Fixture 2026 Fixture

[manicmagpie]

Why doesn’t Easter Thursday rotate between Brisbane and Melbourne? In 2021 they played at Docklands but I’m assuming that was because of travel restrictions at the time. I get it from the perspective of getting lots of pies fans to travel for the long weekend, but it’s rare that you see two teams agree to a marquee match like this that’s only played as one teams home game.

Yes, in 2021 the game was originally scheduled for the Gabba as usual but was switched with the return game because of covid issues.

I'm fine with it remaining a Brisbane home game, we've got enough marquee fixtures.

 

[GroggSquad]

always funny when clubs who rarely travel and play 18 games at their home ground have a sook

Huh? How does that apply to North?

 

[Commando]

Nobody mentions it because Geelong got Richmond twice as their Bottom 6 team, instead of Crows or Suns.
Nobody mentions it because Geelong got Essendon & St Kilda twice as their Middle 6 teams, instead of Pies and/or Dogs.

Nothing else needs to be said really. Those soft double-ups were comical for a Top 3 team that is already gifted 10 games at their training ground fortress AND only needed to jump on a plane 6 times

Got Sydney and Port though, previous prelim and grand finalist
Not our fault they were poorer

 

[Elixuh]

First time the Qclash double is in the top 6 bracket and we get a rule change.

Good times to be had in 2026.

 

[daniel_4tw]

Teams change - Port were a "tough" double up heading into 2025 based on the 2024 ladder.

And also when did fans actually start to accept the handicapping?

Why should Brisbane play Geelong, Collingwood, Adelaide and GWS twice and not Carlton, Essendon, Richmond and WC?

If the fixture isn't equal, your double up opponents should be random, not be designed to make it harder for some teams and easier for others.

Agreed.

Every season should be fresh. Why should you be handicapped/be given a leg up based on a completely different years results?

So weird we accept it as normal.

 

[Walshawk]

Agreed.

Every season should be fresh. Why should you be handicapped/be given a leg up based on a completely different years results?

So weird we accept it as normal.

Is there any other sport than professional running where we make it harder for the best team/athlete to win?

Tennis and most world cups actually give the top seeds an easier path to the finals. Swimming and Aths the quickest get the middle lanes. If the aim of handicapping the best is to get weaker teams in the finals, then by definition we are reducing the playing standard of the finals series. Strange.

 

[GroggSquad]

Teams change - Port were a "tough" double up heading into 2025 based on the 2024 ladder.

And also when did fans actually start to accept the handicapping?

Why should Brisbane play Geelong, Collingwood, Adelaide and GWS twice and not Carlton, Essendon, Richmond and WC?

If the fixture isn't equal, your double up opponents should be random, not be designed to make it harder for some teams and easier for others.

I actually think a big issue with this season was how bad the handicapping was (ie. Geelong ended up with two Top 6 teams twice, while West Coast ended up with three Top 6 teams twice WTF?).

It just meant the end of the season was really boring because weak teams were fixtured against tough teams twice instead of generating more blockbusters with double-ups between strong teams.

I like that the increase from 3 teams to 4 teams in your bracket has the potential to improve the snoozefest we had this season.

 

[doppleganger]

I actually think a big issue with last season was how bad the handicapping was (ie. Geelong ended up with two Top 6 teams twice, while West Coast ended up with three Top 6 teams twice WTF?).

It just meant the end of the season was really boring because weak teams were fixtured against tough teams twice instead of generating more blockbusters with double-ups between strong teams.

I like that the increase from 3 teams to 4 teams in your bracket has the potential to improve the snoozefest we had this season.

Why do people assume they know which teams will be good in 2026?

The end of 2025 was boring because there was only really 9 good teams, the majority of teams were miles off.

Usually there is a bigger pool of teams around the middle and 11,12,13 wins gets you close to or even make finals....last year 8 teams won 15 games, which made it boring.

 

[GroggSquad]

Why do people assume they know which teams will be good in 2026?

The end of 2025 was boring because there was only really 9 good teams, the majority of teams were miles off.

Usually there is a bigger pool of teams around the middle and 11,12,13 wins gets you close to or even make finals....last year 8 teams won 15 games, which made it boring.

Was it really that unpredictable that Essendon, St Kilda, Melbourne, North, Richmond & West Coast would remain ordinary?

I don't think it took much hindsight to realise these teams probably deserved more games amongst themselves.

 

[Seattle Mariners]

Been a poor day or 2 in terms of fixture leaks.
Have we learnt anything aside from the final 10, and the double up adjustment?

They haven't even confirmed round 0 despite the whole world knowing the matchups.

 

[fl4gd0n5]

Honestly, I think the AFL is just a TV show. It's just never going to be fair. There are nine teams in one state and even within that, there is a big disparity between the Collingwood's of the world, who teams are ASKING to play in games at the MCG, and the North Melbourne's who are selling off their games because they don't make enough money.

Because the AFL has to also be a charity to the small clubs, they need big revenue. We can argue about fairness of the salaries for commissioners (ranging $10-15m between 10 of them), or the CEO (which I believe is $3m+), but they are running a billion dollar organisation. Their salary is probably at a similar level (or even less) than the salary of a CEO at a company that produces the same level of revenue.

So, what's a good way for the AFL to a) increase revenue via TV viewers, b) increase revenue via attendance numbers, and c) increase revenue via membership numbers? By making as many teams in the competition have a decent chance of making finals, as late into the season as possible. It is silly from a purist perspective, but if you just want to complain about the competition being unfair, you know that it is, so you can't be surprised.

Unfortunately, for those of you who support successful teams, that's probably frustrating. There are ultimately so many people who are able to run a successful club and that's why the good teams are where they are.

They could make the competition 100% fair, in which case every AFL side would go back into their respective state league, because there is disparity in each team's travel, and then every team would play at their own ground. That would mean that club's wouldn't be able to have 100k members, unless they decided to spend $2b+ on a 100k seat stadium (I guess Melbourne wouldn't have to because their ground is the MCG). That means the competition wouldn't make enough money so players would be part time, and the product would be bad. And that's just in the VFL, the Sydney and Queensland teams would die. SANFL and WAFL would probably survive, just, because why would VFL fans watch WAFL games? Why do people watch games in other states that don't involve their team, or a rival? Because it's in the same competition that their team plays in. If there was no AFL, the WAFL and SANFL viewership numbers would fall off a cliff because there is way more people in Victoria, who all of a sudden would only be interested in the VFL.

 

[qlderlions]

Been a poor day or 2 in terms of fixture leaks.
Have we learnt anything aside from the final 10, and the double up adjustment?

They haven't even confirmed round 0 despite the whole world knowing the matchups.

Agree. Is there any reason they wouldn't use the adelaide cup public holiday to create a Monday game. Adelaide vs Fremantle would be a cracking game and draw in two extra states into openning round.

 

[rohan171]

Was it really that unpredictable that Essendon, St Kilda, Melbourne, North, Richmond & West Coast would remain ordinary?

I don't think it took much hindsight to realise these teams probably deserved more games amongst themselves.

You can never predict what teams are going to do next year, I highly doubt anyone predicted Adelaide to finish first before the season started.

The fixture will never be fair game unless they make it that every team plays each other once or twice each, which I can’t see happening anytime soon, so I guess this 6-6-6 structure is as good as it gets for now.

 

[blueiris]

Been a poor day or 2 in terms of fixture leaks.
Have we learnt anything aside from the final 10, and the double up adjustment?

They haven't even confirmed round 0 despite the whole world knowing the matchups.

Considering the fixture comes out Thursday I’m expecting Gather round to be leaked tomorrow

 

[GroggSquad]

You can never predict what teams are going to do next year, I highly doubt anyone predicted Adelaide to finish first before the season started.

The fixture will never be fair game unless they make it that every team plays each other once or twice each, which I can’t see happening anytime soon, so I guess this 6-6-6 structure is as good as it gets for now.

Yeah Adelaide is an obvious outlier, but even putting that aside I think they did a pretty poor job guesstimating a fair 6-6-6 structure this season.

 

[doppleganger]

Was it really that unpredictable that Essendon, St Kilda, Melbourne, North, Richmond & West Coast would remain ordinary?

Will they be the bottom 6 in 2026?
Should be pretty clear yeah.

I don't think it took much hindsight to realise these teams probably deserved more games amongst themselves.

Why do they deserve games against each other?

When did people accept the premise that the fixture is akin to a handicapped stawell gift race?

It was never that way, they should be all treated as isolated individual seasons - just stupid to go Brisbane as premiers, you start from scratch, but Richmond because you are woeful you can start from the 15m mark next time.

 

[The Feeder Club]

You can never predict what teams are going to do next year, I highly doubt anyone predicted Adelaide to finish first before the season started.

The fixture will never be fair game unless they make it that every team plays each other once or twice each, which I can’t see happening anytime soon, so I guess this 6-6-6 structure is as good as it gets for now.

As has been pointed out for many years though, they can make 6-6-6 work better, whilst they work towards the ideal of playing everyone the equal amount of times
Simply use the same 6-6-6 system they're using now but only allocate the double ups after round 17 when everyone has played each other once. That way the double ups reflect this year's form, not last year's form
It's not perfect but it would improve the fairness a bit.

 

[GroggSquad]

Will they be the bottom 6 in 2026?
Should be pretty clear yeah.

Outside of a shuffle of St Kilda with a Port or Carlton - yeah I think it's quite clear. What do you think?

Why do they deserve games against each other?

When did people accept the premise that the fixture is akin to a handicapped stawell gift race?

It was never that way, they should be all treated as isolated individual seasons - just stupid to go Brisbane as premiers, you start from scratch, but Richmond because you are woeful you can start from the 15m mark next time.

If it was up to me, we would have 17 rounds where everyone plays each other once. But we don't, so I reckon the 6-6-6 fixture structure serves well to (somewhat) balance out the Academy/Father Son/Free Agency benefits good teams like Brisbane & Geelong enjoy while delivering better contests for neutrals.

 

[doppleganger]

Outside of a shuffle of St Kilda with a Port or Carlton - yeah I think it's quite clear. What do you think?

Reckon, apart from Rich and WC - it is wide open.

Even my own team, the Pies, could have a big implosion.

If it was up to me, we would have 17 rounds where everyone plays each other once.

I would do 18 games, so you get the local derby double ups.

But you spread the games out over 22 weeks, so can still have the Thurs/Friday clashes that TV demands.

But we don't, so I reckon the 6-6-6 serves well to balance out the Academy/Father Son/Free Agency benefits good teams like Brisbane enjoy while delivering better contests for neutrals.

Top 10 finals, but going back to the old final 5 system is a way of adding more games and $$ also.

Would rather 18 games in H&A and then a final 10 over the current 23 week handicapped option.

 

[POSA98]

Why doesn’t Easter Thursday rotate between Brisbane and Melbourne? In 2021 they played at Docklands but I’m assuming that was because of travel restrictions at the time. I get it from the perspective of getting lots of pies fans to travel for the long weekend, but it’s rare that you see two teams agree to a marquee match like this that’s only played as one teams home game.

I’d be surprised is Collingwood don’t get Essendon twice next year. 2025 was the first year since 2016 that they haven’t played twice. And, I just had a quick look, it seems as though 1991 was the last time before that, which is crazy. Probably because of the way they used to do the fixture, and ANZAC day falling within the first 5 rounds most years even though the official ANZAC day game started in ‘95.

You make a very good point. When you consider all other marquee games rotate between the 2 clubs. It would make sense for this matchup too.

 

[scoman]

Another free top 5 pick not enough for you?

We are getting Annable for free? That's great news. I wonder who we will pick with 17 and 23 then. Off to the draft boards for a look. What a rort!

 

[hawkman]

Agree. Is there any reason they wouldn't use the adelaide cup public holiday to create a Monday game. Adelaide vs Fremantle would be a cracking game and draw in two extra states into openning round.

You don't want a Monday night game in the 1st week. It sets you on a path of regular 6 day breaks to get back to a Saturday.

it can't be a day game because all of WA will be at work so Fremantle supporters wouldn't get to watch it

 

[Seattle Mariners]

LEAK ALERT

Bulldogs V Essendon on Easter Sunday night.

That’s the best we can do for leaks today, just 2 days out from fixture release day.

 

[Seattle Mariners]

Given St Kilda have been removed from Easter Sunday (the week before Gather Round) it tells me that they’ll be on Thursday or Friday night at Gather Round.

Dare I say it - Adelaide V St Kilda, Thursday night.

 

[Gavin Excell]

Outside of a shuffle of St Kilda with a Port or Carlton - yeah I think it's quite clear. What do you think?


If it was up to me, we would have 17 rounds where everyone plays each other once. But we don't, so I reckon the 6-6-6 fixture structure serves well to (somewhat) balance out the Academy/Father Son/Free Agency benefits good teams like Brisbane & Geelong enjoy while delivering better contests for neutrals.

Amen
17 games would be elite