Fixture up for major overhaul

So what's the point of the last 5 rounds for those teams?

 

Rewards losing earlier in the season

 

Teams don't throw in the towel until like 5 weeks before the end of the season, in your model they'd do so 11 weeks before the end of the season.

 

This system is actually used in some soccer leagues globally, I'm not sure about any major ones that use it but the Premiership in Northern Ireland has a system where they split the ladder into two at the end of the season and teams can't fall outside their bracket from there onwards.

I honestly don't think people would care that they could finish 9th and have more points than 6th. Playing each team in the first 17 rounds should be an accurate enough indicator of how good your team is, and if you aren't good enough to make the top bracket then you simply aren't good enough and can't complain, because every team has an equal shot at it. Remember that the 6th team is going to be competing against better teams over that last period so they are most likely still going to be better than the team that finishes 9th anyway.

I also think that the draft order should be locked after 17 rounds, as Theo said. Too much potential for tanking at the end otherwise, and it makes the draft order a far bigger deal than it should be. It's pretty stupid saying that the main flaw of that system would be because there'd be nothing to play for. If you look at the system now, the bottom clubs have nothing to play for anyway except draft picks, which rewards teams for actively losing. At least losing wouldn't be encouraged if draft picks were set after the first 17 rounds, because teams would be pushing as hard as they could to make that 7-12 bracket to challenge for the finals. If the bottom teams are that bad that they can't make the top 12, they aren't legitimate finals contenders and we shouldn't feel like we have to give them something to play for.

People also underestimate what the last few rounds could do for casual supporters. Teams aren't going to go out there not giving a shit when they have potential members wavering or people close to not signing up again. For a club like Melbourne, if they could record a few wins in that last period it would give many of the disillusioned members some hope as opposed to them just giving up and not renewing membership. Plus, as Theo said, you get the chance to blood kids, have a try at different game strategies, etc.

Honestly like the idea of the system even more than the current one. Needs a bit of refinement but I definitely think it makes it a lot more fair than the one right now where some teams get harder teams twice, and some get easy teams twice.