Is 2025 the most boring AFL season in recent memory?

[Billy ray]

I dont see the point of the floating fixture. They pretty much schedule the teams in the timeslots the same they would have if they set them in November.

 

[Golumless]

The comp always gets like this during winter. The weather plays a big part of the standard of play and it'll be like this until just before finals

Not only that, but by the time winter sets in, the league has separated into the haves and have nots. It's hard to have too much hope/interest if you're supporting the likes of Port Adelaide, Saints, North Melbourne or Melbourne who have shown that this year wasn't it.

 

[RAPPA]

9 rounds to go and the top 8 will be set by teams currently 1st - 9th. Top spot will stay with Pies, Cats have a softer finish than Lions and should take second leaving Lions 3rd. 4th spot up fir grabs as is the dreaded 9th spot. Feels like it’s more settled much sooner than previous seasons

 

[TigerTrain23]

If we are going to have staggered 5 week Byes can we at least make it 9 weeks instead and just make the Thursday night games be the two teams who didn't play the previous weekend?

 

[daniel_4tw]

Clear divide between top 9 and bottom 9 meaning half the games each round are meaningless.

Needs to go change to something like first 18 rounds everyone plays everyone. Then create a 6-6-6 division where you play everyone in your division a second time and you’re locked into your 1-6, 7-12, 13-18. Top 6 playing the top spots, next group fighting it out for the 8. Bottom teams? I don’t know, fighting for draft picks? At least you can put those games hidden behind the actual interesting games.

You would have 6 interesting games a round instead of 2 that we are getting right now.

 

[daniel_4tw]

Should also mention the draft and salary cap are a mess.

The fact that the best teams get access to the best players due F/S, Academies etc means it takes too long to rebuild for bottom clubs. How many times has the best player not gone to the worst team in recent times?

Then you have the issue where players will take pay cuts to play for the big teams. It makes sense because player will do it for success, exposure, sponsorship etc. but a salary cap simply does not work when smaller clubs need to overpay and big clubs can underpay. It just widens the gap and we might as well get rid of the salary cap altogether.

This all continues the cycle with the top picks the bottom clubs get lose those players through FA and trades just as they’re starting to get good.

The divide between the haves and have nots has never been wider.

We need to scrap all the academies (have AFL pay for them), scrap F/S (you want the romance of history, go get the draft pick needed), and lastly, trading without players consent. Let’s clubs get best market value and everyone play with the ‘same’ salary cup. Clubs can then actually improve their list as needed. You can have FA at 10 years in the system.

I know the arguments why the above won’t happen, but it’s what we need to do as the sport grows.

The comp has never been more unequal and the gap is widening.

 

[Bird Man]

Should also mention the draft and salary cap are a mess.

The fact that the best teams get access to the best players due F/S, Academies etc means it takes too long to rebuild for bottom clubs. How many times has the best player not gone to the worst team in recent times?

Then you have the issue where players will take pay cuts to play for the big teams. It makes sense because player will do it for success, exposure, sponsorship etc. but a salary cap simply does not work when smaller clubs need to overpay and big clubs can underpay. It just widens the gap and we might as well get rid of the salary cap altogether.

This all continues the cycle with the top picks the bottom clubs get lose those players through FA and trades just as they’re starting to get good.

The divide between the haves and have nots has never been wider.

We need to scrap all the academies (have AFL pay for them), scrap F/S (you want the romance of history, go get the draft pick needed), and lastly, trading without players consent. Let’s clubs get best market value and everyone play with the ‘same’ salary cup. Clubs can then actually improve their list as needed. You can have FA at 10 years in the system.

I know the arguments why the above won’t happen, but it’s what we need to do as the sport grows.

The comp has never been more unequal and the gap is widening.

Agreed

Also i will add that the depth in young talent coming through is probability at its worst in Australia. We simply have to many teams and the product is suffering, but hey more teams means more games and more games means more TV rights.

Tasmania coming in makes it worse... Them not getting a stadium and falling over is ultimately better for the game

 

[catters05]

Staggered byes are a pain but far better than a week of no football at all.

Not if they had origin or some type of Aussie rules carnival on that weekend

 

[Daics35Marvel]

Clear divide between top 9 and bottom 9 meaning half the games each round are meaningless.

Needs to go change to something like first 18 rounds everyone plays everyone. Then create a 6-6-6 division where you play everyone in your division a second time and you’re locked into your 1-6, 7-12, 13-18. Top 6 playing the top spots, next group fighting it out for the 8. Bottom teams? I don’t know, fighting for draft picks? At least you can put those games hidden behind the actual interesting games.

You would have 6 interesting games a round instead of 2 that we are getting right now.

I think it was the guy from Champion Data on SEN who said that this would be the perfect year to have a play in between 8th and 9th. This would be the worst possible year for it. The final 9 teams would be locked in already and we’d have 9 largely meaningless rounds to go before finals.

 

[Outtatym]

Not if they had origin or some type of Aussie rules carnival on that weekend

Its a good idea but anything involving listed players wouldn't happen, the AFLPA wouldn't allow it.

 

[Cyclops]

Umpiring is an issue when there's now 4 field umps per game, and up to 9 games per round. They need more support, training and development.

We foster grass roots footy but with the expanded comp clubs have been creative with player devepment: other sports raided, older players careers extended, and better pay and conditions for players.

The overall standard is down as less functional clubs waste thinly spread talent, but we still have a great side in Brisbane and some contenders.

The umps need that level of imaginative and well resourced support. The umpiring dept should be Geelong/Brisbane levels of sustained performance.

Less rule tampering and tweaking would be good too. How demoralising when the bosses are amateur fools who tinker with your job and make statements about how you do yours that have to be retracted the next day (as with the Shulz concussion case).

 

[Rotayjay]

The fixture is a mess. Opening Round, byes from rounds 2-4, then 12-16. By the time the season gets into full swing again the top 8 is all but decided and 2/3s the bottom 8 are in full blown tank mode. Anyone aside from the ignoramuses at AFL House can plainly see the current setup is a complete farce.

All in the name of competing with rugby league for a week

 

[I Lost My Keays]

Opening round is absolutely a mess which impacts the whole year with fixturing.

I would also say a bye round should be for inplace for every team at once. Instead of split byes.

 

[HairyO]

Maybe. But now you're changing your story. First you said every game. Now you're backpedaling to say every game in Melbourne. Big difference.

Leads one to wonder; what else has he posted where the truth has been stretched.

The best bit was when you doubled down on being dumb.

If we are going to have staggered 5 week Byes can we at least make it 9 weeks instead and just make the Thursday night games be the two teams who didn't play the previous weekend?

This is the worst bit of the bye system. They could very easily have teams who had byes play eachother the next week but this almost never happens.

The AFL use the bye system to manipulate the game because they know that teams coming back from a bye generally have a slow 1st week back.

 

[Gavin Excell]

Opening round is absolutely a mess which impacts the whole year with fixturing.

I would also say a bye round should be for inplace for every team at once. Instead of split byes.

It's a disaster and I don't know anyone anywhere who is supportive of it

 

[JackFlash]

Opening Round is a disaster...it should be a full round of football right from the start!
The staggered BYE system is not working.
Thursday night football in Perth also doesn't work...
Too many "special" rounds when it's football that should be celebrated every week

 

[Cyclops]

Yep. I think the milking has to stop. Those flavour games are becoming absurd.

I love ANZAC Day and KB stuff but it's an incremental advantage to three big clubs, and we get to double dip even though we're already the biggest. It's a boot to the face for smaller clubs.

Make ANZAC Day the GF rematch, or return the rematch to round 1 and have "big" rematches in each capital for ANZAC Day/eve/night. There are veterans all over Australia.

Indigenous round should still be celebrated, no need for special match ups, it's a worthy cause not a boutique 2 club special. Maybe we should honour the founders, a private school round or a "we're better than rugby lol evolve you apemen" round.

 

[Delorean]

For mine the rule changes and umpire inconsistency is what's killing it. The umpires will never be able to get the stand rule right as there is always going to be confusion when asked to stand vs "outside 5". Then you cop an unbelievable penalty for such a minor error. Probably a little bit of Bias because it upset Richmond more than anyone but still.
The protected space rule also applies here.

We now have more umpires making more noise than ever, and with the ever increasing amount of horrendous decisions the silence from the channel 7 commentary box only serves to upset us more.

Its a poor reflection on me, but if it weren't for the Same game multis and gambling I wouldn't bother watching any neutral games.

 

[Andyy]

We could have 6 teams, and there won't be 6 quality teams in the league at any point (lets not forget that the Saints have been useless for the vast majority of their existence). Sports demands there will be layers between teams, and it has absolutely nothing to do with player quality. There will always be teams led by the relatively incapable/useless and the ones who are on the cutting edge.

I do think the round 0 and the bye dragging out has hurt the momentum of the year, but it has been a decently interesting one at that. Though, more directed at teams like GWS/Melbourne/Port and even Sydney seemingly hitting and end of an era, and the next wave of challengers (Adelaide/Fremantle/Gold Coast/Hawthorn) are all doing pretty well.

Do you remember the last SOO they played in 2020 for the bushfires? Quality game.

The '08 SOO (Hall of Fame Tribute) was brilliant also if you remember it.

So for me, the simple formula is that if there are less teams there should be higher average/median levels of talent in each team, and I blame the AFL expansion for a reduction in overall quality which has led to me watching less and less neutral games over the last 5-10 years.

Agreed re: R0, all the byes etc. I also don't even like Gather round tbh. I'd rather just junk them all and play 17 rounds.

Or

Ditch 3 teams, form Taz, go back to a 16-team competition. Play each other twice with slightly shorter quarters (aim 27-28min each), no byes, no pre-season games, no R0, no Gather Round, no pre-finals week off etc.

Heck you could even just about skip the elimination finals, go straight to semi's, then prelims, given how rare it is that a team outside the top 4 wins a flag...

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

Each side should play each other twice so it's fair and square.

Not.

 

[Handsuper47]

For mine the rule changes and umpire inconsistency is what's killing it. The umpires will never be able to get the stand rule right as there is always going to be confusion when asked to stand vs "outside 5". Then you cop an unbelievable penalty for such a minor error. Probably a little bit of Bias because it upset Richmond more than anyone but still.
The protected space rule also applies here.

We now have more umpires making more noise than ever, and with the ever increasing amount of horrendous decisions the silence from the channel 7 commentary box only serves to upset us more.

Its a poor reflection on me, but if it weren't for the Same game multis and gambling I wouldn't bother watching any neutral games.

There was a moment on the Giants vs Suns game, when Giants player O'Halloran punches it through for a deliberate rushed behind (which is obviously there) and the commentators (FOX) were saying it was 'stiff', honestly I don't think the people commentating the game actually know what the rules are.

 

[banzai]

The gap from the top 9 to the bottom 9 means most of the games are pretty irrelevant with 9 teams seasons being long over already. The main 3 premiership chances are the 3 most recent winners, bottom 3 are the same 3 as last year (North may get out but have a tricky draw home).

They definetly need to fix the fixture with teams not playing each other twice so early, I mean we still play Geelong twice in the last 7 weeks, maybe good for them but 2 shocking games not needed in quick succession. Think Essendon have them twice in 7 rounds as well.

 

[The Feeder Club]

Clear divide between top 9 and bottom 9 meaning half the games each round are meaningless.

Needs to go change to something like first 18 rounds everyone plays everyone. Then create a 6-6-6 division where you play everyone in your division a second time and you’re locked into your 1-6, 7-12, 13-18. Top 6 playing the top spots, next group fighting it out for the 8. Bottom teams? I don’t know, fighting for draft picks? At least you can put those games hidden behind the actual interesting games.

You would have 6 interesting games a round instead of 2 that we are getting right now.

I agree, there are multiple ways the fixture could be made better, that is one of them that has been suggested before, there are others.
The fixture is screwed. The team that is currently last with one win and finished last year third last will have double ups this year against teams currently ranked 4,6,7,10,14,17. The team that is currently third and led a prelim with 5 minutes to go last year will have double ups against teams ranked 2,7,12,13,15,17.
Yet they deny there's a problem and won't fix this shit? Sure I'll go to games and watch because I love the sport, but I loathe the actual comp more each year

 

[Chronz]

Don’t be a flog.

Pot meet kettle.

 

[WillHayward]

People are missing the elephant in the room.

Demographics.

Australia's fertility rate has dropped below replacement since around 1975.

This means the player pool is actually shrinking.
The AFL will point to Auskick numbers and try and pretend otherwise but Auskick don't mean anything. It's mostly glorified baby sitting
And yes the growth in girls playing is something they can be proud of.

But the cold hard facts of demographics can't be ignored or overcome

Most of Australia's rapid population growth is in people in their 20s and 30s and mostly Indian and Chinese

Fertility rate is 1.6. It's a declining player pool at the top end.

The two main migrant groups are already too old and not interested in playing the game and are not being drafted into AFL lists. Their children aren't playing either

Instead we have a ever decreasing draft pool made worse by a lazy streamlined recruiting and development pathway that has converged on only a few private schools.

I think the bottom 5 on the list at most clubs are either nowhere ready yet for the AFL or just VFL players only.

That's about 70 odd players over the AFL and that goes to 100 when Tassie come in.

The difference between the good players and the rest at each club is pretty wide.

This is why the top 6 clubs look a fair bit better than the bottom 6.

Nobody wants to admit this because the AFL narrative is the game keeps getting better and they need gullible fans to believe this because that's what sells advertising and gets them the broadcast money.