Ex-Collingwood club president Eddie McGuire has put forward a radical solution to the AFL’s fixture fairness, and proposed a bold finals system that would see all but two teams remain in the premiership race.
Under McGuire’s plans, there would be 219 games played in a season – only three more than the current fixture for next year provides.
The AFL will be held across 24 rounds in 2023 – meaning teams will have to play some opponents twice.
But who has to face who for a second clash is determined by the AFL’s tier system, which sees top 2022 teams more likely to face each other a second time, rather than the bottom teams.
McGuire told the Herald Sun it was time the AFL started looking at a “fairer” draw for the future.
“The two most obvious ways to make it fairer are to play 17 games (teams play each other once) or 34 games (teams play each other twice),” McGuire said.
“But neither of them are going to work.”
McGuire said his fixture proposal would allow all but the bottom two teams to remain in the premiership race come finals.
“We need to ensure clubs keep playing out the season for as long as they can,” he said.
Under his plan, all teams would play each other once, with a Rivalry Round and Gather Round to also be included – making it a 19-game home and away season.
Gather Round would have opponents drawn out of a hat in a TV spectacle, while Rivalry Round would see non-Victorian teams face their crosstown rivals as Victorian teams would get their longstanding rival on a rotational basis.
Then McGuire’s plan gets really bold – holding a three-week qualifying period to see where teams finish up on the ladder.
Teams would be ranked on their results after being divided into a top six, middle six and bottom six, before 14 teams get a week off while the bottom four fight it out for a chance to stay alive.
The two losers would be eliminated, leaving 16 teams to be split into a two division finals race – odds (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15) and evens (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16).
The grand final would then be held between the winner of the odds finals series and the winner of the evens finals series.
“As it is now, we get teams who (effectively) have their seasons over so early in the year and that’s not good for the players or the fans,” McGuire said.
It’s a very bold fixture suggestion from McGuire that doesn’t address the issue of travel fairness.
Collingwood have long been criticised for their minimal travel plans throughout a season, and that trend is set to continue in 2023.
The Magpies, Carlton, Essendon, Geelong and the Western Bulldogs will all play just six interstate matches next season – compared to the likes of Gold Coast (13 interstate), and West Coast and Fremantle (11 interstate).
But Collingwood has been dealt 10 games where they will have less time to prepare than their opponent – with two of those matches by two days and eight by a day.
