Ben Warren of the Kangaroos during the AFL Round 01 match between Port Adelaide Power and the North Melbourne Kangaroos at AAMI Stadium, Adelaide.
The AFL yesterday announced the Round 22 fixture, after the decision last year to adopt a “floating fixture” for the final round of the home and away season. The allocations went as expected and, although they don’t guarantee there won’t be headaches, the AFL seem to have got this one right.
The reasoning behind changing the way the round was fixtured was to avoid situations like last year, where a number of finals-bound sides were all scheduled to play on the Sunday of Round 22. This made it hard to fixture the first week of finals at the same time as ensuring clubs get a decent break between matches.
In terms of avoiding the same situation this year, what the AFL have done can definitely be described as a success. But that’s not to say the system is perfect.
So let’s trawl through yesterday’s announcement.
The first game of the round will be Fremantle hosting Carlton at Subiaco. Leaving aside the fact Freo play in Launceston the week before, this makes a fair bit of sense.
Both these sides are almost certain to play finals – something you can only really say about one other game – and given you have to factor in Carlton will travelling back from Perth, it’s almost a no-brainer.
The next day, fans will be treated to a non-stop footy feast and the return of five games on a Saturday, sort of.
Geelong will host West Coast at Skilled Stadium in an early Saturday game. The only real complaints with this fixture would come from Dream Team coaches who suspect the Cats might rest a few stars the week before finals.
Then it’s Hawthorn and Collingwood at the MCG in another Saturday afternoon blockbuster, Adelaide and St Kilda in a twilight AAMI Stadium meeting and two night matches – the Western Bulldogs and Essendon at Etihad and Brisbane and Sydney at the Gabba.
All those matches feature at least one side in September calculations, so you can understand having them on the Saturday.
The most intriguing two games were always going to be the Sunday games, however. This is because, well, it’s almost as if the AFL expect these teams to not feature in September.
Richmond and Port Adelaide both sit in the bottom four presently and it is incredibly unlikely they’ll rise up to make the eight (although you could make a joke about the Tigers finishing ninth at this point). Holding their clash on the Sunday is the logical choice.
Having said that, though, the AFL have slotted them in for the 2pm game. North Melbourne, who currently sit ninth on the ladder, play Melbourne in a twilight fixture after that.
So, basically, the final game of the round – the game that should really have no bearing on finals at all – features a team that right now is a legitimate chance to make the finals.
If there is a fault in the fixture announced yesterday, having North play in a Sunday twilight game is it.
Although that’s not the end of the world. Should North make the finals, you could conceivably slot them in for either the Sunday afternoon game or the Saturday night game (provided it is in Melbourne so no interstate travel is involved).
I wrote this time last year, with three top four sides all on a fixturing collision course, that the AFL needed flexibility for its Round 22 fixture.
It’s fair to say that’s what it has gotten.
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