Two years ago, the AFL administration came up with the notion of a bye in the week before the finals.

The logic was OK, I guess. The players had been carping for years about the need for breaks in a marathon season; this at least would allow those players in the eight finals teams a second breather to soothe their wounds.

It would gift the finals clubs some valuable time to treat and rest up players carrying injuries so that they would be cherry ripe for the first final, and leave some space for the Whitten Foundation's legends game, with its very worthy cause.

The Western Bulldogs duly won the flag in that year, their famous drought-breaking triumph and a feel-good story if ever there was one. The bye turned out to be significant for them, too, because it is a matter of public record that had Luke Beveridge's team had to play an elimination final in the week when the bye was granted, they would have had to go without several crucial players. The understanding was: the bye prolonged the Dogs' challenge if not more.

It was an overwhelmingly popular win and the revenge of the downtrodden, but it created a monster. The AFL watched Beveridge and Easton Wood and Bob Murphy embracing up on the dais after beating Sydney and decided they had kicked their own goal. They decided it was a damned fine idea, this week's break before the climactic month of the season.