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WATCH: Field of Dreams finalistsThe team with “by far the toughest” 2026 AFL fixture
SEN • November 14th, 2025 11:11 am
Sam Edmund has run his eyes over the 2026 AFL fixture after it was officially released on Thursday.
The full fixture, including dates and times, were revealed up to Round 15, while the last nine rounds have had the matchups confirmed only.
Looking at which clubs have it easy and which clubs have a difficult fixture based on 2025 finishing positions, Edmund was scratching his head by the draw given to GWS, who finished fifth before bowing out in an Elimination Final.
“I want to come back to the Giants. I'm scratching my head on this,” Edmund said on SEN Breakfast.
“They play fewer 2025 finalists than West Coast. West Coast play three twice and GWS play two twice.
“GWS finished fifth, I know their percentage sort of belied that position a little bit, and maybe the AFL look at the percentage more than anything, but at the end of the day, they finished fifth at the end of the home and away season.
“They also don’t play any top four teams twice. That just seems wrong to me.
“They travel more than anyone, and I feel for them there. But as far as draw difficulty goes, that is a very easy draw for a team that's got a lot of talent.”
As for the team that’s been given the short straw, Edmund couldn’t look past Geelong, who play five of their double-ups against teams that finished top seven in 2025.
At least in this case, that’s fair and reasonable given how strong Geelong’s campaign was last season.
“Then there's Geelong, who have by far the toughest fixture going around,” Edmund said.
“They play five top seven teams twice – Adelaide, Brisbane, Collingwood, Fremantle and Gold Coast. They also play North Melbourne twice.
“They've got four Thursday nights, four Friday nights, two five-day breaks, four six-day breaks.
“If they do get top four, it's going to be very, very hard earned.”
