Tough Fixturing

[quirky84]

Whilst I still believe we are a long way off, we have definitely improved on last year. Although would like to comment on our extremely tough draw this year.

With the 6-6-6 fixturing, here’s how it works - http://www.afl.com.au/fixture/fixture-explained


2016 fixture
Top 6 - NM
Middle 6 - WB
Bottom 6 - Ess, Carl, Melb

We finished middle 6 in 2017, so this is how it worked out in 2017.

2017
Top 6 - Syd, WC
Middle 6 - NM, Melb
Bottom 6 - Rich

6 of our 12 wins last year came against Essendon, Carlton and Melbourne.

So we could have had one, or two games against a bottom 6 team from last year, and we only got one, and it turns out that team is not a bottom 6 team at all, its Richmond. However, North became a bottom 6 team. Which team that we play twice will we beat twice this season apart from probably North? Time will tell

I know teams move around a lot year to year, like Freo finished minor premiers in 2014 but were a bottom 6 team in 2015, but I think this year it’s just been really tough the way it has panned out.

It’s not just who you play, it’s where you play them and when. After next weekend, we would have only played Port Adelaide in Melbourne ONCE in the last 7 encounters between the two clubs.

This year our interstate trips were
Perth 2
Adelaide 2
Sydney 1
Launceston 1

0 trips to Queensland. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have played Brisbane away, but we could play Port Adelaide at home.

Also it’s when you play them, we’ve had to play the Swans twice during their resurgence. Now we cop Port Adelaide, at home on the rebound the week after we’ve already travelled.

Just to make a few final points.

- Don’t want to whinge about fixturing too much as interstate clubs have it much tougher.

- Year on year, we’ve improved but still a long way off. I know if you're a premiership contender (which we're not) the draw should not matter, but if we had a nicer one I think we could have been a 14-8 team. Let’s be honest, we’re not in our window yet, the thrashings need to stop, and I’m confident if we can land a big fish, plus the continued development of our younger players, we could be a top 4 team next season.

[Proph3t of egan]

so we doubled up on 5 finals contenders and north, nice

[Con Gorozidis]

For all the talk of an unpredictable season this is the ladder after Rd 3:

1 ADEL Adelaide Crows Up 3 3 0 0 360 263 136.9 WWW ESS 12
2 RICH Richmond Up 3 3 0 0 307 234 131.2 WWW BL 12
3 GEEL Geelong Cats Up 3 3 0 0 353 281 125.6 WWW HAW 12
4 PORT Port Adelaide Down 3 2 1 0 338 238 142 WWL GWS 8
5 GWS GWS Giants Up 3 2 1 0 360 272 132.4 LWW PORT 8
6 WCE West Coast Eagles Down 3 2 1 0 317 266 119.2 WWL SYD 8
7 ESS Essendon Down 3 2 1 0 269 232 116 WWL ADEL 8
8 MELB Melbourne Down 3 2 1 0 303 280 108.2 WWL FRE 8
9 WB Western Bulldogs Down 3 2 1 0 283 262 108 WWL NMFC 8
10 STK St Kilda Up 3 1 2 0 294 312 94.2 LLW COLL 4

Besides the Swans. Nothing has really changed all season.

[Sainternist]

May as well tank for an easier fixture next season now.

Ah, the joys of the Sunday twilight time slot.