Opinion Is this the worst AFL season ever?

[Hobbes]

I'm not saying it will happen, but unfortunately it's now quite a plausible scenario.

Brisbane's best is the best, but I'm still not sure they can string 4 great games together again, and they'll need to again to win it.

I agree it's not all doom and gloom with the Crows, but they have other issues (apparently they're 17th for transitioning from d50 to f50). Wonder if it's a year too early anyway.

If we DO get a Geelong Hawthorn GF I'll be going for the Hawks this time. Sick of Geelong.

"17th for transitioning from d50 to f50"

I'd be more interested in the stats for transitioning from d50 to scoring, or d50 to goaling.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Easiest, second, third whatever. Point is Geelong finished top 4 last year but were given the draw of a bottom 4 team.

Double-ups, prime slots, degree of difficulty: We rank your club's fixture

Check out all you need to know about your club's fixture for the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season

www.afl.com.au

Play twice: Brisbane, St Kilda, Greater Western Sydney, Port Adelaide, Essendon, Richmond

First four: Brisbane (A), Fremantle (H), St Kilda (A), Melbourne (H)

Last three: Essendon (H), Sydney (A), Richmond (A)

Byes: Round three, round 16

Thursday/Friday matches: 3/2 (Total: 5)

Five-day breaks: 1

Degree of difficulty: 50 (Equal fifth hardest)

What the club says: "We are thrilled with the opportunities our 2025 AFL fixture presents from a football, fan, and commercial perspective and we can't wait to kick off the season in just 112 days' time. From a football point of view, we are delighted to have a strong mix of teams both travelling down to Geelong and (in) our blockbuster fixtures up in Melbourne and interstate. We have a great spread and opponent mix throughout the season. A big focus as a club was to play 10 home games at GMHBA Stadium in 2025 and to secure this is an amazing result – it will be the first time since 1996 that this has happened." – chief strategy and growth officer Marcus King


Had the premiers, GWS and Port as scheduled double ups. No one could have seen in November just how badly Port would fall away. Or the grand finalists Sydney. Both of whom were scheduled in our last 4 games.

The draw has become easier due to movements in teams this year but it wasn't an easy draw when it was conceived.

 

[Hobbes]

Double-ups, prime slots, degree of difficulty: We rank your club's fixture

Check out all you need to know about your club's fixture for the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season

www.afl.com.au

Play twice: Brisbane, St Kilda, Greater Western Sydney, Port Adelaide, Essendon, Richmond

First four: Brisbane (A), Fremantle (H), St Kilda (A), Melbourne (H)

Last three: Essendon (H), Sydney (A), Richmond (A)

Byes: Round three, round 16

Thursday/Friday matches: 3/2 (Total: 5)

Five-day breaks: 1

Degree of difficulty: 50 (Equal fifth hardest)

What the club says: "We are thrilled with the opportunities our 2025 AFL fixture presents from a football, fan, and commercial perspective and we can't wait to kick off the season in just 112 days' time. From a football point of view, we are delighted to have a strong mix of teams both travelling down to Geelong and (in) our blockbuster fixtures up in Melbourne and interstate. We have a great spread and opponent mix throughout the season. A big focus as a club was to play 10 home games at GMHBA Stadium in 2025 and to secure this is an amazing result – it will be the first time since 1996 that this has happened." – chief strategy and growth officer Marcus King


Had the premiers, GWS and Port as scheduled double ups. No one could have seen in November just how badly Port would fall away. Or the grand finalists Sydney. Both of whom were scheduled in our last 4 games.

The draw has become easier due to movements in teams this year but it wasn't an easy draw when it was conceived.

It could have been guessed to be an easy draw.

Many pundits had Port dropping. Few had St Kilda in the finals, and fewer had Essendon or Richmond. (Most expected Brisbane and GWS to hang around).

There was virtually no chance that Geelong would have four tough teams to play twice, and quite a chance they would have only two.

I know the team is lumped into 1-6,7-12 and 13-18 for constructing the draw, but a few teams could have been surmised to perform above last year's standing - Adelaide, Gold Coast, Collingwood, Fremantle spring to mind.

 

[FlyHigh18]

Double-ups, prime slots, degree of difficulty: We rank your club's fixture

Check out all you need to know about your club's fixture for the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season

www.afl.com.au

Play twice: Brisbane, St Kilda, Greater Western Sydney, Port Adelaide, Essendon, Richmond

First four: Brisbane (A), Fremantle (H), St Kilda (A), Melbourne (H)

Last three: Essendon (H), Sydney (A), Richmond (A)

Byes: Round three, round 16

Thursday/Friday matches: 3/2 (Total: 5)

Five-day breaks: 1

Degree of difficulty: 50 (Equal fifth hardest)

What the club says: "We are thrilled with the opportunities our 2025 AFL fixture presents from a football, fan, and commercial perspective and we can't wait to kick off the season in just 112 days' time. From a football point of view, we are delighted to have a strong mix of teams both travelling down to Geelong and (in) our blockbuster fixtures up in Melbourne and interstate. We have a great spread and opponent mix throughout the season. A big focus as a club was to play 10 home games at GMHBA Stadium in 2025 and to secure this is an amazing result – it will be the first time since 1996 that this has happened." – chief strategy and growth officer Marcus King


Had the premiers, GWS and Port as scheduled double ups. No one could have seen in November just how badly Port would fall away. Or the grand finalists Sydney. Both of whom were scheduled in our last 4 games.

The draw has become easier due to movements in teams this year but it wasn't an easy draw when it was conceived.

That’s true, it wasn’t intended that way. But doesn’t change the fact you’ve had an easy draw.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

That’s true, it wasn’t intended that way. But doesn’t change the fact you’ve had an easy draw.

I'm not sure why we of all clubs are copping the 'soft draw' excuse for where we are. We are above 50% against the top 9 clubs and have just secured our 14th top 4 finish since 2007. We've built the credits to suggest we'd likely have been top 4 with a draw that ended up tougher.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

NRL is more fun these days and I have taken NRL over AFL these days

NRL is even more predictable and dominated by certain teams than the AFL, making your weird Geelong obsession stand out even further.

The rise of the Doggies and Raiders has been good to watch, but if you're not a Storm, Roosters, or Panthers fan, the last 15-20 years has been pretty bleak.

 

[Freomaniac]

I think this is the beginning of the trend not the end of it. By 2030 we will have the top 6 winning 17-20 games a year and only able to lose to each other and the bottom 6 only capable of beating each other too on 5 wins or less.

Equalization policy LoL.

Docker this season will get 9th spot with 15 wins and 8 defeats

 

[Seeds]

With all the hype about who finishes top 4 or 8, the season could fizzle out in the worst possible way.

Adelaide go out in straight sets, partly due to Rankine.

Brisbane lose to Hawthorn, finish outside the 4 and lose to GWS or something.

Geelong vs Hawthorn/Collingwood in the grand final, with Geelong winning by 80 again.

Sounds like the best outcome to be honest. Multiple mcg sell outs.

If lions cant beat hawks at home then lions dont deserve top 4 while hawks will be on fire and totally deserving of top 4. Lions will have lost way too many home games for an interstate top 4 side.

 

[Seeds]

Equalization policy LoL.

Docker this season will get 9th spot with 15 wins and 8 defeats

And only be one game short of third spot. Ladders are funny some years. Its a good thing. Not a bad thing.

And gees us supporters used to complain about too much equalisation measures as ruining the game and preventing dynasties. Now we are complaining about there not being enough? This is weird.

 

[Seeds]

Easiest, second, third whatever. Point is Geelong finished top 4 last year but were given the draw of a bottom 4 team.

Which teams that geelong played once should of geelong played twice? Note geelong is 10 wins and 1 loss (carlton a bottom 8 side) against sides it played only once this year. Should we have played carlton a secomd time? But arent they a bottom 8 side this year?

And of the top 3 sides that geelong played once they were all at our oppositions home ground. So fairness would dictate we play second games at geelong against the teams we already beat away.

 

[Seeds]

Easiest, second, third whatever. Point is Geelong finished top 4 last year but were given the draw of a bottom 4 team.

No we werent. We were given the draw of a top 6 team like everyone else in the top 6. Except we got 14 away games this year while everyone else only had 11. The injustice of this against geelong is astounding.

 

[BigVic]

Equalization policy LoL.

Docker this season will get 9th spot with 15 wins and 8 defeats

Start of another Hawthorn dynasty with the Hawks potentially winning a flag then snare Butters and Reid next season

The 1980s almost sent the VFL broke

 

[Seeds]

I do believe the older we get, the more senile we become.
In saying that, i remember a decade ago arguing with people on BF about how the game has changed for the worse because of the explosion of rotations and position-less football. Because of that, I lost interest in the week to week a long time ago.

However, the reason this year hasn't been the worst year ever is that at least the game has been watchable since 2021. Between 2012 and 2020 the sport was a rolling maul and just looked like a seagul fighting over a chip. Any one of those 9 season could be the worst ever!!!

Surely the 2002-2006 years were the worst in terms of game style.

 

[Seeds]

Start of another Hawthorn dynasty with the Hawks potentially winning a flag then snare Butters and Reid next season

The 1980s almost sent the VFL broke

So isnt the 1980s worse?

 

[Seeds]

No real surprises either.
No real classic games either.
Kind of got predicable no real games turned on it head.
Under dogs losses and favs win type of season.
Again as per planned.
Kind of as we thought type of season.
No x factor as all.

Didnt we have the record biggest comeback this year in one game that was won by the games biggest young talent in probably 20 years? How was that not a surprise? How was that not x factor.

From my club the Geelong vs pies game this year was insane. One of the best home and away games in the last decade. Hawks vs cats game the week before not far off it either. And cameron is going to kick the highest goal tally in a long time. Is that not x factor?

Collingwood was top and flag favs 5 weeks ago and then lost 4 games in a row. How is that not surprising and how is that favs winning all the time? Brisbane also having topsy turvey season losing against bottom eight sides at home. The top side in adelaide nearly got rolled by the bottom side just last week ffs.

What season are you actually referring to in your post. As its not this one.

 

[BigVic]

So isnt the 1980s worse?

The old zone recruiting system would've been a disaster today

 

[Aristotle Pickett the3rd]

"AFL set for final day of drama this damp squib of a season so desperately needs"

AFL set for final day of drama this damp squib of a season so desperately needs | Martin Pegan

The season has taken the longest of roads to get to this point, but with a dramatic final round on the cards, the destination might mean more than the journey

www.theguardian.com

 

[Seeds]

The old zone recruiting system would've been a disaster today

And it wasnt in the eighties?

 

[timokane]

bit vanilla 2025 kind of umps dont know the rules anymore.
hard to follow the game.
changes all the time.
was always thinking 2023 was peak afl footy.
past that now.
just out of covid 2023 was the prime season for afl.
all time record attendances and was cheaper to go to the footy as well.
2025 nothing but sagas scandal and drama.
poor culture thats all.

 

[shaqsuns]

I do believe the older we get, the more senile we become.
In saying that, i remember a decade ago arguing with people on BF about how the game has changed for the worse because of the explosion of rotations and position-less football. Because of that, I lost interest in the week to week a long time ago.

However, the reason this year hasn't been the worst year ever is that at least the game has been watchable since 2021. Between 2012 and 2020 the sport was a rolling maul and just looked like a seagul fighting over a chip. Any one of those 9 season could be

Surely the 2002-2006 years were the worst in terms of game style.

Football was at its best between 1995-2006. It was 18 vs 18; A contest within a contest.

Don't get me wrong coaches were starting to use flooding tactics, but there was still open play.

The game was at its pinicle!!!

I can actually pinpoint the night the game changed forever, it was round 9 2008 when Collingwood beat Geelong by 80 points. Malthouse stole a tactic after watching ice-hockey and utilised their interchange stragey, which worked too well!

 

[Billy ray]

Malthouse stole a tactic after watching ice-hockey and utilised their interchange stragey, which worked too well!

Me too. Changed the game forever

 

[Borussia Teeth]

ShitVic and TimmyKane posting in the same thread… just goes to show two mongs don’t make a right.

 

[OPofJazz]

2023 was probably the greatest of the last 5 years. This year sucks but que sera sera

 

[BigVic]

Without doubt. Never before I have been disinterested in footy. The Rankine saga has saw me switch off and taking a break from the game

 

[Soggy2112]

Assuming Gold Coast beat Essendon, were about to head in to a finals series where each participating club has beaten a minimum of 4 of the other clubs.

We might have had an underwhelming home and away season but I think we’re set up for one of the most competitive finals series ever.