The Fixture

[magpielicious]

Seeing as we will NEVER get back to playing each team twice (18 teams and potentially 20 in the future) i was wondering how the AFL could better make the fixture fairer?
The AFL splits the current 18 teams into 3 groups ( top 8, middle 6 and bottom 4)
Currently we award 4 points for a win.
How about if a top 8 team plays a bottom 4 side twice, instead of awarding 4 points why not award 2 points for each win?
For example a top 8 team finish #1 in 2024 and lets say they get to play 2 bottom 4 sides in 2025. The max points they get if they win both games is (2x2) 4 points.
Then lets say a top 8 team who finish #2 in 2024 and only get to play (1 x bottom 4 side) once in 2025, so they get max 4 points if they win.
So regardless if you get 2 games against a bottom 4 side you dont get the advantage over sides who only play bottom 4 sides once.
If the bottom 4 side beats the top 8 team they get the normal 4 points.

 

[Bianconeri]

Merge 4 teams into two and have a 30 game season.

 

[Outtatym]

More round zeros

 

[Gavin Excell]

Would never happen but shorten season, play everyone once and have a mid winter break

 

[Purple Suit]

Everyone plays each other once by Rd 17.

Rival round Round 18 with that game in stone before the season. Derbies, showdowns, block busters etc.

They schedule the end of the season that week.

Last 5 games are from your ladder position. Top six, middle six, bottom six.

No opening round or split over 2 weeks.

Easy.

 

[RonnieRaven]

20 team comp
Play everyone once 19 rds
Play the 3 other teams in your group of four on the ladder from the year before.
Makes it 22 rds
Maybe a gather rd
23rd season
Pre grandfinal the only bye for the year
Highest ranked grandfinalist host grandfinal

 

[Breretonisahood]

More round zeros

Good idea. 10 times zero is still zero. Each team plays the other twice and only 24 rounds plus 10 zero rounds.

 

[errant bounce]

Everyone plays each other once by Rd 17.

Rival round Round 18 with that game in stone before the season. Derbies, showdowns, block busters etc.

They schedule the end of the season that week.

Last 5 games are from your ladder position. Top six, middle six, bottom six.

No opening round or split over 2 weeks.

Easy.

I wonder how they'd go with a proper split like the Scottish Premier League.

Top six stay top six, but the positions within change; same as 7-12, 13-18.

In theory you can finish seventh but win more games than then a couple of teams above you which isn't great, but it can be an interesting format.

 

[Walshawk]

Seeing as we will NEVER get back to playing each team twice (18 teams and potentially 20 in the future) i was wondering how the AFL could better make the fixture fairer?
The AFL splits the current 18 teams into 3 groups ( top 8, middle 6 and bottom 4)
Currently we award 4 points for a win.
How about if a top 8 team plays a bottom 4 side twice, instead of awarding 4 points why not award 2 points for each win?
For example a top 8 team finish #1 in 2024 and lets say they get to play 2 bottom 4 sides in 2025. The max points they get if they win both games is (2x2) 4 points.
Then lets say a top 8 team who finish #2 in 2024 and only get to play (1 x bottom 4 side) once in 2025, so they get max 4 points if they win.
So regardless if you get 2 games against a bottom 4 side you dont get the advantage over sides who only play bottom 4 sides once.
If the bottom 4 side beats the top 8 team they get the normal 4 points.

Only two more fixture until Tassie come in. From 2028, we can have each team play each other once in the first 19 rounds, then split up the teams. Top 12 play for finals and bottom seven play amongst themselves. Or a number of other ways. The split (18/6) actually works much better with an odd number of teams,

 

[Spirit Level]

Just reduce the games so everyone plays each other once IMO, each game will increase in importance and value and the AFL season starts dragging on around mid July anyway.

 

[jmac70]

the AFL season starts dragging on around mid July anyway.

Spoken like a true Freo fan.

 

[Dirty Bird]

Everyone plays each other once by Rd 17.

Rival round Round 18 with that game in stone before the season. Derbies, showdowns, block busters etc.

They schedule the end of the season that week.

Last 5 games are from your ladder position. Top six, middle six, bottom six.

No opening round or split over 2 weeks.

Easy.

I am sick and tired of the sheer lunacy of this thought process.
After 18 games 9 teams are 9h, 8a, 1n then 9 teams are 8h, 9a, 1n
What happens if the top 6 all had 9 home games? 3 would get 3h, 2a here, while the other 3 would get 2h, 3a.
So 3 of the top 6 will finish with 12h, 10a, 1n and the other 3 will be 11h, 11a, 1n.
Plus, you create an unbalanced draw.


Also, look at past seasons, just take 2005 as an example, around this time we played everyone once, then finished with the double ups. But 1 game separated 2nd from 7th before the double ups began. How would it look when 6th finishes on a 5 game losing streak because of this skewed fixture, while 7th gets to beat up on teams making up the numbers? How stupid would the ladder look if 6th finished above 7th despite 7th having 20 more points? Or would it be fair if 7th shot up the table and got the minor premiership because they got an easy run vs teams who dont deserve to be in finals, while the 6 best teams beat up on each other?

Seriously, this bs being sprouted for years now is the single stupidest idea I've come across. It'd be impossible to implement without completely ****ing over someone each and every year.

 

[errant bounce]

Just reduce the games so everyone plays each other once IMO, each game will increase in importance and value and the AFL season starts dragging on around mid July anyway.

What, ten games in?

I love when that period gets going, it's cold as ****, there's a pattern to the ladder, emergent players become obvious, coaches start getting sacked. great time of year.

I actually start missing the home and away season when finals come around, always nice just having a low stakes game on or seeing something you pencilled in as dull or a drubbing turn into a really good match, more scope for upsets. love the home away.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

I wonder how they'd go with a proper split like the Scottish Premier League.

Top six stay top six, but the positions within change; same as 7-12, 13-18.

In theory you can finish seventh but win more games than then a couple of teams above you which isn't great, but it can be an interesting format.

Without the relegation threat, would it work?

I guess the bottom teams are generally playing for nothing anyway by that point, and it ensures the top teams are jockeying for finals positions every week.

 

[Spirit Level]

What, ten games in?

I love when that period gets going, it's cold as ****, there's a pattern to the ladder, emergent players become obvious, coaches start getting sacked. great time of year.

I actually start missing the home and away season when finals come around, always nice just having a low stakes game on or seeing something you pencilled in as dull or a drubbing turn into a really good match, more scope for upsets. love the home away.

I'm talking more around round 17-18, just starts dragging on for my by then.

The teams out of finals contention have nothing to play for and the teams heading to finals are just trying to make it through unscathed

 

[daniel_4tw]

Play everyone once. Shorter home and away and 100% fair. If you play home, you play away the following year.

Longer final series. Fine for a top 8 but more games and less knock out.

All that build up all year for it to be over 3 hours later for 2 teams and games drop to 2, 2 then 1…

 

[catstorm]

Play everyone once. Shorter home and away and 100% fair. If you play home, you play away the following year.

Longer final series. Fine for a top 8 but more games and less knock out.

All that build up all year for it to be over 3 hours later for 2 teams and games drop to 2, 2 then 1…

This would be fairer but the broadcasters would never go for it, they want more games and rounds not less.

 

[Dtennent94]

Everyone plays each other once by Rd 17.

Rival round Round 18 with that game in stone before the season. Derbies, showdowns, block busters etc.

They schedule the end of the season that week.

Last 5 games are from your ladder position. Top six, middle six, bottom six.

No opening round or split over 2 weeks.

Easy.

I’ve seen this idea a bit before… I think it has some merit but the worst part about it is you’re basically playing a finals series right before the finals series. To me, it kind of takes the wind out of the anticipation of the big finals matchups if they’re all playing right before finals in games that don’t matter so much.

Also if you’re in that top bracket with a super hard draw, can you get overtaken by middle rank teams with a much easier draw?

 

[Goggin Our Best]

This is my suggestion to freshen things up , make every game count right to the very last round - and get rid of the shocking lucky benefits in the present draw , like i think Geel got Nth Melb twice in the flag winning year of 22 , and this year we get Rich twice , that is a huge benefit to finish top 4 - you cant have that luck - bad luck if you want a genuine competition

There are 20 teams , we have 2 Divisions Div 1 and Div 2 , they are selected now on where the teams have finished over the last 10 years - and everyone in each division plays everyone twice home and away , so there are 18 games

We also get rid of the Draft , that has become beyond a joke , i come back to the Cats again , we got Bowes and pick 7 chucked in for loose change , what an utter joke

All 20 clubs get the same salary cap , go and spend your money , and good recruiting gets rewarded and if there is any cheating you get disqualified from both divisions for 5 years

The bottom 2 teams in Division 1 get relegated each year , so every game counts to the end - and their would be excitement right to the end even at the lower rungs of the ladder , not the current nonsense where there are half a dozen games to go and 4-5 clubs have packed it in for the year , so the games are absolute non events

The 2 Grand Final teams in Division 2 get promoted each year , so there is plenty riding on those PFs in that divisin each year

That system might actually get me interested in AFL Football again

 

[btdg]

The answer is to play everyone ONCE = 17 games (current)
Play 1 rivalry game a second time = 18 games and an equal number of home and away.

Then:
- Teams who cannot mathematically make the top 8 are eliminated - season ends immediately.

In round 19 use Swiss Pairings (1v2, 3v4, 5v6, etc). Play at the opposing venue to where the teams played first. Note that this means that 7v8, 9v10, 11v12, etc. If there is an uneven number of teams then the team on top gets a bye (and from this point forward we use win %)

At the end of the round, any team that is now mathematically eliminated from finals = season ends immediately. Repeat - in round 20, use Swiss pairings again, but avoid repeat match-ups. So it might be 1v3, 2v4, 5v6, 7v9, 8v10, etc. If there is an uneven number of teams then give.

Continue using Swiss pairings and elimination until 22 matches have been played, then top 8 plays finals.

Note that this allows for teams to leapfrog up and down the ladder much more quickly than the current system - no dead rubbers against bottom 6 teams who are playing for finals!