Gill bites back at Clarko’s criticism
GILLON McLachlan has hit back at Alastair Clarkson over the integrity of the finals system, saying the Western Bulldogs were deserving winners of the 2016 premiership.
Four-time premiership coach Clarkson said this week it was an “enormous challenge” finishing top-four under a system with a post-Round 23 bye. But McLachlan has no plans to change the system, saying the old format made it close to impossible to win the flag from outside the top four.
The AFL still has a range of scenarios for scheduling next month’s finals, but Geelong is no certainty to get a Simonds Stadium final even if it plays Greater Western Sydney.
The league believes it could get 55,000 fans to a Cats-Giants qualifying final at the MCG given the MCC members and AFL finals ticket holders that would attend.
If the Cats’ final was the only Melbourne game that weekend the league is still considering whether the attendance would be higher than the 34,000 capacity at Simonds Stadium.
McLachlan said Clarkson was one of the coaches at his mid-season dinner who agreed there was still an advantage to a top-four finish.
“I’ve put it to the coaches,” McLachlan said.
“Is there still an advantage in finishing top-two over topfour? They say yes.
“Is there still an advantage in finishing top-four over five to eight? Yes.
“After that, it’s a moot question. I actually think before the bye, statistically, nobody really ever came from outside the top four. We were almost running a default top four.
“So if you can now win from five to eight — I’m OK with that — as long as the higher you go up the ladder, the more advantage in the top eight.
“I have put it to the coaches, they all agree with that.”
McLachlan said the AFL had maintained the integrity of the system, which was won by a brilliant and worthy victor in the Dogs.
“I believe in the integrity of the finals system and that means you can win it from outside the top four if you are good enough. If you are good enough, it’s such a good story I don’t have a problem with it.”