The shambolic mess of Opening Round

[Mr Magic]

I boycotted this year, not sure anyone noticed though.
I think they scrap it next year, too many vic clubs losing.

I actually like it

I reckon commentators do not like it because it upsets their empire building and have started a campaign to can it


its is good for fantasy and support industries to, help ease the fixture in, gives schedulers flexibility, it was done for a reason and has worked well I think ignoring any marketing angle

 

[Colonial]

Unless of course Opening Round is designed to give a leg up to the New South Wales/Queensland clubs with an extra bye every year, rather than genuinely trying to grow the game in those states.

A bye a couple of rounds in does nothing.

I remember when Opening Round began in 2024, and the AFL said it was to take advantage of the NRL being in Las Vegas.
If this is true then why not schedule Opening Round during the same weekend the NRL are in Las Vegas?
Instead it gets scheduled for the week after when the NRL are back in Australia.

It was also to be because all AFL media focus would be on the northern states.
It worked that first year, then the AFL ditched promoting in the second year.
Pies sooked and got an away game at their home in the 3rd year, again with zero promotion up north. Adelaide want in on the 4th year.

I agree that it’s over as the AFL have removed the reason for it so go back to round 1.

 

[Billy ray]

im not boycotting it - i only get 9 games on the gold coast - i aint missing 1

 

[Mr Magic]

A bye a couple of rounds in does nothing.

It was also to be because all AFL media focus would be on the northern states.
It worked that first year, then the AFL ditched promoting in the second year.
Pies sooked and got an away game at their home in the 3rd year, again with zero promotion up north. Adelaide want in on the 4th year.

I agree that it’s over as the AFL have removed the reason for it so go back to round 1.

go back to round one it becomes boring


at least this way the story tellers have something to spin and promote, emphasising certain strengths/matchups, otherwise it becomes a lead brick


Adelaide have their gather round, lol, gimmie, gimmie, gimmie, I want more


it is a good way for bottom teams to stay out of the limelight so overall the season becomes less painful, especially early meaning more bums on seats


if a fan realises their teams season is over by round 2 why would they not go on holiday? they focus on next year by round three


so you have the excitement of fantasy for two rounds with new players then more drama with that goes on for a couple of rounds, in and outs, injuries, still close enough etcc.., and the parents have to support the kids, next thing you know it is round seven by the time things stabilise, if not later

18 teams plus tassie, that is reality, a little fairytale smooths over reality

 

[bigleague]

A better opening round or rd0 game would be the GF rematch, play it stand alone at the MCG and start the rest of the season a week later. I know people don’t like to hear it, but the whole opening rd1 was clearly motivated by the NRL Vegas games, they wanted some equivalence back home that would “eat the NRL’s lunch” in NSW & QLD yet no one at AFL House apparently bothered to look at the dates to see when the NRL was actually not hosting games in NSW & QLD. The MCG with a crowd of 100k for a GF rematch to open the season on a Sunday night in prime time would be a far more effective tool to combat the glitz of NRL Vegas. Could even have a Wednesday night game to mirror the success of origin. Opening rd atm is just a half pregnant round 1 that does nothing to steal attention in nsw or qld and only really creates a soft launch to the start of the season.

 

[Del239335]

im not boycotting it - i only get 9 games on the gold coast - i aint missing 1

Try being a Geelong supporter we only get 10 games in our home city and have to play all of our home finals in Melbourne.
At least you guys have an academy and get to play your home finals in your home city.

 

[Obeanie1]

So Hawks play 3 games and now have an 18 day break?

How is that good for anyone?

Hawks just got a a two game winning streak and now miss 18 days. Thats not great.

And then other sides wait until mid season to get a break.

What a mess.

 

[Mr Magic]

So Hawks play 3 games and now have an 18 day break?

How is that good for anyone?

Hawks just got a a two game winning streak and now miss 18 days. Thats not great.

And then other sides wait until mid season to get a break.

What a mess.

depends on who you are playing. Who says Hawks are a runaway train, maybe they are not yet?

if you where west Coast fan with a 18 game break they could Bali for a lot of it and come back, or somewhere else, go fishing, hardly a drama

 

[OniAu]

I love how higher ups want to put their own spin on some creation for a point of difference.

In a league that can run itself. They are doing their best to absolutely lose people

 

[Obeanie1]

depends on who you are playing. Who says Hawks are a runaway train, maybe they are not yet?

if you where west Coast fan with a 18 game break they could Bali for a lot of it and come back, or somewhere else, go fishing, hardly a drama

Yep an 18 game break in Bali.....sounds a tad excessive IMO. Maybe not for Eagles fans though.

If any players / club decided to duck off for a week in Bali after the opening 2.5 rounds of the season.......that would be a drama.

Run away train? Never said that.

Two game winning streak is one you want to maintain, especially early in the season. It can set up the entire year.

Fixture is a joke......a poor one.

 

[Obeanie1]

They just need to do it how the NRL do it, the Opening Round games are still Round 1, you just have the other games played the next week. Easy fix, first weekend is QLD and NSW focused, then you do the rest the week after.

Dude. The AFL wants exposure for its expansion sides. Not playing the following week doesn't deliver that.

It all about marketing AFL in Qld and NSW.

Nothing else matters.

 

[Aussie in exile]

The afl is now, such a reactionary league. Nothing is inventive or new, nothing is ground breaking any more. It's the same slop shite that the NRL came up with and the AFL are just trying to steal their lunch after the fact. Why the bigger, more popular league is so hopelessly afraid of its little brother makes no sense to me

The AFL jumps as shadows. Pure and simple.

 

[Gough]

I don't bet but I was looking at the ladder this morning and getting any handle on form is pretty hard when teams are constantly having byes, I wonder if a drop in gambling revenue might change the AFL's focus.

 

[Del239335]

I love how higher ups want to put their own spin on some creation for a point of difference.

In a league that can run itself. They are doing their best to absolutely lose people

Peter V'Landys is running rings around Andrew Dillon and it's obvious with the AFL being reactive rather than showing initiative.

Exhibit A being Gather Round which is an imitation of NRL's Magic Round.
Exhibit B being Opening Round which was brought in to combat NRL opening their season in Las Vegas.
Exhibit C being the return of Origin which was brought back to combat NRL's Origin.

AFL House needs a broom through it, and new leaders who initiate rather than react while doing what's best for the game.

 

[GroggSquad]

It wasn't.

The main motivation was to take matches away from low-rating early arvo slots from later rounds, and move them into newly created / additional standalone primetime slots.

Nailed it.

It is another indictment on the AFL how poorly they communicate this reasoning to fans. No-one understands it is done for commercial reasons and the idea of having "all 18 teams playing in a round" is actually something they actively want to avoid.

Why squeeze a 9th game into the weekend as a 1:45pm Saturday clash with another match when you can repurpose it as a standalone Thursday night blockbuster on a brand new weekend before Round 1?

If they are going to go in this direction where maximising TV audiences is the aim, just give us 9 games with standalone Sunday night or Monday night footy every week & cop the crowd hit I say - this would be a better outcome than spoiling the competition with 9 bye rounds.

 

[ItsAllAboutMe]

Opening round as a concept is fine, it is the disjointed and illogical nature of the fixture as a whole which is a mess.

Carlton had an 18 day break between Richmond & Melbourne.. and then now have a 5 day break before North Melbourne.. Was absolutely no reason the Carlton v Melb game could/should not have been played Saturday or even Friday to ensure a 6 or 7 day break. Other examples starting a game involving a WA team at 12:30 in Adelaide, 9:30am Perth time, just dumb. The AFL employed some 'guru' full time to plan the fixture, seriously you could chuck it in Grok and come up with a better fixture within 10 minutes.

40% of the fixture has byes which just makes the whole season disjointed.. Little things which engage fans like footy tips and supercoach become less fun as a result and the general weekly momentum of a weekend of footy gets compromised.

 

[010203]

Caro revealed that it's gone forever on Tonight's 'Agenda Setters' program.

 

[Colonial]

What was a good idea destroyed by ineptness and self interest.

 

[Bluelegs]

What was a good idea destroyed by ineptness and self interest.

Caro's report said the AFL believe they were giving the NRL a month head start off the back of Opening Round because of all the byes. Reading between the lines that sounds like it wasn't having the desired effect in the northern states.

 

[Mr MysteryGuest]

What was a good idea destroyed by ineptness and self interest.

It was always a terrible idea , it stalled the start to the season and undermined the integrity of the competition.

If you want to promote the northern teams in prime time slots, then just do that it round 1.

 

[Colonial]

Caro's report said the AFL believe they were giving the NRL a month head start off the back of Opening Round because of all the byes. Reading between the lines that sounds like it wasn't having the desired effect in the northern states.

exactly, ineptness. They didnt promote it and put no effort into it.

 

[Colonial]

It was always a terrible idea , it stalled the start to the season and undermined the integrity of the competition.

If you want to promote the northern teams in prime time slots, then just do that it round 1.

Undermined integrity. Like gather round?

 

[Madas]

What was a good idea destroyed by ineptness and self interest.

There was not one thing good about it

0

 

[____]

Good news. Hopefully the 10 team finals series is gone after this as well and reverts back to the correct number of 8.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Go easy on the AFL executive. In order to justify their bloated salaries, they need to invent more changes to the game. People would be questioning why they are there if everything remained the same.