Opinion Is this the worst AFL season ever?

[jdisc]

yes.

at a minimum it has been easily the worst fixture of all time

at least we get another 2 Essendon Friday Night fixtures before the season is done

 

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

I will say the fixturing for has been terrible. Putting Essendon and Carlton in so many prime slots is just mind boggling.

 

[kickazz]

I will say the fixturing for has been terrible. Putting Essendon and Carlton in so many prime slots is just mind boggling.

It really has been.


Look at the Gold Coast v Pies Friday night game. A bit of a courageous decision but if the AFL truly want to grow the national competition then all teams need this good exposure. It gets us familiar with Gold Coast players more, it makes the game more of an event up there, really good for the game long term.


Some people , especially Gerard W are obsessed with not having games overlap but I think Friday double headers are good. Better chance of a good game to watch on tv. Have both games live on pay and on 7 / 7 mate.

That way you can sort of hide some of the shit games and forget about them a bit.


They won't do it though as the AFL and media are more interested in stripping the tree completely of fruit today than planting and nurturing more trees for the future.

 

[mehow2g]

People complain about the lack of evenness yet top 8 is extremely even.

In the mid 2000s and early 2010s you generally had 2 stand out teams and the rest of the teams just made up the numbers.

That being said those two teams played beautiful footy which is lacking these days.

What GWS did to Sydney was how those top teams played fearless confident footy that played to win, not this structured moneyball crap where teams play not to lose.

 

[theburst]

probably spoilt by a great 2024....looking at margins stats, last year's number of games with a 0-5 points margin was a record 41 games, most ever (36 in 2023)..so far we're on 18 this year

 

[z547043]

As a spectacle, I think most agree the season has been quite poor. The skill level and gap between the top teams and the lower teams is horrendous and concerning. We don’t want games like last night both of them to be just non competitive.

The fixture is a mess. “Prime time” Thursday and Friday this season is not not appealing to naturals. It’s nobody fault but how can a top 2 team in Geelong play in 8 weeks Richmond twice, st.kilda, north, Essendon leading into a final campaign.. even watching last season none one of those teams was competitive.. so it’s no shock.. just dumb.

Disappointments of teams that many had higher… expectations of.. Carlton, Essendon, Hawthorn, Dogs, Melbourne probably haven’t performed to expectations.

On a positive note, outside of top 2/3 is a wide open race to fill the remaining spots.. a few weeks ago Freo looked shot, now they are every chance to host a home final..
Crows have been massive all season, pies and lions consistent throughout the season, and Giants living up to their expectations… yet late.

Overall I think it’s just such a wide gap between the better the worse teams we are getting more and more non competitive games each and every week, that is why the season isn’t a great one.

Correct, we should have played more of the lower ranked teams earlier in the year, instead of having played 10 games versus the top 9 by round 16, but some of it is prediction work.

The AFL draw rigging double up fixtures, means you finish top 6 in the H and A, the next year you get 2-3 double games v the top 6, 2-3 doubles v the mid 6 and 1-2 doubles v the bottom 6.

Now Geelong got the hardest
possible spread allowed on paper; 3 v the top 6 from last year (Giants, Port and Brisbane), 2 v the middle 6 (Essendon and St. Kilda) 1 v the bottom 6 (Richmond).

Obviously, Richmond still struggling and Port and Essendon sliding, St. Kilda I don’t think have been that bad, truth be told and suddenly we have been gifted an easy draw.

Maybe next year, the AFL should schedule the first 17-18 rounds and wait until it is established who the best sides are and then make Geelong play the highest sides that fit last year’s position matrix. So that would mean double ups versus Brisbane, GWS, Adelaide, Collingwood, Hawthorn and Fremantle.

Now this means they only play two of last year’s top 6, so it would suggest at least on paper at the beginning of the year that they are getting let off by the AFL, but this would ensure the hardest possible draw for Geelong. It would also appease a lot of fans, so hopefully the AFL looks at it.

No need to look at reducing MCG games for Collingwood or stopping Hawks from ‘buying’ wins in Tasmania. The main issue is the inherent Geelong bias in the AFL fixture.

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

Correct, we should have played more of the lower ranked teams earlier in the year, instead of having played 10 games versus the top 9 by round 16, but some of it is prediction work.

The AFL draw rigging double up fixtures, means you finish top 6 in the H and A, the next year you get 2-3 double games v the top 6, 2-3 doubles v the mid 6 and 1-2 doubles v the bottom 6.

Now Geelong got the hardest
possible spread allowed on paper; 3 v the top 6 from last year (Giants, Port and Brisbane), 2 v the middle 6 (Essendon and St. Kilda) 1 v the bottom 6 (Richmond).

Obviously, Richmond still struggling and Port and Essendon sliding, St. Kilda I don’t think have been that bad, truth be told and suddenly we have been gifted an easy draw.

Maybe next year, the AFL should schedule the first 17-18 rounds and wait until it is established who the best sides are and then make Geelong play the highest sides that fit last year’s position matrix. So that would mean double ups versus Brisbane, GWS, Adelaide, Collingwood, Hawthorn and Fremantle.

Now this means they only play two of last year’s top 6, so it would suggest at least on paper at the beginning of the year that they are getting let off by the AFL, but this would ensure the hardest possible draw for Geelong. It would also appease a lot of fans, so hopefully the AFL looks at it.

No need to look at reducing MCG games for Collingwood or stopping Hawks from ‘buying’ wins in Tasmania. The main issue is the inherent Geelong bias in the AFL fixture.

What

 

[Yellow Feathers]

yes.

at a minimum it has been easily the worst fixture of all time

at least we get another 2 Essendon Friday Night fixtures before the season is done

At least it’s Essendon and not West Coast.

 

[jdisc]

At least it’s Essendon and not West Coast.

 

[giggler99]

Its insane that it will probably take 15-16 wins to finish eighth this season when usually on average in most years 12 wins gets you in. The team that will finishes ninth will probably finish with 14 or 15 wins which will make them the most unluckiest team in history. Just shows the gulf between the top 9 and the bottom 9, feels like we have two divisions atm.

 

[Kram]

Feels like there has been a lot more crap uncompetitive games than usual.

 

[jdisc]

Feels like there has been a lot more crap uncompetitive games than usual.

another banger of a round

 

[tombomb]

Everyone who thinks Essendon and Carlton and a few others are going to get kicked off prime time next year are really underestimating how incompetent the AFL is.

 

[Hank Scorpion]

Only because of the extreme gulf between the top-9 and bottom-9 this year.

Collingwood-Freo, Adelaide-Footscray, Collingwood-Gold Coast have been decent spectacles in the past couple of weeks.

The problem is all the other trash games of a top 9 team vs. a bottom 9 team that's checked-out. There haven't even been that many upsets or close results out of these to keep the top 4/8 race interesting. So when the only match of real interest this round bombs (Gold Coast-Brisbane,) it's a complete dud weekend that doesn't really shake-up the finals race.

Finals may redeem it. 2011 was worth it for the GF, but even then, there was a bit more fascination with watching Collingwood and Geelong while at the height of their power just utterly destroy teams.

 

[JackFlash]

It's probably the worst administered season of all time? Too many special rounds, no free to air TV Saturdays and a shocking fixture to end the season as many teams have put the cue in the rack.
As for Geelong's draw, footy fans conveniently forget they played 6 of the current top 8 sides in the first 9 rounds!

 

[BigPond101]

Too many teams and players. If theres a game between two good teams AFL is still the best sport in the world imo but the talent is spread so thin the good games are buried under an Everest sized mountain of garbage

 

[Mudhoney]

Hats off to the great Steve Hocking. What a clever bunch of rule changes. Has really revolutionised the game.

 

[Cleric]

Nah, pretty happy with it so far.

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

What is the worst season ever?
Is it the worst season that was?
Or the worst season that wasn't?
That was the season that was

 

[WillHayward]

Outside of 2020, this is the worst season of AFL I have ever watched.

Teams getting smashed, Geelong having an easy draw and the gap between top 4 and bottom 4

Cannot think of a worst AFL season than this year and it will be if we see Geelong dominate with a premiership, Coleman and Brownlow in one season.

Last year was pretty poor.

Brisbane a decent side but don't forget the Swans made the GF and Port made a Preliminary Final. Both are very very average.

2024 was a very very weak year.

This year is a bit better imo because at least we have the Suns and the Crows contending and the Giants are a half decent side.

But last year was piss poor.

 

[joe444]

It's been pretty meh, and the usual arguments with the usual blinkered reasoning are actually also pissing me off.

I mean, you can't win with the ladder and fixturing. Based on last year's ladder, Geelong face 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th in their "soft" run home and can't exactly play themselves (3rd.)

 

[Heart Of Purple]

Too many teams and players. If theres a game between two good teams AFL is still the best sport in the world imo but the talent is spread so thin the good games are buried under an Everest sized mountain of garbage

Doesn't help having west coast witches hats field a side every week.

 

[ibd77]

Too many teams and players. If theres a game between two good teams AFL is still the best sport in the world imo but the talent is spread so thin the good games are buried under an Everest sized mountain of garbage

Probably be OK if we reduced players on the ground from 18 to 15. That's 54 players less in the comp and less congestion on the ground.

Then you can have last touch out of bounds so the game will be a lot faster.

 

[joe444]

I reckon anyone under 30 who advocates for a rule change or radical new interpretations should watch some footy from the 80s.

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

Probably be OK if we reduced players on the ground from 18 to 15. That's 54 players less in the comp and less congestion on the ground.

Then you can have last touch out of bounds so the game will be a lot faster.

Less is more type thing. But include soccer goals too and basketball hoops.

Makes more sense.