AFL plans even draw
11:14:57 AM Tue 25 July, 2006
Paul Gough
Exclusive to afl.com.au
AFL clubs will have far less scope to complain about an unfair draw next season with the league planning to base the return meetings between clubs on this year's final home and away ladder, rather than on the round 15 ladder as they have done in past years.
The AFL is in the early stages of preparing next year's fixture, which will see several changes from the fixture of recent years due to the new television agreement with Channels Seven and Ten.
The major one will be the addition of a Sunday twilight game every week with these matches to be shared between Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, as opposed to the current fixture where the only such matches are staged in Perth - beginning at 2.40pm Perth time and 4.40pm in the eastern states.
But next year there will be games played in both Adelaide and Melbourne starting later than 4pm on a Sunday with these games likely to be shown on pay television.
However it is the decision to change the way the league decides which teams each club will face twice next season that is certain to win approval from not only the clubs but all football fans.
Currently each team faces either three or four teams twice that were in the top eight as at the end of round 15 the previous season.
But with the final eight often changing between rounds 15 and round 22, that has led to situations where some clubs were advantaged or disadvantaged in terms of their draw for the following season.
A case in point was Essendon this season, which only had to play one of last year's eventual finalists twice in 2006 because two of the three top eight teams it was scheduled for return meetings against - based on the ladder at round 15 last year - in Brisbane and Richmond were not in the top eight at round 22.
The AFL's major projects manager Simon Gorr, who is responsible for preparing the fixture, said the change would ensure a more equitable draw for all teams this year.
"Ironically the team that had the easiest draw last year in Essendon is on the bottom of the ladder but it is still far better to do the return match-ups based on round 22 the previous season than on round 15."
Gorr said the AFL was able to make the change because its new computer software enables the league to produce the final fixture far more quickly than previously.
The software, which is also used by the NFL in the United States, enables the league to put a whole range of requests into its fixture computer - which will then produce the fairest possible draw for all teams.
How this is done is by attaching penalty points to negative aspects of the draw for all teams such as successive interstate trips or an uneven spread of home matches or six day breaks and then asking the computer to come up with a solution.
"What the software will then do is consider all the penalty points and produce a fixture with the lowest possible points score in order to minimise the negative fixturing outcomes."
The change in the AFL's fixturing process will also enable the league to be able to showcase some of its higher profile games at better stages of the season.
"We will be able to get better match-ups early in the season," Gorr said.
For example the league is hoping to stage the grand final re-match next season in the opening round of the season, after this year it was not played until round 15.
"That was too long a wait but with this new software we can schedule it much earlier in the season," Gorr said.
The league is currently sorting through the fixture requests of all clubs and has to fit those into its own commitments such as having to play a certain number of games at each of its venues.
But while next year's fixture, particularly Sundays, will be different from the fixtures that fans have become used to over the past five years - the big days will remain the same.
Collingwood and Essendon will again have sole access to Anzac Day, which next year falls on Wednesday meaning both teams will have a short break leading into the game, while Queen's Birthday will again feature Melbourne and Collingwood.
But Gorr said the other prime public holiday match - the Easter Monday clash which has rotated between different clubs in recent years and this year featured the Kangaroos and Collingwood - had yet to be decided for next year.
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