The pre-finals bye week of the AFL season is over, and finals football is nearly here as we patiently wait for Thursday night.
But yet again, the contentious bye has caused a stir among AFL greats.
Geelong legend Jimmy Bartel has proposed a change to shift the bye to the week before the Grand Final.
"We have been very fortunate that a star has not missed a Grand Final with concussion,” Bartel said on Nine’s Footy Classified.
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“We are going to have a preliminary final where a player goes down with a concussion and misses a Grand Final.”
Bartel’s strong comments refer to the minimum 12-day return-to-play protocol for a concussed player - ultimately ruling out any concussed player from a Grand Final if the incident were to happen in a preliminary final.
The proposed change would move the bye to the week before the Grand Final, similar to what is seen in the lead-up to the Super Bowl in the NFL - thus creating a buzz and a week of 'celebrating football.'
The Brownlow and the AFL Awards night can be the centrepiece of the week, and this would also allow state league competitions such as the VFL, SANFL, and WAFL to have a standalone grand final weekend.
The pre-finals bye idea came from then-CEO Gillon McLachlan.
It was a reaction to Fremantle and North Melbourne resting a number of stars in the final home and away game of the 2015 season.
AFL media personality Damien Barrett also added on Footy Classified that those times have changed.
“I can understand why the AFL reacted in the way they did in 2015,” Barrett said.
“But it has ultimately become null and void,”
“We had a situation with Collingwood in round 14/15 resting players this season.”
Barrett's comments highlighted that the bye has not stopped teams from resting players throughout the season.
Ultimately, the possibility of a star player missing the Grand Final due to a concussion may force the AFL to rethink the positioning of the pre-finals bye.