The AFL has been solid for years, rating 9.5 out of 10 for putting on a consistent product, but it has lacked innovation.
You could hardly say League HQ is an ideas factory.
So it is refreshing to see the debate open for fixing the fixture, which is the biggest issue in footy.
The fixture lacks credibility, integrity and common sense. Try explaining the layers of inequity it to a fan of a major sport in the UK or US! Yeah, it stinks.
The airwaves have been full of talk about options put to the club CEOs on the Gold Coast this week, with the arrival of the 19th team in Tasmania the ideal time for a total re-tool.
None of the options are perfect and I'm not ticking off on any of them. I'll take the spirit of "Option Three" with a massive overhaul. This is "Option Five" the AFL should consider.
Here we go. The blueprint for the Tassie era:
* Home-and-away season decreased.
* Every team plays each other once. That's 18 games.
Then it gets interesting.
* The top 16 split away from the bottom three. Each of top 16 play three more games. So 21 in total.
* The first of these three extra games between the top 16 is a neutral Gather Round fixture. So eight games in Adelaide (and no issues with odd numbers).
*Following Gather Round, the last two rounds of games between top 16 sides are randomly selected by computer without manipulation. One home game, and one away game. They jostle for positions in the top 10, with the absence of the bottom three creating more compelling match-ups.
OK, now for the bottom three. The "stragglers".
*The bottom three play a round-robin tournament as outcasts from the main competition. They miss the Gather Round, but play for something far more important.
*The bottom three play two games amongst each other in a mini-round robin lasting three weeks. The two highest-ranked teams after those games play-off for the No.1 pick. Yes, we are treating the No.1 pick as a prize.
*That play-off for the No.1 pick will be on the wildcard weekend.
*That would allow the AFL to schedule the Pick 1 play-off on a Thursday night ahead of a massive wildcard weekend - Friday night and Saturday night.
Sure, there will be knockers. The No.1 pick is supposed to go to the worst side, right?
But I'd argue there is traditionally very little difference between the bottom three anyway. They're usually all bad?
Why not have a race for the top pick? It adds value to the rights. You could sell it as a one off to Channel 10!
Tell me you wouldn't watch a play-off for No.1? It would give something for long-suffering fans to cheer for.
That game surely is a win - as is the idea to get even numbers into a Gather Round late in the season - for games that by then will leave so much more!
This model also solves the issue of fairness. There is very little manipulation, apart from fixturing the Gather Round.
I see it as a win/win/win.
Innovation and ideas have never been the AFL's strong point, but at least they're having a crack.
This is no time to be stodgy. Maybe they should take a glance at this.
