2018 Fixture

[madbluboy]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/a...om=htc_rss

  THE AFL has its fixture release down to such a fine art that it is normally a stretch to confect some outrage.

A weighted formula means the toughest draw goes to the top-six teams and the best teams deservedly get the marquee Friday night slots 

How do you get upset when most teams get what they deserve?

Which is why several key elements of this year’s fixture were so jarring when released on Tuesday.

No matter how you spin it, the AFL can’t justify gifting Carlton four Friday night games next year.

Especially when they already have a Thursday night season-opener against Richmond as well.

Carlton might have a good sprinkling of exciting kids, but this is a team which finished 16th this year, which was 18th for scoring, which for all its potential plays a sedate, defence-first risk-free game plan.
North Melbourne, Brisbane, Fremantle and Gold Coast all got no Friday night games, and GWS, Hawthorn, Melbourne and West Coast got one each.

So when eight teams including Hawthorn get a combined four Friday nights, its impossible to justify the Blues getting four by themselves.

In 2015 Carlton’s Friday night losing margins were 69 points, 75 points, 77 points, 60 points, 30 points and 138 points.

This year it played a bunch of kids and lost by 90 points to Port Adelaide in its only Friday night game, having lost by 43 points to the Tigers in the Thursday night season-opener.

The league will hope to sell next year’s games on Charlie Curnow’s improvement and tight low-scoring contests, but a fixture shouldn’t be built on hope.

It’s just plain wrong.