AFL Finals 2016: how the top eight would look after a 17-game season
IT could all be over for Geelong next week while the Western Bulldogs snared a double chance. What the AFL Finals would look like in a 17-game competition.
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IT could all be over for Geelong next week.
The Cats host West Coast in an elimination final and the winner’s improbable path to the Grand Final would likely have to tour Adelaide Oval and the SCG first.
The Western Bulldogs will head to the SCG, the scene of their best two wins under coach Luke Beveridge, knowing a third will secure a shock home preliminary final.
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Can Jason Johannisen repeat his buzzer-beater heroics?
Even if the Dogs lose, a home semi-final should allow enough time for injured stars Easton Wood, Jack Macrae and Tom Liberatore to return.
And Hawthorn’s top-two finish has it favoured to roll into a remarkable fifth consecutive Grand Final.
This is how the finals series would look if the AFL adopted a fair 17-game fixture.
The Herald Sun has cut the repeat match-ups, only counting the first time every side played each other. No double-ups, which fill the AFL coffers at the expense of an equitable draw.
And the big winners are the Dogs and Crows.
That pair has risen into the top four, at the expense of the Cats and Greater Western Sydney.
The top eight is the same, and with a sizeable gap. Port Adelaide’s 8-9 record left it three wins behind North Melbourne.
THE AFL LADDER AFTER A 17-GAME SEASON
The wooden spoon would still head to Tullamarine, with the bottom four also untouched.
The small amount of change is a tick for the AFL.
And if the league adopted the 17-5 fixture model, where clubs snap off into groups of six for the final five rounds, Carlton would still be a September smoky.
The Blues would sneak into the middle bracket and face West Coast, North Melbourne, Port Adelaide, St Kilda and Collingwood to end the season.
Those clubs would fight for the final two finals places with the ladder reset.
The top six would battle again with the double chance on the line while the bottom six would face off with the No. 1 draft pick up for grabs.
This is the model AFL boss Gillon McLachlan has been campaigning for.
“I like it. You break into very contested brackets of six and you’d have tight games,” McLachlan said.
“You could actually really have a progression from home and away into playoffs into finals, that sorts the wheat from the chaff in a pretty contested way.”
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson and chief executives Brendan Gale (Richmond) and Greg Swann (Brisbane Lions) are also fans of the radical overhaul.
IF THE 2016 SEASON WAS 17 ROUNDS ...
Originally published as AFL Finals 2016: how the top eight would look after a 17-game season
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