2026 fixture wishlist/discussion

[braddsey]

Honestly, I would prefer the little squib play against us. That turnover king would be our second best player behind Harris.

I was thinking the same thing as I wrote it!

 

[CarterS]

7 rounds of footy and we've had 2 home games.

Home, away, bye, away, home, gather round, away

Lucky statistically we are better away than at home...

 

[dlanod]

As a caller said on SEN this morning, which the NRL is doing well with double headers, is that given its school holidays and people are in the city in Melbourne, they should've scheduled a game starting at 5 or 5:30 and then gone to a game at 8pm.

Yep, that's the only time it'd work - 4:40pm to 7:00pm, 7:30pm to 10:00pm. The NRL works a lot better with their shorter running time, so trying to copy it just for the sake of it is painfully dumb (so likely to continue).

 

[Section 5]

I don't agree with changing the Blues v Tigers game. Surprised the AFL are considering a change.

Going into 2026 the AFL knew Tigers would be crap and the Blues likely not too far in front of the Tigers

Let's say you play these 2 later in the year when they are officially 18th and 13th.

The new season hope all teams have, the fans and viewing audience is taken away. They now know they are terrible.
The crowd later in the year is half of what it was in 2026 being 74,313.
This year a 4-point thriller (because they were evenly matched) with 74k screaming fans

But apparently that is not good enough for the powers that be should the rumor be true.
If it isn't broke leave it alone.

 

[royboy2]

Disagree I think its the best thing they can do, Watching Carl vs Rich Round 1 every year is like watching re-runs of M*A*S*H .

 

[Elixuh]

Idk that Carlton game last year where they had to cancel Sen membership day because they lost to the tigers was pretty funny

 

[KissKiss]

I prefer the option of the Prelim finals losers playing the opener. Then save the GF rematch for a few weeks so you build up to it

 

[dlanod]

Disagree I think its the best thing they can do, Watching Carl vs Rich Round 1 every year is like watching re-runs of M*A*S*H .

Disagree. I like reruns of MASH.

 

[Section 5]

Russell: AFL replacing “dud”, “silly” Opening Round with a worse idea

“Our AFL is big enough to have a start to the season that doesn’t include the MCG.”

www.sen.com.au

“The AFL is considering – and almost about to – replace the dud, silly, failed Opening Round concept with an even worse idea, if you can believe that there could be such a thing.

“What’s worse than an Opening Round starting March 5 with only the elite 10 teams playing, and eight teams and their fanbases totally excluded?

“I’ll tell you what’s worse – no football. No football in early March. Instead of starting March 5 with just 10 teams, we’re going to have no football in early March. No team plays in early March. We might have a State of Origin game, and that’s about it.

“There will be a two-week delay to start the AFL season next year, because there is a cricket match on at the MCG, and our ‘national game’ can’t be opened until the MCG is available.

 

[MSB ROYS]

“There will be a two-week delay to start the AFL season next year, because there is a cricket match on at the MCG, and our ‘national game’ can’t be opened until the MCG is available.

Marvel, Kardinia (GMHBA) Park, Mars Stadium in Victoria + every other ground in Australia available LOL! Amateurs...

 

[braddsey]

Marvel, Kardinia (GMHBA) Park, Mars Stadium in Victoria + every other ground in Australia available LOL! Amateurs...

...or once again it's nothing about stadium availability, fan engagement, or any of the above. More likely, the FTA broadcast partner doesn't want to cannibalise their own audience.

 

[martinson]

...or once again it's nothing about stadium availability, fan engagement, or any of the above. More likely, the FTA broadcast partner doesn't want to cannibalise their own audience.

Everyone knows. Coming up with their usual BS is starting to wear very thin.

 

[Ironmonger]

Interesting to read this:

https://www.afl.com.au/news/1512906...-as-afl-seeks-to-maximise-interest-in-fixture

"Clubs have put forward certain requests for the floating fixtures, with Gold Coast pushing for a Friday night game against Collingwood in round 17 when they host the Pies at People First Stadium."

I'd have hoped that our match against the Cats that round would be on the Friday night. Realistically the Sydney-Bulldogs game would probably beat both of us out.

Hopefully the AFL do the right thing and give us our fair share of primetime, but most likely they'll prioritise other teams.

I think we wind up with another 2-4 games on Friday night for the rest of the season. A little underwhelming.

Round 16: v Sydney - Surely a dead-set certainty for Friday night
Round 17: away to Geelong - Unlikely, maybe Thursday
Round 18: v Essendon - V unlikely
Round 19: away to West Coast - no chance
Round 20: v Port Adelaide - v unlikely
Round 21: away to Carlton - v unlikely
Round 22: v Hawthorn - Surely this is on Friday night
Round 23: v Gold Coast - This clearly looks like match of the round, but the AFL are deeply reluctant to put non-Victorian derbies as Friday night games, so who knows. It wouldn't shock me if they went with Hawks-Pies
Round 24: away to Collingwood - Solid chance. Demons v Dogs probably the other candidate.

 

[Big Sauce 21]

I'd rather not play Thursday or Fridays. Hate them

 

[MSB ROYS]

I'd rather not play Thursday or Fridays. Hate them

At least it's on FTA TV for some people who can't or don't want to access Kayo/Foxtel.

 

[GenericUsername202]

miss saturday night fta so much

 

[Section 5]

At least it's on FTA TV for some people who can't or don't want to access Kayo/Foxtel.

For Brisbane people the Kayo/Foxtel paid access for Saturday games is thankfully over now.

Just cancelled mine today. Still got use till the 13th of May but will watch FTA.
During the cancel process Kayo did offer $10 for 5 months but no from me.

Maybe those that want to keep Kayo go through the cancel process and then take up that offer

 

[braddsey]

For Brisbane people the Kayo/Foxtel paid access for Saturday games is thankfully over now.

Just cancelled mine today. Still got use till the 13th of May but will watch FTA.
During the cancel process Kayo did offer $10 for 5 months but no from me.

Maybe those that want to keep Kayo go through the cancel process and then take up that offer

That's my plan for the remainder of the season. I signed up for the 1-month premium for $25.99, then cancelled with a couple of days to go, so was offered next month for $30.99 and accepted. Will repeat every month for the remainder of the season.
I'm happy to pay $30/month for the duration of the footy season, but not longer. I don't watch anything else on Kayo other than live AFL and the occasional replay. If they try to charge me anymore than $30.99, then that's when I'm out.

 

[____]

I'd rather not play Thursday or Fridays. Hate them

At least it's on FTA TV for some people who can't or don't want to access Kayo/Foxtel.

My biggest annoyance of two Friday games is that Friday night games are objectively a shit time to attend (unless if you're unemployed, get Fridays off or have a cushy office job), but when there's two games on a Friday, neither game gets the Broadway treatment it should be getting as compensation.

 

[Perrip]

Herald Sun

The AFL is set to release the next portion of its fixture after next weekend’s round of games, with Sydney and Brisbane likely to be rewarded for their strong starts to the season.
...
Fixture boss Josh Bowler also promised Brisbane more prime time clashes in the back part of the season after only three in the first fixture block.
“There is always one club who you probably sit there and say you’d like to get a few more games in,” Bowler said.
“But Brisbane are in Opening Round and have a marquee game, playing a Thursday Grand Final rematch against Geelong.
“They’ve got a pretty strong run home, so we expect to see more from Brisbane in the back part of the fixture.”

 

[Grasshopper17]

Interesting to read this:

https://www.afl.com.au/news/1512906...-as-afl-seeks-to-maximise-interest-in-fixture

"Clubs have put forward certain requests for the floating fixtures, with Gold Coast pushing for a Friday night game against Collingwood in round 17 when they host the Pies at People First Stadium."

I'd have hoped that our match against the Cats that round would be on the Friday night. Realistically the Sydney-Bulldogs game would probably beat both of us out.

Hopefully the AFL do the right thing and give us our fair share of primetime, but most likely they'll prioritise other teams.

I think we wind up with another 2-4 games on Friday night for the rest of the season. A little underwhelming.

Round 16: v Sydney - Surely a dead-set certainty for Friday night
Round 17: away to Geelong - Unlikely, maybe Thursday
Round 18: v Essendon - V unlikely
Round 19: away to West Coast - no chance
Round 20: v Port Adelaide - v unlikely
Round 21: away to Carlton - v unlikely
Round 22: v Hawthorn - Surely this is on Friday night
Round 23: v Gold Coast - This clearly looks like match of the round, but the AFL are deeply reluctant to put non-Victorian derbies as Friday night games, so who knows. It wouldn't shock me if they went with Hawks-Pies
Round 24: away to Collingwood - Solid chance. Demons v Dogs probably the other candidate.

Really surprised (although I probably shouldn't be) that we haven't been name-dropped at all in the AFL website or SEN's discussions today to feature in any Thursday or Friday night games.

Sounds like a huge win for me... Won't need to burn any annual leave and hopefully all our away games are day games so can fly in fly out on the same day!