"The good thing for us as umpires is nothing changes. Free kicks are the same." says AFL umpire Shaun Ryan, one of the three umpires chosen to officiate at Saturday’s AFL Grand Final.

If only that were so, Shaun. If only it were so.

FWIW, AussieRulesBlog reckons Shaun is one of the best of the whistleblowers running around.

Release the Giesch!!!

We don’t think we’re being pedantic expecting that a foundation rule of Aussie Rules football be adhered to in the game’s elite competition. Actually, there were any number of rules not adhered to in watching the four finals this weekend, but we’ve got one in particular on our mind.

Our blogging colleague Jermayn Parker, from Kick-2-Kick blog, comments on our post regarding consideration of a 10-team final series, “Australians love their finals though, don’t we?”

We think he has a point, but these days that love is more often than not only expressed through the lens of supporting their own team.

When we were nipping round the knees of our sainted father, we were taken to the finals when there was a final 4 and only one game each weekend in September. Yes, back in the 60s.

Among our fondest memories of those experiences was turning up at the ‘G’ and seeing a kaleidoscope of colour as supporters of pretty much every team in the competition came to the game to watch a couple of the best teams for the year battle it out. Even the First Semi-Final, between the third- and fourth-placed teams, drew this sort of crowd.

Of course we also remember standing on empty steel beer cans in the outer so we could see and, one dark winter afternoon in the Ryder stand at Victoria Park, peeing into an empty drink can because the stairways were jammed with troglodyte Barcodes supporters! But we digress. . .

We know those halcyon days can’t be reclaimed, but we are sorry that the spirit of wanting to watch a good game of football, regardless of the teams involved, has been overtaken by such parochial support that watching one’s own favourite team is the only football many people see — even on television.

Like some sideshow spruiker, the AFL is considering a 10-team final series in 2012 when the GWS Giants join the elite competition. Andrew, let’s just call the whole season a final series and then everyone can join in the fun!

As has been amply demonstrated in recent years, the teams finishing in the bottom half of the current 8-team final series are pretty much just making up the numbers. It’s difficult to imagine that a team could win a Premiership from position 5 or 6, let alone 7 or 8.

It would appear that one of the considerations is keeping as many fans as possible interested for as long as possible, thus, the more teams involved in post-home-and-away-season action the better.

AussieRulesBlog is firmly of the view that final series have been more ordinary, especially in the first two weeks, since the introduction of the final 8. We can only express our fear that a final 10 would produce even more meaningless wastes of time that fans would have to pay through the nose for.

Here’s an idea, Andrew! Let’s make the final series a showcase of the very best teams in the competition pitted against each other in winner-takes-all contests. You know, something like the old final 4!