There are three certainties in life: death, taxes and an annual debate surrounding the NAB Challenge.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire did nothing to dispel that notion recently when he proposed a radical idea to award the winner of the pre-season competition with a spot in the finals.

"The start of the season doesn't have much zing," McGuire said.

"It is just hit and giggle. You just want to get through without injuries."

So as the NAB Challenge dawns for 2016, the team geelongcats.com.au decided to weigh in with their two cents. Read our thoughts and cast your own vote in the poll below.

YES – Mitch Broughton

I like the NAB Challenge as is. And I think the players, coaches and the vast majority of the footballing public are with me.

See, if everyone accepts the NAB Challenge for what it is then there is no limit on what it brings to the table.

I’m not entirely dismissing the notion of having something at stake in the pre-season competition, but there are some genuine benefits to be had without a carrot dangling in front of clubs and their players.

On Saturday afternoon, Sydney co-captain Jarrad McVeigh will take the reins as coach from John Longmire in what is honestly a fascinating move by the Swans. I for one will be tuning in and I’m sure the game will no doubt be the more memorable for the McVeigh trial than it will be for the result.

Then there’s Alastair Clarkson who will again step aside throughout the entire NAB Challenge – as he has done for a number of years now – and allow his assistant coaches to get a taste of what it’s like at the top.

No one is surprised the league has so many Clarkson protégés within its coaching fraternity. But when the likes of Brendan Bolton and Leon Cameron move onto their own senior coaching roles, do you hear anyone thank the NAB Challenge?

They should. Because whether you like it or not, the NAB Challenge in its current format is good for the evolution of the game.

We’ve (hopefully) done away with all those ridiculous rule changes for it to be an honest competition that still allows for the right amount of experimentation. That’s what you’re seeing with McVeigh and Hawthorn and it’s what you wouldn’t see if there was something at stake.

And really, when you’re about to get eight months of the greatest sport on earth, a few weeks of bruise-free, “Diet AFL” surely isn’t the worst thing?

Because what you will get in the NAB Challenge is the chance to see that next crop of talent from your club.

What you will get is the chance to see the players you love trialled in new positions and your coaches trying new things.

And, ultimately, what you will get are the game’s biggest and best stars playing games in regional centres across Australia. You’ll get the game at its grass roots.

Yeah, I’ll take that any summer day thanks.

NO – Adam McNicol

It’s probably a bit unfashionable to say this, but I rather liked the old knockout pre-season competition, which was held between 1988 and 2013. I liked the way it gave the clubs another trophy to play for.

The good thing about the knockout competition was that it gave clubs two options. They could take it seriously, try to grab the prize money and a piece of silverware for the trophy cabinet, and be rewarded for their efforts with games at official AFL venues. Or they could field an under-strength team, crash out early and head off to play practice games at Skinner Reserve or a country town.

The old knockout competition was at its best when clubs that had been unsuccessful for a period of time got their act together - often briefly - and made the Grand Final.

Think Fitzroy, which rose from the dead to play Hawthorn in the 1992 Foster’s Cup Grand Final, or Richmond, which shook off a decade of mediocrity to make the ’93 Grand Final, a game that drew more than 75,000 people to Waverley Park.

The Lions and Tigers lost those games, but many other clubs broke long droughts in the pre-season competition.

St Kilda’s Ansett Australia Cup premiership in 1996 was the first thing the club had won since 1966.

Along similar lines, Geelong’s pre-season premiership in 2006 earned the club its first trophy since 1963, while the Western Bulldogs’ NAB Cup premiership in 2010 was its first triumph since winning the old night series in 1970.

Of course, there were plenty of horror stories for clubs after winning the pre-season or just making the Grand Final.

Richmond won only four home and away games in ’93, while Carlton won the wooden spoon after its Wizard Home Loans Cup triumph in 2005.

The Cats tripped up in a similar fashion, failing to even make the premiership season finals in ’06.

And I can’t move on without acknowledging that sometimes teams were unsure how to react when they won the pre-season Grand Final.

Who could forget the ridiculous sight of St Kilda’s Grant Thomas and Lenny Hayes frowning while holding the ‘Wizard Wok’ after the Saints beat Geelong in the 2004 pre-season Grand Final.

But I’m unfazed by those tales of woe.

Don’t forget that Hawthorn and Essendon were regular winners of the pre-season competition during their glory years in the 1980s and ‘90s, and their players were never afraid to smile after the final siren.

So do away with the glorified practice matches that now make up the NAB Challenge, I say.

Bring back the knockout competition and give everyone another trophy to play for.