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The 8 highest-ranked teams in the AFL regular-season standings participate in a four-week tournament, with two teams eliminated in each of the first three weeks. The seventh team is eliminated at the Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground , the AFL's historic home arena. The system is designed to give the top four teams an easier road to the Grand Final, as two of those teams receive a Bye in the second week of the playoff, while the other two play at home (ordinarily) in the second week. HOW IT WORKS Week One
The 8 finalists are split into two groups for the opening week of the Finals Series. The top four teams play the two Qualifying Finals. The winners get a bye through to Week Three of the tournament, while the losers get home games in Week Two. The bottom four teams play the two Elimination Finals, where the winners advance to Week Two road games and the losers' seasons are over. Week Two
From this point forward, losing teams' seasons end. There are no more "double chances". Week Three
Week Four
Venues While the standard schedule indicates "home teams" for each game, the AFL's contract with the Melbourne Cricket Ground requires a set number of games in each Finals Series to be played there. Because of this, the AFL occasionally has to move a home game from a site outside the State of Victoria to the MCG. Week One: If all four games would be held outside the State of Victoria, the 2nd Elimination Final is moved to the MCG. If any of the four games would be hosted by a Victorian team, at least one of those is played at the MCG and all "interstate" teams get their home games. Week Two: The MCG isn't guaranteed a game this week. Interstate games are played at the higher seeds' venue. If any Victorian teams host a game, at least one will be played at the MCG. Week Three: One Preliminary Final must be played at the MCG. If both games are scheduled to be hosted by interstate clubs, the game hosted by the lower seed is moved to the MCG. If one game is hosted by a Victorian club, it's played at the MCG. If both are hosted by Victorian clubs, the game hosted by the higher seed is guaranteed to be played at the MCG. Week Four: The Grand Final is played on ''One Saturday In September'' at the MCG, as long as the MCG is available. BACKGROUND The McIntyre system had several perceived disadvantages which the AFL addressed by modifying the Finals Series. Interrelation of results: There were concerns that, especially in the first week, games had to be played in a certain order. As McIntyre-system second-week matchups were determined by ladder position instead of a fixed template, the AFL felt it had to schedule the first week in a specific order, to avoid the implication of a team possibly losing to secure a desired second-week opponent. With the new Finals System, teams' opponents are determined only by their own actions, and not by vagaries of seedings. Perception of unfairness: Although this rarely happened, it was possible under the McIntyre system that two of the top four clubs could be eliminated in the first week (if the first, second, fifth, and sixth seeds won). As this was seen as fundamentally unfair, the new Finals System was designed to ensure that the top four clubs always get the "double chance". Punishment for success: If the top four teams all won their first-week games, the third seed was seen as being "punished" by having to play the fifth seed in the second week after playing the sixth seed in the first week. This was a by-product of the McIntyre system being set up to avoid duplicate matchups. In addition, the AFL guarantees (within the constraints of the MCG contract) that each of the top six teams in the Finals Series get at least one home game, where only the top four were guaranteed home games in the McIntyre system. CRITICISM The one major criticism of the system is more a criticism of the AFL's contract with the MCG. Because the contract requires games to be played at the MCG while teams have moved away from Victoria over the years, it's become a regular occurrence that a team outside the State of Victoria has to play a "home" game at the MCG. In some cases, the "home" interstate team plays a "road" Victoria team at the MCG, thus reversing the home-ground advantage. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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