FOI 25-0043 LD – Correspondence On The AFL Final 8 System To The Minister For Sport, Senator Richard Colbeck, 2019

Written by Claude Haiku 4.5 from the extracted text on 27 Feb 2026. It can miss or misread redacted and scanned pages. Check the source before relying on it.

This FOI release contains correspondence from Kim Crawford to Senator Richard Colbeck regarding a dispute with the Australian Football League over credit for designing the Final 8 playoff system. Crawford claims he submitted the system to the AFL in 1994, was initially rejected, but the AFL adopted it in 2000 without acknowledging his authorship. He notes that other Final 8 systems used throughout AFL history were named after their inventors and requests the Minister for Sport intervene to ensure the AFL publicly acknowledge the system's origin and uphold their stated values of honesty and integrity. Crawford references previous unsuccessful attempts to resolve the matter through the AFL's Integrity Department and direct correspondence to the CEO. The second document excerpt is incomplete but appears to shift to discussing sporting values in relation to the Adam Goodes documentary. **Note:** This FOI release does not involve health policy, pharmaceutical assessments, vaccine evaluation, clinical guidance, aged care matters, or other typical Department of Health