2026 Proposed Fixture Changes

[Scorpus]

Cue the ''of course Nicks should be extended we had the hArDeST drAw in the COmP ''

The start to our fixture is hard enough he could be gone half way through the year

Our three bogey sides Collingwood, Geelong and Hawthorn all at tricky away venues in the first 11 games, plus the reigning premier, a Showdown of course and wildcard side Fremantle

 

[Drakescoffeecake]

Port are gonna be making the 8 this year easily

Kangaroos, Bombers, Eagles, Richmond in the first 4 rounds.

Double ups against 3 of those teams.

7 wins instantly.

 

[jackster83]

The start to our fixture is brutal

Collingwood (MCG) into Western Bulldogs (home) into Geelong (Kardina) - consecutive six day breaks

Then we get Fremantle at home, a rest playing Carlton and St Kilda at home, into Brisbane away and the five day break into a Showdown. Two games later we play Hawthorn in Tasmania before we hit the bye - after which we play Geelong and the Bulldogs again

We should be good enough to overcome a tough fixture.

I just don't like having Collingwood rubbed in our face or unnecessary five day breaks which can easily derail us for 1-2 weeks afterwards.

 

[FR0GGY]

Nicks to be sacked by mid season looking likely

 

[Scorpus]

We should be good enough to overcome a tough fixture.

I just don't like having Collingwood rubbed in our face or unnecessary five day breaks which can easily derail us for 1-2 weeks afterwards.

I think we should hopefully be good enough to overcome a certain level of fixture

This one is bloody tough. We have a truly horrendous record in some of those away fixtures

 

[Scorpus]

Port are gonna be making the 8 this year easily

Kangaroos, Bombers, Eagles, Richmond in the first 4 rounds.

Double ups against 3 of those teams.

7 wins instantly.

They finished bottom six, what do you expect?

When we were shit we routinely benefitted playing North and West Coast four times a year

 

[pjcrows]

Port 3-0

 

[pjcrows]

Cats last 3 against bottom 3. Lol.

 

[Peter Doherty]

Brisbane at the Gabba followed by a five day break and then a showdown is a genuine disgrace.

We should be beating the Power, regardless.

 

[ams4crows]

Who gives a **** about what Port are doing or getting?

I think it's great we start the season with 3 extremely difficult matchups, we'll know where we are at very early on.

If we are ever beating Collingwood at the G round 1 is probably the time to do it.... Just realised they play round 0 at the MCG so it's not round 1 for them.... Which is shit

 

[WeeBlake]

Only 5 games in vic sucks.

Meanwhile - Collingwood zero games at non-core venues. Geelong zero. Richmond zero (except the one in Tassie they chose for themselves).

 

[crows dude]

Home Matches
Thursday Night - 2
Friday Night - 3
Saturday Midday - 2
Saturday Night - 1

Away Matches
Thursday Night - 3
Saturday Night - 1
Sunday 2pm - 2

 

[daniel_4tw]

5 day break flying in from Brisbane to play a showdown. Seriously wtf is that?

Hard to see it as anything but AFL being dicks for us asking for a Friday night showdown (and then proceed to make it a double header). Can hear them laughing in the board room from here.

Extremely difficult start. Bogey sides for our double ups.

Probably best we don’t trade our F1… just in case.

 

[crows dude]

No game at Adelaide Oval in round one.

 

[daniel_4tw]

Oh yeah, Collingwood in Round 1 after they’ve got a tune up at home the week before.

Seriously?

It’s like the AFL go out of their way to make the comp as unfair as possible.

 

[Peter Doherty]

Only 2 games at the G

Isn't this about what we should realistically expect?

There are 9 teams in Melbourne, 9 outside Melbourne. Then consider the Marvel teams and teams who play in Tas and Ballarat. You don't play every team twice.

 

[DJ75]

Oh yeah, Collingwood in Round 1 after they’ve got a tune up at home the week before.

Seriously?

It’s like the AFL go out of their way to make the comp as unfair as possible.

 

[Shuestar13]

Collingwood away in Round 1. The final week of Izak’s suspension. All very convenient. And for the best to be honest - you don’t need that circus to start a new year (him playing and all the media nonsense, plus the expected reaction from the home crowd).

 

[crows dude]

Two games in Perth

Adelaide Oval - 13 games
Gabba - 1
Geelong - 1
Marvel - 2
MCG - 2
SCG - 1
UTAS - 1
OPTUS - 2 (in rnd 17 and rd23)

 

[DJ75]

Brutal draw.
Double ups are horrible.
Play the toughest teams away. (more important than who the double ups are)
Very tough start.
Tasmania.
Shithole.
Short breaks into tough games

One thing is for sure - if we make finals it will be well earnt and we will be much better prepared for finals footy than this year.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Great fixture for us commercially with the eight Friday/Thursday games and two more Saturday night games up until round 15

Absolutely horrendous fixture from a football sense based on teams' performance in 2025

Nicks will be nervous.

Will feel better about the top 10 for finals.

 

[Lukes bike Pedlar]

very different first 3 games compared to last years. The first 4 rounds going to determine if we are in it or not for next season

 

[Scorpus]

Here's my thinking

2025: Double ups against Collingwood, Port Adelaide, Gold Coast, Hawthorn, North and West Coast
2026: Double ups against Collingwood, Port Adelaide, Geelong, Western Bulldogs, Fremantle and Richmond

Geelong twice instead of Gold Coast twice is harder, and Fremantle twice instead of North twice is much harder. Probably -3 or -2 wins on double ups alone

2025: Brisbane home
2026: Brisbane away

Harder

2025: Essendon and Sydney away once
2026: Essendon and Sydney away once

Neutral to harder depending on how Sydney improve

2025: Carlton, St Kilda, GWS and Melbourne once at home
2026: Carlton, St Kilda, GWS and Melbourne once at home

Neutral. I'd expect to win all four of those home matches in both years

2025: Richmond, Fremantle and Western Bulldogs away once
2026: West Coast, Hawthorn and Brisbane away once

Harder

2025: Geelong and Brisbane at home once
2026: North Melbourne and Gold Coast at home once

Much easier

2025: Gold Coast away, North Melbourne away, Hawthorn at home, West Coast at home
2026: Geelong away, Western Bulldogs at home, Fremantle at home, Richmond at home

These are the games we played in 2025 due to double ups that we don't play in 2026, versus the games we play in 2026 that we didn't in 2025 due to the new double ups. Harder

 

[GreyCrow]

Essendon (A) Richmond (H) Freo (A) and GWS (H) to finish the season is a fair fight fixture

Minimum 2 wins with possibly 3

 

[daniel_4tw]

Double ups are:

Collingwood
Geelong
Western Bulldogs
Port Adelaide
Richmond
Fremantle

To be a chance, I think we need split (win the home game) against Collingwood, Geelong and Fremantle, then win both against WB, Port and Richmond.