Essendon great Matthew Lloyd has come up with a radical idea to combine the 2020 and 2021 fixtures and have one premiership awarded over a mega 34-game season.
Lloyd believes the winner of this year's premiership will be forever tainted, much like Trent Cotchin and Sam Mitchell's Brownlow Medal win in 2012.
Mitchell and Cotchin were awarded the medal after it was stripped from Essendon's Jobe Watson for the club's supplement saga.
Speaking on Channel 9's Footy Classified, Lloyd pushed his idea to maintain the prestige of a premiership.
"Have we ever called Sam Mitchell or Trent Cotchin a Brownlow Medallist? I haven’t heard anyone call them that. It’s an asterisk Brownlow,” Lloyd said.
“Jobe Watson won that year and everyone looks upon that.
“I just believe giving a premiership to a side for 15 games. 17 is the minimum, if we get down to 12 games with finals and a premiership is given, it will never be remembered.
“Oh yeah that year, remember when Port Adelaide won that one, it wasn’t a real premiership.”
Despite the AFL's determination to play a 17-game season, Lloyd explained there was a better way to award the premiership.
“I’d rather an epic 34-game season where we get games off and then have another 22 games next year into finals,” he suggested.
“I’d rather an epic 34-games, you give players a break over Christmas, play each other twice. So be it (different lists), have the draft at the right time. A 12-game or 15-game season, I can’t cop that.”
However, veteran journalist and fellow Footy Classified panelist Caroline Wilson stated that the AFL was still aiming to complete a 17-game season in 2020, with uncertainty surrounding whether the 2020 T20 Cricket World Cup will be held.
If it does go ahead, the AFL may be forced to hold the Grand Final at Marvel Stadium due to the MCG in use for the tournament during October and November.
