General A-Leagues Men Discussion Thread

Australian Football
1

Could have put this in the west melbourne thread (or expansion) but it affects the league as a whole and we lack a thread for those things that are worth discussing but dont need their own tread:

Heading to a 26 game season for 19/20 with everyone playing each other twice plus three extra. you can bet our extras are going to be wanderers, victory and someone else (City?).
https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/a-league-chiefs-grappling-with-format-changes

2

do the old split the league in half thing.

top 5 play for standings and bottom 6 battle it out for the 6th spot for the finals.

2 Likes
3

Should have just put Macarthur in next season rather than faff about for the sake of the basket case that is WSW.

3 Likes
4

So true, but then why make things simple?

5

Problem with that is it sets up previews of finals matches just before the finals and that puts people off.

6

Brisbane for the one-sided Queensland - NSW rivalry would be my bet.

Which makes me curious about who gets the softest run with their three extra games. Playing in an actual derby and against Victory, on paper, present two more difficult games whereas a team like Newcastle or Brisbane don’t really have any particular rivalries against good teams.

On paper Victory having to presumably play us, City and Adelaide would be the toughest combo of rival and derby games. I think we’d probably be second if only because the Sydney derby, even though it is one sided, is still a pretty draining game.

7

Nah Victory would get City, WMG and us. Theyll use Victory to pump up WMG.

8

While I agree in principle, is 12 teams really any easier? 22 games isn’t enough and 33 is too many. I think we’ll be stuck with this format until we get at least 14 teams.

9

Oh yeah of course, that’s pretty obvious in retrospect.

10

Misread the article. Its three extra home and away games- so 6 extra games. Hopefully thats play 6 teams not play some teams 4 times and others two

1 Like
11

That’s actually a really good idea. Ensures a bunch of meaningful matchups at the backend of the season plus a few surefire blockbusters.

12

Would that not turn into a scheduling nightmare with the mixed availability of grounds at that point in the season?

13

I would prefer, and can fully see happening, the FFA to have no clear policy on how the draw will be comprised. The result will be matches scheduled on the run, teams expected to play 2 away games less than 72 hours apart, kick-offs scheduled for 10pm on a Tuesday night in regional centres and a team drawn to play either themselves or North Queensland Fury on more than 1 occasion. The only constant will be the FFA and all other parties, relevant or not it’s up to Mack, nipping in the bud any semblance of NWSW success while continuing their conspiracy with the Illuminati and Reptilian overlords to ensure our success.

2 Likes
14

I think it’s an awesome idea for the bottom half but for the top it’s redundant because we have a finals series and just end up playing each other to death.

15

Play for an automatic ACL spot and the qualification spot. Its the model many Sth Amercian countries use. Then the top four can play a semi and grand final

16

The A-League clubs have put forward their vision about how an independent A-League should operate. I’ve stolen the below copy/paste from the 442 forums, including the bracketed statements, which aren’t mine.

  1. The independent league in for the coming season 19/20.
  2. Independent arbitration locally with potential appeals to the Court Of Sport.
  3. Motherhood statement about financial transparency (yeah right).
  4. The PFA/FFA Collective Bargaining Agreement squashed.
  5. League will directly negotiate with the PFA. (I suspect the goal is that the CBA never comes back, and that the clubs decide on the leagues rules themselves and the players simply get basic individual contracts like overseas)
  6. Nothing statement about supporting member state federations.
  7. The “Asian +1” going back to any nationality. (Likely upward increase in visa positions in future seasons)
  8. Subs increase to 7, the extra 2 spots going to U23 Australian players.
  9. Recognise international windows.
  10. Transfer ban removed. Loans allowed with a limit of 3 per season.
  11. Pro referee group established and funded by A-league.
  12. All money from current rights deal generated by A-League given to A-League clubs. 2023/24 onward rights deal done by the league itself.
  13. Return of all intellectual property of clubs, to the clubs, with their given an option to collectively negotiate elements of marketing, merchandising etc. Likely by an independent league owned marketing company.
  14. League expansion roadmap made public with the league and PFA deciding on new teams.
  15. Clubs allowed to have their own websites and other digital platforms.
  16. The clubs would pay a percentage of their broadcast revenue directly to the state/regional member federations and PFA. This would be the “License Fee” for the independent A-League (it would also massively hurt the FFA’s income, say goodbye to junkets Mr Gallop).
  17. Clubs want removal of scholarships, so that clubs can directly contract an entire squad if they wish (preventing poaching of youth players beyond the 6 contracted scholarship players)
  18. The league will also run the W-League and NYL. Expansion of W-League should be done very quickly.

You can read the full document here:

17

Hmmmmm…

Would definitely make for a stronger league and stronger/more financial clubs, but what would it do to the health of the National teams and overall strength of the game? I know this is not the A-league clubs concern but the overall good of the game, not just the good of the clubs, should be all our concern.

18

I think they would argue that more young players coming through would improve the quality of the NT. I think the increase of the subs bench would particularly be aimed at that.

19

What about from a funding perspective for all levels of the National teams? The Joeys are off to compete in Turkey in pre World Cup comp not to mention the scouting and player monitoring that goes along with it - and that’s just one of the junior teams.

I know the league and clubs should not be expected to fund that but the tv rights for the league are a huge percentage of the funding right across the game in this country and that can’t be denied. How is that replaced at FFA level for the good of the National teams?

20

Also wanting more foreign players but no plus one is odd.