The AFL 2025 Fixture

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,833]

1 minute ago, FearTheBeard said:

Whispers are that Collingwood are going to Geelong this year in round 9. I'll believe it when I see it and then I'll ride my flying pig.

If that's true, expect the fixture to be delayed 2 weeks as the Pies try to weasel their way out of that one.

[biggestred 5,088]

10 minutes ago, FearTheBeard said:

Whispers are that Collingwood are going to Geelong this year in round 9. I'll believe it when I see it and then I'll ride my flying pig.

I'll believe that when my s*** turns purple and smells like rainbow sherbert

[FearTheBeard 1,223]

10 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

If that's true, expect the fixture to be delayed 2 weeks as the Pies try to weasel their way out of that one.

If true, they will have it made up to them by playing their final 8 games at the G and final 15 in Victoria.

[Diamond_Jim 12,588]

1 hour ago, FearTheBeard said:

Whispers are that Collingwood are going to Geelong this year in round 9. I'll believe it when I see it and then I'll ride my flying pig.

With the new capacity they can make the same money at Kardinia Park as an 85k plus crowd at the MCG due to KP being a clean stadium

Their dilemma will be that there are not many teams who can give them an 85k crowd in Melbourne when they play at the MCG

Not sure when the football world will wake up to the extra dollars coming from a clean stadium. There's a reason why FIFA and F1 insist on clean stadiums

To give some idea here is a quote from Brian Cook in 2009

Originally Posted by Brian Cook
...at Skilled Stadium when you have a capacity of 25,000, we make a net profit in that game of $638,000 per game, which is $26 per head. If we have a crowd of 85,500 at the MCG, which we did have against Collingwood in 2007, we brought home $771,000, which was $9 a head. Importantly,Telstra, now Etihad Stadium, with a near capacity of 46,000, we brought home $293,000, which is $6 a head. So when you compare a crowd at Skilled of 25,000 compared to Telstra, which is nearly twice as much at 46, you at Skilled bring home to the club $638,000 out of all revenue sources per game and only $293,000 from Telstra.

Edited November 12 by Diamond_Jim

[BDA 22,755]

9 hours ago, whatwhat say what said:

not if they're at 440pm in the middle of winter at the mcg they ain't

Why is 4.40pm inconvenient? If cold is the issue then hats, scarves and mittens will solve the problem.

[whatwhat say what 22,757]

21 minutes ago, BDA said:

Why is 4.40pm inconvenient? If cold is the issue then hats, scarves and mittens will solve the problem.

terrible timing for anyone with family on a school night, particularly in the middle of winter against interstate sides

3.20pm sunday is great - the game isn't quite as cold as there's still sunlight in the first half at any rate, free to air coverage so better for club value, and the game is more likley to be between two sides c7 want to broadcast so less chance of it being us vs an interstate side

sunday at 1pm is when we want to be playing the likes of the franchises and even meth coke pulled a good crowd at that time this year by comparison with, say, our gw$ match-up in arctic conditions on a saturday evening when virtually no one came

Edited November 12 by whatwhat say what

[Lucifers Hero 39,811]

Before everyone gets too excited about day games (which I keenly hope we get) according to SEN there could be to 21 Thursday night games.  thursday-night-football-set-to-dominate-2025-afl-fixture

Just let that sink in!

More 5 or 6 day short breaks ... !!

[Lucifers Hero 39,811]

And while I'm dampening the mood on the fixture, 14th may not give us an 'easier' draw re teams we play twice.

It could be 2 from top 6, two from mid 6 and 2 from bottom 6, which could be the same as having finished in the top 6!!  🙄

 

[BDA 22,755]

7 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

terrible timing for anyone with family on a school night, particularly in the middle of winter against interstate sides

3.20pm sunday is great - the game isn't quite as cold as there's still sunlight in the first half at any rate, free to air coverage so better for club value, and the game is more likley to be between two sides c7 want to broadcast so less chance of it being us vs an interstate side

sunday at 1pm is when we want to be playing the likes of the franchises and even meth coke pulled a good crowd at that time this year by comparison with, say, our gw$ match-up in arctic conditions on a saturday evening when virtually no one came

I do agree earlier Sunday time slots are preferable. I’ll still make the 4.40 though 

[whatwhat say what 22,757]

1 minute ago, BDA said:

I do agree earlier Sunday time slots are preferable. I’ll still make the 4.40 though 

yairs, but that's cos we are rusted on nutters

demonland nuffies; unite!

[Fat Tony 5,231]

On 11/11/2024 at 18:49, binman said:

100% a good thing I reckon.

For one thing they don't have to worry about a second bye.

And we start a week later tha last year.

Givn we didn't make finals we have a full month longer break between seasons than we did at the start of the 2024 season.

For a team that looked tired, physically and psychologically, that can only be a good thing.

I think the second bye is an advantage, but playing an away game in the humid Northern states in March is the biggest problem with being in Opening Round.

[DistrACTION Jackson 8,735]

1 hour ago, Lucifers Hero said:

And while I'm dampening the mood on the fixture, 14th may not give us an 'easier' draw re teams we play twice.

It could be 2 from top 6, two from mid 6 and 2 from bottom 6, which could be the same as having finished in the top 6!!  🙄

 

2, 2, 2 would be fine. Obviously ideal is 1, 2, 3.

 

[binman 42,971]

13 minutes ago, Fat Tony said:

I think the second bye is an advantage, but playing an away game in the humid Northern states in March is the biggest problem with being in Opening Round.

Hard to say if a second bye is an advantage I reckon.

Given how much historical data the high performance team must have about how to plan around one bye, having two to plan around must be tricky.

And the weird thing about the OR byes were they were staggered over mutiple weeks.

I think we were lucky to have ours last, or close to it, because at least we had a good block of games before that first bye. Another block of games then the mid season bye.

The two grand finalists both played in the OR. So.it didn't hurt them. 

Did any of the other 6 teams make the finals?

But you make a really good point about having to play in the early March northern states humidity and heat. Nuts.

It's just a completely ridiculous idea.

Embarrassing for a supposedly elite competition to basically trial something that with no way of knowing what the unintended consequences will be. 

The AFL infuriate me.

[WiseDeeMan 90]

16 minutes ago, binman said:

Hard to say if a second bye is an advantage I reckon.

Given how much historical data the high performance team must have about how to plan around one bye, having two to plan around must be tricky.

And the weird thing about the OR byes were they were staggered over mutiple weeks.

I think we were lucky to have ours last, or close to it, because at least we had a good block of games before that first bye. Another block of games then the mid season bye.

The two grand finalists both played in the OR. So.it didn't hurt them. 

Did any of the other 6 teams make the finals?

But you make a really good point about having to play in the early March northern states humidity and heat. Nuts.

It's just a completely ridiculous idea.

Embarrassing for a supposedly elite competition to basically trial something that with no way of knowing what the unintended consequences will be. 

The AFL infuriate me.

It’s a great advantage for us to not play in opening round in my view.

6 weeks extra preparation over Sydney & Brisbane,

5 weeks - Geelong

4 weeks - GWS, Hawthorn & Port 

And to a lesser extent, 2 weeks more than dogs and Carlton.

In terms of base from a conditioning, as well as from a psychological perspective, this is a HUGE advantage over last years 8 best teams.  
 

Edited November 12 by WiseDeeMan

[binman 42,971]

22 minutes ago, WiseDeeMan said:

It’s a great advantage for us to not play in opening round in my view.

6 weeks extra preparation over Sydney & Brisbane,

5 weeks - Geelong

4 weeks - GWS, Hawthorn & Port 

And to a lesser extent, 2 weeks more than dogs and Carlton.

In terms of base from a conditioning, as well as from a psychological perspective, this is a HUGE advantage over last years 8 best teams.  
 

Agree.

And as Fat Tony notes, not having to play in the heat and humidity of qld or NSW in early March can only be a positive.

[Diamond_Jim 12,588]

2 hours ago, whatwhat say what said:

sunday at 1pm

In the winter sunshine... very enjoyable in the Southern Stand

[Pates 9,660]

I'm really glad we don't have anything to do with next season's "opening round". To me it felt disruptive to the start and unnatural when we had that early bye. Longer pre-season for preparation is a better deal IMO.

[BDA 22,755]

The opening round concept is a crock

[Demonland 72,193]

The 2024 home-and-away season featured 14 Thursday night games, up from 12 in 2023 and nine in 2022.

But the AFL will on Thursday pull back the curtain on a fixture dominated by the rise of the ever-popular timeslot.

It can also be revealed that Essendon will feature in the most Thursday night games in the first 16 weeks, playing four games on that week night.

Carlton, Hawthorn, Geelong, Western Bulldogs and Brisbane Lions will each play three Thursday night games in the first 16 weeks.

In all, 15 of the 18 clubs will play Thursday night football at least once in the first 16 weeks of the season.

The splurge coincides with the first year of the AFL’s $4.5 billion broadcast rights deal – the biggest sports deal rights deal in Australian history – which runs until 2031.

[roy11 3,853]

14 hours ago, whatwhat say what said:

terrible timing for anyone with family on a school night, particularly in the middle of winter against interstate sides

3.20pm sunday is great - the game isn't quite as cold as there's still sunlight in the first half at any rate, free to air coverage so better for club value, and the game is more likley to be between two sides c7 want to broadcast so less chance of it being us vs an interstate side

sunday at 1pm is when we want to be playing the likes of the franchises and even meth coke pulled a good crowd at that time this year by comparison with, say, our gw$ match-up in arctic conditions on a saturday evening when virtually no one came

I used to play sunday league soccer (long retired) and most games were either at 11am, 1pm, 3pm. 

So I missed a lot of games when we were poor, which may or may not have been a blessing.

I actually don't mind the Sunday 1pm even though its a bit of a graveyard, don't like getting home too late on a Sunday, like to meal prep or unwind etc.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,833]

14 hours ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Before everyone gets too excited about day games (which I keenly hope we get) according to SEN there could be to 21 Thursday night games.  thursday-night-football-set-to-dominate-2025-afl-fixture

Just let that sink in!

More 5 or 6 day short breaks ... !!

The latest count is now 24 out of a possible 26 Thursday night games including week 1 finals.

Great result for fans that love their footy and love the footy weekend to start early.

I get your concern of 5 day breaks becoming more prevalent, but we've reached the stage where Thursday nights are ready to be full time I'd of thought.

[Lucifers Hero 39,811]

17 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

The latest count is now 24 out of a possible 26 Thursday night games including week 1 finals.

Great result for fans that love their footy and love the footy weekend to start early.

I get your concern of 5 day breaks becoming more prevalent, but we've reached the stage where Thursday nights are ready to be full time I'd of thought.

Yes, great to watch games at home.

Not great for crowds especially during winter.  We seem to get Home games vs i/state teams at night guaranteeing small crowds.  This is not good for revenue nor the 'optics' and narrative of Dees get small crowds/don't go to games. 

 

It is worth noting that the 'Big' Vic clubs generally get their Home games vs i/state teams in a mid afternoon time slot.  Their Home night spots are usually for other big Vic teams.  Both great for their revenues.

I would like to see a fairer sharing of time slots vs i/state Home games.

 

Edited November 12 by Lucifers Hero

[Redjacket 756]

I really don't mind the Thursday night matches from a neutral spectator at home perspective. I don't want the Dees to get too many Thursday nights as it's not great for our crowd numbers.

[Redjacket 756]

5 hours ago, BDA said:

The opening round concept is a crock

I don't think it's going away.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,833]

2 minutes ago, Redjacket said:

I really don't mind the Thursday night matches from a neutral spectator at home perspective. I don't want the Dees to get too many Thursday nights as it's not great for our crowd numbers.

Agreed. It's a hassle going to the Thu night games mainly because when you get home from the game you're still amped but still need to get up early for work. However they're to watch at home.

Sounds like we'll have somewhere between 0 and 2 Thu night games in the first 15 round block. If we're any good through May, we'll likely get a couple in the floating fixture from round 16 onwards. If we're garbage then it will be 1:45 Saturday, 1:10 Sunday and 4:40 Sunday and the occasional Saturday night game against an interstate side in July and August.