At the instigation of Fire, I feel this topic is worthy of continued discussion so am starting this new thread.

I realise that I may be the only one moaning and droning on about this but I feel it may be beneficial to the continued participation in Trivia Arena to make some minor alterations.

My proposal is this:

Scrap the 1st vs 2nd, 3rd vs 4th, loser of 1st vs 2nd plays winner of 3rd vs 4th, winner of that plays the winner of 1st vs 2nd method and simply play one game.... 1st vs 2nd.

This would reduce the length of each season by upto four weeks with the following consequences:

Shorter seasons might help sustain player interest and enthusiasm.
The Finals matches are always the ones that cause the most headaches with regards to the booking of matches, so shortening Finals would reduce those problems.
If it is successful in reducing season length then we might be able to return to three seasons per year dependent on player interest and the success of the shorter format.

Nasty

Hey nasty, I have also thought about the finals and how shortening them might save some headaches.

I know there has been some trouble with having four teams in the playoffs and you are recommending, I think, to reduce final four teams to the top two teams only.

Another method that might be worth considering is to have 3 teams in the finals. Team 1 gets a buy, team 2 and 3 face off and the winner of that match plays team 1 for first place.

Just a thought.

Kissa

I like Kissa's idea about having the top 3 teams in the play-offs. Then it would be more of a competition to try and make the finals. Originally, if there's only four teams in the grade, then all four teams would make it to the finals. You could lose every game of the season and still make the finals. This isn't much motivation to win! This would also motivate your team to make it to the #1 spot...so they would only have to play one game. Great idea, Kissa!

Easty

Yeah, I thought about having three teams too, but that only cuts proceedings by one game week. If incentive is what you want then what better than only the top two being in the final?

Nasty

Interesting ideas guys.

The idea with the finals format as it stands is fairness, by only cutting one or 2 teams from finals there is less pressure to field the very best team during the heats and therefore coaches would be more likely to be a little flexible come booking time... at least thats the theory anyway.

By having the fun matches in between league seasons it allows up to 2 weeks per round of finals giving the coaches plenty of time to organise their teams for the elimination bouts.

Having 3 league seasons per year is a lot of work and we would need more volunteer staff to lighten the load of the existing staff (who by the way do a fantastic job!)

I am all for change and if there is enough interest to try it then perhaps we should give it a go. I can put another poll on the front page and see what the members think, perhaps we would get a better indication from everyone as I know a lot of people wont make posts

FireHorse

Heya all

I personally don't think its the finals that take too long to complete or organise at all. The last couple of seasons has seen the round robin matches taking ages to complete.
As we all know finals don't start until these are completed and last season in particular took extra long to complete for whatever reasons.
My C grade team for example waited 6 weeks before the finals were able to be played and thats crazy when the season gets into a situation like that.
I know circumstances can change & that life will always take precendence over trivia but there should be a process in place where these late games can be monitored or deadlines or penalties applied when games are taking extra long as an extra measure.
I like the present finals format as it gives a team two goes at the final if they prove to be good enough.

My two cents worth


Cheers

AklDude
FireHorse wrote:
Interesting ideas guys.

The idea with the finals format as it stands is fairness, by only cutting one or 2 teams from finals there is less pressure to field the very best team during the heats and therefore coaches would be more likely to be a little flexible come booking time... at least thats the theory anyway.

By having the fun matches in between league seasons it allows up to 2 weeks per round of finals giving the coaches plenty of time to organise their teams for the elimination bouts.

Having 3 league seasons per year is a lot of work and we would need more volunteer staff to lighten the load of the existing staff (who by the way do a fantastic job!)

I am all for change and if there is enough interest to try it then perhaps we should give it a go. I can put another poll on the front page and see what the members think, perhaps we would get a better indication from everyone as I know a lot of people wont make posts

FireHorse

If, as it seems, there is no need to cut the number of games played then maybe consideration could be made to the following suggestion:

Perhaps we could have the finals played as 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd, then the winners play in the final and the losers play a 3rd place match?

There is a scenario that crops up fairly often using the current system. The scenario is beating the same team three times in order to win the grade. First beating them in the rouind robin stage, then beating them in 1st vs 2nd match and then beating them again in the final. Or worse still, beating them in the first two games and then losing to them in the grand final due to unforeseen circumstance, like connection problems or player availability!

Worthy of conideration?

That system was used in a touch-football world cup 30 mens team I played for in the Goldcoast where our team was placed third. Kicked twice by the team in 2nd place during the pre-lims we beat them when it mattered and went on to play in the final.
Your suggestion is a good one, in fact, I propose we hold a meeting after the finals are complete to allow us to review the season.
The agenda being to review any pros and cons and suggestions on anything that could be modified / improved or removed for the following season(s).


AklDude