Five definitive principles for the AFL to follow when building the 2025 fixture

The 2024 AFL fixture is the worst the league has dished up in the modern era of the code.

Opening Round was a deeply flawed concept that had flow-on affects with byes and frustrated teams, Thursday night footy was arbitrarily dumped because there weren’t enough good games of footy (apparently), rounds are filled with overlap, and a general sense of logic feels like it’s gone out the window.

Now, is this because of a changing of the guard at the very top? Maybe – but the AFL feels like it’s been heading in this direction for a long time now with the fixture and it has simply now reached the edge of the cliff.

So, we could complain about it every week (and we should, honestly), but how do we fix it?

The AFL hired a Canadian software company to help build the fixture this year and given the enormous complexity of 18 teams, 25 rounds, byes, the AFLPA interfering, tiered difficulties and stadium availabilities, it’s fair enough to need all the help you can get.

But we’re not talking about grandiose changes here. This article hopes to install some basic rules to help solve the AFL from itself when it comes to putting the fixture together. When you’re building something this complicated, you need set rules to build the fixture around.

Here are five definitive principles for the AFL to keep in mind when building the fixture. PARTICULARLY as the league enters a new broadcast agreement worth significantly more money.

Thursday night footy should be (ALMOST) every week. No ifs, ands or buts

When the AFL ditched Thursday night footy earlier in the year, many assumed it was because of five day breaks or the AFLPA not being cool with it, but then the new head of fixturing Josh Bowler came on SEN’s Dwayne’s World in the aftermath and said this:

“A key part of the formula behind (Thursday nights) is that both teams are competing for finals and the matchup is a great matchup that delivers a close game for the fans, and that works really well,” he said.

“As you start to get into winter you start to see the top eight shape a bit more, that suddenly gets a lot harder to achieve and there’s a bunch of flow on impacts to other parts of the fixture.”

So yes, the AFL ditched Thursday night footy because … they didn’t think there would be enough good matches worth watching to justify the additional primetime fixture.

It may be the greatest self-own in the code’s recent history, especially when you consider the fact that we currently have 13 teams still viably in the top eight hunt, St Kilda and Adelaide capable of beating anyone on any given day and every ladder position bar 1st still totally up for grabs.

Let’s take Round 18 for instance. Collingwood versus Geelong, Hawthorn versus Fremantle, Western Bulldogs versus Carlton, Melbourne versus Essendon and Gold Coast versus Port Adelaide all feature matches between two teams vying for a top eight berth.

Round 19 has Giants/Suns, Hawks/Pies, Cats/Dogs, Lions/Swans and Freo/Dees. Ironically the Friday night game features the eliminated Adelaide.

But we don’t have enough good games, apparently?

So, what’s the solution? The AFL fixture for the 2025 season should feature Thursday night footy in every round of the season – with the following exceptions:

1. Bye rounds where six or more teams are off for the week. Thursday night footy thins the weekends out too much.
2. Any round that has a Monday game (King’s Birthday, for example). Rounds of footy stretching from Thursday to Monday are unnecessary and drag things out too long.
3. If Anzac Day falls on a Tuesday (Which it won’t until 2028).

In every other instance, Thursday night footy should be locked in. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the biggest blockbuster, but it needs to exist for the ratings it draws, for the discussion it generates and for the flow of the weekend and the ability to eliminate overlaps.

Some fans complain about it not being a great fixture to attend, and yet it consistently nears Friday nights in attendance. The audience it generates on television is also too great to simply ignore.

You obviously must ensure no team has a four-day break going into it, but five-day breaks have to be accepted. This is part of the package of being an AFL player, earning the money that they do and given the cash the broadcasters are forking out for the product.

For instance, you could have easily moved Collingwood/Geelong to Thursday night for Round 18. Or had Gold Coast versus Port Adelaide in that slot without needing to tweak Round 17 whatsoever.

This writer wouldn’t be able to articulate the case better than Gerard Whateley, so watch Gerard’s excellent summation of the situation below for the best argument in favour of Thursday night footy.

No two games should start at the exact same time

Come on guys, how hard is it?

In Round 18, Hawthorn versus Fremantle and Sydney versus North Melbourne both start at 1:45pm AEST. Then Adelaide versus St Kilda and Melbourne versus Essendon both start at 7:30pm AEST.

If two games of footy start at the exact same time, then they go to breaks at virtually the same times. It means half time overlaps. It means you can’t just flick from one game to the other. It means they finish at the same time.

This feels like Fixture 101 and shouldn’t need to be explained by a nobody writer on his couch at home.

If we must have overlapping games at all, start Sydney/North Melbourne at 1:10pm. Start Melbourne/Essendon at 7:10pm. Space them out by 20 minutes so that when one game goes to half time, the other is just starting the second term.

This occurred in Round 16 as well. Adelaide versus GWS on Saturday night might as well have taken place on the moon given it was completely enveloped by Essendon/Geelong.

Port Adelaide versus the Bulldogs last weekend was a flop, but imagine if that game had been tight given the chaotic ending of North/Suns?

Just let us watch one game end before the next one does – it shouldn’t be that hard.

Which brings us logically to the next one…

Lay out fixture to ensure as few games as possible overlap

With Thursday night footy every week, the only possible overlapping games should be on Saturday afternoons. As mentioned above, these should still start 30 minutes apart.

The AFL have admitted that it is a tough balancing act – and it is, no doubt about it. There are only so many viable fixture slots without getting starting too early on weekends.

This is our solution. A blueprint for every standard weekend without a public holiday game:

Thursday night footy: 7:20pm AEST
Friday night footy: 7:20pm AEST
Saturday afternoon: 12:45pm AEST
Saturday afternoon: 2:10pm AEST
Saturday twilight: 4:40pm AEST
Saturday night: 7:30pm AEST
Sunday afternoon: 12:45pm AEST
Sunday afternoon: 3:20pm AEST
Sunday twilight: 4:40pm AEST

This leaves you with slight overlaps on Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon. You could always push the latter out further to say 5:40pm, but Sunday night footy has never quite caught on in the AFL world.

Ditch Opening Round – start Round 1 earlier if you must

Collingwood president Jeff Browne has stated he wasn't a fan of Opening Round and would rather see all 18 teams take part in it for the sake of keeping things even, something the Giants have come out and support.

So... why don't we just call it Round 1 and bring it forward a week or so?

Clearly, Opening Round caused headaches with the byes, with teams like Sydney getting two breaks before the Bulldogs even got one, and it threw all the teams out of sync with some clubs a game ahead of the rest.

If the AFL wants to start earlier, sure, but just call it Round 1. Have four showcase games in New South Wales and Queensland if you must, but play all nine games.

And a few others while we’re here…

Gather Round MUST include a Showdown

This is a simple one. Why should the two South Australian teams be granted a random extra home game, but not the other non Victorian teams? Doing this immediately makes it fairer.

Make a call on post Round 15 fixture earlier

Give fans a heads up on what the fixture will be for Round 15 onwards earlier, allowing them to plan travel and weekends.

Ditch Friday night double headers

Did you know West Coast is hosting Gold Coast on Friday night at the start of August at 8:30pm AEST? Fun!

Obviously this exists to get people in Western Australia to the footy in a primetime slot, but from a fixturing standpoint, this is so clunky.

The Bulldogs versus Melbourne game starts at 7:15pm AEST (Friday night footy should just start at this time every week) and at some point in the second half, another game will begin that should finish around 11:30pm AEST.

We’re not against giving WA fans some extra love in the spotlight – just put the game on Thursday night? The AFL would literally rather overlapping games on a Friday than utilise Thursdays.