It's AFL finals time except we all have to wait nearly two weeks for the best part of the football year because of the pre-finals bye.
Collingwood Brownlow medallist Dane Swan has an idea to better place the bye among the finals series.
The Sporting News looks at the options for the pre-finals bye in AFL.
MORE: AFL trade news and rumours latest: Darcy Parish future at Essendon becomes clearer
Dane Swan's take on the AFL pre-finals bye
With the AFL currently implementing a week off between the last round and qualifying finals, teams have a minimum of eleven days between their two matches in the period.
Swan feels the AFL should shift the pre-finals bye to before the Grand Final, which will allow injured players extra time to be fit and hype to build for the competition's biggest match.
"[The finals bye] should the week before the Grand Final," Swan said on Dabble's Friday Knock-Offs live stream.
"They only brought this in since I retired.
"It needs to be before the Grand Final so you can have all your awards season - get it all over and done with.
"And also, if someone gets concussed, they have a week so they can play in the Grand Final.
"I make good points every now and then."
When was the AFL pre-finals bye implemented?
The AFL introduced a pre-finals bye during the 2016 finals series - in a bid to help teams field the best possible team ahead of their first final.
It was also designed to stop teams resting players during the final round of the home-and-away season.
The introduction of the bye had an immediate effect on the 2016 finals with the Western Bulldogs becoming the first team to finish seventh on the ladder and win the AFL premiership.
Suffering from several injuries at the end of the home-and-away season, the week off allowed the Bulldogs to get players back for their first elimination final against West Coast in Perth - which they won despite being the underdog.
The Bulldogs then defeated Hawthorn (semi final), GWS (preliminary final) and Sydney (grand final) to break their 62-year premiership drought.
Has there been a bye before the AFL Grand Final?
During the COVID-affected season in 2021, the AFL scrapped the pre-finals bye with interruptions possible because of the global pandemic.
It was eventually shifted to the week before the Grand Final in Perth, which would allow teams to deal with any quarantine issues before the big dance.
The break allowed injured Melbourne defender Steven May to get up for the Grand Final, which the Demons won, defeating the Bulldogs by 74 points despite trailing by eight points at half-time.
