Thinker … Victoria University lecturer Dr Tristan Barne says he has the answer for those punters who were miffed by the AFL’s drawn Grand Final last month. 54066 Picture: SARAHMATRAY
By Charlene Gatt
THIS man thinks he has the winning formula to breaking deadlocked AFL scores.
Victoria University adjunct lecturer Dr Tristan Barnett has developed a new system based on tennis scoring, which would favour points over timing.
His proposed system states that a team must be ahead by at least six points by the end of the fourth quarter to win the match.
If the scores are tied, or there is less than a six-point margin, play continues indefinitely until one team is ahead by six points.
“The idea behind this is that it actually does favour the stronger team, it also creates additional entertainment in a closely fought match,” Dr Barnett said.
“When you think about AFL, you’re talking about scoring goals rather than behinds and so that would actually mean there’s more chance a team that wins would score more goals than the other team.
“You’re not worried about the clock, which can have issues with umpiring decisions and players trying to wind down the clock and that sort of thing.
“AFL just seemed an interesting sport to analyse because of the situation where you do get a draw occurring.”
Dr Barnett said the system would have prevented the need for this year’s grand final rematch. He said it was a good method to break ties during the finals, but said it could also be implemented over the home and away season.
He predicts about 10 per cent of all AFL matches would be played with added time using this system.
Dr Barnett hopes to approach the AFL in coming months with his method.
