Fixture 2026 Fixture Discussion

[lachy]

In normal times I would agree with you Lachy yet at the moment there is a big divide between the bottom 5 or 6 and the rest of the competition. Double ups are so important. For example, a double up against West Coast vs Sydney. West Coast most likely 2 wins, Swans could be 2 loses.

The hardest draw based on double up games in Gold Coast, Bulldogs Hawks. Some of the top 4 play west coast twice, or Dons or North, much easier than us.

Didn't hurt Brisbane having a harder draw. You don't win this thing just beating up on the lower teams, you need to win more than your lose against the contenders if you want to be a contender, more to finish top 4.
We have home games against GWS, Freo, Collingwood, and Adelaide.

Our away games against the Hawks are neutral and at the G where finals are played.

Other than Geelong and Brisbane we have every opportunity IF we are to be a serious contender, not a team that flops into the finals with a soft draw then cracks under the pressure ie Adelaide

 

[Libbaaaa]

Didn't hurt Brisbane having a harder draw. You don't win this thing just beating up on the lower teams, you need to win more than your lose against the contenders if you want to be a contender, more to finish top 4.
We have home games against GWS, Freo, Collingwood, and Adelaide.

Our away games against the Hawks are neutral and at the G where finals are played.

Other than Geelong and Brisbane we have every opportunity IF we are to be a serious contender, not a team that flops into the finals with a soft draw then cracks under the pressure ie Adelaide

Exactly how I see things. This past season we beat all the crap teams (literally all of them) but lost twice against Brissy, Freo and once against the Pies, Cats, Hawks, Crows, Suns. Would have been better to go 3-6 or 4-5 in those 9 and drop 2 against the other lot.

 

[Proffessor]

I get peoples views, however, it is what it is...if you can't beat good sides during the season you don't deserve to play finals anyway.

Bring on 2026, let's stop sooking, aim to beat good times twice if we play them!

The problem for the Bulldogs is not that we complain too much, it's that we complain too little. The fans of big clubs like Collingwood etc. get a better deal precisely because, they complain endlessly when even little things don't go their way. For example, any chance they get, they will still earnestly complain about an out of bounds call in a game they lost 46 years ago!

We compete in a super tough and super close competition where little things can make the difference between winning and losing. We are one of the back markers in the race each year and often finish behind clubs that we are better than simply because we have a worse handicap starting position.

If we don't push back on the handicappers when we are mistreated, then we will never be treated better.

 

[Claudonious]

we were shit against the top 8 last year. We will know quickly if we are gonna be shit against the top 8 next year. No big deal.

Also the whinging about GMHBA is funny. We are a western corridor club. The rationale is that for a majority of our regional western members the drive there is shorter or easier than going to the city. It would be nice for competitive balance to play them at marvel every second year but it’s not that bad playing down there.

Nice for competitive balance? Every hear they get an advantage that we don’t get. It’s a potential 2 game swing. And don’t give me that “if we are good enough blah blah blah” - we get the bad end of an inequitable draw every year.

Yeah, and on top of that I'm not sure people realise the benefit of playing your home games against other good teams that turn losses into wins, whereas your away games turn wins into slightly worse wins.

Look at who Gold Coast played once last year, away:
Carlton, Geelong, Port, Saints, West Coast. (plus North once gather round).

Then who they played once, at home: Collingwood, GWS, Hawthorn, Sydney, Western Bulldogs.

Other than swapping Sydney for Geelong (and Sydney were 10th anyway), given that it's a perfect 9/9 split it's almost a perfect of getting all good teams that you're roughly as good as getting a home ground advantage, but having an away ground disadvantage for matches you win anyway.

Big changes in win probability and therefore overall wins if you turn a possivle 3 point loss into a 9 point win (with the bell curve around the margin), while also turning a 40 point win into a 28 point because its away.

Suns ultimately beat Collingwood by 6 points, Hawks by 8 and us by 10. They ultimately did lose to Port and Richmond away by narrow margins, but they also only beat Saints and Carlton by 19 points each time too - comfortable wins that were made slightly less comfortable by their away ground disadvantage.

Obviously the margins are fine here. Swap around their Darwin game with us and Saints - they beat Saints either way but lose to us and miss finals.

All of this to say that it's not only unfair we play North, Richmond and West Coast once - it's that we play them at home when we play them once. We don't even get the benefit of "locking up" some of the home ground disadvantage guaranteed in 11 away games by turning a guaranteed win into a guaranteed win by a slightly lesser margin, while also using some of our "guaranteed" home ground advantage we get from 11 home games against our top 4 competitors.

Next year when we play almost all of the top 6 fancies for the flag once (or twice Gather round), it's at their home ground.

When you run the numbers and how it impacts expected wins, while it's only a few points here and there, it adds up. It's like saying losing Bont to injury is bad, but when you run the numbers he's only worth 8-10 points per game in expected margin - the same statistical advantage that home games are worth. It adds up over the course of a season.

Spot on - the leg up for Gold Coast last year was hilarious. We start 2 games behind the top teams every year due to the compromised draw. Fact.

 

[Proffessor]

Exactly how I see things. This past season we beat all the crap teams (literally all of them) but lost twice against Brissy, Freo and once against the Pies, Cats, Hawks, Crows, Suns. Would have been better to go 3-6 or 4-5 in those 9 and drop 2 against the other lot.

Had we had a few more home games (at Marvel) amongst those games against the top teams, then some close losses could very easily have turned into close wins. Not only would we have made finals but it would also have made a big difference on the win-loss record against the top clubs.

 

[Unorth]

We still lost to the Hawks, Crows and Dockers last season, all at Marvel. We just needed to win one of those three. The last one was an elimination final, essentially, at Marvel against an interstate opponent that was not a very good side - we squandered a massive opportunity that we won’t get again.

we had a decent fixture last year and learned that beating up on the saints, bombers, Roos etc isn’t enough to get you into the finals.

Let’s just have expectations that this team can actually win difficult games in 2026.

 

[Golden_6]

We still lost to the Hawks, Crows and Dockers last season, all at Marvel. We just needed to win one of those three. The last one was an elimination final, essentially, at Marvel against an interstate opponent that was not a very good side - we squandered a massive opportunity that we won’t get again.

we had a decent fixture last year and learned that beating up on the saints, bombers, Roos etc isn’t enough to get you into the finals.

Let’s just have expectations that this team can actually win difficult games in 2026.

I think that also highlights how frustrating it is to be dealt such a poor fixture.

Yes we need to beat good teams but as last years showed, a win or two is the difference between top 4/top 8 & missing finals entirely. The ladder often doesn't reflect the best teams tanked 1st to 18th with the fixture playing a massive part in where those top teams finish up at the end of the season.

 

[BigFloppa]

Swings and roundabouts

 

[Bushdid911]

This may have been mentioned already, but dogs play hawks twice next year, with hawks listed as the home team for both? Once for Gather Round, and then once for MCG. How does that work?

 

[dergert]

I hate this league

 

[Proffessor]

We still lost to the Hawks, Crows and Dockers last season, all at Marvel. We just needed to win one of those three. The last one was an elimination final, essentially, at Marvel against an interstate opponent that was not a very good side - we squandered a massive opportunity that we won’t get again.

we had a decent fixture last year and learned that beating up on the saints, bombers, Roos etc isn’t enough to get you into the finals.

Let’s just have expectations that this team can actually win difficult games in 2026.

Why should we pay a higher cost for our mistakes than others?

Collingwood lost against Adelaide late in the season but still scraped into the finals courtesy of their perpetual advantages, and then they turned the tables in their Qualifying final.

Each year in the Stawell Gift, the best rated runners start at a major disadvantage against their opponents. They rarely win the event because to do so they need to run to the absolute best of their absolute ability and hope other runners have off days.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

We still lost to the Hawks, Crows and Dockers last season, all at Marvel. We just needed to win one of those three. The last one was an elimination final, essentially, at Marvel against an interstate opponent that was not a very good side - we squandered a massive opportunity that we won’t get again.

we had a decent fixture last year and learned that beating up on the saints, bombers, Roos etc isn’t enough to get you into the finals.

Let’s just have expectations that this team can actually win difficult games in 2026.

I don't think anyone is claiming here that we were a top 4 quality team across the season or whatever.

But that can be true and it can also be true that teams worse than us did finish top 4 on the ladder due to the fixture and everything else (losing the best player in the league and another top 5 player each for a quarter of the season due to injury, etc, when both would have been fit for finals had we played them).

The fact that people parrot on about never making top 4 misses goes to ways I think - it's not only just that we've been unlucky to miss top 4 while being a top 4 team, it's also that we've never been lucky to make top 4 while clearly not being a top 4 team.

None of the five teams who play the majority of their home games at Docklands have made top 4 for 15 years. The stuff I'm complaining about for us also largely applies to those four other teams as well.

 

[JohnnySteel]

Playing good teams right at the start of the year could actually benefit us. Will really show us what we need to work on early, gives us enough time to tinker.

 

[Shacf501]

My point is....just because a team made the finals last year does not mean they will this year...

Fixture at the end of the day is what it is...we are a small club, that hasn't had a huge amount of much success and unfortunately have to suck it up.

Only way to fix it is to win more games as hard as that might be, grow our supporter base and become one of the power house clubs.

Simple really!

True test for Bevo to get the charges up and about, no excuses.

 

[Snarls Barkley]

I miss when Bevo first came across and the ‘why not us?’ mentality permeated through the entire club and filtered through these boards. Such defeatist and apologetic thinking are coming back on this forum and throughout the club in general. Now it’s become ‘Why not us? Oh because the AFL and footy gods hate us’

 

[LondonBulldog]

Didn't hurt Brisbane having a harder draw. You don't win this thing just beating up on the lower teams, you need to win more than your lose against the contenders if you want to be a contender, more to finish top 4.
We have home games against GWS, Freo, Collingwood, and Adelaide.

Our away games against the Hawks are neutral and at the G where finals are played.

Other than Geelong and Brisbane we have every opportunity IF we are to be a serious contender, not a team that flops into the finals with a soft draw then cracks under the pressure ie Adelaide

Brisbane are better than us. We are a side that can finish anywhere from 10th to 5th. We struggle against the best of the best. That won't change, so a couple of easy double up games determine where we finish.

Easy draw helped both Adelaide and Gold Coast Suns last year and will help Port this year.

Yet I do agree it's something that is out of our control, yet we got the rough end this year, finishing 9th we should have had 2 double ups against bottom 6. They only gave us the Dees.

 

[Proffessor]

I miss when Bevo first came across and the ‘why not us?’ mentality permeated through the entire club and filtered through these boards. Such defeatist and apologetic thinking are coming back on this forum and throughout the club in general. Now it’s become ‘Why not us? Oh because the AFL and footy gods hate us’

Couldn't disagree more.
Lamenting that we are poorly treated through the AFL's convoluted fixturing process should in no way be interpreted as defeatist, in fact I would argue it is the exact opposite.

Whilst we need to be careful not to fall into self-pity mode, it is entirely appropriate to be indignant and defiant in the face of unfair and disrespectful treatment.

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

Last year with Brisbane we were listed as the home team, and by playing Brisbane a second time in Brisbane it was clear that we were forced to give up our home game.

Now against Hawthorn next year, apparently, we aren't even entitled to the idea or appearance of a lost home game.

Thank you for confirming what annoyed me, and was told it want the case. We are really getting kicked around by the AFL since Gordon left.

 

[Snarls Barkley]

Thank you for confirming what annoyed me, and was told it want the case. We are really getting kicked around by the AFL since Gordon left.

Every team has 11 home games, 11 away games and 1 gather round game

Other than wearing coloured shorts and using the home change rooms it makes little difference. I googled it and it said for the first season they just did a coin toss to determine who was assigned as the ‘home’ team. I’m guessing it’s still done the same. Not sure how we are getting kicked around

The ones with a fair gripe with gather round are those who get hit with Adelaide and Port and suddenly end up with a 12th away game rather than the neutral game like we had to do the first year. Even then I think it’s overstated but it is a disadvantage

 

[Iamspock]

I see we're playing the Suns only once again, and also again, it's their home game....

 

[Doggy]

I see we're playing the Suns only once again, and also again, it's their home game....

Nepo babies

 

[St 07]

Why can't they have the state of origin but with the best players outside of the AFL, your local footy heroes, and they'll give 110% and it'll still be a rivalry

 

[ossie_21]

Just did another little fixture review, and this fact ****ing blows.

Of last years final 6, we play them a total of 8 times. Just 2 of these are at home.

Brisbane (premiers) - once away, first up
Geelong (****ing losers) - once away
Hawks - twice, once neutral and once away
Collingwood - once at home
Adelaide - once at home & once away
Suns - once away

 

[Doggy Dan]

How the hell does the AFL still claim to be a not for profit organisation and avoid paying any tax? Bastions of the game my *rse, bast*rds of the game is more apt.

 

[Iamspock]

How the hell does the AFL still claim to be a not for profit organisation and avoid paying any tax? Bastions of the game my *rse, bast*rds of the game is more apt.

It's because they run charities... the Gold Coast Suns Foundation and the GWS Giants Foundation.