The alleged fixture balancing seems to be a bit off. Sides are supposed to be allocated easier or harder fixtures according to which third of the ladder they finished (after finals). It has produced some odd results.
These sides are grouped according to finishing order after the finals. To save space, I will notate these with a three-digit code that is the number of games in each group. For example, a club with 221 has two return games against top-6 sides, two return games against middle six sides and one return game against a bottom-six side.
Each club has received one return match in each group, leaving two additional games to be allocated. Six patterns are possible, but only four appear in next year's fixture. The two patterns that don't appear are 212 and 131.
311: GWS Giants, Sydney Swans
221: Adelaide Crows, Geelong, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Port Adelaide, Richmond, St Kilda, West Coast.
122: Essendon, Fremantle, North Melbourne, Western Bulldogs
113: Brisbane Lions, Carlton, Collingwood, Gold Coast
Four brackets can be seen here. GWS and Sydney both play West Coast twice, and are ranked in the top bracket only because West Coast defeated Port Adelaide in a final with a kick after the siren in extra time. Had Port Adelaide won instead, Port would jump from 7th to 5th, Sydney fall from 5th to 6th, Essendon climbs from 8th to 7th and West Coast falls from 6th to 8th. The rankings would be like this (differences in bold):
311: Adelaide Crows, West Coast Eagles
221: Geelong, GWS Giants, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Richmond, St Kilda, Sydney Swans
212: Essendon
131: Port Adelaide
122: Fremantle, North Melbourne, Western Bulldogs
113: Brisbane Lions, Carlton, Collingwood, Gold Coast
Here, the 212 and 131 patterns do appear.
"Unbelievable!" -- Nick Davis leaves his mark on the 2005 semi final
prediction. In the last H & A round we will cement a top two spot by smashing the Hawks at home and march into the finals as favourites for the flag .........gee I must say my 'medicine' is working well at the moment!
I don't care about being flag favorites or outsiders. I just want to win it.
Last edited by liz; 31st October 2017 at 09:32 PM. Reason: fixed quotation formatting
I suppose once you accept that the draw is all about maximising TV ratings, all the weirdness makes sense. Disappointed by the lack of family-friendly times and I really dislike the pre-finals bye.
My conspiracy theory: 8 home night games with 1 Thursday night and 3 Friday night are unattractive to lots of people - particularly potential new "family" members versus GWS 5 day/twilight games in Sydney and 2 in Canberra is because AFL wants youngun's and new followers based in Sydney to support GWS to build their fan base over more members for Swans.
On a personal note, in our group of 6, 2 x 20+ yr members are no renewing due to all the night games but we will buy extra tix for them for a few games per year. I am renewing but will watch from home the Thursday and some Friday games as getting to/from the SCG weekdays sucks.
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. - Edmund Burke
I am getting close to 70 and Friday night games are a little late starting for me as I live in the 'west' and don't get home until 12-12:30am (depending on how long I have to wait at central for the train, sometimes up to 30 mins), so I sometimes don't go to Friday night games and never go to Thursday night games, but will still re-new this year.
I love Thursday and Friday night games... gets the nerves over and done with early so I can enjoy a "free" weekend!!
(Although, turning up to work with a hangover on a Friday after the Thursday night game is a bit much for the people I work with.)
Wild speculation, unsubstantiated rumours, silly jokes and opposition delight in another's failures is what makes an internet forum fun.
Blessed are the cracked for they are the ones who let in the light.
I notice that we start pre season training on the same timeframe as most other top 4 clubs, by my calculations the 1-4 year players have had 9 weeks off and the senior players 11 weeks. This, combined with almost no injuries, means we are well set for a good pre season and fresh start to 2018, unlike this year where we had a terrible pre season and arrived for R1 already banged up.
I think you answered your own question there. Although we do have three return games against top-6 sides, one of them is against West Coast, who we must all admit, aren't that scary. It could be an easier draw, but I'm not outraged. In the end, it is what it is, and if you want to win, you have to be good enough to beat the best.
In terms of game times, I agree that evening games are a bummer to get to, but I think the club would be pretty happy with. All that TV exposure is great for the club - attracts fans, attracts sponsors. Thursday and Friday nights are the worst, what with getting there from work and no public transport to get home, but I find if I ride my bike straight from work, that's about 20-30 minutes, and about 30 minutes to ride home after the game, with no wait for traffic, so its not too bad.
We had 7 last season. We lost 4 out of 7, 2 to Hawks. Our draw is not particularly good. We have 6 day breaks before playing these teams; GWS (2), Crows, Hawks (2), Carlton, Eagles, Tigers, Suns, Essendon. The sides who were in the eight last season are going to be difficult on a 6 day as are Hawks.
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