The suggestion to use averages has been made before and I understand the rationale for that. Clearly the advantage the more followed teams have in this format has become clear over the 5 years it has run. I did think that it was likely that in one year a lesser followed team may bob up with some big scores at the right time and make a run in the finals but that obviously hasn’t happened. As I have posted before the prime objective here is to acknowledge the highest scorer of each supporter group and give that score some significance by using it in a comp against the other supporter groups highest scorer. You would lose that connection to an individual member if it moved to averages. I also don’t like averages because if you have a weak team or a ghost ship then it drags down the whole team. If I went that way I think using the median would be better.
I acknowledge you are not suggesting changing the format but adding a format however I am not a big fan of that. I think the majority follow this pretty casually (if at all) and I think it would just create confusion and probably diminish the winner of the main comp if their is a secondary one.
I also thought over time interest would increase and more teams would want to participate particularly the lesser followed clubs to increase their chances however that hasn’t really happened either. I have to recruit pretty hard before each season to get the numbers we have. Right now I have my doubt as to whether I will run it again next year but will make that call at the appropriate time.
Anyway this has turned into a bit of a sermon which wasn’t intended but I do thank you for your feedback and all those that have taken an interest.
Here's another idea for your consideration that could generate more interest, right up to the end of the season. (It could run parallel with the current Comp).
Organize the AFL teams into divisions, with each division determined by the number of participants for each AFL Team.
When the Finals approach, the 2 top teams from each division would qualify to compete in the finals.
An example:
Division A:
ESS - 31 participants
COL - 26
HAW - 19
CAR - 19
Division B:
NTH - 15
ADE - 14
WCE - 12
MEL - 11
Division C:
GEE - 10
RIC - 10
STK - 10
BRL - 8
PTA - 8
Division D:
SYD - 5
WBD - 5
FRE - 4
GWS - 3
GCS - 3
Based on the table below, the Finalists would be:
Div A: 1st. COL, 2nd. HAW.
Div. B: 1st. NTH, 2nd. MEL.
Div. C: 1st. BRL, 2nd. RIC.
Div. D: 1st. SYD, 2nd. WBD.
And this is how the Finals could look like: