THE AFL has tweaked the criteria for the McClelland Trophy after Hawthorn controversially won the title ahead of Brisbane last year.
The adjusted criteria will see clubs awarded points based on performances across both the home-and-away season as well as finals. Under the previous system, only games in the home-and-away season were considered.
The McClelland Trophy was revamped in 2023 to reward the best performed club across both the men’s and women’s competitions, with the winning club awarded $1 million to be split evenly between the men’s and women’s teams.
Under the new criteria:
- At the end of the finals in both the men’s and women’s competitions, teams will be ranked 1 to 18, with the top-ranked team getting 18 points and the bottom-placed team receiving one point
- Where two teams are knocked out in the same week of finals, the club that finished higher on the ladder at the end of the home and away season will be given a higher ranking
- In the event that two or more clubs have the equal highest combined ranking score, the number of trophy points and then combined percentage will be used as the tiebreaker.
The change comes after the Hawks won the award last year based on the home-and-away formula, despite both their men’s and women’s team being knocked out in the semi-finals.
The Lions won the men’s competition and finished second in the AFLW but finished second under the old McClelland Trophy criteria.
Hawthorn celebrates its win over Richmond in week 10, 2024. Picture: AFL Photos
Last year, Brisbane’s AFLW coach Craig Starcevich said the criteria should be changed as long as winning finals remained the pinnacle of both competitions.
“We’re a competition which values finals so highly,” he said.
“Clearly our code values finals, so therefore why shouldn’t an award like this value finals as well?
“We’re not the EPL, we’re not competitions around the world where you finish top and that’s it. Finals are a key part of what we do.”
Craig Starcevich and Breanna Koenen after Brisbane’s loss to North Melbourne in the 2024 AFLW Grand Final at Ikon Park. Picture: AFL Photos
Former Brisbane player and AFL.com.au expert Kate McCarthy also criticised the old formula last year.
“It’s crazy we’ll potentially have, for the first time, two teams holding both premiership cups, not technically being the champion club in the league,” McCarthy told The W Show, before the Lions lost the AFLW Grand Final.
“I know it’s home-and-away wins and losses, and I know I’ll cop this because I’m a Brisbane Lions fan and I’m one-eyed, but I find it really strange that you can have two teams potentially win the premiership in a calendar year, still not win the trophy.”
