2018 fixture

[ugg]

Swans set for blockbuster 2018 - sydneyswans.com.au
2017 Season Fixture - sydneyswans.com.au

Disappointing we won't have a trip to Adelaide as I was planning a trip to the Adelaide Oval.

First six weeks (hmm) are quite tough before easing up leading to the bye.

[MadCanuck]

5 Friday Nights
2 Thursday Nights
Play Cats, GWS, Eagles, Hawks, Roos twice
8 - 6 Day Breaks - YIKES!

[liz]

Hawks (!!), Giants, Roos, Eagles and Cats twice.

Two trips to Queensland, one to Perth and, as Ugg mentions, none to Adelaide.

Looks like just two games at the 'G (disappointing, given the discussion around fairness of that location as the GF), five games at Etihad and one (unsurprisingly) at Simmonds.

[MadCanuck]

Only two afternoon home games.

[ugg]

Why are we playing Richmond at Etihad? Weird.

[Thunder Shaker]

The byes are a bit weird.

Round 10 - Gold Coast, Port Adelaide (after round 9 game in China).
Round 12 - Carlton, Hawthorn, West Coast Eagles, Western Bulldogs
Round 13 - Brisbane Lions, Collingwood, Essendon, GWS Giants, Melbourne, North Melbourne
Round 14 - Adelaide Crows, Fremantle, Geelong Cats, Richmond, St Kilda, Sydney Swans
After round 23: Post-season bye.

They are lopsided, mostly falling after the halfway mark of the season (round 12). Sides with the round 14 bye (including Sydney) play 13 games before the bye, only 9 after. For four weeks, the ladder at the end of each round will have sides with different numbers of games.

I would organise the byes like this:

Round 10 - Gold Coast play Port Adelaide in China.
Round 11 - Six byes (including Gold Coast and Port Adelaide)
Round 12 - Six byes
Round 13 - Six byes

I would also scrap the post-season bye. Instead of a post-season bye, I would play the two elimination finals in that week.

The finals would then run over 5 weeks.

Week 1 - Elimination finals. (Qualifying finalists have a break)
Week 2 - Qualifying finals. (Winners of elimination finals have a break)
Week 3 - Semi finals.
Week 4 - Preliminary finals
Week 5 - Grand Final

There is precedent. When we had the old Final 4 (1931 to 1970), the VFL played one final in each week. This is why the First Semi Final and Second Semi Final had the names they did: it was the order they were played in.

[Doctor J.]

Hawks (!!), Giants, Roos, Eagles and Cats twice.

Two trips to Queensland, one to Perth and, as Ugg mentions, none to Adelaide.

Looks like just two games at the 'G (disappointing, given the discussion around fairness of that location as the GF), five games at Etihad and one (unsurprisingly) at Simmonds.

Can understand games against Saints, North, Dogs and Drug Cheats at Etihad, but why couldn't our game against Richmond be at the MCG. And again we travel to provincial Geelong. When did we have a season without a game in Geelong? I cant remember and cant be bothered looking it up.

[Thunder Shaker]

The AFL website has remarked that Sydney has a tough fixture:

* Sydney (and GWS) play three top-6 sides twice. No side plays more.
* Sydney has eight 6-day breaks. No side has more.

[Doctor J.]

Why are we playing Richmond at Etihad? Weird.

To preserve the MCG tenants home ground advantage in finals

[Thunder Shaker]

Can understand games against Saints, North, Dogs and Drug Cheats at Etihad, but why couldn't our game against Richmond be at the MCG. And again we travel to provincial Geelong. When did we have a season without a game in Geelong? I cant remember and cant be bothered looking it up.

2014 and 2005 were the last two seasons.

Since 2000:

Play Geelong twice: 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2018. (10/18) - mathematical average is 6.6
Play Geelong once at home: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2014 (all at SCG). (5/18)
Play Geelong once away: 2007, 2016, 2017 (all at Kardinia Park). (3/18)

[mcs]

Only two afternoon home games.

As an out of towner, this factor is disappointing - given there were relatively few day games in 2017 as well (and the ones that . While I understand the want of the club to be in the 'primetime' as much as possible, so lots of home night games is a big plus - but as someone that has a 3 hour journey each way to get to games, it makes for some long nights!

Also not necessarily overly helpful in terms of the next generation of fans - you only have to see how many families with younger children turn up to an afternoon game compared to a night game (based on my limited evidence base of the Red Zone) to see the difference it makes that way.

Pretty tough start to the season to say the least, but the draw overall looks pretty decent.

[liz]

The AFL website has remarked that Sydney has a tough fixture:

* Sydney (and GWS) play three top-6 sides twice. No side plays more.
* Sydney has eight 6-day breaks. No side has more.

I'm not sure that the Eagles really count as a top 6 team, even though they technically were last year. They fell into the final eight by the skin of their teeth and then survived a nail biter in the EF. Without Mitchell and Priddis, there's every chance they'll fall back a little in 2018.

Being pitched twice against Hawthorn, of all the teams in that region of the ladder we could have drawn twice, is more irritating - stinks of a little spite from the fixture makers.

[erica]

Three Friday night home games and one Thursday night home game. Not happy. Do they want us all to stay home and watch it on TV?

[ugg]

Six at breaks. Sydney get the most. At least Anzac cross over allows only 5 day breaks and cross over between Anzac Eve opponents pic.twitter.com/1vXnDvHHro

— Jon Ralph (@RalphyHeraldSun) October 30, 2017

[MattW]

Swans set for blockbuster 2018 - sydneyswans.com.au
2017 Season Fixture - sydneyswans.com.au

Disappointing we won't have a trip to Adelaide as I was planning a trip to the Adelaide Oval.

First six weeks (hmm) are quite tough before easing up leading to the bye.

Again. The WCE opener aside, our start looks very similar to this year's start.