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Sport Nation
Don't say no: The AFL's four floated fixture options
Gerard Whateley • June 23rd, 2026 2:45 pm
Let’s run the exercise this morning.
And try not to start with no.
The AFL season will change in 2028 with the introduction of the 19th team.
Rather than fear that change, let’s embrace it and help shape it.
Let’s use a bit of imagination rather than the natural flinch to conservatism.
I would say across our nine years together I would have had at a minimum 500 blueprints emailed in for a revised fixture and structure… the most recent of which was last night from Andrew.
We’re trying to be Ken McIntyre here and choose the best system for the future of the AFL.
Four concepts were opened for debate yesterday at the CEOs conference.
Option 1 is the least inspiring.
22 games across 24 weeks with four double-ups.
The competition would be fine.
But it would be an opportunity lost.
Remember the heritage of a 22-game season.
12 teams would play all opposition, home and away.
It was the perfect balance for a suburban competition.
Now 22 games makes no sense for a 19-team national comp.
Option 2 puts some thought into equity in a fundamentally unequal fixture.
24 regular season games over 26 weeks then a five-week finals series.
Six double up games with a mechanism to determine who those opponents are that fill a formula rather than hand-picking… much more in the vein of the NFL where each position has a specific draw.
There are two neutral games – one being Gather Round and another as yet undetermined idea.
And a slight shortening of the game window to accommodate the additional games.
A two-and-a-half window down from three.
Option 2 is superior to Option 1 as it actually attempts to address some of the inherent fixes in the fixture.
Option 3 is where it gets interesting.
Play all teams once plus Rivalry Round and Gather Round.
And then it’s off to a group stage.
The top 16 are drawn in to four groups and play three more games… either evenly split… or the top eight have already qualified for finals and jockey in two groups while the next eight split for two remaining wild card tickets.
Then we hit the five-week finals.
The bottom three play amongst themselves.
There’s an elegance to this… a three-week run-off to the five-week Finals.
The risk would be repetition… but the best against the best for more games works.
Option 4 is for the radicals.
We play the perfectly structured Premiership season.
18 rivals once… then gather round and rivalry round.
And onto the five-week finals series.
This is my nirvana.
As good a fixture as we’ll get for the future AFL season.
But to keep the footprint of the season there would need to be an in-season tournament.
A three-week carve out.
19 AFL teams plus a best of State League team.
There’s a bit of 'Know Your History' at play here.
Imagine the showcasing of the State League players.
Each teams play three games.
The winner of each pool goes to a semi final and then onto a grand final.
The winner would play five games.
Can the tournament create its own cultural foot print and be a sought after prize.
We used to be able to do this… could it be reinvented for the future.
I suspect most won’t have the imagination for this.
So those are the four.
The first canvassing of opinion suggest Option 2 or 3 will be our future.
I have an initial leaning toward 3.
But I’d love it if we had the collective imagination to properly explore Option 4.
Try to resist 'No' as a starting point and see if you can find the opportunity and excitement in what has been put forward for discussion.
It’s a moment where we get to choose the competition of the future.
Let’s choose wisely.
