McIntyre System vs AFL System and an alternative

[TigersFan4Life]

Understandably there's always lots of discussion on the issue at this time of year. The way I see it is that the reason the NRL are staying with the MS is because they don't like the fact that under the AFL System all it takes is for either 1st or 2nd (but not both) to lose in week one and the possibility of them playing each other in the GF disappears. That's a pretty big negative, IMO. At least under the MS there's no chance of that happening. It has happened in the AFL this year and has happened, I believe, a number of times.

However, the MS has the negative we saw this weekend, where we were all cheering for a Dragons win to keep our season alive. With an eight-team finals series there should NEVER be a situation where one of the top four, never mind TWO of them, can be eliminated in week one. The compromise/alternate option? I think I have a good one.

I've come up with a different finals system that I believe is fairer than both the McIntyre System and the one used by the AFL. It's a five-week series and it GUARANTEES that the only way the top four teams can be eliminated BEFORE the grand final is if they lose twice. With the current formats its possible for 1st and 2nd to lose only once (the preliminary finals) and be gone, which is not fair.

Here's the way it would work:

Week one and two are just like the format the AFL uses. That is,

**week one**

A) 1v4
B) 2v3
C) 5v8
D) 6v7

**week two**

elimination games, 3v6 and 4v5 if all week one games go according to plan

E) loser A v winner C
F) loser B v winner D

**week three**

The winners of the 1v4 and 2v3 matchups from week one play each other. The winner automatically goes into the grand final. The winners from week two also play each other in elimination games.

G) winner A v winner B
H) wiiner E v winner F

**week four**

I) loser G v winner H

This is like the preliminary final in the old top five format.

**week five - GRAND FINAL**

J) winner G v winner I

The ONLY draw back to this system is that if teams 1 and 2 BOTH lose in week one they can't play each other in the grand final, as they'll end up playing each other in week three if they make it that far. However, that's better than the current AFL system where all it takes is for one of either team 1 or 2 to lose in week one to make it impossible for them to meet in the grand final.

This system I've proposed is fair because it absolutely rewards the teams that finish in the top four and subjects the bottom four to five weeks of sudden-death games.

So, if all the results went to plan this is how the games would play out:

**week one**

1v4
2v3
5v8
6v7

**week two**

3v6
4v5

**week three**

1v2
3v4

**week four**

2v3

**week five**

1v2

 

[tig_prmz]

What do you mean, went to plan? I'm confused :s

I might agree with you but I can't figure out exactly what you are tryna say.

 

[system]

What do you mean, went to plan? I'm confused :s

I might agree with you but I can't figure out exactly what you are tryna say.

I assume its the top team won, ie the one higher ranked at the end of the normal season

 

[Sabre]

This method


 

[Peaches]

I think the AFL system is the better system than any other so far mentioned. There should only be one weekend with one match, the grand final. The AFL system really rewards the top 2 and top 4\. Deffinate home semi week 2 at worst for the top 4 go straight to the prelim. It rewards the top 4 well and ensures the more consistent teams (the ones that finished highes up the ladder) get to play at home.

 

[Jazza]

I actually like Tigersfan4life's method.

I understand it.

Basically its the AFL system until week 3, rather then 1 and 2 being in opposite sides of the draw, they square off for a grand final place, the loser gets a 2nd chance. It also rewards (Some will say its a disadvantage) the winner by giving them 2 weeks to prepare for the grand final and therefore get over injuries.

Meanwhile, rather then the other week 3 semi being a gf qualifier, its an elimination semi with the winner playing in the prelim.

The only fault I have with it, is that it drags a bit.

Whilst I cant see the NRL going with that system, id be more then happy if it was used.

 

[Bismark]

The only issue with the AFL system is how hard it is for a team to finish outside the Top 4 to win. It hasn't even come close to occuring. I know it rewards the other teams, but most AFL finals series end in similar fashion, with the teams who finished in the top 4 going into the preliminary final. I have no idea how to do it, although if you look at the ESL system, its pretty interesting.

How about this?

I'll use this years Top 8 to make it easier to follow, bold teams win.

Week 1
**Dragons** vs Titans
Panthers vs **Tigers**
**Roosters** vs Raiders
**Warriors** vs Eagles

Highest ranked winner gets week off (Dragons), Lowest ranked loser eliminated (Eagles)

Week 2:
Top 4 highest loser vs bottom 4 lowest winner - Panthers vs **Roosters**
Top 4 lowest loser vs bottom 4 highest winner - **Titans** vs Warriors
Top 4 2nd highest winner vs bottom 4 lowest loser - **Tigers** vs Raiders

All losers eliminated

Week 3:
Highest winner Week 1 vs lowest winner week 2 - Dragons vs Roosters
Highest winner week 2 vs 2nd highest winner week 2 - Tigers vs Titans

Winner go to Grand Final

It rewards both winning in that first week, but especially seen in the Tigers vs Titans match, rewards where you finish on the table as we'd get the home match. Great system IMO, there's more games, and a situation like what could have occured with 6th getting a week off is eradicated.

BTW, I wish I was a genius to think of this. It's the Warren Ryan system, and according to my Season 2004 Preview guide, the majority of coaches at the time favoured this, with only Lang and Sheens favouring the McIntyre.

 

[Bismark]

This method


In this system, a team in the bottom 4 would have virtually no chance in hell in making a grand final.

 

[Jazza]

I think the AFL system is the better system than any other so far mentioned. There should only be one weekend with one match, the grand final. The AFL system really rewards the top 2 and top 4\. Deffinate home semi week 2 at worst for the top 4 go straight to the prelim. It rewards the top 4 well and ensures the more consistent teams (the ones that finished highes up the ladder) get to play at home.

Thats what I like about the AFL system.

With the NRL system, you get one flukey win and suddenly you are in the box seat compared to a team that has played well all season to lose one finals match.

You also get the stupid scenario where a team that has finished lower on the ladder can get a week off while a team that has finished higher can get eliminated. It would of happened last weekend if the Tigers (3rd) were knocked out with the Gold Coast (4th) getting a week off.
Another example is 04, Penrith (4th) beat St George (5th) by 1 pt, Penrith got the week off, St George got eliminated, if the result was reversed, then Penrith would of been eliminated and St George would of got the week off.

And then of course there's the scenario which happens every year where week 2 matches are just swapped around from week 1.

 

[TigersFan4Life]

This method


Whoever produced that didn't do a very good job. They've got game one and game two every week, whereas they should be giving each game a different number, eg. game 1, game 2, game 3, game 4\. Is confusing. Plus, TWO round fours?!? And a team has to wait THREE weeks between games?

 

[TigersFan4Life]

The only issue with the AFL system is how hard it is for a team to finish outside the Top 4 to win. It hasn't even come close to occuring. I know it rewards the other teams, but most AFL finals series end in similar fashion, with the teams who finished in the top 4 going into the preliminary final. I have no idea how to do it, although if you look at the ESL system, its pretty interesting.

How about this?

I'll use this years Top 8 to make it easier to follow, bold teams win.

Week 1
**Dragons** vs Titans
Panthers vs **Tigers**
**Roosters** vs Raiders
**Warriors** vs Eagles

Highest ranked winner gets week off (Dragons), Lowest ranked loser eliminated (Eagles)

Week 2:
Top 4 highest loser vs bottom 4 lowest winner - Panthers vs **Roosters**
Top 4 lowest loser vs bottom 4 highest winner - **Titans** vs Warriors
Top 4 2nd highest winner vs bottom 4 lowest loser - **Tigers** vs Raiders

All losers eliminated

Week 3:
Highest winner Week 1 vs lowest winner week 2 - Dragons vs Roosters
Highest winner week 2 vs 2nd highest winner week 2 - Tigers vs Titans

Winner go to Grand Final

It rewards both winning in that first week, but especially seen in the Tigers vs Titans match, rewards where you finish on the table as we'd get the home match. Great system IMO, there's more games, and a situation like what could have occured with 6th getting a week off is eradicated.

BTW, I wish I was a genius to think of this. It's the Warren Ryan system, and according to my Season 2004 Preview guide, the majority of coaches at the time favoured this, with only Lang and Sheens favouring the McIntyre.

That system has a serious flaw, in that a top four team can win in the first week and lose in the second and be gone while three of the bottom four teams have two bites of the cherry. Plus there's only ONE more game than the current system.

 

[TigersFan4Life]

I actually like Tigersfan4life's method.

I understand it.

Basically its the AFL system until week 3, rather then 1 and 2 being in opposite sides of the draw, they square off for a grand final place, the loser gets a 2nd chance. It also rewards (Some will say its a disadvantage) the winner by giving them 2 weeks to prepare for the grand final and therefore get over injuries.

Meanwhile, rather then the other week 3 semi being a gf qualifier, its an elimination semi with the winner playing in the prelim.

The only fault I have with it, is that it drags a bit.

Whilst I cant see the NRL going with that system, id be more then happy if it was used.

Glad to know you like it. Basically, it's a combination of the first two weeks of the AFL System and weeks 2-4 of the old rugby league top five system. What I like about it is that the only way ALL the top four teams can be eliminated BEFORE the grand final is if they lose twice. Also, it's only possible for ONE of the bottom four teams in the 8 to make the grand final, not two. Personally, I feel it's only fair that they eliminate each other on the way there.

 

[Marshall_magic]

My thoughts on the McIntyre system: It's not perfect, but it's no where near as bad as people make it out to be. Only change I would make to how it is used now is, week 2: Top 4 team vs non top 4 team, top 4 team is always at home. If it's 2 top 4 teams, or 2 non-top 4 teams, the winner is at home. Week 1 winners than progress through to week 3 get a home semi no matter where they finish.

Think of it like this, this with the change, the Tigers and Panthers would be at home. If Penrith have of won, we'd be playing the Titans (3 v 4) and the Titans would get the home game because they finished top 4 and won in week 1 of the semi, I don't think it's fair for them to win in week 1 of the semis and get an away game against a higher ranked team who lost.

It doesn't matter who the Titans would play next week (2nd place panthers or 6th place Roosters), they would get the game at home as they were the team with the week off. Had the Warriors beaten the Titans, they would get the same thing, it's part of the reward for getting the week off.
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I am all for change to the finals system, but not to the AFL one, it is just as bad as the McIntyre system in my opinion, if we are going to change it, it has to be for the better.

 

[TigersFan4Life]

I e-mailed my system to Gibbsy and Brandy last night and they acknowledged my e-mail, said they liked the idea but that it was a bit complicated. Imbeciles!

 

[Golden]

The warriors had they have won would have got a week off and guess where the Titans would be?? its to much of a change its pathetic, a deadset joke, even the roosters have to play the 2nd placed team.

with the AFL system the top 4 teams are guaranteed a 2nd chance and guaranteed a home final in either the 1st 2nd or 4th week of the finals depending if they win or lose.

if 4th beats 1 your rewarded with a home game and a week off
if 4th loses they get a 2nd chance and a home game

they are actually rewarded for 20+ weeks of making the top 4, not 2 good months in July August in with a narrow win

Mcintyre system rewards the teams only just making the 8 with momentum not for the entire 6 good months of hard work