Fixture 2026 Fixture

[Dirty Bird]

Overall thoughts

I am one of the few people that seem to have this belief that opening rd could be good..............IF DONE RIGHT

And this is an unmitigated disaster, probably the worst I've seen yet
Teams that have runs on the board with their tune up game vs fresh pigs for the slaughter:
Carlton get the advantage over Richmond in Rd 1
Gold Coast get the advantage over West Coast in Rd 1
Geelong get the advantage over Fremantle in Rd 1
Hawthorn get the advantage over Essendon in Rd 1
St Kilda get the advantage over Melbourne in Rd 1
Collingwood get the advantage over Adelaide in Rd 1

Teams that get an advantage of the extra bye:
Geelong get the advantage over Adelaide in Rd 3
Collingwood get the advantage over Greater Western Sydney in Rd 3
Brisbane get the advantage over St Kilda in Rd 3
Carlton get the advantage over Melbourne in Rd 3
Sydney get the advantage over West Coast in Rd 4
Gold Coast get the advantage over Melbourne in Rd 4
Western Bulldogs get the advantage over Essendon in Rd 4
Hawthorn get the advantage over Geelong in Rd 4
Greater Western Sydney get the advantage over Richmond in Rd 5
St Kilda get the advantage over Port Adelaide in Rd 5

That is an unmitigated disaster. No coverage to cover freak disasters like last year. Not using it to fix fixturing issues (Why not give Bris/Coll the bye together before playing each other Easter Thursday?

You can make a fixture where it doesnt give legs up everywhere. But no, you have to **** it up.

Other than Bulldogs vs GWS and Sydney vs Brisbane - Everything has been ballsed up

Also on another note with what the AFL ballsed up, that's 2 years in a row the same team has gotten a ride with true away games. Once you take out games sold and look at it as a pure home/away side of things across the vic teams. The same team has had a huge ride 2 years in a row.
6: Geelong, Western Bulldogs
5: Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Hawthorn, Melbourne
4: Richmond, St Kilda, North Melbourne

idc about neutral games where there's part time members so the crowd isn't hostile. Or games you sold. I care about pure home/away, and that's 2 years in a row North have had the best away fixture in the league........By far. Why should they get a leg up simply because they sold 2 games to Perth? BS.

Honestly - This is perhaps the worst fixture I've ever seen. And it's really making me want to see if there's any chance as a fan we can oust Dillon. This league (Both mens and womens) have taken many steps back under him. It had flaws before hand, but it feels that everything Dillon touches goes to shit.

 

[Whiskers]

You still get the easy run home so AFL still looking after you

Yeah coz that clearly works.
AFL sticking to their method, a soft lead in to finals = less match hardened. Can’t have cats winning can we?
Chris Fagan acknowledged this advantage for the lions in 2024.

Maybe we should sook as hard as Brisbane did so we get a better fixture.

All we’ve heard from Brisbane is Wah Wah Wah we got the hardest draw ever, meanwhile you can’t beat North.
Why would the lions want easy teams?

 

[manicmagpie]

Collingwood signed the deal for the mcg and next you will be telling us 15 odd games at the mcg does not favour you.

Big Footy maths:

Share your home ground with 5 other teams and play 14 games there = disgraceful, an outrage, the competition is rigged etc.

Share your home ground with just 1 other team and play 13 games there = brilliant, deserved, should be more actually etc.

 

[parano1a]

Also pies barely leaving Victoria again i see.

Every single year people whinge about this.

The simple fact is that Collingwood has contractual obligations to play a set number of games at the MCG and Marvel Stadium.

Every single year Collingwood play:
14 games at the MCG (9 home, 5 away)
3 games at Marvel (2 home, 1 away)
1 game at Adelaide Oval (Gather Round)
5 games at interstate venues (5 away)

 

[Dirty Bird]

Also - How ****ing petty is the SACA?
Scheduling Womens ODD at AO the weekend on Rd 1

 

[Dirty Bird]

Every single year people whinge about this.

The simple fact is that Collingwood has contractual obligations to play a set number of games at the MCG and Marvel Stadium.

1 of the 2 fixtures that should be torn to shreds.

Maybe GWS should sign a contract with ENGIE Stadium to play 23 games there.

Then see what the AFL does.

And if the AFL says no, bring up the Collingwood contract.

There should be zero contracts in the league that dictate away games.

 

[jwikked]

This league (Both mens and womens) have taken many steps back under him. It had flaws before hand, but it feels that everything Dillon touches goes to shit.

Said to a mate the other day, we didn't know how good we had it with Gil McLaughlan. I'd even take Andrew Demetriou at this rate.

 

[010203]

I didn't mind the Sunday night games this year

 

[Dirty Bird]

1 of the 2 fixtures that should be torn to shreds.

Maybe GWS should sign a contract with ENGIE Stadium to play 23 games there.

Then see what the AFL does.

And if the AFL says no, bring up the Collingwood contract.

There should be zero contracts in the league that dictate away games.

I hoenstly dont even care if Collingwood get 14 games at the MCG.
11 home, then away games vs Haw/Melb/Rich etc.
Im fine with it

But having a contract that states it is what I'm against.

Clubs should only be allowed to sign their home games away.
Similar to what Richmond did to get that Tassie game.
But away games? I'm against that.

 

[010203]

King's birthday in Alice Springs. Love it.

ANZAC Day in Tassie too for Collingwood

 

[Bluish]

Overall thoughts

I am one of the few people that seem to have this belief that opening rd could be good..............IF DONE RIGHT

And this is an unmitigated disaster, probably the worst I've seen yet
Teams that have runs on the board with their tune up game vs fresh pigs for the slaughter:
Carlton get the advantage over Richmond in Rd 1
Gold Coast get the advantage over West Coast in Rd 1
Geelong get the advantage over Fremantle in Rd 1
Hawthorn get the advantage over Essendon in Rd 1
St Kilda get the advantage over Melbourne in Rd 1
Collingwood get the advantage over Adelaide in Rd 1

Teams that get an advantage of the extra bye:
Geelong get the advantage over Adelaide in Rd 3
Collingwood get the advantage over Greater Western Sydney in Rd 3
Brisbane get the advantage over St Kilda in Rd 3
Carlton get the advantage over Melbourne in Rd 3
Sydney get the advantage over West Coast in Rd 4
Gold Coast get the advantage over Melbourne in Rd 4
Western Bulldogs get the advantage over Essendon in Rd 4
Hawthorn get the advantage over Geelong in Rd 4
Greater Western Sydney get the advantage over Richmond in Rd 5
St Kilda get the advantage over Port Adelaide in Rd 5

That is an unmitigated disaster. No coverage to cover freak disasters like last year. Not using it to fix fixturing issues (Why not give Bris/Coll the bye together before playing each other Easter Thursday?

You can make a fixture where it doesnt give legs up everywhere. But no, you have to **** it up.

Other than Bulldogs vs GWS and Sydney vs Brisbane - Everything has been ballsed up

Also on another note with what the AFL ballsed up, that's 2 years in a row the same team has gotten a ride with true away games. Once you take out games sold and look at it as a pure home/away side of things across the vic teams. The same team has had a huge ride 2 years in a row.
6: Geelong, Western Bulldogs
5: Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Hawthorn, Melbourne
4: Richmond, St Kilda
3: North Melbourne

idc about neutral games where there's part time members so the crowd isn't hostile. Or games you sold. I care about pure home/away, and that's 2 years in a row North have had the best away fixture in the league........By far. Why should they get a leg up simply because they sold 2 games to Perth? BS.

Honestly - This is perhaps the worst fixture I've ever seen. And it's really making me want to see if there's any chance as a fan we can oust Dillon. This league (Both mens and womens) have taken many steps back under him. It had flaws before hand, but it feels that everything Dillon touches goes to shit.

Where did you get that 3 from for North? I can see 9x games outside of Victoria, take away 2x sold and 1x Gather round, that’s 6. Could at a stretch take away the Hawthorn game at Launceston, that’s still 5 bonafide away games (Port and Adel at AO, GWS at Manuka, Sydney at SCG, West Coast at Optus).

 

[parano1a]

For the fixture nerds out there, what is the longest gap that you can remember between playing an opponent?
Any teams.

Collingwood haven't played University since Round 14, 1914. That's a gap of 111 seasons.

For the record, the Pies won by 80 points in front of 8,028 at the MCG.

(Well, you did say any teams)

 

[ep12]

Collingwood fans need to just be quiet. You have a great fixture every year and every year it is biased towards you. You know that and we know that.

Stop claiming that your club breaks our minds just because you exist. We all know that you are the biggest club and the afl bows to that every year.

Your contract with the MCC is a blessing for you and is the only one upheld by the afl (the afl breaches Hawthorns and Melbournes contract with the MCC every year).

It is not a case of other supporters having a sook for the sake of it, it is us complaining because some clubs are massively advantaged by a fixture that is meant to assist with the levelling with the completion.

 

[Dirty Bird]

Where did you get that 3 from for North? I can see 9x games outside of Victoria, take away 2x sold and 1x Gather round, that’s 6. Could at a stretch take away the Hawthorn game at Launceston, that’s still 5 bonafide away games (Port and Adel at AO, GWS at Manuka, Sydney at SCG, West Coast at Optus).

oops, missed one. still 4 true away games and best in the league 2 straight years

 

[wcv1475]

Collingwood signed the deal for the mcg and next you will be telling us 15 odd games at the mcg does not favour you.

I was just asking how you would fix it, we hear all the time it is an issue what is the solution?

 

[fl4gd0n5]

I was just asking how you would fix it, we hear all the time it is an issue what is the solution?

Why do people think removing whatever contract there is will decrease the number of Collingwood games at the MCG? If they didn't get pretty much guaranteed 70k for MCG games, more depending on the opponent, the AFL would have tried to get rid of that contract. The AFL probably hate that Melbourne have to play all or most of their home games at the MCG because they have an average home attendance of less than 40k. Contract or no contract, Collingwood ain't playing less than 14 MCG games per season. Every club wants to play them there, the AFL wants every club to play them there. It isn't their fault they have so many rusted on supporters. And it certainly doesn't mean the fixture is biased towards them when teams ask to play them there.

 

[Grumpyshades]

Collingwood supporters hey!!! Won't be happy until they get 23 straight games at the MCG and all the bottom sides twice.
Would swap your fixture for ours in a heart beat.

I laugh how the VFL"s difficulty fixture rating system doesn't take travel into account

how convenient

'we have such a tuff draw sook sook'
checks fixture yep 16 games in Victoria

hilarious

 

[Robroy22]

Why do people think removing whatever contract there is will decrease the number of Collingwood games at the MCG? If they didn't get pretty much guaranteed 70k for MCG games, more depending on the opponent, the AFL would have tried to get rid of that contract. The AFL probably hate that Melbourne have to play all or most of their home games at the MCG because they have an average home attendance of less than 40k. Contract or no contract, Collingwood ain't playing less than 14 MCG games per season. Every club wants to play them there, the AFL wants every club to play them there. It isn't their fault they have so many rusted on supporters. And it certainly doesn't mean the fixture is biased towards them when teams ask to play them there.

Finally.....someone who knows.

 

[VicBased]

I was just asking how you would fix it, we hear all the time it is an issue what is the solution?

Travel more.

 

[wcv1475]

Travel more.

Ok so how, we don't sell interstate games so excluding that we are playing ONE less game interstate than the other 50% of Vic clubs, Richmond without selling games play 4 interstate, less than us. So yep Travel more how does that work, should we play the 6 other MCG tenants interstate or at a neutral venue, can you actually give us a proper solution "travel more" is a statement not a solution, should we somehow play 4 games in WA, 3 in QLD let us know ?

 

[VicBased]

I laugh how the VFL"s difficulty fixture rating system doesn't take travel into account

how convenient

'we have such a tuff draw sook sook'
checks fixture yep 16 games in Victoria

hilarious

Agreed, the Vic's think we are not disadvantaged with the 50 odd thousand k's we travel every year without allowing for recovery etc and travel fatigue.
Brainwashed are they who don't think it through.

 

[VicBased]

Ok so how, we don't sell interstate games so excluding that we are playing ONE less game interstate than the other 50% of Vic clubs, Richmond without selling games play 4 interstate, less than us. So yep Travel more how does that work, should we play the 6 other MCG tenants interstate or at a neutral venue, can you actually give us a proper solution "travel more" is a statement not a solution, should we somehow play 4 games in WA, 3 in QLD let us know ?

Not difficult , there are soon to be 19 teams so only one more Vic team.
Don't tell me it can't be organised that Vic teams travel the same amount of times as Interstate teams.
Just means there would not be as many games in Vic.
Heaven forbid, that would mean it would be a NATIONAL comp.

 

[PonsfordMagpie]

Loving how much our club just existing breaks the brains of every other clubs' fans.

Anyway, have the AFL published the PDF booklet they usually put out anywhere? The one under the fixture on the AFL official site is still 2025.

https://resources.afl.com.au/afl/document/2025/11/12/4e6d5234-cd49-4e3f-89e2-0449aa7c356e/2026-AFL-Fixture-VF.pdf

 

[Mat Mann]

Overall thoughts

I am one of the few people that seem to have this belief that opening rd could be good..............IF DONE RIGHT

And this is an unmitigated disaster, probably the worst I've seen yet
Teams that have runs on the board with their tune up game vs fresh pigs for the slaughter:
Carlton get the advantage over Richmond in Rd 1
Gold Coast get the advantage over West Coast in Rd 1
Geelong get the advantage over Fremantle in Rd 1
Hawthorn get the advantage over Essendon in Rd 1
St Kilda get the advantage over Melbourne in Rd 1
Collingwood get the advantage over Adelaide in Rd 1

Teams that get an advantage of the extra bye:
Geelong get the advantage over Adelaide in Rd 3
Collingwood get the advantage over Greater Western Sydney in Rd 3
Brisbane get the advantage over St Kilda in Rd 3
Carlton get the advantage over Melbourne in Rd 3
Sydney get the advantage over West Coast in Rd 4
Gold Coast get the advantage over Melbourne in Rd 4
Western Bulldogs get the advantage over Essendon in Rd 4
Hawthorn get the advantage over Geelong in Rd 4
Greater Western Sydney get the advantage over Richmond in Rd 5
St Kilda get the advantage over Port Adelaide in Rd 5

That is an unmitigated disaster. No coverage to cover freak disasters like last year. Not using it to fix fixturing issues (Why not give Bris/Coll the bye together before playing each other Easter Thursday?

You can make a fixture where it doesnt give legs up everywhere. But no, you have to **** it up.

Other than Bulldogs vs GWS and Sydney vs Brisbane - Everything has been ballsed up

Also on another note with what the AFL ballsed up, that's 2 years in a row the same team has gotten a ride with true away games. Once you take out games sold and look at it as a pure home/away side of things across the vic teams. The same team has had a huge ride 2 years in a row.
6: Geelong, Western Bulldogs
5: Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Hawthorn, Melbourne
4: Richmond, St Kilda, North Melbourne

idc about neutral games where there's part time members so the crowd isn't hostile. Or games you sold. I care about pure home/away, and that's 2 years in a row North have had the best away fixture in the league........By far. Why should they get a leg up simply because they sold 2 games to Perth? BS.

Honestly - This is perhaps the worst fixture I've ever seen. And it's really making me want to see if there's any chance as a fan we can oust Dillon. This league (Both mens and womens) have taken many steps back under him. It had flaws before hand, but it feels that everything Dillon touches goes to shit.

rnd 12 2012
rnd 8 2013
rnd 23 2014
rnd 7 2015
rnd 11 2016
rnd 12 2017
rnd 20 2019
rnd 7 2020
rnd 10 2022
rnd 9 2023
rnd 18 2024
rnd 1 2025
rnd 6 2026 Saints playing consecutive games in Adelaide

vs

rnd 4 2014
rnd 3 2018
rnd 6 2019
rnd 13 2021

 

[royboy2]

AFL 2026 FIXTURE DIFFICULTY

Based on the 2025 percentage of the teams they play twice in 2026

(Hardest) 1. Geelong

2. Gold Coast Suns

3. Collingwood

4. Fremantle

5. Hawthorn

6. Western Bulldogs

7. Adelaide Crows

8. Brisbane Lions

9. Carlton

10. Melbourne

11. Sydney Swans

12. Essendon

13. St Kilda

14. West Coast Eagles

15. GWS Giants

16. Richmond

17. Port Adelaide

(Easiest) 18. North Melbourne



Just leaving this here so when a couple sides fall unexpectedly no one claims we got an easy draw.

I had a bit of a Crack as well, ranked every side according to ladder after finals position. Brisbane 18, Geelong 17 etc. I then placed them in a spreadsheet, eg: Dogs: 1st game ranking is 18, 2nd game GWS 12 etc. totaled them and it came out pretty similar to this and which is pretty much how the "Easiest & Hardest draw" posts on fox footy etc. look also.

Next I added a loading for travel,
Any Home game (inc. Those sold interstate) or home state away game have no loading thus x 1,
slight loading for vic teams vs Geelong x 1.25,
interstate game x 1.5 ( no loading for Gather rd except Car & Stk),
interstate game in Geelong x 1.75.
Eg Dogs: rd1 BL - A (18 x 1.5 = 27), rd2 GWS - H (12 x 1 = 12) etc. & totalled them.
IMO I think this gave a more true reflection of the teams draw difficulty.

1. Gold Coast - Hardest
2. Adelaide
3. Sydney
4. Fremantle
5. Geelong
6. Brisbane Lions
7. West Coast
8.Western Bulldogs
9. Carlton
10. Essendon
11. Collingwood
12. Port Adelaide
13. Greater Western Sydney
14. Melbourne
15. Hawthorn
16. North Melbourne
17. Richmond
18. St. Kilda - Easiest