I wonder if the AFL fixturing team (camel designed by a committee) seriously believes the wider community really cares who plays who in round 0/1 other than not playing interstate so we can actually go. This whole “grudge match” talk is totally laughable

My hopes and dreams of the 2026 fixture is to get rid of the Alice Springs game: 1) the venue is a dump and non AFL standard. 2) 2) we play atrocious football there. 3) our goal kicking conversion is an absolute disgrace. 4) for the last 2 seasons this fixture has effectively killed off our season. For those with a good footy memory, we went into this years Alice Springs game against St Kilda with a 4-1 record from our previous 5 and the season well and truly alive. Instead of a near certain MCG win, we travelled up to Alice complete lifeless and complacent and ended up disgracing oursleves with a 7.21 effort and then proceeded to win 2 more games for the year. Get rid of this dump of a fixture p

For once I'm going to be able to laugh at Tracc kicking for goal.

Will be most entertaining when he's in different colours.

I still wish him the best but his hope of playing fwd for the GCS is amusing.

12 hours ago, Edward Langdon said:

My hopes and dreams of the 2026 fixture is to get rid of the Alice Springs game: 1) the venue is a dump and non AFL standard. 2) 2) we play atrocious football there. 3) our goal kicking conversion is an absolute disgrace. 4) for the last 2 seasons this fixture has effectively killed off our season. For those with a good footy memory, we went into this years Alice Springs game against St Kilda with a 4-1 record from our previous 5 and the season well and truly alive. Instead of a near certain MCG win, we travelled up to Alice complete lifeless and complacent and ended up disgracing oursleves with a 7.21 effort and then proceeded to win 2 more games for the year. Get rid of this dump of a fixture p

Absolutely.

And some pushback about playing Kardinia 30 years in a row.

And now we have a wild card knock out final next year. So a final ten.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by YearOfTheDees

Deleted ... wrong thread

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Macca

16 minutes ago, YearOfTheDees said:

And now we have a wild card knock out final next year. So a final ten.

Yes my view is it will most likely reward mediocrity. Clearly a $$$$ driven decision. Who knows, might be ok but would not like to see a team with a negative win-loss record suddenly qualify for finals.

On a side note, reckon it’s pretty disappointing of the journalists to decide to release this during two of the women’s finals (AFL leaked I imagine). They deserved some clear air and not have all the talk for the next few days to be on the men’s wildcard round.

4 minutes ago, Macca said:

Another reason why the wildcard weekend has been brought in is that the AFL were giving their biggest competitor (the NRL) a free hit on the bye weekend

And with the NRL now ahead in the ratings battle, ground needs to be made up

The AFL is already starting the season earlier to match the NRL

Personally, I quite like the wildcard weekend as it gives a number of teams hope where as beforehand, the season might have sizzled out prematurely for too many clubs

The AFL ladder often resembles the standings in European soccer except of course we don't have cup competitions or relegation

I can see the NRL matching the wildcard weekend once the Perth Bears enter the competition

I don’t subscribe to the free hit, I understand some people follow both codes but the majority are either rusted on to one or the other. If there’s no AFL I’m not watching flicking over to watch the NRL.

The game is being destroyed right before our eyes. 3 - 4 teams are largely uncompetitive each year now we’ve got a final 10. Better off putting the week off between the preliminary final and GF to give players that may be injured or were knocked out the chance to play.

Just now, Bombay Airconditioning said:

I don’t subscribe to the free hit, I understand some people follow both codes but the majority are either rusted on to one or the other. If there’s no AFL I’m not watching flicking over to watch the NRL.

We live in differeny worlds ... most people I know have at least a reasonable interest in the NRL and quite a few are keen fans of rugby league

It's all about the money too and in a keenly completive market place, you don't give your biggest competitor a chance to garner support

AFLW expanded too quickly and a lot of it is unwatchable now we’ve got a final 10 and before long we’ll have 20 teams and the quality of the men’s competition will suffer.

Just now, Bombay Airconditioning said:

The game is being destroyed right before our eyes. 3 - 4 teams are largely uncompetitive each year now we’ve got a final 10. Better off putting the week off between the preliminary final and GF to give players that may be injured or were knocked out the chance to play.

The game isn't being destroyed just because a wildcard weekend has been brought in. C'Mon man!

I well remember the opposition to the centre square (Diamond), the size of the ground at Waverley, the final 5, the final 6, the final 8 etc etc

People just don't like change

In 2 to 4 years time, hardly a soul will be in opposition to the wildcard round. It'll be accepted

Slightly more than half the teams playing finals is about right

Mind you, I'd like to see the goal umpires wearing the big white coats again along with the wide-brimmed hats 😃

Yeah, nah. If the best you can do is finish tenth, you don't deserve to be playing finals.

Come on dollar, come on, come on.

3 minutes ago, Macca said:

The game isn't being destroyed just because a wildcard weekend has been brought in. C'Mon man!

I well remember the opposition to the centre square (Diamond), the size of the ground at Waverley, the final 5, the final 6, the final 8 etc etc

People just don't like change

In 2 to 4 years time, hardly a soul will be in opposition to the wildcard round. It'll be accepted

Slightly more than half the teams playing finals is about right

Mind you, I'd like to see the goal umpires wearing the big white coats again along with the wide-brimmed hats 😃

Macca it’s more than that.

The constant rule changes, the inconsistent umpiring and tribunal decisions and the expansion of the league. I’m sure you’ve read my thoughts, more than happy for Tassie to have a team but it must come at the expense of a Melbourne based club.

4 minutes ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

Macca it’s more than that.

The constant rule changes, the inconsistent umpiring and tribunal decisions and the expansion of the league. I’m sure you’ve read my thoughts, more than happy for Tassie to have a team but it must come at the expense of a Melbourne based club.

Fair enough B.A

My biggest beef is how the sport is played these days with the numerous stoppages and congestion

As a result, I switch over to the Rugby league when it suits. Not all the time, but from time to time

Years ago it was never