How the AFL fixture is built

Go inside the complex process of creating the annual AFL premiership season fixture.
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[@HorizonOfHope]

How it is built: “Which fixture gives us a massive pile of money, regardless of fairness?” asks the AFL CEO. They then add: “Don’t forget to add sixty-four more gambling ads to every square centimetre of exposed surface. Now, lock a bunch of games behind a pay TV paywall and give me my five million bucks.”

[@benreinstepp7979]

Well said ✊

[@therealENENRA]

💯% spot on mate!

[@dominicseibert3048]

Weighted schedule is the right way to do it, but they've got it wrong. The double-matchups should be against your ENTIRE third with the 23rd game coming against your opposite half (1 v. 10, 2 v. 11... 9 v. 18).

[@fartfeatures828]

Having games from outside your third makes up for year on year changes to quality (a little). Say the team that finished 6th the previous year was fighting for a spot in finals with the team that finished 13. With your system, team 13 would have a significantly easier fixture, despite not necessarily being worse.

[@peterrussell3744]

I’m as much in the dark now as I was before I saw this video.

[@Zelmazam1]

17 games against each team. Then break the previous seasons ladder down to 3 parts. Take the part your team finishes and take 3 teams from that group to vs again, 2 more games from the other groups. 1 more game from your cross town rival. It's that easy

[@BenDRobinson]

That's spin for you! The whole idea is to impress you with the idea that only their magic software can produce the draw, so don't try and complain or suggest alternatives. All while hoping you don't ask the obvious question "what are these 'AFL priorities' the software is optimising outcomes for? Does anything other than money actually get a look in?"

[@BenDRobinson]

@@Zelmazam1 that's one tiny element that they did explain. The rest they were happy to keep us well and truly in the dark about.

[@KingJ5346]

that hard, I'm a big fan but I didn't know it was that hard to make the fixture

[@Lee.Thomas23]

How does this explain the fact that St Kilda play Carlton once and that is in ROUND 24???????? I’m sorry but that is a disgrace….. that shouldn’t happen to ANY team, let alone two up and coming Melbourne based clubs who BOTH made finals last year….. we all know the AFL fixture is never going to be totally fair to everyone, but come on!!!!! 🤦🏼‍♀️

[@damiandingo]

every team should verse the other once, then the weighted ladder comes in its so simple ...

[@adams4134]

So if it's all organised so early on, why can't the AFL tell us where and when games are to be played after round 15? And please don't try telling us it's the whole COVID thing; that's just not relevant anymore.

[@brettr5547]

Equitable? More like laughable

[@mattbriggs6928]

What a load of crap. The fixture revolves around; how can we screw over every team that isn’t Victorian based 🙄

[@bjb5byrne]

Your average footy fan thinks opening round is just a bunch of pre season games lol🤣

[@Zaiden.]

Sure

[@Geromi87]

It's true

[@AnnoyingInflatable]

Make no sense have a round before round 1. Just call it round 1

[@Rysh2004]

Always ensure Collingwood play at the MCG for 20 games

[@seantes1]

Yeah legit came here for this comment…ridiculous

[@therealENENRA]

Spot on mate

[@michaellontos]

I'm sorry go Collingwood

[@jordyn3563]

Sorry when was it realised debutting the reigning premiers in front of 27,000 in Western Sydney was a great money making idea? If you want to grow QLD/NSW markets just rotate gather round yearly across the major cities that can handle it (minus Melb altho it would be epic there).

[@RBoy12Gamer]

I agree I reckon it’d work well in WA or QLD

[@skillteridge259]

This doesn't answer the question of y only 4 games to start the season like what's that actually achieve

[@pman6549]

It’s because the nrl (primarily in qld and nsw) has shipped itself over to America. Therefore, the afl wants to take over qld and nsw to better promote the afl in those states

[@merkx403]

⁠I reckon it’s great to experiment this(Opening Round)and especially with the circumstances of the match ups with. Also on Saturday in Victoria, the weather is predicted to be a scorcher

[@raphael796]

​@@pman6549yeh but that was a few days ago. And the bro will be playing games in both Sydney and old over the weekend

[@MichaelLeTekro]

When people cross DNA. DNA has to Re-learn. Chinese belong with Chinese. Sudanese belong with Sudanese. Caucasian belongs with Caucasian. The DNA doesn’t match. These relationships &, inturn, offspring start out, somewhat, Semi-GMO. Japan Wants to Go to War. JFK Was murdered by the driver of the car. Zapruder film (KZbin). Big screen it (Slow it). Spoke to Australia’s most well known Clairvoyant. Clairvoyants run the Media. Clairvoyants set up the Police 5.0. Now it’s out of control they don’t know what to do. Japan want to go to War late ‘27 They want to know How & Why Government thinks they own Nature…. They said cannabis was bad & then they said it was good… Is their research better than Mother Nature’s? Have Government conquered nature? Synergy is infinite. It can’t be studied. Some of This came from elsewhere, including those involved in Past Life Regression. (Why The Martin Bryant is all wrong). They thought he Might do it so staged it all & got the Media to project it into millions Watching. People start talking & assuming what they heard is correct. The people then Becoming the glue. Down town the next Day they hear “I can’t believe that Monster could do such a thing” ….It Must be true, eh..? But, were you there? People hang out together, they believe a lie. If you need the Truth ask someone to their face. A loaded Question. Followed by - It’s a Yes or No answer. ~ Michael Ash G. P.S, A clairvoyant is mostly 99% accurate & 1% horribly wrong.

[@djstorey]

More exposure for NSW and QLD ??

[@therealENENRA]

..to suit Collingwood 🙄

[@aok43]

Unsurprisingly, no mention of history, traditional rivalries, traditional/family friendly time slots (2pm Sat at the G) etc. So this year, Essendon vs Carlton is not until rd13, in the middle of freezing winter, at 7.20pm on a Sunday night, presumably on pay tv only. Have a spell.

[@jimethota]

They mentioned the anzac clash

[@jackag24]

Yeah mate it's because it's called the AFL now, not the VFL

[@BenDRobinson]

It's quite possible that some of those things are factored in to the "AFL priorities" of their formula that they were optimising against, but they are certainly not being very transparent about what that formula is, and what the weightings are for the different priority. It seems pretty clear that his mantra of "driving maximum interest in the game" is a thinly veiled spin of "make the most money", and it's been pretty clear for a while that money is the AFL's biggest priority.

[@adams4134]

McKay vs McKay should be good (finally). Unless they ARE the same person? LOL. The AFL website shows it's going to be on 7mate so hopefully you won't miss it.

[@RBoy12Gamer]

Really doesn’t explain how some teams never play the other at certain grounds (e.g. before last year Sydney hadn’t played Collingwood at the MCG since 2016 or something)

[@reverseclouds1663]

It’s because the fixtures aren’t on rotation, only structure it has is the weighted rule which itself isn’t that structured anyways

[@jimethota]

Then why does Collingwood barely travel?

[@julianfebbraio7125]

The use of crowd/TV ratings as an objective function is massively flawed and sacrifices the growth of smaller clubs. By using this metric, you keep ensuring the big clubs will get good time slots regardless of on field performance. Smaller clubs performing well get a few more prime time slots, but not near the same scale the bigger clubs get.

[@maxshiraz3447]

Laura Kane is obvioulsy a diversity hire. "Equity for all" is complete BS. Adelaide teams get 12 home games and Geelong gets 9, and sometime less. That's not "equitable"

[@jayden6047]

Can you ask the computer to schedule more MCG games for Brisbane thankyou xo

[@gwilkes5325]

So they can lose there?

[@KellyBodel-fg6fj]

​@@gwilkes5325 ooof

[@agoago8011]

It’s. a load of Crap how the fixture is fixed As a Hawks fan they got the short end of the stick Screw you AFL

[@Sids_cards_and_collectables]

i think the program is broken theres no way this would always spit out the Dogs playing the cats at GMHBA stadium EVERY YEAR.

[@therealENENRA]

Sell some memberships and u might play us at Etihad (which yous have had plenty games there against us but can't win) besides Geelong has played plenty of home games against WB there in the past so stop sookin 😅

[@Humanityiscomedy]

The AFL has messed up the fixtures dramatically this year

[@BenDRobinson]

As the saying goes "to really foul things up use a computer"

[@ScottEDawg]

Hey, Josh (ing) Bowler - hand in your position. People like you have turned Australian Rules Football into a f**king joke! The "fixture" is unfair on the teams who have to travel by not giving them enough rest and then forcing them to play a team that has had plenty of rest. You are NOT creating a game that everybody wants to see, you are creating a game that will keep the already rich shareholders happy! 15 or so years ago, the day-glo heroes knew how to bounce the ball in the centre - now it gets called back 9 times out of 10 because ___ reasons. Yet the vision impaired obstacles will penalise a player for time wasting? I think its about time the umpires were penalised for the same thing! 4 field umpires, 4 boundary umpires and 3 goal umpires and the majority of decisions go the way of the team that pays the most. Take the money away and a REAL comptition will emerge - something WE ALL WANT TO SEE! Football is not about what you want to make money from, it's about what the viewer wants, be they at the game or watching it on free-to-air TV... Speaking of free-to-air TV, thanks to the corporation that is the AFL, we now don't even get half of the games played on the weekend, some effing sports channel (I think it's FOX Sports) that you have to pay a MULTI-BILLIONNAIRE to watch, has the friggin rights To Our Game! And it's too bad if you've got to be interstate for whatever reason and you miss your game because you're not in the correct region... Give me a break! And what's with teams "owning" a date, like Essendon and Collingwood on ANZAC Day or the (now) King's birthday match between Melbourne and (again) Collingwood? To give the season some semblance of normalcy, stop rigging the season to give teams ownership of a round! THAT is not what football is about! And why, when we have 18 teams (18 is an even number FYI), do we have byes? We don't need them. Having our team take a rest during the season pisses off the viewers! STOP IT! The way the AFL currently RuNs Australian Rules Football has turned our national game into a national embarrassment! Give the game back to the people!

[@zyrohungryjacks5724]

give hawthorn bloody prime time and night games bigger fan base then bloody norf,gold coast and freo combined smh

[@TopFix]

So is it the computer's fault for why you've got Essendon playing Adelaide in Gather Round, then in Melbourne to play the Bulldogs, and then BACK in Adelaide to play Port? Genius computer. Very genius.

[@gwilkes5325]

Yeah, not an easy start for the dons 😂

[@Lucas-lk3gy]

wrong way around lol

[@gwilkes5325]

@@Lucas-lk3gy yeah

[@sebastiandalpozzo5362]

Wait why do you need to wait until the grand final to figure out which teams are in rhe top 6. Surely the top 2 teams are obviously in the top 6.

[@jaffacakes4442]

"Impossible without computers". Except for the in days before computers, of course.

[@BenDRobinson]

also, they explained enough of the maths to prove that they are lying to say that the computer can consider every possibility. 350^25 is bigger than that!

[@harryaposto9748]

When's Hawthorns next night game in Melbourne??

[@billybootscraff7163]

so YOUR responsible for this tragedy.

[@chainman1]

Josh…no good mate. You took the tigers and blues and put them in r2? HUUGE mistake. Fix it.

[@PolarBear-m8p]

frfr

[@naruto73syfy]

From the comments alone, it sounds like a mess

[@LiamP589]

I enjoyed the transparency of this video, 8:59 but until every team plays each other once, then it will always have an element of unfairness. I suppose removing games from the 23 round fixture will simply cause to much loss of revenue though...

[@squiz4465]

That still won’t solve it though, as depending on which teams you verse home or away impacts fairness. E.g you’d rather verse west coast away assuming you win regardless of where you play, then have a home game against a top team. As opposed to playing Brisbane at the gabba. The extra 6 games helps give the lower teams a slightly easier run, so they have a better chance of being more competitive

[@mysteryhombre81]

When expansion happens and they get to 20 with tasmania and whoever else, I imagine it will be home away then rival teams once. E.g perth teams etc.

[@Reggie1979]

How the fixture is made is we go to the Collingwood club rooms and ask what they want and we get down on our knees and thank them for letting us do what they want

[@benreinstepp7979]

So true 🤣 🤣

[@therealENENRA]

Spot on

[@mysteryhombre81]

Some AFL games in india, and the UK, that already have loads of cricket pitches, ready to use. Would be great. A game in london / mumbai would kick off.

[@BenDRobinson]

Some real spin in here. Even with people repeatedly pointing out how vast the numbers of possibilities involved are - we still get blithely told that the software considers "every possibility". If so, the AFL must have got hold of some quantum super-computers a generation ahead of everyone else!

[@connorwilliams8787]

Why is it that Richmond have to play a home game at marvel against St. Kilda? Explain that one, couldn’t we have played an interstate team like Fremantle or West Coast

[@_Murky_]

Get rid of prime time games you give to Victorian teams every year and make the fixturing fair, 1:55 this man just called AFL a sport the man who puts it together says preferential television broadcast meanwhile AFL GM saying competitive balance

[@PetraKann]

Built? You mean rigged right?

[@goblues1395]

grouse video

[@graemeschubert6162]

A Huge round is only half a round What are we going to call a full round hahaha

[@Kota_swifty_13]

When can we have another hawthorn vs brisbane at the gabba?

[@zippyspinifex]

The schedule is absolutely cooked this year.

[@brendanreid8241]

Hahaha it’s the computers fault 😂😂😂

[@random.broski.]

can't wait for this thursdyyyyyy

[@PolarBear-m8p]

sameee

[@TG-ef2qn]

Ever heard of AI, keep up

[@waaller]

Yeah this guy hates essendon

[@PolarBear-m8p]

UP THE BAGGERS!!!💙

[@Aussiecamper]

Thanks for trying to clear this up

[@B33ond]

Yeah know idea still

[@lilmoo5193]

Why not just make everyone play twice

[@BenDRobinson]

way too long a season

[@danielaguiar7756]

This is what I was thinking. I've only recently started getting into watching AFL and I just assumed it was everyone plays everyone twice, once at home and once away like it is for most team sports leagues. This is what I find so weird about what is and isn't classified as a home game. Half the league plays their home games in 2 stadiums so until that changes, it will be practically impossible to do that. It also doesnt really have the feel of a home vs away game if there isnt a sense of territory. Yes, football (soccer) has issues with teams that get overly aggressive/protective because. there is a real sense of home and away. @BenDRobinson The Premier League can find time for 20 teams to play 38 games across a season (yes over a longer period August-May) but are also factoring in domestic cups + European Leagues + International breaks. There might be scope to extend the season (maybe Feb-Oct) if need be.

[@toxicpoison-j8t]

Always giving Brisbane Hard Teams these floggers

[@veganath]

Fascinating, would have liked a very deep dive into the math, no doubt a lot of statistical analysis. I had no idea of the number of considerations(variables), wow!! Does or will AI models play a role in the future fixture build? The best thing about the AFL & all credit to them, is that they collects more data than any professional sport, this data would lend itself well to training an AI reinforcement neural network model for building fixtures? More of this please!! Go the Swans!!

[@wil1x-p3u]

Carlton winning the granny

[@PolarBear-m8p]

YESSS I RLLY HOPE SO!

[@KellyBodel-fg6fj]

Keep dreaming