2018 fixture

[stevoswan]

PLAY TWICE: West Coast, Greater Western Sydney, Geelong, North Melbourne, Hawthorn.

BYE: Round 14

FIRST FOUR WEEKS: West Coast (a), Port Adelaide (h), GWS (h), Western Bulldogs (a).

LAST FOUR WEEKS: Collingwood (h), Melbourne (a), GWS (a), Hawthorn (h).

SIX-DAY BREAKS: Eight

SWANS v HAWKS: Two chances to see the best modern-day rivalry in footy ? round eight at the MCG and round 23 at the SCG...... all this from afl.com.au Your club's fixture: The final verdict - AFL.com.au.... On that last one, here's an early (and maybe cocky) prediction. In the last H & A round we will cement a top two spot by smashing the Hawks at home and march into the finals as favourites for the flag .........gee I must say my 'medicine' is working well at the moment!

[707]

That was publicised last week. I do find it odd that they would send Gold Coast to an away venue that far away rather than just play the game at the Gabba. Presumably Freo have paid handsomely for the game.

GC have got the two Perth sides seven days apart, they probably asked for that so they'll stay in Perth for the 9 days rather than travel to Perth twice in 7 days.

We have been blessed with interstate games only having to go to Perth for R1 and the Gabba for R10, none in Adelaide. 12 games in Sydney, 7 in Melbourne plus Geelong. Richmond at Etihad must be a typo, on what basis do Richmond have to play a game there, will be a lock out.

[MattW]

So you think we're not as good as three of those teams? If we are as good as we think we're going to be, we should be pencilling in a 6-0 start......where's the faith?

I have faith, but some of our toughest games of the year are in that lot. The WCE and Geelong away games are, with Richmond at Docklands (helpfully), our toughest road trips of the year. We'll be doing well to beat both GWS and Adelaide. We should beat Port and the Bulldogs, but they're not straightforward, noting we lost to both last year.

GWS at the Showground and I guess Hawthorn at the MCG are the only other games as tough as those.

[aardvark]

SWANS v HAWKS: Two chances to see the best modern-day rivalry in footy ? round eight at the MCG and round 23 at the SCG[/B]

Two more opportunities for Horse to come up with a plan B.

[Thunder Shaker]

The alleged fixture balancing seems to be a bit off. Sides are supposed to be allocated easier or harder fixtures according to which third of the ladder they finished (after finals). It has produced some odd results.

These sides are grouped according to finishing order after the finals. To save space, I will notate these with a three-digit code that is the number of games in each group. For example, a club with 221 has two return games against top-6 sides, two return games against middle six sides and one return game against a bottom-six side.

Each club has received one return match in each group, leaving two additional games to be allocated. Six patterns are possible, but only four appear in next year's fixture. The two patterns that don't appear are 212 and 131.

311: GWS Giants, Sydney Swans
221: Adelaide Crows, Geelong, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Port Adelaide, Richmond, St Kilda, West Coast.
122: Essendon, Fremantle, North Melbourne, Western Bulldogs
113: Brisbane Lions, Carlton, Collingwood, Gold Coast

Four brackets can be seen here. GWS and Sydney both play West Coast twice, and are ranked in the top bracket only because West Coast defeated Port Adelaide in a final with a kick after the siren in extra time. Had Port Adelaide won instead, Port would jump from 7th to 5th, Sydney fall from 5th to 6th, Essendon climbs from 8th to 7th and West Coast falls from 6th to 8th. The rankings would be like this (differences in bold):

311: Adelaide Crows, West Coast Eagles
221: Geelong, GWS Giants, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Richmond, St Kilda, Sydney Swans
212: Essendon
131: Port Adelaide
122: Fremantle, North Melbourne, Western Bulldogs
113: Brisbane Lions, Carlton, Collingwood, Gold Coast

Here, the 212 and 131 patterns do appear.

[Bexl]

prediction. In the last H & A round we will cement a top two spot by smashing the Hawks at home and march into the finals as favourites for the flag .........gee I must say my 'medicine' is working well at the moment!

I don't care about being flag favorites or outsiders. I just want to win it.

[neilfws]

I suppose once you accept that the draw is all about maximising TV ratings, all the weirdness makes sense. Disappointed by the lack of family-friendly times and I really dislike the pre-finals bye.

[Mark26]

I suppose once you accept that the draw is all about maximising TV ratings, all the weirdness makes sense. Disappointed by the lack of family-friendly times and I really dislike the pre-finals bye.

We're also disappointed with the lack of afternoon games. Can't see us making many games in 2018 which I'm bummed about. Love watching the Bloods live, but the six hour round trip is killer when most games next year are in the 7pm time slot.

[Swanstubbs]

My conspiracy theory: 8 home night games with 1 Thursday night and 3 Friday night are unattractive to lots of people - particularly potential new "family" members versus GWS 5 day/twilight games in Sydney and 2 in Canberra is because AFL wants youngun's and new followers based in Sydney to support GWS to build their fan base over more members for Swans.

On a personal note, in our group of 6, 2 x 20+ yr members are no renewing due to all the night games but we will buy extra tix for them for a few games per year. I am renewing but will watch from home the Thursday and some Friday games as getting to/from the SCG weekdays sucks.

[erica]

On a personal note, in our group of 6, 2 x 20+ yr members are no renewing due to all the night games but we will buy extra tix for them for a few games per year. I am renewing but will watch from home the Thursday and some Friday games as getting to/from the SCG weekdays sucks.

I'm a 22-year member and actually considered, for the first time, whether to renew after seeing the draw. Decided to renew but, like you, will probably watch some weeknight games from home.

[YvonneH]

I am getting close to 70 and Friday night games are a little late starting for me as I live in the 'west' and don't get home until 12-12:30am (depending on how long I have to wait at central for the train, sometimes up to 30 mins), so I sometimes don't go to Friday night games and never go to Thursday night games, but will still re-new this year.

[AnnieH]

I love Thursday and Friday night games... gets the nerves over and done with early so I can enjoy a "free" weekend!!
(Although, turning up to work with a hangover on a Friday after the Thursday night game is a bit much for the people I work with.)

[707]

I notice that we start pre season training on the same timeframe as most other top 4 clubs, by my calculations the 1-4 year players have had 9 weeks off and the senior players 11 weeks. This, combined with almost no injuries, means we are well set for a good pre season and fresh start to 2018, unlike this year where we had a terrible pre season and arrived for R1 already banged up.

[Beerman]

The alleged fixture balancing seems to be a bit off. Sides are supposed to be allocated easier or harder fixtures according to which third of the ladder they finished (after finals). It has produced some odd results.

[snip]

Four brackets can be seen here. GWS and Sydney both play West Coast twice, and are ranked in the top bracket only because West Coast defeated Port Adelaide in a final with a kick after the siren in extra time.

I think you answered your own question there. Although we do have three return games against top-6 sides, one of them is against West Coast, who we must all admit, aren't that scary. It could be an easier draw, but I'm not outraged. In the end, it is what it is, and if you want to win, you have to be good enough to beat the best.

In terms of game times, I agree that evening games are a bummer to get to, but I think the club would be pretty happy with. All that TV exposure is great for the club - attracts fans, attracts sponsors. Thursday and Friday nights are the worst, what with getting there from work and no public transport to get home, but I find if I ride my bike straight from work, that's about 20-30 minutes, and about 30 minutes to ride home after the game, with no wait for traffic, so its not too bad.

[wolftone57]

The rest of the draw is being announced this morning. I am watching the broadcast on the AFL site and am not sure if the full draw is published yet (I was late starting). I have seen that we will have 8 six days breaks next year - the most of any club - which is explained by the number of Thursday and Friday night games we play.

I'm not sure this is a big deal. I think we had a similar number last year and I don't think it really affected the results.

We had 7 last season. We lost 4 out of 7, 2 to Hawks. Our draw is not particularly good. We have 6 day breaks before playing these teams; GWS (2), Crows, Hawks (2), Carlton, Eagles, Tigers, Suns, Essendon. The sides who were in the eight last season are going to be difficult on a 6 day as are Hawks.