Roast Has Opening Round been totally botched?

[The Educator]

They're manufactured blockbusters to start the season. There's a reason why the return games between the big 4 always draw less, and it isn't because of "mid season lull"

This isn't correct. They will draw at least as many, if not more, when they are both contending for the finals (which has historically not been common this century)

 

[Andyy]

Round zero was lame.

There should also be no byes for the year and rotations should be severely limited to about 5/quarter (+ changes in breaks) so that more players are forced to rest during the season.

 

[SC_Power]

I just thought of another ridiculously minor thing that the AFL Opening Round screws up.

The statistic “Finished round on top of the ladder”.

All the time spent compiling this https://afltables.com/afl/seas/ladders/ladders.html
Now corrupted for the sake of an Opening Round.

Hell, my team is undefeated, has the highest percentage, and is in 5th spot!

It’s a carriage of misjustice of the highest order, I tells ya.

Where’s my beer?

 

[Purple Suit]

Still no evidence to support the notion that first week byes are particularly dis/advantageous, btw.

Fremantle made a lot of people in this thread look foolish!

3 losses and Freo were down by 4 goals in 10 minutes. They then nearly got run down as they weren’t match fit.

OR cost us percentage.

 

[GC2015]

Its the highest attended round ever. Not just a round 1 record.

AFL Tables - Crowds 1921-2024

afltables.com

So let me get this straight. Every game in Opening Round sells out in the northern expansion markets and is followed by the highest attended round of all-time... yet people are still trying to claim the AFL has stuffed this season up somehow? CLEARLY the majority of footy fans in the southern states were not of the same opinion and instead showed up in droves for the R1 games. They say distance makes the heart grow fonder and this very much appears to be the case where Opening Round seems to have motivated footy fans to attend R1 games even more than we've seen in previous years. The metrics paint a very different picture to what the critics are suggesting in this thread.

The AFL would be doing cartwheels over what they've achieved in the last two weeks and if you can't see that then you simply don't understand the business side of professional sport. Like it or not, the AFL is a business at the end of the day.

 

[Teen Wolf]

3 losses and Freo were down by 4 goals in 10 minutes. They then nearly got run down as they weren’t match fit.

OR cost us percentage.

Riiiight, teams with impaired fitness always come back from 4 goals down to win by 4 goals...

That Freo were the only team to win against an earlier-starting opponent this year is a nice historical change of pace (look up the 1991 and 1992 seasons). Suggests there's no clear trend to base the "wahhh it's not fair" claims on.

 

[Purple Suit]

Riiiight, teams with impaired fitness always come back from 4 goals down to win by 4 goals...

That Freo were the only team to win against an earlier-starting opponent this year is a nice historical change of pace (look up the 1991 and 1992 seasons). Suggests there's no clear trend to base the "wahhh it's not fair" claims on.

Yes but it’s an easy fix. If you insist on further compromising the draw, why not just have the teams that started early play each other in R1?

The AFL don’t see the inequities in the draw as an issue and have decided to increase it further.

 

[Purple Suit]

Riiiight, teams with impaired fitness always come back from 4 goals down to win by 4 goals...

That Freo were the only team to win against an earlier-starting opponent this year is a nice historical change of pace (look up the 1991 and 1992 seasons). Suggests there's no clear trend to base the "wahhh it's not fair" claims on.

The slow start was rust. We stuffed up multiple kicks and I think the umpires were rusty as they had paid 5 free kicks to Brisbane.

Did you watch the game?

 

[seasonedsainter]

I live overseas now, have for 5 or 6 years. I legit don't even understand the fixture this year, let alone some of the recent rule changes.

 

[Teen Wolf]

The slow start was rust. We stuffed up multiple kicks and I think the umpires were rusty as they had paid 5 free kicks to Brisbane.

Did you watch the game?

Unlike most people in this thread, I watch a lot of football, not just my own team. Hence I like the initiative by the AFL to create extra standalone marquee slots and make it easier to watch more games, which is what Opening Round does.

So yeah I did watch the match and saw Fremantle making several mental errors including soft turnovers and free kicks/50m penalties leading to goals early on. Nothing to do with fitness, which was the basis for 20 pages of stupid complaints.

 

[Purple Suit]

Unlike most people in this thread, I watch a lot of football, not just my own team. Hence I like the initiative by the AFL to create extra standalone marquee slots and make it easier to watch more games, which is what Opening Round does.

So yeah I did watch the match and saw Fremantle making several mental errors including soft turnovers and free kicks/50m penalties leading to goals early on. Nothing to do with fitness, which was the basis for 20 pages of stupid complaints.

It was match fitness though or Rust. It had everything to do with not playing a game for 6 months. All 4 teams who had played won the first quarter.

 

[My Tilly]

I see some of the same posters who couldn't care less about player weights no longer being publicized are making a bit of noise about opening round