Who is a fan of the bye?
So far this year, teams coming off the bye own a pitiful 2-10 win-loss record from 12 matches.
Of those dozen matches, only two have featured both teams coming off the bye - Sydney v St Kilda in Round 13 and Collingwood v Adelaide in Round 15.
Let’s take those results out of it and it’s 0-8 for teams coming off the bye playing a non-bye team that week.
They are not good numbers for the six clubs back playing this coming weekend who had the week off in Round 15.
Carlton, GWS, North Melbourne, Port Adelaide, Richmond and the Western Bulldogs are all in action in Round 16. All play a team who has already had its bye.
The Round 16 games involving clubs who had the bye last week are:
Brisbane v Richmond (Gabba, Thursday 7:20pm)
Adelaide v North Melbourne (Adelaide Oval, Saturday 1:45pm)
Western Bulldogs v Fremantle (Marvel Stadium, Saturday 1:45pm)
Essendon v Port Adelaide (MCG, Saturday 7:25pm)
Hawthorn v Carlton (MCG, Sunday 1:10pm)
Melbourne v GWS (Traeger Park, Sunday 3:20pm)
How many of these sides can buck the trend and beat a non-bye team off their own bye?
These stats bring into question the viability of the four-week mid-season bye block.
Is it time the AFL simply held a mid-season week off, giving all 18 clubs the bye and halting the season for a week, rather than holding the bye weekends over four rounds?
That way all 18 clubs are coming off the bye when they meet upon resumption making it a more even playing field. It would also allow the league to scrap the pre-finals bye when the footy public want the momentum to continue at that stage of the season. (Or have two bye weekends).
It’s not a perfect science, but perhaps introducing a full mid-season break could be the answer.
However, it is an economical decision by the AFL to keep things ticking over, regardless of the lacklustre schedule and the product diminishing over this period.
2023 BYE RESULTS
ROUND 13
Brisbane
LOST to Hawthorn by 25 points (away).
St Kilda
WON against Sydney by 14 points (away). (Both teams off the bye).
Sydney
LOST to St Kilda by 14 points (home). (Both teams off the bye).
Fremantle
LOST to Richmond by 15 points (home).
ROUND 14
Gold Coast
LOST to Carlton by 59 points (away).
Geelong
LOST to Port Adelaide by 38 points (away).
ROUND 15
Adelaide
LOST to Collingwood by 2 points (away). (Both teams off the bye).
Collingwood
WON against Adelaide by 2 points (home). (Both teams off the bye).
Hawthorn
LOST to Gold Coast by 67 points (away).
Essendon
LOST to Fremantle by 32 points (away).
Melbourne
LOST to Geelong by 15 points (away).
West Coast
LOST to Sydney by 171 points (away).