far away.

Then there's the temporary elimination of second tier competitions for players not picked in the senior 22.

That impacts on all clubs, but surely harder on those with less experienced lists, not just robbing youngsters of serious competitive hit-outs and slowing down their development, but also working against senior players returning from injury.

Already, it's looking like this will be a particularly bad year for a club to have a poor run in the medical room.

It's not a good year to be a team based outside Victoria.

And it's not a good year to have a major influx of talent still becoming familiar with each other (eg. St Kilda) or to be attempting to overhaul a game plan (eg. Essendon or Fremantle).

So there are at least 10 clubs arguably starting from further behind scratch than usual even before adding those for whom injuries become a significant concern.

Call me simplistic, but doesn't that actually decrease the factor of difficulty for the favourites rather than make it harder?

And even if the logistics remain complex, unfamiliar and changeable, aren't they the same issues with which every club will be dealing?

If everyone is struggling similarly, the bar will be set significantly lower compared to other years in more normal circumstances. And someone still has to win.

Indeed, in 2020, it could well be the least-compromised rather than the best of the best as such.

None of which is to argue, by the way, that the 2020 flag should be disregarded.

I'm feeling a lot more comfortable about its status now we can be reasonably confident the schedule will look at least reasonably similar to normal, and that we'll have a premier decided at least by the end of October rather than the unthinkable late December timeframe which initially seemed a distinct possibility.

Perhaps there are plenty of footy fans out there for whom there will seem barely a difference.

And perhaps there are plenty, also, who might be more sceptical than me, or given the events of recent times, finding it hard to muster much enthusiasm for a mere game.

The AFL has to be prepared for that possibility and for the smaller TV audiences that implies, in the same way it is bracing itself for life as a smaller, leaner and less ambitious outfit even when the health concerns are over and we're left with longer-lasting economic problems.

In this climate, you have to make do with what you've got.

And if there really is a contrivance to the "one of the greatest premierships" line, it's hyperbole we can probably do without.

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6763477/this-will-be-one-of-the-greatest-premierships-ever-won-in-afl-really/

[one-eyed]

As AFL great Wayne Carey put it, “If you win (the premiership) this year, there might be an asterisk saying this is the best premiership ever.”

This will be a challenging season for all clubs, coaches and players. In fact, it will be one of the most challenging seasons in the game’s history, which might, in fact, make an asterisk next to the season worthwhile, but certainly not because it’s inferior.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/in-the-afl-s-history-this-season-is-still-far-from-the-weirdest-yet-20200520-p54usa.html

[one-eyed]

While Mick Molloy’s dream of every club playing the entire season at Punt Road Oval won’t come to life, he won’t slap an asterisk on the 2020 premiership.

Unless his beloved Tigers fail to get up for a third flag in four years.

“I think it is (legitimate). But then again, our window’s open at Richmond,” he said.

“It’ll be legitimate till Richmond can’t win it. Then it’ll be a farce.”

https://7news.com.au/sport/afl/mick-molloys-theory-on-the-legitimacy-of-the-2020-afl-premiership-c-1068267

[one-eyed]

With no crowds and few goals, what is the point?

Greg Baum
The Age
11 July 2020

At least three accomplished former players I know wonder why the AFL is persevering at all with season 2020.

...

So when wondering about whether it is worth it to ad lib our way through this syncopated season, the cliche of the age rings true: it is what it is. My confidantes who scratch their head about the whole project have a valid point of view, but they had good careers and are living rewarding other lives and so can take or leave.

For the rest of us, given a choice between this footy and no footy, we’ll take this footy every time.

Read the full article here: https://www.smh.com.au/sport/afl/with-no-crowds-and-few-goals-what-is-the-point-20200710-p55axf.html

[one-eyed]

Forget the asterisk - this AFL flag will have an exclamation mark

Rohan Connolly
ESPN
21 October 2020

For what seemed an eternity as the logistics of this most unusual AFL season were thrashed out, we were asking whether the eventual premier would forever carry an asterisk beside its name.

And yet, come late Saturday night, whether it's Richmond or Geelong, it's far more likely to be an exclamation mark.

Is that hyperbole? I don't think so. It's also one of the few occasions in my professional career I've been delighted to be able to say I was wrong.

I was certainly one of the sceptics early on. Too many compromises to competition integrity with a shortened schedule, shortened games, a compacted fixture and surrendering of home grounds, I felt. Not to mention the aesthetics of, as was being seriously discussed, a Grand Final in December.

With the accompanying background noise about the extent of the financial calamity were we not to have a season at all, it all seemed a bit unseemly, and the quick grabs from coaches about "greatest premierships" given the logistical difficulties a little too manufactured.

I'm certainly not prepared to declare Saturday's flag winner anything like 'greatest'. But I suspect strongly we're going to hear a steady trickle of post-season stories about the difficulties 'clubs in hubs' endured which give us all a better idea of the extent of obstacles either the Tigers or Cats had to climb on their way to the flag.

Not the likes of incidents involving Richmond pair Sydney Stack and Callum Coleman-Jones or Sydney's Elijah Taylor. But the toll on mental health to which Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley alluded recently, or North Melbourne coach Rhyce Shaw's current struggles.

Hub life, for Richmond and Geelong, has now extended to well over 100 days, three times the initial estimates of just over 30 with which they thought they'd be dealing with.

Football clubs and players particularly, crave routine. And never have the routines of professional sportspeople been thrown out the window in such dramatic fashion as 2020.

That the two grand finalists have been able to perform to any sort of level at all, let alone in recent weeks recover from potentially morale-sapping first-up finals defeats to scramble back on to the Grand Final stage, is remarkable enough even before they win or lose in this last concerted effort.

There's also a compelling argument that the way events have unfolded in season 2020 have given the determining of the premiership team even greater legitimacy in terms of competition integrity.

Those who (and with some justification) bemoan the loaded AFL fixture in which teams normally play 12 opponents once and just five twice can have far fewer grumbles this year with every side playing every other just the once pre-finals.


The Tigers will be looking to win a third premiership in four years. Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
And so, by virtue of the two teams playing off, has the home and away factor been largely removed as a potential 'leg-up'.

I wouldn't have had any quibbles at all with the rights of either Port Adelaide or Brisbane to be competing for a premiership on Saturday. But had either won their preliminary finals, we would surely already this week have heard much debate about that advantage, given the Grand Final would have been the Lions' 12th game out of 20 played on their home deck, while Port Adelaide also got to play just on half their games at home.

Richmond and Geelong's success this season would have been even more satisfying for both clubs given they are the two Victorian clubs subjected most to bleating about their normal home ground advantage.

Since their re-emergence as a heavyweight in Round 6 of 2007, Geelong have won a staggering 92 of 103 (or just on 90 percent) of games played at Kardinia Park, an edge which popular argument has gone has inflated their ladder finish and thus explained its finals disappointments.

The Tigers clearly love the MCG. Since their amazing resurgence in 2017, they've won 42 and drawn another of 49 games there (or 86 percent) including, obviously, two Grand Finals against non-Victorian teams.

Well, they don't get to play off for a premiership on it this year. And have graced their favourite ground just four times all season, for only two victories, too.

Collectively, the Tigers and Cats have played just seven times in 40 games at home in 2020. A win on Saturday would be a good antidote to popular wisdom as well as adding another trophy to the cabinet.

Which is another reason there's a genuine buzz around this contest. Take this season as just another chapter in a modern-day premiership novel, and this is a clash of true heavyweights on the scale of Ali vs. Frazier.

Even if they lose on Saturday, Richmond remains clearly the best team of the past four seasons. A third flag in four seasons will give them officially the mantle of owning (behind hat-trick winners Brisbane and Hawthorn) the third-most successful era football has seen since the Hawks between 1988-91.

Geelong, meanwhile, in terms of total games won, is the standout team not only of the 21st century, but the entire AFL era.

The Cats have missed finals just once in the past 14 seasons, won three flags, played in four Grand Finals and 10 preliminary finals. It's been a phenomenal run. Frank it with a fourth premiership, and only Hawthorn, with five, will stand above Geelong (and West Coast) in the most obvious measure of AFL-era greatness

You don't get better bonafides than those the Tigers and Cats will take on to the Gabba on Saturday evening. And you won't find two grand finalists who have negotiated not only as many, but as unexpected hurdles to get there.

Only a few short months later, any talk of asterisks beside the 2020 premiership team's name seems ridiculous as well as insulting. And whoever prevails, far from an afterthought, will be a team likely in years to come to be hailed louder than most of its predecessors.

https://www.espn.com.au/afl/story/_/id/30152242/afl-2020-grand-final-rohan-connolly-greatest-richmond-geelong

[mightytiges]

Will the 2020 premiership have an asterix?

Not now  .