The draw is here to stay. The AFL has no plans to introduce extra time for home-and-away games as debate rages on whether the league should get rid of the draw after the Anzac Day deadlock.
A day after a crowd of 93,644 were left in shock by the season’s first draw, Carlton coach Michael Voss yesterday backed his Essendon counterpart Brad Scott’s call to let the fans decide.
It comes after Bombers captain Zach Merrett said he would have welcomed extra time to find a winner.
The AFL introduced extra time for finals in 1991 after the previous year’s finals series was thrown into chaos by a draw between Collingwood and West Coast in a qualifying final, forcing the schedule to be pushed back a week to accommodate a replay of the game.
The league scrapped the draw for grand finals after the Pies and St Kilda could not be separated on the last Saturday in September in 2010.
But there are no plans for change in the home-and-away season, according to a league source with knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak.
Kyle Langford after the final siren, when Essendon and Collingwood couldn’t be split.Credit: AFL Photos
Voss, whose Blues drew with Richmond on opening night last year, said he supported Scott’s idea for the league to poll fans on whether to keep the draw but expressed caution on the extra workload for players.
“I’d hand that over to supporters to see where they would like to go with that and what the future looks like,” Voss said.
“There is higher demands if you choose to go down that path – that’s the only consideration. If that was to happen a couple of weeks in a row, that would make things interesting.
“But I can see why there’s an argument for and I can also see why there’s an argument against. I traditionally like it the way that it is, but I’d be happy to lean on others to come up with that final call.”
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Scott, formerly the AFL’s football operations boss before becoming the Bombers coach, said he did not have a strong view either way.
“If you ask the fans I think they probably want a result,” Scott said. “It is an even comp. I think we fixed the major one, you don’t want a draw in a grand final as an industry. I don’t have a strong view for and against. If I was the AFL, I would poll the fans.”
Merrett said he was in favour of having extra time to find a winner.
“I love competing, I love winning,” said Merrett, the Anzac Day medallist for the best afield. “I hate losing so I would love to have played for an extra five or 10 minutes to get a result but it is a unique feeling walking off with no team song.”
Melbourne’s Christian Petracca and Geelong’s Patrick Dangerfield had different views on extra time.
“I think if you speak to a lot of the players, I think they’d play an extra 10 minutes,” Petracca told Nova yesterday. “Five to 10 minutes … And then I reckon after that 10 minutes if it’s a draw, it’s a draw. You can’t keep playing.”
Dangerfield said he had always thought it would be nice to get a result, but added: “Having watched the game as a neutral observer yesterday, I sort of felt like the draw was appropriate for that game.
“Everyone leaves sort of a bit melancholy, but it just felt right. Like both teams had their momentum at different stages and opportunities to win. And that is the uniqueness about our game.
“So I’ve sort of turned full circle on the draw and apart from, obviously, finals, I feel like it’s a nice part of the game that may send some a bit crazy at times. And that drive home a bit ordinary, but I didn’t mind it …”
Thursday’s draw was the 57th since the start of the AFL era in 1990 and the 167th in V/AFL history stretching back to 1897.
