Fixture structure (399th time!?) 2 conferences brings some fairness e.g. geelong get all home games and finals at kardinia

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VicPark Bitter

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—even home and awy fixture
—correct seedings in finals
—teams wanting home finals get them

So

2 conferences. One is the 9 teams sharing MCG or Docklands, the other is the teams with home grounds not in melbourne (yes including Geelong)

Home and away season - teams play other eight teams in their conference twice, and the teams in other conference once makes 25 games
Alternate home and away between the conferences. The final order in each conference

Finals - top three in each conference go into their own pool finals. The grand final (at the MCG sorry) is between the winners of each conference finals series. To avoid the situation we had with aflw conferences, two further places in each finals series are filled by the next best four teams

So theres five in each finals series, which is played off as the old final five, one of the best finals series versions ever

In the finals:
The Melbourne pool plays all the finals at the MCG, a neutral ground for melbourne teams. It want a problem to anyone for decades.
For the Australa pool. The higher team plays the final at their home ground whather it be kardinis, gold coast, homebush, brisbane, SCG adelaide oval or perth stadium. Each pool is completely fair and let there be no arguments, they get what they have been asking for

Disadvantages:

Theres plenty, but arent people saying fairness should be the over riding imperative?

By the way, l dont like the conference idea
couldn't be bothered reading this crap thread. OP is full of sh!t
 

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BanjoRed

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Does every player in the EPL play every game?

Carlton were never playing finals. Did crowds and players give up?

EPL doesnt even have finals so there is generally zero chance of the winner not being in the top 5 or 6 with 5 or 6 weeks to go.

Also, St Kilda. 60 years now?

If you’re suggesting each team expands their list further to meet the physical demands of a 30 game season then you’re diluting the quality of the competition even further than it already has since GCS/GWS were introduced.

And the nature of the EPL competition means that not every team is realistically fighting for the title (Leicester in 15/16 was an exceptional outlier of epic proportions). Teams are avoiding relegation, aiming for Europe etc. There is always something to play for.

The A-League and it’s 27 game season is a much better example to use in this scenario. Look at the crowds die off half-way through the season for teams at the bottom of the ladder. They have nothing to play for. You have to find correct balance between keeping fans entertained and amount of games played. 37 weeks of AFL (three preseason games, 30 H&A and four finals) is too much.

St Kilda have had strong teams throughout their 53 year period without a premiership to give the fans continuous hope of that next premiership.
 
Last edited:
Jul 13, 2015
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If you’re suggesting each team expands their list further to meet the physical demands of a 30 game season then you’re diluting the quality of the competition even further than it already has since GCS/GWS were introduced.

And the nature of the EPL competition means that not every team is realistically fighting for the title (Leicester in 15/16 was an exceptional outlier of epic proportions). Teams are avoiding relegation, aiming for Europe etc. There is always something to play for.

The A-League and it’s 27 game season is a much better example to use in this scenario. Look at the crowds die off half-way through the season for teams at the bottom of the ladder. They have nothing to play for. You have to find correct balance between keeping fans entertained and amount of games played. 37 weeks of AFL (three preseason games, 30 H&A and four finals) is too much.

St Kilda have had strong teams throughout their 53 year period without a premiership to give the fans continuous hope of that next premiership.

Read my first line? Drop 2 teams.

Expand lists by 3 or 4.

A League is tiny compared to AFL.

Carlton still had crowds.

In a 17 game comp if Carlton were 17th crowds are still dropping away 5 games out ?
 
Feb 28, 2007
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Something I just thought of, what about conferences for the Victorian and non-Victorian teams but the non-Victorian conference gets more weeks off due to more travel.

eg. The non-Victorian conference begins the season 2 or 3 weeks before the Victorian conference, and in that time the non-Victorian conference gets a bye every 6 weeks or so while the Victorian conference only gets the 1 bye?
 
Aug 14, 2011
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A 30 H&A is doable. To do it you need:
* shorter games
* bigger lists
* better play management (players have mandated 2 games off per year, to be managed by club/player)
* no official pre-season games

Will it ever happen? Not a chance.

There is an oversupply of games in Melbourne with 22 & you want more ... how does that address anything?
 

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The Blue Baggers

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When Tassie comes, every one plays each other once plus 1 bye... 18 games over 19 weeks.... Time to ditch the 22 games from the VFL era, it no longer fits, less is more

Agree , 12 teams / 22 rounds made sense ....

6 teams added but nothing has been done to the fixture ... dumb !!
 
Aug 14, 2011
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Agree , 12 teams / 22 rounds made sense ....

6 teams added but nothing has been done to the fixture ... dumb !!

The FIX is in to drive up attendances (blockbusters) & to move games from the overcrowded/oversupplied Melbourne market. Now those darn Taswegians arent prepared to keep funding Melbourne clubs.
 
Mar 5, 2005
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Just do away with H& A & just have finals ...

Could be done... the season is just a 17 week "Final 18" where sides are ranked 1-18 and are promoted up a tier via a win, or drop a tier via a loss (no draws).
Loser of the bottom tier game drops out every week until you are left with just two sides - the GF.
To add variety, switch the home side for every occurrence of a re-match... GF still at the MCG.

(not serious)
 
Mar 5, 2005
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Agree , 12 teams / 22 rounds made sense ....

6 teams added but nothing has been done to the fixture ... dumb !!

Agree... we should have had some sort of division structure introduced in 1987 when Eagles and Bears joined,
would have been the acceptable norm a generation later (now).

There was an obvious problem that the fixture needed to be adjusted with 14 sides in 1987, but the VFL blatantly ignored it and let some sides only play each other once... which has not been resolved as of today with further expansion since.
 
Dec 2, 2003
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A 30 H&A is doable. To do it you need:
* shorter games
* bigger lists
* better play management (players have mandated 2 games off per year, to be managed by club/player)
* no official pre-season games

Will it ever happen? Not a chance.

Each one of those suggestions is s**t, which is why it will never happen.
 
Dec 2, 2003
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Go by previous seasons ladder. Obviously all teams play each other once but the 3 groups by the previous seasons ladder will decide the 5 return games each team plays.

Group A - 1,4,7,10,13,16
Group B - 2,5,8,11,14,17
Group C - 3,6,9,12,15,18.

Obviously some teams will cop more travel than others but at least everyone knows what to expect.

Thanks for using the term 'group' or 'pool' in the discussion. ******* conferences primarily refer to athletic associations in NCAA, as well as the old National Football League / American Football League alignment in the NFL.
 
Aug 14, 2011
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Could be done... the season is just a 17 week "Final 18" where sides are ranked 1-18 and are promoted up a tier via a win, or drop a tier via a loss (no draws).
Loser of the bottom tier game drops out every week until you are left with just two sides - the GF.
To add variety, switch the home side for every occurrence of a re-match... GF still at the MCG.

(not serious)

:thumbsu:
:thumbsdown:

Here was me thinking you were SO inclusive, fitting along side caring & sharing ... fine fellow you are Junka, we only want winners in AFL footy.
 

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30k Posts 10k Posts HBF's Milk Crate - 70k Posts TheBrownDog
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Play once only, rotating season to season. fairer but theres still unfairness re advantages gainad via ladder position.

one way to overcome this is to play week one of finals home and away. Although this seem to contradict H&A

20 teams 19 rounds 10 finalists ranked 3-10 play two legs week one: 2 to be eliminated

Then play the remains of two final 5 series where the two remaining teams go to grand final

RoundMatchNameTeam 1Team 2
1AElimination FinalRank 4vRank 5
BQualifying FinalRank 2vRank 3
2C1st Semi FinalLoser BvWinner A
D2nd Semi FinalRank 1vWinner B
3EPreliminary FinalLoser DvWinner C
4FGrand FinalWinner DvWinner E
 

4THAWN

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No need for conferences, but a 26 game fixture could solve most of the problems for an 18 team comp.

you've got to assign the 9 double ups for each team for each year, so each team has a year A fixture and a year B fixture, but how do you do that? If you try and make them as equal as possible now, it's extremely likely that in 5 years, you may have an extremely unequal fixturing example like this

-Hawks year B assignment is playing GC, Melbourne, Saints, Dogs, Geelong, Freo, North, Port and GWS. Say we're in 2026 and that's 6 bottom 10 teams, and only 2 top 8 teams that Hawks are doubled up on, giving them an extremely easy fixture. 16/25 games against Bottom 10 teams

-Cats year B assignment is playing Hawks, Bombers, Collingwood, West Coast, Brisbane, Adelaide, Saints and Swans. In 2026 this could be 6 top 8 teams and only 2 bottom 8 teams that the cats are doubled up on, giving them a super hard fixture. 11/25 games against Bottom 10 teams
 
Jul 1, 2005
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Play once only, rotating season to season. fairer but theres still unfairness re advantages gainad via ladder position.
Playing each other once is not fair, despite what people think.

Issue 1: half the teams get an extra home game.
Solution1: Non-Victorian teams get the extra home to account for - travel, less "away" games at home, less games for supporters to watch live.
Solution2: Rotate from year to year.
Solution3: Play 1 extra 'rival' match up (ie Derby) for even H/A.

Issue 2: who you are drawn where will have a massive affect on where teams finish.
Example1: A medium quality WC play hard teams away, easy teams at home - finish middle of ladder.
Example2: A medium quality WC play easy teams away, hard teams at home - finish bottom of ladder.
Example3: A good WC play hard teams away, easy teams at home - finish middle of ladder.
Example4: A good WC play easy teams away, hard teams at home - finish top of ladder.
Solution? None
 

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