Wellington Phoenix Men

Top 6 to play-off next season

52 replies · 560 views
about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
Top 6 to play-off next season
He dribbles a lot and the opposition dont like it - you can see it all over their faces. (Ron Atkinson)
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
May be old news but in case .....

"THE A-League will introduce a top-six finals format when it expands to 10 teams next season, with the grand final to be played a month later, in late March.

The 27-round competition will kick-off in mid-August, with the pre-season series to remain.

Football Federation Australia head of corporate affairs Bonita Mersiades said the decision to go to a final six was made with a view to the competition expanding to 12 clubs."

He dribbles a lot and the opposition dont like it - you can see it all over their faces. (Ron Atkinson)
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
think I heard this before..but it's good news nonetheless.

VUW AFC - Victoria University Football for life

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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
No excuses for not making the top 6 then!
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
This was done in another thread.  But I can't find it, so carry on.

Incredible stamina. No shame. Yellow Fever.

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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
tHe good news about the top 6 format is it will extend the season even more. We will have 27 rounds starting mid August. Then 4 rounds of finals makes a 31 week comp.
27 rounds from say Sat 15th August takes you to a last round on the 13th Feb.....assuming we lose acouple of weekends for FIFA windows then the comp will finish last weekend of Feb.
 
Thats great for us fans...more footy to watch. it will put pressure on squads...longer season, possibly more fatigue and injuries. It goes without saying that the squads with the most depth will be at the top at the end of the season.
 
A four week finals series will now run through to the last weekend in Feb. There will probably now be preseason matches starting in mid/late June before the preseason comp starting mid July. Means we only have about 10 weeks of no football each year.
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
zinidane wrote:
A four week finals series will now run through to the last weekend in Feb. There will probably now be preseason matches starting in mid/late June before the preseason comp starting mid July. Means we only have about 10 weeks of no football each year.
 
Duh!!!!   sorry can't count.......finals series will prob run through to the last weekend of march..not Feb
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
zinidane wrote:
tHe good news about the top 6 format is it will extend the season even more. We will have 27 rounds starting mid August. Then 4 rounds of finals makes a 31 week comp.
27 rounds from say Sat 15th August takes you to a last round on the 13th Feb.....assuming we lose acouple of weekends for FIFA windows then the comp will finish last weekend of Feb.
 
Thats great for us fans...more footy to watch. it will put pressure on squads...longer season, possibly more fatigue and injuries. It goes without saying that the squads with the most depth will be at the top at the end of the season.
 
A four week finals series will now run through to the last weekend in Feb. There will probably now be preseason matches starting in mid/late June before the preseason comp starting mid July. Means we only have about 10 weeks of no football each year.


very true. The more footy for my dollar.
And the sooner the new teams come in the better.

Wonder if the top 6 would be like the league qualification. Does mean that the better you do in the table, the more likely you will make the finals


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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
It's going to make it even more important for us to get a team in the youth league then so we have backup players playing regularly and a squad of youngsters to bring in to cover injuries.
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago

10 teams is too small for a top 6 competiton.

Never should get more than 1/2 the teams in the playoffs.
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
So you don't even need to have a winning record to make the play offs... Whats the point of the previous 27 rounds then?
 
Sorry I prefer to stick to the top 4.
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
Malky wrote:
It's going to make it even more important for us to get a team in the youth league then so we have backup players playing regularly and a squad of youngsters to bring in to cover injuries.

True. It's really going to give the other sides having youth they can call up on and a lot of those players have proven themselves at A-league standard. With longer seasons, we need that youth.


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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
Its not even a top 6. Its the top 5 plus the best worst team


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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
Gangsta! wrote:

10 teams is too small for a top 6 competiton.

Never should get more than 1/2 the teams in the playoffs.


AGreed. 50% is the absolute max IMHO, and even that is pushing it.
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
Best thing NRL could do is revert to a top 6 but the reason that they wont is because TV time equals viewers for the network equals advertising dollars.
 
Wonder if thats the same motivation in this case
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
Almost certainly... the Youth-League and Womens league are hitting the A-League and club's bottom lines, so a big finals series gets more clubs the big finals crowds to cover those costs.

It's still a Mickey mouse concept.

How's my driving? - Whine here

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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
Its totally rediculous.

If its all for the money then why not have a premier winner then start the knockout comp with all ten teams, with the higher placed teams having an easier road.
I'm not seriously suggesting that but what are they thinking.

Wonder if we will hear some players and coaches speak out over this satirical  decision


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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
playwithFire wrote:
......Wonder if we will hear some players and coaches speak out over this satirical  decision....
 
Only the ones who don't think there is a possibility they may finish 5th or 6th.
 
Agree it's a ridiculous system BUT we might be a beneficiary.
He dribbles a lot and the opposition dont like it - you can see it all over their faces. (Ron Atkinson)
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
Gangsta! wrote:

10 teams is too small for a top 6 competiton.

Never should get more than 1/2 the teams in the playoffs.
 
Is right. As has been stated, this is pretty silly. Still, we better make the top 6 then!
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
It will be messy getting 6 teams down to 2 for the final. Dumb idea.
Still i understand why....same as usual in pro sports......more TV......more seats sold = more money.
it will also keep more teams interested at the seasons end. in reality the top 3 are way above the rest. If the same thing happens next year then you would have 7 teams scrapping for the 4th place. with a top 6 everone has a shot. It would be really embarassing not making the top 6 in a 10 team comp
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
Nah I reckon it's because they want to get the format/standard right so in the following year(s) when there are12-14 teams the format is established. Then it'll be = or < 50% of teams.
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
Not sure how other 6 team knockout series work but I was thinking something like 3 v 5 and 4 v 6 with home and away legs to determine two semi-finalists to join 1 and 2.
You know we belong together...

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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
Considering the A-League is currently using the 4-team variant of the McIntyre system, I'd be surprised if they didn't use one of the 6-team variants of the same system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntyre_System
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
First McIntyre final six system Round Match Name Team 1 Team 2 1 A 1st Elimination Final Rank 5 v Rank 6 B 2nd Elimination Final Rank 3 v Rank 4 C Qualifying Final Rank 1 v Rank 2 2 D 1st Semi Final Loser C v Winner A E 2nd Semi Final Winner C v Winner B 3 F Preliminary Final Loser E v Winner D 4 G Grand Final Winner E v Winner F
 
So you are rank 4th. If you lose you are out.  Yet 5th place goes thru if they bet a worse team.  Stupid.
 
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
2ndBest wrote:
First McIntyre final six system Round Match Name Team 1 Team 2 1 A 1st Elimination Final Rank 5 v Rank 6 B 2nd Elimination Final Rank 3 v Rank 4 C Qualifying Final Rank 1 v Rank 2 2 D 1st Semi Final Loser C v Winner A E 2nd Semi Final Winner C v Winner B 3 F Preliminary Final Loser E v Winner D 4 G Grand Final Winner E v Winner F
 
So you are rank 4th. If you lose you are out.  Yet 5th place goes thru if they bet a worse team.  Stupid.
 
 
Yep - they figured that out as well, version 2;
 
Second McIntyre final six system Round Match Name Team 1 Team 2 1 A 1st Elimination Final Rank 4 v Rank 5 B 2nd Elimination Final Rank 3 v Rank 6 C Qualifying Final Rank 1 v Rank 2 2 D 1st Semi Final Loser C v 2nd highest ranked winner from A, B E 2nd Semi Final Winner C v 1st highest ranked winner from A, B 3 F Preliminary Final Loser E v Winner D 4 G Grand Final Winner E v Winner F

This adaptation of the first McIntyre System corrected for the anomaly that, in the first week, the team who finished 4th would have a more difficult opponent than the team who finished 5th, and was hence more likely to be eliminated, despite finishing higher.

He dribbles a lot and the opposition dont like it - you can see it all over their faces. (Ron Atkinson)
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
more bums on seats for finals but less bums on seats for regular season, especially clubs that establish themselves as top 3 early on?
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
Whitby boy wrote:
 
Yep - they figured that out as well, version 2;
 
Second McIntyre final six system Round Match Name Team 1 Team 2 1 A 1st Elimination Final Rank 4 v Rank 5 B 2nd Elimination Final Rank 3 v Rank 6 C Qualifying Final Rank 1 v Rank 2 2 D 1st Semi Final Loser C v 2nd highest ranked winner from A, B E 2nd Semi Final Winner C v 1st highest ranked winner from A, B 3 F Preliminary Final Loser E v Winner D 4 G Grand Final Winner E v Winner F

This adaptation of the first McIntyre System corrected for the anomaly that, in the first week, the team who finished 4th would have a more difficult opponent than the team who finished 5th, and was hence more likely to be eliminated, despite finishing higher.

 
Opps. I shoulda scrolled down further
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
I guess it's quite a fair way to do it and follows the current system. It took me a while to get my head round the NRL system but it does reward the highest finishing teams.
It looks good

The first three games are just getting rid of two teams and then the system is the same as nowplaywithFire2009-02-20 08:18:48


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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
With no home and way games in the first play-off round important to finish in the top 4 if you want a home play-off game - if you finish 5th or 6th your only chance of a home play-off game is to win your first 2 play-off games, for other results to go your way, and then play either the preliminary or grand final at home.
He dribbles a lot and the opposition dont like it - you can see it all over their faces. (Ron Atkinson)
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
I think this could be a good thing for getting extra people to games IF the media work it up right. as long as it is just 'the phoenix have become the 1st NZ team to make the playoffs' the general public wont have any idea that it is the top 6 that make it
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
man2biron wrote:
I think this could be a good thing for getting extra people to games IF the media work it up right. as long as it is just 'the phoenix have become the 1st NZ team to make the playoffs' the general public wont have any idea that it is the top 6 that make it


True. From a marketing perspective this is I good thing. I am reply waiting for playoff football. The preseason final gave me a taste so I hope we aren't waiting too long.

We gotta remember this isn't the official playoff setup too, just what we presume it will be. It could feature 2 leg setups but we don't know yet. It probably all be single matches but we don't know yet for sure


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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
Whitby boy wrote:
With no home and way games in the first play-off round important to finish in the top 4 if you want a home play-off game - if you finish 5th or 6th your only chance of a home play-off game is to win your first 2 play-off games, for other results to go your way, and then play either the preliminary or grand final at home.


Easy enough to fix. The four-team variant of the McIntyre system, aka the Page or Page-McIntyre System, doesn't have home-and-away legs automatically included - the A-League just said "Alright, Round 1 is home and away". I'd imagine (and hope) they'd do the same for a six team system.
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
They should really make this rule retrospective and re-do this season's playoffs in the top-6 format.
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
robbwatson wrote:
Whitby boy wrote:
With no home and way games in the first play-off round important to finish in the top 4 if you want a home play-off game - if you finish 5th or 6th your only chance of a home play-off game is to win your first 2 play-off games, for other results to go your way, and then play either the preliminary or grand final at home.


Easy enough to fix. The four-team variant of the McIntyre system, aka the Page or Page-McIntyre System, doesn't have home-and-away legs automatically included - the A-League just said "Alright, Round 1 is home and away". I'd imagine (and hope) they'd do the same for a six team system.


you think they would give every team that qualifies atleast 1 home playoff with so many games


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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
el grapadura wrote:
They should really make this rule retrospective and re-do this season's playoffs in the top-6 format.




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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
Should stick with top 4 or introduce a knock-out cup and have a league winner and cup winner
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago

crewemad wrote:
Should stick with top 4 or introduce a knock-out cup and have a league winner and cup winner
 
Cup games would be boss!
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about 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
(A couple of you have already mentioned more football toi watch under this new scheme, so this is not completely off topic...)
 
When does the pre-season start this year? Can't remember if Sky covered those games last year. Any one know what the deal is for 09?
 
And one of you will know this: when does the squad reassemble and start training for the new season? (Same former EPL fitness coach who got them ready last year?)
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