The AFL’s fixture dropped yesterday and as always, the nature of a 22-game season means a great imbalance in the difficulty between teams.
Gold Coast and Carlton, who finished in the bottom three last year, have drawn two of the hardest fixtures, while the Bulldogs and Brisbane are up the other end – according to Champion Data.
Garry Lyon’s biggest takeaway from this year’s fixture is how desperate the league is for a season where no team plays each other twice.
“I’m happy to have this argument. I’ve never been more certain that we should be having a 17-game season,” Lyon told SEN Breakfast.
“Come and tell me I’m an idiot and I know it’s less money and all of that. For me, this is my humblest of opinions, I’ve never been more certain that we need a 17-game season.”
The swing of fixture difficulty comes from the double-up games and is supposed to be based on last year’s ladder position.
For instance, a top six team should receive a harder group of teams to play twice than a bottom six side.
However, the reality is that it is impossible to create any sort of parity with this system, given how wildly teams fluctuate in quality between seasons. Just look at Melbourne.