@@jsequine927 yeah. I hate it too… because if you are not one of the opening teams and you win by 100 points you can still be 4th or even 6th! It makes you feel like you are playing catch up from the very start.
It resolves by round 5. For me, it's more the visual annoyance of it. And the fact that it's directly influenced by the NRL doesn't help. Winners focus on winning, losers focus on winners.
@@ozgecko4050 I care. It is annoying. There are other people who care as well. Stop thinking the world revolves around your opinion only. You might night be annoyed at it but others are. Look at their perspectives.
Port and Adelaide have a huge advantage playing an extra game in Adelaide ….. WTF ????? As an example…… Collingwood play all but 5 in Melbourne…….. Port on the other hand …… travel to Geelong, Melbourne, Launceston, Ballarat, Canberra, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane……. What a bucket 🪣 of 💩 !!!
Opening round is a massive fail, why they are desperately clinging to it is farcical. The whole point was to play in the northern states while the NRL was "on the road" - but they couldn't even schedule that right. All it does is ruin the fixture
@@andrewkerr5296 - less than half the teams actually play, then we are forced to have stupid byes throughout the start of the season, they were meant to capitialise on the NRL not playing in Australia but they cocked that up. What part of opening round was a success?
@@laurens4561 you can cut the lemon any way you like but AFL heartland is Victoria so NSW is a "northern" state. But thanks for the geography lesson despite it being a moot point.
Based on the difficulty of the 2025 AFL fixture, which is largely influenced by team performances in 2024, the following ranking outlines the easiest to hardest schedules: 1. Gold Coast Suns: Have the easiest draw, with multiple games against teams from the bottom six, such as North Melbourne and West Coast. They also benefit from minimal travel early in the season. 2. North Melbourne: Similar to the Suns, their double-up games are against lower-ranked sides, giving them a more favorable fixture. 3. West Coast Eagles: While rebuilding, they face less challenging opponents multiple times, including fellow lower-tier teams. 4. St Kilda: A lighter draw compared to other 2023 finalists, aided by two matches against West Coast. 5. Geelong Cats: After a down year in 2024, they face a friendlier fixture, with only one top-six opponent played twice. 6. Richmond Tigers: Slightly easier draw, with several matches against mid-tier teams. 7. Fremantle Dockers: A balanced fixture against a mix of top, mid, and lower-tier teams. 8. Essendon Bombers: Face a mix of opponents, but their placement here reflects the mid-range challenge level. 9. Melbourne Demons: A tougher schedule includes several matches against the league’s top-tier sides. 10. Western Bulldogs: Moderate difficulty, facing a mix of stronger and weaker teams. 11. Carlton Blues: Slightly tougher than the Bulldogs due to double-ups against strong opponents. 12. GWS Giants: They face a challenging mix, with a couple of tough double-up matchups. 13. Adelaide Crows: Difficult stretch of double-up games against stronger teams. 14. Hawthorn Hawks: Draw includes several tough matchups, particularly among higher-ranked teams. 15. Collingwood Magpies: Their fixture ranks among the tougher schedules due to consistently strong opponents. 16. Sydney Swans: The fixture is demanding, with most double-ups against middle to high-tier teams. 17. Port Adelaide Power: Very challenging schedule, with several games against top-tier opponents. 18. Brisbane Lions: The toughest draw, facing multiple double-ups against other contenders, reflecting their top-tier 2024 finish【8】【9】【10】. This ranking highlights the variability in fixture difficulty, with teams like Gold Coast benefiting from a more favorable schedule, while strong 2024 performers such as Brisbane face tougher paths.
@jamesyoung4834 that is a good point and definitely valid with essendon but in my opinion it should be more of a meritocracy. GWS not having any is a deadset crime. My team has one after getting top 4 again so I can't really complain too much about that.
@@petepowell7399 whilst I understand were you coming from, i would imagine the broadcasters have huge influence on the schedule, and they have no interest in meritocracy
Now that they've put the main season together, they need to sort out pre season. Instead of boring practice matches with nothing on the line, either do something with it, resurrect a trophy to play for or scrap the thing all together. Do what the NRL are doing with their Pre Season Challenge.
If it hasnt been obvious in the past surely it is now. Carlton and sydney get easy draws every year. The afl or people behind the fixture try their best to help those 2 teams get an easy ride into the top 8. Carlton playing both north and west coast twice seriously and collingwood playing the 2 favorites for the flag twice. The system is designed to be fair. Explain to me how thats fair.
Hey fellas, thanks for the deep dive into the fixture. I was wondering if for opening round, if the AFL are going to continue doing it in the future, why can't they have a rule where each year, 8 teams from the AFL have to play it, and have different teams each year, until all 18 cubs have played in Opening Round. In that way, insted of clubs nominating if they want to play or not, they have to play. So supporters get to see their teams play each year, not the same teams ever year. What are your thoughts on that?
The four games of opening rpund are in Sydney l, Brisbane amd on the Gold Coast at Metricon. You cannot tell ke this a direct decision to split the NSW and QLD public and make them decide which code theyll support in the first week. NRL regular season games attract crowds averagong 20000+. AFL games in NSW and QLD attract and average a lot higher due to the crowds for Brisbane and Sydney averaging 36-38000 per fixture whereas GC and GWS home games draw between 15-20000+. Even on the NRL states rhe Australian football code attracts more regular fans to the stadiums to watch the sport. Having opening round up north is definitely strategic by the AFL.
Carlton, Sydney and Geelong are given an easy draw every year while Collingwood's is hard every year. Why Collingwood is the only middle six team with no double ups against the bottom three teams is hard to fathom when Carlton is given two.
@@lethalsaints751Collingwood has played Sydney at the MCG like 5 times in 25 years. Same sort of stats with Brisbane. It's like 1/5 games at the MCG vs all the other interstate teams. They are a big club that played all the best Victorian teams twice every year. If Richmond are flying pies play them twice, same with hawks. They always play Geelong, Essendon and Carlton twice automatically. Melbourne we usually do aswell especially when they are good. The only time we didn't play Melbourne twice was when they were rubbish. Same goes with Bulldogs and Saints we only play them twice when they are good. We next to never play a North Melbourne twice. Not to mention we Play North Melbourne, Saints, dogs majority at the Marvel even when it's our home games. It's not Collingwood's fault you have 10 Victorian teams and if 5 are good we wil certainly have double ups against them.
Classic Victorian clubs complaining about travelling outside of their suburbs when interstate teams cross the country & States every 2nd week How equal would the league be if everyone travelled the same
It evens out imo having your own home ground that some teams don't even play at once every few years is an advantage. compared to vic clubs sharing a home ground with 5 other teams and the whole league playing there multiple times a year so every team is accustomed to the ground so it's not really a home ground advantage compared to interstate teams for example some players might be in their 4th year at a club and have never played at the gabba. Geelong has the ultimate advantage rarely leave vic and have a fortress that they actually train on.
How to solve opening round... Spread out over two weeks. Northern teams play in first week. All the other teams play in the second week. Call it round 1 again. Everyone wins.
you probably can play rivalry round in a bye week. like not every team has a big rival: crom vs port wb vs gws hok vs cats Swans vs WCE Dons vs Roos Pies vs Carlton
@@scottbennier1335yeah cause having 10 Melbourne based teams and having to play the best of them twice has nothing to do with it. It's not as if Collingwood play every interstate team 1/3 times minimum in Melbourne, played Sydney 5 times in 25 years at the MCG. Have like a 1/6 games at the MCG vs Brisbane ext ext. Yeah it's just Collingwood are looked after because they play in Melbourne rant like a true NPC.
@ ….. my point exactly…….. Victorian media saying it is a huge advantage for 2 Non Victorian teams getting to play 13 games in their home state is bullshit……. Victorian Clubs get anywhere from 15 to 18 games without leaving their home state every year.
It’s also who your slump ends up playing. If it’s against bottom of the table sides and you drop games u should win then you lose touch with top of the table and put yourself in danger against teams 5-10 level and chance of missing finals.
@@kezp8114ignore the fact that majority of teams play at the MCG and teams like saints and Bulldogs want to play us there for extra gate takings..even Geelong considered asking to play us in Geelong ended up not doing so because they'd loose 50k crowd gate taking. Also ignore the fact Collingwood has played Sydney like 5 times at the MCG in 25 years. We play Brisbane 1 in 5/6 times at the MCG as well. Same goes with every interstate teams. We at minimum have a 1/3 games in Melbourne and around a 1/5 at the MCG. The only reason we play so many at the MCG is because there are majority of tennants play at the MCG. Carlton, Essendon, Geelong (almost guaranteed to play them twice every year at the G) 6 games from 3 teams just to start off with. Guess what it's not an advantage. Then you got hawks, Melbourne (often play twice) Richmond. So that's an automatic 10 games at the MCG because where else would we play these teams? We already play out home games at Marvel vs saints, Bulldogs, North Melbourne ext. I think we are next to the only team that has to play their home games at other teams home grounds. Funny how that's never mentioned either.
I absolutely hate opening round, it's so dumb. Have half the teams play and right off the bat you have a skewed ladder for the first several rounds.
@@jsequine927 yeah. I hate it too… because if you are not one of the opening teams and you win by 100 points you can still be 4th or even 6th! It makes you feel like you are playing catch up from the very start.
It resolves by round 5. For me, it's more the visual annoyance of it. And the fact that it's directly influenced by the NRL doesn't help. Winners focus on winning, losers focus on winners.
Who cares, majority of other sports ladder is uneven, when tas comes in there will be mis numbered games, stop whinging about nothing
@@ozgecko4050 I care. It is annoying. There are other people who care as well.
Stop thinking the world revolves around your opinion only. You might night be annoyed at it but others are. Look at their perspectives.
Port and Adelaide have a huge advantage playing an extra game in Adelaide ….. WTF ????? As an example…… Collingwood play all but 5 in Melbourne…….. Port on the other hand …… travel to Geelong, Melbourne, Launceston, Ballarat, Canberra, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane……. What a bucket 🪣 of 💩 !!!
Melb games don’t have as much of an advantage as you are probably playing another Melb team.
@stuartjamesgemmell the advantage is you don't have to sit on a plane for 6 hours every fortnight
@@stuartjamesgemmellcollingwood all those games at MCG ??? Therest of the league accepts it people should stop sooking about gather round
Nice to see Richmond playing port in Adelaide again. I think that makes it 23 of the past 25 years?
I'm going to miss Saturday Night Footy I don't have pay TV, I hate paying for TV
Opening round is a massive fail, why they are desperately clinging to it is farcical. The whole point was to play in the northern states while the NRL was "on the road" - but they couldn't even schedule that right. All it does is ruin the fixture
What standard is it a 'Failure'
Also NSW isn’t a northern state, it is entirely in the southern half of the mainland.
$ many dollars but no sense, its all about money,
@@andrewkerr5296 - less than half the teams actually play, then we are forced to have stupid byes throughout the start of the season, they were meant to capitialise on the NRL not playing in Australia but they cocked that up. What part of opening round was a success?
@@laurens4561 you can cut the lemon any way you like but AFL heartland is Victoria so NSW is a "northern" state. But thanks for the geography lesson despite it being a moot point.
17 minute video, 2 minutes of actually talking about the fixture
Based on the difficulty of the 2025 AFL fixture, which is largely influenced by team performances in 2024, the following ranking outlines the easiest to hardest schedules:
1. Gold Coast Suns: Have the easiest draw, with multiple games against teams from the bottom six, such as North Melbourne and West Coast. They also benefit from minimal travel early in the season.
2. North Melbourne: Similar to the Suns, their double-up games are against lower-ranked sides, giving them a more favorable fixture.
3. West Coast Eagles: While rebuilding, they face less challenging opponents multiple times, including fellow lower-tier teams.
4. St Kilda: A lighter draw compared to other 2023 finalists, aided by two matches against West Coast.
5. Geelong Cats: After a down year in 2024, they face a friendlier fixture, with only one top-six opponent played twice.
6. Richmond Tigers: Slightly easier draw, with several matches against mid-tier teams.
7. Fremantle Dockers: A balanced fixture against a mix of top, mid, and lower-tier teams.
8. Essendon Bombers: Face a mix of opponents, but their placement here reflects the mid-range challenge level.
9. Melbourne Demons: A tougher schedule includes several matches against the league’s top-tier sides.
10. Western Bulldogs: Moderate difficulty, facing a mix of stronger and weaker teams.
11. Carlton Blues: Slightly tougher than the Bulldogs due to double-ups against strong opponents.
12. GWS Giants: They face a challenging mix, with a couple of tough double-up matchups.
13. Adelaide Crows: Difficult stretch of double-up games against stronger teams.
14. Hawthorn Hawks: Draw includes several tough matchups, particularly among higher-ranked teams.
15. Collingwood Magpies: Their fixture ranks among the tougher schedules due to consistently strong opponents.
16. Sydney Swans: The fixture is demanding, with most double-ups against middle to high-tier teams.
17. Port Adelaide Power: Very challenging schedule, with several games against top-tier opponents.
18. Brisbane Lions: The toughest draw, facing multiple double-ups against other contenders, reflecting their top-tier 2024 finish【8】【9】【10】.
This ranking highlights the variability in fixture difficulty, with teams like Gold Coast benefiting from a more favorable schedule, while strong 2024 performers such as Brisbane face tougher paths.
How can a team that finished outside the 8 get several prime time slots and teams that have finished top 4 or 5 for multiple years get none or one?
Supporter numbers and who draws the TV audience
@jamesyoung4834 that is a good point and definitely valid with essendon but in my opinion it should be more of a meritocracy.
GWS not having any is a deadset crime.
My team has one after getting top 4 again so I can't really complain too much about that.
The statistics show they have Massive following/ viewing in all sectors
VFL
@@petepowell7399 whilst I understand were you coming from, i would imagine the broadcasters have huge influence on the schedule, and they have no interest in meritocracy
Now that they've put the main season together, they need to sort out pre season. Instead of boring practice matches with nothing on the line, either do something with it, resurrect a trophy to play for or scrap the thing all together. Do what the NRL are doing with their Pre Season Challenge.
I thought Ash Browne was Jake Niall for years until I watched this
If it hasnt been obvious in the past surely it is now. Carlton and sydney get easy draws every year. The afl or people behind the fixture try their best to help those 2 teams get an easy ride into the top 8. Carlton playing both north and west coast twice seriously and collingwood playing the 2 favorites for the flag twice. The system is designed to be fair. Explain to me how thats fair.
Hey fellas, thanks for the deep dive into the fixture.
I was wondering if for opening round, if the AFL are going to continue doing it in the future, why can't they have a rule where each year, 8 teams from the AFL have to play it, and have different teams each year, until all 18 cubs have played in Opening Round.
In that way, insted of clubs nominating if they want to play or not, they have to play.
So supporters get to see their teams play each year, not the same teams ever year.
What are your thoughts on that?
@@73liss too logical for the AFL
The four games of opening rpund are in Sydney l, Brisbane amd on the Gold Coast at Metricon. You cannot tell ke this a direct decision to split the NSW and QLD public and make them decide which code theyll support in the first week. NRL regular season games attract crowds averagong 20000+. AFL games in NSW and QLD attract and average a lot higher due to the crowds for Brisbane and Sydney averaging 36-38000 per fixture whereas GC and GWS home games draw between 15-20000+. Even on the NRL states rhe Australian football code attracts more regular fans to the stadiums to watch the sport. Having opening round up north is definitely strategic by the AFL.
Carlton, Sydney and Geelong are given an easy draw every year while Collingwood's is hard every year.
Why Collingwood is the only middle six team with no double ups against the bottom three teams is hard to fathom when Carlton is given two.
Playing at the g half your away games makes up for it
You don't leave the mcg for a decade
@@jacksonrobbins2288who are Collingwood playing away at the MCG that isn't a Melbourne based team? I'll wait
@@lethalsaints751Collingwood has played Sydney at the MCG like 5 times in 25 years. Same sort of stats with Brisbane. It's like 1/5 games at the MCG vs all the other interstate teams. They are a big club that played all the best Victorian teams twice every year. If Richmond are flying pies play them twice, same with hawks. They always play Geelong, Essendon and Carlton twice automatically. Melbourne we usually do aswell especially when they are good. The only time we didn't play Melbourne twice was when they were rubbish. Same goes with Bulldogs and Saints we only play them twice when they are good. We next to never play a North Melbourne twice. Not to mention we Play North Melbourne, Saints, dogs majority at the Marvel even when it's our home games. It's not Collingwood's fault you have 10 Victorian teams and if 5 are good we wil certainly have double ups against them.
Classic Victorian clubs complaining about travelling outside of their suburbs when interstate teams cross the country & States every 2nd week
How equal would the league be if everyone travelled the same
It evens out imo having your own home ground that some teams don't even play at once every few years is an advantage. compared to vic clubs sharing a home ground with 5 other teams and the whole league playing there multiple times a year so every team is accustomed to the ground so it's not really a home ground advantage compared to interstate teams for example some players might be in their 4th year at a club and have never played at the gabba. Geelong has the ultimate advantage rarely leave vic and have a fortress that they actually train on.
THE FANS DONT WANT OPENING ROUND
How to solve opening round...
Spread out over two weeks.
Northern teams play in first week.
All the other teams play in the second week.
Call it round 1 again.
Everyone wins.
So thats 2 years in a row that Carlton get to play 2 bottom 4 teams twice after finishing in the top 8
you probably can play rivalry round in a bye week. like not every team has a big rival:
crom vs port
wb vs gws
hok vs cats
Swans vs WCE
Dons vs Roos
Pies vs Carlton
Saints ripped off again
Carlton play Collingwood, Hawthorn, Essendon, West Coast, North Melbourne & Port Adelaide twice
what is ur point
2025 fixture ranked hardest to easiest by Fox Footy:
1: Brisbane
2: Port Adelaide
3: Collingwood
4: Hawthorn
5: Essendon
6: Fremantle
7: GWS
8: North Melbourne
9: Saints
10: Sydney
11: Geelong
12: Western Bulldogs
13: West Coast Eagles
14: GCS
15: Adelaide Crows
16: Carlton
17: Melbourne
18: Richmond
Really…… Collingwood 3rd hardest ???? ……. they only leave Melbourne 5 times for the entire season and only twice after round 9.
@ I agree, I’d certainly have travel factored into ranking but Fox only ranks based on opponents and double ups and what position they were last year.
Kanga's 8th, looks like the AFL want to keep the Roo's down the bottom of the ladder so they can get rid of them easier, last year grand finalist 10th
@@scottbennier1335yeah cause having 10 Melbourne based teams and having to play the best of them twice has nothing to do with it. It's not as if Collingwood play every interstate team 1/3 times minimum in Melbourne, played Sydney 5 times in 25 years at the MCG. Have like a 1/6 games at the MCG vs Brisbane ext ext. Yeah it's just Collingwood are looked after because they play in Melbourne rant like a true NPC.
@ ….. my point exactly…….. Victorian media saying it is a huge advantage for 2 Non Victorian teams getting to play 13 games in their home state is bullshit……. Victorian Clubs get anywhere from 15 to 18 games without leaving their home state every year.
It’s also who your slump ends up playing. If it’s against bottom of the table sides and you drop games u should win then you lose touch with top of the table and put yourself in danger against teams 5-10 level and chance of missing finals.
The grand finals have been made up of 100% of teams that play in opening round since it was introduced.
Watson and Ginnivan in the same team. FFS what a team of floggers.
yay go collingwood
Opening round. What a waste of time
healey is past his prime - big time
Should Collingwood fans stop showing up so we can get a better draw?
Collingwood has a top 4 draw every single year. You barely ever leave the G
@kezp8114 I think people read to much into where we play and not who we play
@@kezp8114ignore the fact that majority of teams play at the MCG and teams like saints and Bulldogs want to play us there for extra gate takings..even Geelong considered asking to play us in Geelong ended up not doing so because they'd loose 50k crowd gate taking. Also ignore the fact Collingwood has played Sydney like 5 times at the MCG in 25 years. We play Brisbane 1 in 5/6 times at the MCG as well. Same goes with every interstate teams. We at minimum have a 1/3 games in Melbourne and around a 1/5 at the MCG. The only reason we play so many at the MCG is because there are majority of tennants play at the MCG. Carlton, Essendon, Geelong (almost guaranteed to play them twice every year at the G) 6 games from 3 teams just to start off with. Guess what it's not an advantage. Then you got hawks, Melbourne (often play twice) Richmond. So that's an automatic 10 games at the MCG because where else would we play these teams? We already play out home games at Marvel vs saints, Bulldogs, North Melbourne ext. I think we are next to the only team that has to play their home games at other teams home grounds. Funny how that's never mentioned either.
@@kezp8114 Show me where else in Australia is there a stadium that can accommodate 90,000 Pies fans every week.Junction Oval maybe?
@@johnkiprov7210 blah blah blah
Didnt hear a deep dive, but okay!
Oh poor Sainters .. a 1 hour flight. Try being a WA team .. ask Ross da BOSS!! 😂
Typical VIC crap!!!!!!!!!!! No real criticism Port should get a injunction due to to commercial injustice!!!!!
Deep dive? More like surface splash in a puddle! Could not even tell us who were the biggest losers and biggest winners. Come on guys! Pick it up!
Fox did a breakdown of the list I’ll post it up in a comment here.
Opening round. Stupid.