How rigged is this year?

[Rik E Boy]

Only this year REB?

Good point.

regards,

REB

[Wedgie]

Of course it's rigged as Collingwood don't play any team that finished above them last year!

[Baron Greenback]

And only a Blues fan wouldn't ask why they play Richmond in Round one every year. A nice soft 50 point win will get the bandwagonners back on board for a club with a massive latent fanbase. Yeah Richmond have improved but it's still a leg up. I'd much rather have Richmond/Gold Coast than St Kilda/Freo away thank you very much but the AFL don't want us up there.

regards,

REB

I'm sure the AFL don't want Geelong to be up there
Fair enough, they regularly favour Collingwood and Carlton, but I don't think they sit down together to plot Geelong's demise.

Of course they don't want Geelong up there . We've just recorded the best 100 game period win loss ratio in history. The AFL want to rotate the success, they don't want the same team dominating (unless they generate revenue LOL).

regards,

REB

There's no way Geelong can stay up there forever because of the nature of the draft etc.
I'm pretty sure the AFL knows this.

[Booney]

Thought you would have realised that it's been "rigged" since about the early 90's mate.

[Dogwatcher]

Sooooo....it was rigged when Brisbane had the draft concessions.
It was rigged when Sydney had the extended salary cap.
It's been rigged for Collingwood.

Does anyone win a flag on merit any more?

[whufc]

Yep every year is rigged by the fact that teams dont play each other equal times, while some teams play at there home ground 17-20 times a year while others only play at their home ground 11-13 times a year.

The AFL has the most uneven fixture/draw in world sport, no wonder the rest of the world think the AFL is rubbish.

[Rik E Boy]

Yep every year is rigged by the fact that teams dont play each other equal times, while some teams play at there home ground 17-20 times a year while others only play at their home ground 11-13 times a year.

The AFL has the most uneven fixture/draw in world sport, no wonder the rest of the world think the AFL is rubbish.

Yeah the vagaries of the draw is a highlighted discussion point on ESPN at 3am.

regards,

REB

[Q.]

"Tis a fine game that AFL, innit Bruce, pure grace and speed, but geez I jis refuse t' watch it 'cause the teams d'nowt play each other twice!"

[Booney]

Sooooo....it was rigged when Brisbane had the draft concessions.
It was rigged when Sydney had the extended salary cap.
It's been rigged for Collingwood.

Does anyone win a flag on merit any more?

Not since 2004.

[OnSong]

Sooooo....it was rigged when Brisbane had the draft concessions.
It was rigged when Sydney had the extended salary cap.
It's been rigged for Collingwood.

Does anyone win a flag on merit any more?

Not since 2004.

Lol!

[whufc]

"Tis a fine game that AFL, innit Bruce, pure grace and speed, but geez I jis refuse t' watch it 'cause the teams d'nowt play each other twice!"

The fixture takes nothing away from Australian Rules Football as a sport but imho it takes away alot of credibility as an AFL competition.

The competition claims to be about deciding who is the best Australian Rules Football Club in Australia yet the fixture is so biased and 100% revolves around maxium attendances and tv ratings that each year some teams get massive advantages over other sides.

I would rather see no NAB Cup and go straight into the main season, i would also cut the amount of teams in the finals therefore you could play more minor round games and really sort out who is the best sides then into the finals.

They will never cut down the amount of teams in the finals though because that would affect attendences to greatly.

[Q.]

Agree on cutting the NAB and having all teams play twice, but alongside that have a four-man interchange + one sub, and increase the size of the team lists.

However, I don't think it would affect the minor round ladder standings. Collingwood would then get to play teams like GCS, Richmond, Brisbane twice. Good teams are still good, crap teams are still crap.

Currently, Collingwood play 18.2% of their games outside of Victoria. Under your proposal, they would play 21.8% of their games outside of Victoria. Not a huge difference.

[whufc]

Agree on cutting the NAB and having all teams play twice, but alongside that have a four-man interchange + one sub, and increase the size of the team lists.

However, I don't think it would affect the minor round ladder standings. Collingwood would then get to play teams like GCS, Richmond, Brisbane twice. Good teams are still good, crap teams are still crap.

Currently, Collingwood play 18.2% of their games outside of Victoria. Under your proposal, they would play 21.8% of their games outside of Victoria. Not a huge difference.

Yeah i agree Collingwood could play any teams at the moment and finish top and they were without doubt the best team last season as well.

The whole travel factor isnt really an issue imho if every team plays every team twice, 1 at home 1 away obviously Collingwood would only travel 7 times compared to the Crows would travel 15 teams, its unavoidable if you have so many teams from the one state.

My biggest issue is that teams who play the Gold Coast, Brisbane twice this year have a 2-3 game advantage on teams who have to play Collingwood, Carlton, Geelong twice.

Thats huge in the context of a season and on many occasions could decide top4, top8 places, premiership chances and for those mid range to low finanacial clubs such as PA, KANG, WB making finals could be a club saviour.

Im still yet to here a decent answer from any AFL people as to why club A deserves a more favourable fixture over club B before a ball has even been bounced. All 17 teams should start every season on a even platform with performances being the only factor in ladder positons, not they got to play the GC twice while they had to play Collingwood and Geelong twice each.

[CedeNullis]

Collingwood first two rounds

vs. Port in Melbourne
vs. Roos in Melbourne

Carlton first two rounds

vs. Richmond in Melbourne
vs. Gold Coast spuds anywhere

Round three the undefeated clash of the Melbourne Rivals on Friday night 'live' on revenue raising central. FFS at least try to disguise it a little bit for the rest of us.

Sorry boys but the Cats have defied the crap start you've handed to us. Get ****** Demetriou!

regards,

REB

Have a good look at Collingwood's fixtures for 2011 REB. Also, check out who they play in their interstate games. 14 games for Collingwood at the MCG. Nice gig if you can get it.

[gadj1976]

I just had this conversation with a mate of mine. A proper draw could be over 22 or 24 rounds but have 14 home games each.

Carl, Ess, Collingwood (just to name three) play what 17 or 18 games home?

Crows, Port, Freo, WCE, Syd, Bris and GC play 11 at "home" (with some transferred for monetary purposes).

It could be easily enough done, that Car, Ess and Coll play 4 more games away each season, thereby allowing the Crows, Port etc to have up to 14 games at home. It could work. It'd be ideal at the moment when Carl, Coll and Ess are being followed by more and more around the country to promote the game. But promoting the game doesn't mean leaving the state very often in the eyes of Demetriou and co.

I say it could work....but it will never happen.

I'd like to know the 'goal' of the people who write the fixture though. What exactly is their goal?

[GWW]

Sooooo....it was rigged when Brisbane had the draft concessions.
It was rigged when Sydney had the extended salary cap.
It's been rigged for Collingwood.

Absolutely it was.

My major problem with Collingwood, is not how many times they do or don't travel, its how many games they play at the grand final venue. I'd like to see them banned from playing at the MCG in the last 3 rounds, even if it means they play more games there in the first 4 or so months of the season.

[whufc]

I just had this conversation with a mate of mine. A proper draw could be over 22 or 24 rounds but have 14 home games each.

Carl, Ess, Collingwood (just to name three) play what 17 or 18 games home?

Crows, Port, Freo, WCE, Syd, Bris and GC play 11 at "home" (with some transferred for monetary purposes).

It could be easily enough done, that Car, Ess and Coll play 4 more games away each season, thereby allowing the Crows, Port etc to have up to 14 games at home. It could work. It'd be ideal at the moment when Carl, Coll and Ess are being followed by more and more around the country to promote the game. But promoting the game doesn't mean leaving the state very often in the eyes of Demetriou and co.

I say it could work....but it will never happen.

I'd like to know the 'goal' of the people who write the fixture though. What exactly is their goal?

Thats simple as mate......

to obtain maxium ground attendances and maximise time slots for t.v ratings PERIOD END OF STORY BOTTOM LINE.

[Rik E Boy]

I just had this conversation with a mate of mine. A proper draw could be over 22 or 24 rounds but have 14 home games each.

Carl, Ess, Collingwood (just to name three) play what 17 or 18 games home?

Crows, Port, Freo, WCE, Syd, Bris and GC play 11 at "home" (with some transferred for monetary purposes).

It could be easily enough done, that Car, Ess and Coll play 4 more games away each season, thereby allowing the Crows, Port etc to have up to 14 games at home. It could work. It'd be ideal at the moment when Carl, Coll and Ess are being followed by more and more around the country to promote the game. But promoting the game doesn't mean leaving the state very often in the eyes of Demetriou and co.

I say it could work....but it will never happen.

I'd like to know the 'goal' of the people who write the fixture though. What exactly is their goal?

$

[Psyber]

Of course they don't want Geelong up there . We've just recorded the best 100 game period win loss ratio in history. The AFL want to rotate the success, they don't want the same team dominating (unless they generate revenue LOL).
regards,
REB

My experience living in Melbourne is that the media and the league favours Melbourne based teams.
Geelong is not quite Melbourne but a little easier to adopt in desperation when the favourites are knocked out of the competition than say Sydney and Brisbane, who then have to be renamed "Souths" and "Fitzroy".
And, yes I agree, it is now about ratings and revenue as much as the simpler emotional "us and them" centralism.

[whufc]

Thats why i wouldnt be suprised if these extra teams coming into the comp is a long term goal to have 2 confrences

1st conference would be
-Collingwood
-Essendon
-Carlton
-St.Kilda
-Geelong
-Melbourne
-Western Bulldogs
-Richmond
-Hawthorn

2ns conference
-Kangaroos (playing out of Canberra)
-Adelaide
-Port Adelaide
-Brisbane
-Gold Coast
-West Coast
-Fremantle
-Sydney
-Greater Western Sydney

24 game regular season with each team playing its own conference teams 3 times (imagine that 3 Collingwood vs Essendon, 3 West Coast vs Fremantle, 3 Carlton vs Essendon games each year)

Top 4 teams from each conference play in finals, seedings based on home and away record with MCG always hosting the GF.

Potential for bye teams from each division to play each other each week as well to maximise extra game.