Every single time there is a drawn AFL game, fans, players and coaches come out saying, a draw is not a worthy option for our game.
A draw in a sport like like soccer is fair outcome, but with the hard-fought nature and physical aspect of AFL, a draw leaves everyone unhappy.
People are always applying negative phrases to a drawn Aussie Rules footy match and it’s because draws are a joke and an embarrassment to the game.
As passionate fans, we want a result at the final siren.
Jason Akermanis tells people via his Herald Sun column on April 6, to have extra time and shootouts to decide draws, even during the regular season.
According to Akermanis, he’d rather “lose with honour any time than feel emotionally flattened by a no-result”.
He goes on, saying sharing the points with the opposition is “unemotional” and “weird”.
Who likes a draw?
No-one. A draw leaves players, coaches and fans feeling like they have lost the game.
All one would need to do is walk around the MCG after a draw and see how glum the fans are.
It is an anti-climatic and unfitting result after an exciting game. Players from both sides put their head in their hands and sink into the turf, devastated about the result.
Take the AFL Grand Final last year, extremely hard-fought match on both sides, resulting in a draw.
Lenny Hayes got the Norm Smith medal (best on ground) in a game that wouldn’t even register in the history books as official.
Also, the whole ‘come back next week and replay the match’, takes away the special build-up we have to the “one” day of the year we have a Grand Final.
As Nick Maxwell said after the Grand Final last year, “The guys come here for a win or a loss and that’s what we should be leaving with.”
In a narrow loss, the players and fans may be disappointed but understand they were beaten, whereas in a draw they look at every moment of the game trying to work out how they could have won.
Clearly the draw is unpopular with the fans and players, so what should the AFL do?
There are two main options that the AFL chould choose from.
The preferred option would be a golden goal or point system, where an extra ten minutes are played and as soon as a team scores the game finishes.
The ball would be bounced in the middle at the start to make it fair for both teams.
This option is good, because it is unlikely that a full, extra ten minutes would have to be played when the players would be exhausted. If no side had scored after ten minutes, then the game would result in a draw, however, no score in ten minutes is quite unlikely.
The other option would be to have two five-minute halves of extra time and whoever’s on top at the end would be the winner.