Opinion What Is Your Ideal Fixture

[LordLucifer]

There is a lot of talk/whinges about byes, the number of rounds in a season and a host of other vagaries that people consider issues affecting the quality of the season. So, in the interests of trying to make things easier, once again, I have spent too much time thinking about it and have come up with a draft for next years fixture.

Can anyone offer some thoughts on why this schedule isn't an easier way to structure everything whilst also appeasing the current naysayers ??

Also, have a close look, there are two 'quirky' dates in there too, it was just the way the calendar works out next year.

The 2024 AFL Fixture

​

Round 1 - Thursday 28th, Good Friday 29th, Holy Saturday 30th, Easter Sunday 31st March & Easter Monday 1st April



Round 2 - Thursday 4th, Friday 5th, Saturday 6th & Sunday 7th April



Round 3 - Thursday 11th, Friday 12th, Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th April



Round 4 - Thursday 18th, Friday 19th, Saturday 20th & Sunday 21st April



Round 5 - Wednesday 24th (Anzac Eve), Thursday 25th (Anzac Day), Friday 26th, Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th April



Round 6 (Gather Round) - Thursday 2nd, Friday 3rd, Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th May



Round 7 - Thursday 9th, Friday 10th, Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th May



Round 8 - Thursday 16th, Friday 17th, Saturday 18th & Sunday 19th May



Round 9 - Thursday 23rd, Friday 24th, Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th May



Round 10 - Thursday 30th & Friday 31st May, Saturday 1st & Sunday 2nd June



Round 11 - Thursday 6th, Friday 7th, Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th June



BYE ROUND - Saturday 15th June (Mid-Season Draft & Mid-Season Trade)



Round 12 - Thursday 20th, Friday 21st, Saturday 22nd & Sunday 23rd June



Round 13 - Thursday 27th, Friday 28th, Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th June



Round 14 - Thursday 4th, Friday 5th, Saturday 6th & Sunday 7th July



Round 15 - Thursday 11th, Friday 12th, Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th July



Round 16 - Thursday 18th, Friday 19th, Saturday 20th & Sunday 21st July



Round 17 - Thursday 25th, Friday 26th, Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th July



Round 18 - Thursday 1st, Friday 2nd, Saturday 3rd & Sunday 4th August



Round 19 - Thursday 8th, Friday 9th, Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th August



Round 20 - Thursday 15th, Friday 16th, Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th August



Round 21 - Thursday 22nd, Friday 23rd, Saturday 24th & Sunday 25th August



Round 22 - Thursday 29th, Friday 30th, Saturday 31st August & Sunday 1st September



Elimination & Qualifying Finals - Friday 6th, Saturday 7th & Sunday 8th September



Semi-Finals - Friday 13th & Saturday 14th September



Preliminary Finals - Saturday 21st September (two games on the same day - 2:10pm & 5:10pm)



Grand Final - Saturday 28th September

 

[hawkman]

Gather round is locked for April 4-7

 

[Obzerva]

2024 prediction, the spread out byes will stay.

there’s a lot of hate for the spread out byes, rather than one round where every team gets a mid season break, but they do it for a reason.

The AFL likes to own the news cycle, and countinuous football does that, taking a week off in the middle doesn’t.
Further, a week off leaves all the grounds empty and ripe for a rugby union test in Melbourne or similar to get some oxygen in the news cycle.

 

[JohnZ]

Can anyone offer some thoughts

You're missing a round. Need 22 + gather round which makes 23.

 

[LordLucifer]

You're missing a round. Need 22 + gather round which makes 23.

Everyone is complaining that 23 rounds is too long hence why I have moved it back to 22 in total but just nominated Round 6 as ''Gather".

 

[Walshawk]

Everyone is complaining that 23 rounds is too long hence why I have moved it back to 22 in total but just nominated Round 6 as ''Gather".

Happy for your team to give up a home game for ‘Gather’?

 

[Walshawk]

Spread the byes over nine weeks

 

[LordLucifer]

Happy for your team to give up a home game for ‘Gather’?

Doesn't worry me, the following year you get it back and those who had it don't.

 

[Kwality]

Happy for your team to give up a home game for ‘Gather’?

No Vic club can complain.

 

[hawkman]

No Vic club can complain.

Why should a Vic club forego the revenue they would earn from a home game while other clubs like WC could without any issue?

 

[Walshawk]

Why should a Vic club forego the revenue they would earn from a home game while other clubs like WC could without any issue?

The AFL will pay more for Gather Round, if it comes to that (it won’t).

 

[Underarm]

There is a lot of talk/whinges about byes, the number of rounds in a season and a host of other vagaries that people consider issues affecting the quality of the season. So, in the interests of trying to make things easier, once again, I have spent too much time thinking about it and have come up with a draft for next years fixture.

Can anyone offer some thoughts on why this schedule isn't an easier way to structure everything whilst also appeasing the current naysayers ??

Also, have a close look, there are two 'quirky' dates in there too, it was just the way the calendar works out next year.

The 2024 AFL Fixture

​

Round 1 - Thursday 28th, Good Friday 29th, Holy Saturday 30th, Easter Sunday 31st March & Easter Monday 1st April



Round 2 - Thursday 4th, Friday 5th, Saturday 6th & Sunday 7th April



Round 3 - Thursday 11th, Friday 12th, Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th April



Round 4 - Thursday 18th, Friday 19th, Saturday 20th & Sunday 21st April



Round 5 - Wednesday 24th (Anzac Eve), Thursday 25th (Anzac Day), Friday 26th, Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th April



Round 6 (Gather Round) - Thursday 2nd, Friday 3rd, Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th May



Round 7 - Thursday 9th, Friday 10th, Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th May



Round 8 - Thursday 16th, Friday 17th, Saturday 18th & Sunday 19th May



Round 9 - Thursday 23rd, Friday 24th, Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th May



Round 10 - Thursday 30th & Friday 31st May, Saturday 1st & Sunday 2nd June



Round 11 - Thursday 6th, Friday 7th, Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th June



BYE ROUND - Saturday 15th June (Mid-Season Draft & Mid-Season Trade)



Round 12 - Thursday 20th, Friday 21st, Saturday 22nd & Sunday 23rd June



Round 13 - Thursday 27th, Friday 28th, Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th June



Round 14 - Thursday 4th, Friday 5th, Saturday 6th & Sunday 7th July



Round 15 - Thursday 11th, Friday 12th, Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th July



Round 16 - Thursday 18th, Friday 19th, Saturday 20th & Sunday 21st July



Round 17 - Thursday 25th, Friday 26th, Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th July



Round 18 - Thursday 1st, Friday 2nd, Saturday 3rd & Sunday 4th August



Round 19 - Thursday 8th, Friday 9th, Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th August



Round 20 - Thursday 15th, Friday 16th, Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th August



Round 21 - Thursday 22nd, Friday 23rd, Saturday 24th & Sunday 25th August



Round 22 - Thursday 29th, Friday 30th, Saturday 31st August & Sunday 1st September



Elimination & Qualifying Finals - Friday 6th, Saturday 7th & Sunday 8th September



Semi-Finals - Friday 13th & Saturday 14th September



Preliminary Finals - Saturday 21st September (two games on the same day - 2:10pm & 5:10pm)



Grand Final - Saturday 28th September

1. Easter weekend has good Friday and Easter Sunday, both traditionally lower crowd days. They also like the Brisbane/Collingwood match up on the Thursday, but they wouldn't want to start the season that way.

2. If there is a gather round there must be 23 rounds. The only way it works for the clubs is if it's an extra Round so it doesn't mess with any existing contracts.

3. Pre finals bye isn't going anywhere. Thursday night final is immensely popular, especially compared to the Sunday final; plus it means they don't have to worry about the Round 23 or week 1 finals schedule.

 

[JohnZ]

Spread the byes over nine weeks

Id spread it over 5. One game the week of Kings Bday and two games the other four weeks.

Thursday
Friday
Saturday x3
Sunday x2
Monday (Kings Bday)

No overlap and no missing slots.

 

[glengowan]

2024 Fixture



Regular Season - 17 Games per team

8 Home, 8 Away

Gather Round in South Australia, which includes the Showdown



A reverse fixture each season so if you play a team at home one season, you play them away the next.



Group Stage - 5 Games per team

Ladder is reset, however finishing position after Regular Season is used instead of percentage to differentiate teams with equal points.



Top 3 placed teams from each group play 3 home games and 2 away games.



Group A - 1-6 on Premiership Table at end of Regular Season



*All teams in Group A will qualify for finals and are guaranteed at least one home final. Teams that finish 5th and 6th in this group will join the top 3 placed teams of Group B & C in Week 1 of the Finals.



Group B - 7,10,11,14,15,18 on Premiership Table at end of Regular Season

Group C - 8,9,12,13,16,17 on Premiership Table at end of Regular Season





Pre-formulated Group Stage Fixture

Round 1

1 vs 2

3 vs 4

5 vs 6



Round 2

2 vs 3

4 vs 5

6 vs 1



Round 3

1 vs 5

3 vs 6

2 vs 4



Round 4

5 vs 3

6 vs 2

1 vs 4



Round 5

3 vs 1

2 vs 5

4 vs 6



Finals - 5 Rounds



Pre Finals Ranking:

• Position 1-4 from Group A after completion of Group Stage
• Position 5 is Group A 5th after completion of Group Stage
• Position 6 is Group A 6th after completion of Group Stage
• Position 7 is Highest Ranked Team from first 17 Rounds out of Group B 1st and Group C 1st
• Position 8 is 2nd Highest Ranked Team from first 17 Rounds out of Group B 1st and Group C 1st
• Position 9 is Highest Ranked Team from first 17 Rounds out of Group B 2nd and Group C 2nd
• Position 10 is 2nd Highest Ranked Team from first 17 Rounds out of Group B 2nd and Group C 2nd
• Position 11 is Highest Ranked Team from first 17 Rounds out of Group B 3rd and Group C 3rd
• Position 12 is 2nd Highest Ranked Team from first 17 Rounds out of Group B 3rd and Group C 3rd

Week 1 - Knockout Round

Positions 1-4 Bye

Position 5 vs Position 12

Position 6 vs Position 11

Position 7 vs Position 10

Position 8 vs Position 9



Week 2 - Elimination & Qualifying Finals

Elimination 1 - Highest Rank Winner vs Lowest Rank Winner from Week 1

Elimination 2 - 2nd Highest Rank Winner vs 2nd Lowest Rank Winner from Week 1

Qualifying 1 - 1st vs 4th from Group A

Qualifying 2 - 2nd vs 3rd from Group A



Week 3 - Semi Finals

Semi 1 - Loser Qualifying 1 vs Winner Elimination 2

Semi 2 - Loser Qualifying 2 vs Winner Elimination 1



Week 4 - Preliminary Finals

Prelim 1 - Winner Qualifying 1 vs Winner Semi 2

Prelim 2 - Winner Qualifying 2 vs Winner Semi 1



Week 5 - Grand Final

Winner Prelim 1 vs Winner Prelim 2

 

[The Educator]

2024 Fixture



Regular Season - 17 Games per team

8 Home, 8 Away

Gather Round in South Australia, which includes the Showdown



A reverse fixture each season so if you play a team at home one season, you play them away the next.



Group Stage - 5 Games per team

Ladder is reset, however finishing position after Regular Season is used instead of percentage to differentiate teams with equal points.



Top 3 placed teams from each group play 3 home games and 2 away games.



Group A - 1-6 on Premiership Table at end of Regular Season



*All teams in Group A will qualify for finals and are guaranteed at least one home final. Teams that finish 5th and 6th in this group will join the top 3 placed teams of Group B & C in Week 1 of the Finals.



Group B - 7,10,11,14,15,18 on Premiership Table at end of Regular Season

Group C - 8,9,12,13,16,17 on Premiership Table at end of Regular Season





Pre-formulated Group Stage Fixture

Round 1

1 vs 2

3 vs 4

5 vs 6



Round 2

2 vs 3

4 vs 5

6 vs 1



Round 3

1 vs 5

3 vs 6

2 vs 4



Round 4

5 vs 3

6 vs 2

1 vs 4



Round 5

3 vs 1

2 vs 5

4 vs 6



Finals - 5 Rounds



Pre Finals Ranking:

• Position 1-4 from Group A after completion of Group Stage
• Position 5 is Group A 5th after completion of Group Stage
• Position 6 is Group A 6th after completion of Group Stage
• Position 7 is Highest Ranked Team from first 17 Rounds out of Group B 1st and Group C 1st
• Position 8 is 2nd Highest Ranked Team from first 17 Rounds out of Group B 1st and Group C 1st
• Position 9 is Highest Ranked Team from first 17 Rounds out of Group B 2nd and Group C 2nd
• Position 10 is 2nd Highest Ranked Team from first 17 Rounds out of Group B 2nd and Group C 2nd
• Position 11 is Highest Ranked Team from first 17 Rounds out of Group B 3rd and Group C 3rd
• Position 12 is 2nd Highest Ranked Team from first 17 Rounds out of Group B 3rd and Group C 3rd

Week 1 - Knockout Round

Positions 1-4 Bye

Position 5 vs Position 12

Position 6 vs Position 11

Position 7 vs Position 10

Position 8 vs Position 9



Week 2 - Elimination & Qualifying Finals

Elimination 1 - Highest Rank Winner vs Lowest Rank Winner from Week 1

Elimination 2 - 2nd Highest Rank Winner vs 2nd Lowest Rank Winner from Week 1

Qualifying 1 - 1st vs 4th from Group A

Qualifying 2 - 2nd vs 3rd from Group A



Week 3 - Semi Finals

Semi 1 - Loser Qualifying 1 vs Winner Elimination 2

Semi 2 - Loser Qualifying 2 vs Winner Elimination 1



Week 4 - Preliminary Finals

Prelim 1 - Winner Qualifying 1 vs Winner Semi 2

Prelim 2 - Winner Qualifying 2 vs Winner Semi 1



Week 5 - Grand Final

Winner Prelim 1 vs Winner Prelim 2

Actually don't mind this in theory.

As much as it is less "pure" I think you would need 19 games in the opening phase (double up derbies and gather round).

I would make the following changes:

Have the following "wild card" games played in the current finals bye round:

1. Third versus 4th in the top group play off for the final top 4 spot (i.e. away in a qualifying final) with the loser hosting an elimination final
2. Top teams from each of the two bottom groups play off for a home elimination final (loser plays away against the loser of 1
3. 6th in the top group plays off against the best placed 2nd team in the bottom 2 groups for the last away elimination final spot

I think without doing something like this, there are insufficient pay offs in the top group. The above would mean

1st gets a week off and a home qualifying final against a team that played the previous week
2nd gets a week off and a home qualifying final
3rd gets a week off and an away qualifying final
4th gets a home playoff for the final qual final spot
5th gets an away playoff for the final qual final spot
6th is forced to playoff for an away elimination final spot

The big question with these systems if whether you have points carry over or not. In this case you would have to have points carry over as you can't have the bottom team and the 7th team starting fresh with an equal chance of playing finals. Under this model I would make wins worth 8 points in the "group stage".

The ultimately problem with this system, though, is what do you do when there are 19 teams (i.e. Tassie)?

The only way around it is to not split out the bottom 13 teams (but to still use a weighted fixturing based purely of finishing position) and have the bottom 5 teams all have one bye.

 

[NetworkNerd]

The fairest fixture should be split the 18 teams in 3 groups of 6. You play each of the teams in your group twice and the other 12 teams once. Thats 22 games. To counter for gather round, there will be an extra game for a 'rival' game.

Group 1
Collingwood
Brisbane
Port
Melbourne
Carlton
St Kilda

Group 2
Sydney
GWS
Bulldogs
Essendon
Geelong
Richmond

Group 3
Adelaide
Fremantle
Gold Coast
Hawthorn
West Coast
North Melb

Picking the 'Rival' out of the other group can be tricky. Especially someone like GWS who are already in the same group as Sydney and Bulldogs.

 

[Underarm]

The fairest fixture should be split the 18 teams in 3 groups of 6. You play each of the teams in your group twice and the other 12 teams once. Thats 22 games. To counter for gather round, there will be an extra game for a 'rival' game.

Group 1
Collingwood
Brisbane
Port
Melbourne
Carlton
St Kilda

Group 2
Sydney
GWS
Bulldogs
Essendon
Geelong
Richmond

Group 3
Adelaide
Fremantle
Gold Coast
Hawthorn
West Coast
North Melb

Picking the 'Rival' out of the other group can be tricky. Especially someone like GWS who are already in the same group as Sydney and Bulldogs.

How could someone possibly think this is any fairer or better than what we currently have?

 

[falcons2]

The fairest fixture should be split the 18 teams in 3 groups of 6. You play each of the teams in your group twice and the other 12 teams once. Thats 22 games. To counter for gather round, there will be an extra game for a 'rival' game.

Group 1
Collingwood
Brisbane
Port
Melbourne
Carlton
St Kilda

Group 2
Sydney
GWS
Bulldogs
Essendon
Geelong
Richmond

Group 3
Adelaide
Fremantle
Gold Coast
Hawthorn
West Coast
North Melb

Picking the 'Rival' out of the other group can be tricky. Especially someone like GWS who are already in the same group as Sydney and Bulldogs.

Not bad but the disadvantage of 5 & 6 opposed to 7 & 8 is massive, even 6 opposed to 13th. By wins they might only be separated by 2 or 3 games.
Why not groups of 3, by ladder position - 1,2,3 4,5,6, 7,8,9 etc
You play the other 2 teams in your group and a team from each of the other groups twice.
so 1 would play 2 & 3 then 4,7,10,13 & 16 (the 1 group)
2 plays 1,3,5,8,11,14 & 17 (the 2 group)
3 plays 1,2,6,9,12,15,18 (the 3 group)
Makes 24 games!

 

[deck]

How does the OP miss that we will have 24 rounds?

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

2024 prediction, the spread out byes will stay.

there’s a lot of hate for the spread out byes, rather than one round where every team gets a mid season break, but they do it for a reason.

The AFL likes to own the news cycle, and countinuous football does that, taking a week off in the middle doesn’t.
Further, a week off leaves all the grounds empty and ripe for a rugby union test in Melbourne or similar to get some oxygen in the news cycle.

Personally, I don't mind the spread out byes.
But they do ned to ensure that teams going into a bye play another team going into a bye, and teams coming off a bye play other teams coming off a bye. And not hold Thursday night games on bye rounds (or, indeed, ever).

 

[Obzerva]

Personally, I don't mind the spread out byes.
But they do ned to ensure that teams going into a bye play another team going into a bye, and teams coming off a bye play other teams coming off a bye. And not hold Thursday night games on bye rounds (or, indeed, ever).

completely agree on the post bye teams playing each other, it's just fair, weird concept I know.

The main problem I have with the thursday night games is that teams that end up on thursday nights, you end up with stuck with the next thurs and friday pretty frequently, with little turnover of teams on free to air.

 

[Cleavy]

The main problem I have with the thursday night games is that teams that end up on thursday nights, you end up with stuck with the next thurs and friday pretty frequently, with little turnover of teams on free to air.

the broadcasters put their 2c in. Obviously the higher drawing sides will always get the better timeslots and the strugglers can please themselves.

 

[TimothyJ23]

I feel like the title of this thread should be more "what is your ideal fixture".

2024 won't be markedly different to 2023 in terms of season structure. They won't be reducing the number of rounds/games. It'll run roughly the same timeline and the byes will be spread of 3 or 4 rounds as per.

 

[Blue1980]

Everyone is complaining that 23 rounds is too long hence why I have moved it back to 22 in total but just nominated Round 6 as ''Gather".

When you say “everyone” you just mean Brad Scott don’t you?

 

[Blue1980]

Only think I’d ask for with gather round is port play crows in it. Shouldn’t disadvantage other sides by giving them an extra away game as happened to Carlton and dogs this year.

If it was being rotated around different states I’d feel differently as it would be luck of the draw, but as it’s in SA next 3 years, should be a showdown game for gather round.