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Fixing the Fixture

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Rotating system of who you double up with
So, play each team once (17 games, 9/8 home and 8/9 away, alternating 8 or 9 of each every year).
Play 3 non-Vic teams again this year, and 3 Vic teams again this year.
Non-Vic could be your cross-town plus 2 others, or just 3 others.
Allow for some movement so that you don't play the same teams on double-up every time, but so that you're not ALWAYS playing Collingwood twice or NEVER playing someone twice.

Bottom line: You know that this year you host Collingwood, next year Collingwood host you, the year after that you host them, and the next year you play them twice. You know that this year you have 8 home games, but next year you have 9. You may end up doubling up against all "top 8" teams this year, but you may get all "bottom 8" teams. You may be sitting in the wooden spoon and doubling up against only "bottom 8" teams but that's based on results of matches, not on making more money or anything.
Some years the "Big" games will only happen once. But the overall competition is fairer, both short-term (as fair as it can be without a single or double round-robin) and long-term.
 
The 4 conference system as devised by yours truly beats all of these. Read up on that thread.

It makes no sense to devise a roster based upon last year's results. What has 2011 got to do with 2012...? And a full H&A achieves nothing - WC will still travel to the other side of Australia for half of its draw, any Vic team for a quarter and the rest of the games will basically be at home, no matter who has to wear the clash strip...imagine a 30 round roster (15 away games = 14 long plane trips for interstaters - this is massive Australia, not tiny little England), and the WA sides going through ridiculous slumps every year when the arduousness of that scenario hits home just when they want to be at their best for finals...they'd never win one...!

As long as a team travels the same road as the other teams sharing its ladder, you can't complain about fairness. Let the excessive travellers from SA and WA travel as per usual (can't escape that, unless they shrink the Nullarbor) but only be ranked against themselves, let the Vics slug it out with no real advantage to be gained from only 4 interstate clashes a year (if everyone in their division does the same, there's no issue), and most importantly, preserve the rivalries which pay the bills - these are the best attended games of the season, why would you compromise that with nonsensical random draws based upon irrelevant stats...?

No issues in this system that can't be fixed with a small adjustment...you just have to get used to seeing the new ladder format in the paper every Monday...
 
2011compare.png
2011 ladder with all the second meetings removed compared to the 22 match final ladder.​
Spot the significant changes to the outcome of the premiership if each team had only played each other once.​
 

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There would be 3 "virtual groups" of 6 clubs (no ladders will be kept for any purpose)

A: Carlton, Collingwood, GWS, Sydney, Essendon, Richmond
B: Brisbane, Gold Coast, Geelong, Hawthorn, North Melbourne, St.Kilda
C: Melbourne, Bulldogs, Adelaide, Port Adelaide, West Coast, Fremantle


Play each team in the group home and away (10 games), and every other team once (half of the teams in the group at home, half away...at least 3 away matches for Victorian clubs will be played at a non-Victorian venue). Groups will be subject to change every 2 years.
 

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Fixing the Fixture

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