Geelong - and a problem for the AFL

Football socialism. It's what the lovers of the good old days might call it. Way back when, you recruited blokes to your team with references to your team's success, your team's culture, and maybe a few shillings and pence added in.

Polly Farmer went to Geelong because he wanted to, and because he wanted a club not playing in finals but close to playing in finals, he wanted an atmosphere like his home town of Perth, and because Geelong paid him like a CEO.

Many interstate players landed at Carlton because of their successes, and because of a predeliction for brown paper bags. However, things began to change in the 1980s, and by the mid-1990s, things were completely different.

The draft levelled the playing field, with the best players available to the worst teams. Young phenoms like Jeff White landed in Freo, and established superstars like Tony Lockett and Paul Roos landed in Sydney.

The proof was in the pudding in the 1990s, when only one club won back-to-back flags, and only two other clubs even made back-to-back Grand Finals. Essendon and Carlton in 1993, Geelong in 1994, Sydney in 1996, St Kilda in 1997, and Carlton again in 1999 all found themselves in Grand Finals the year after not even making the Grand Final.

But things changed once we clicked into the 2000s. Essendon went 24-1 in 2000, and then Brisbane made four straight Grand Finals, winning the first three. Sydney and West Coast went around twice, and now Geelong dominates. Beginning in Round 6 of 2007, they have lost two games from forty-three.It is a great achievement, and watching Geelong is a sight to behold. Their depth, their talent and their system make for an almost invincible side.

The reality is this is a failure of the AFL's system. While encouraging excellence, the AFL's system is not designed to encourage dominant dynasties. No, it is designed for every club to get a Grand Final about every eight years and a premiership every 16.

The first area of failure is the salary cap. The salary cap really doesn't do it's job if players are paid under market value. If everyone at Geelong is taking less to stay together, then the cap is compromised. Geelong's overabundance of talent is supposed to be redistributed to clubs on the lower end of the ladder. Effectively, Geelong have a $7 million list, and are only paying $6 million for that list.

Unfortunately, you cannot have a "talent cap", but this is not good for the AFL long-term. It appears that Geelong have the potential to dominate the AFL for at least another five years. Barring an unforeseen spate of injuries, that will probably mean something like 5-6 flags over a 7-8 year period. Meanwhile, teams like Melbourne will struggle to get a look in.

It will be interesting to see how the AFL react, especially if footy fans turn off the predictable sight of the Geelong juggernaut running over some poor minnow. Remember how much depth Geelong have - the Geelong side that beat St Kilda in a canter on Sunday did not include James Kelly, David Wojcinski, Shannon Byrnes or Tom Hawkins. They have two players over 30, in Darren Milburn and captain Tom Harley. One of the five best players is not even 20 yet.

Geelong have done extremely well, and nothing should be taken away from them. Their performance in last year's Grand Final is as close to football perfection as I have ever seen. But it is a competition, and that competition should not be for second place.