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Sport Nation
The 10 wishes for the 2026 AFL fixture
SEN • November 13th, 2025 5:10 pm
The AFL released the 2026 fixture on Thursday.Prior to the release, SEN's Adam White compiled a list of 10 things he would love to see.
Mirroring the thoughts of fans, White covered bases from overlapping fixtures, Opening Round and bye rounds, all of which have faced criticism from the general footballing public.
“If you were the fixture boss of the AFL, what would you like to see when the fixture drops tomorrow?” White told SEN Afternoons.“I’m going to give you 10 things you won’t see when the fixture is announced tomorrow, but 10 things I would like to see tomorrow and into the fixture.”
1 - Everyone plays each other once before anyone plays each other twice
“Very frustrating when we get a situation when it might take until Round 14 before we see… say Carlton plays Geelong, and then all of a sudden, they play again in Round 19.
“Silly. Everyone plays each other once, before anyone plays each other twice. We are never going to get a fair fixture, we are never going to get an equal fixture for obvious reasons, because we have so many teams and not enough weeks to play.
“But there has to be a better level of fairness if everyone plays each other once before anyone plays each other twice.”
2 - Everyone plays when there is a round of football, everyone has a bye after King’s Birthday
“If you are having a round of football, everyone plays, so we don’t get this situation where Opening Round we have four or five games, and then we have three or four weeks where there is two teams having a bye.
“Then we get to the bye rounds and there is four or five weeks where we are not having a full compliment of matches every weekend.
“That frustrates the hell out of me. I want everyone playing every weekend, and if it means that there is one weekend where there is no football, that is okay with me.
“It might not be okay with TV bosses, but for one weekend, no football. People might actually like that, because it freshens you up in the middle part of the year.
“If you play on the King’s birthday Monday, you have that next weekend off, but you can start playing again on Wednesday with the breaks teams have had. You will only have eight days where there is no football.”
3 - Opening Round is Round 1, and the premiers unfurl the flag to open the new season
“What I would do with Opening Round is make it Round 1, and the season should start with the Premiers opening the season by unfurling their premiership flag to officially launch the new season.
“The premiers are the team that deserve the right for that opening game. Who they play doesn’t really matter – preferably a team that also played in the finals so we’re getting a high-quality start to the opening game of the season, but we actually start with the premiers unfurling their premiership flag.”
4 - Saturday night games are never, ever scheduled at the same time
“There is nothing more frustrating than when you sit down on a Saturday night to watch football, and both games are starting at the same time. Both games have got halftime at the same time.
“Can’t we at least have a stagger so that when it’s half time in one game, there’s football on the other channel at the same time?
“There is no reason for both games to start at the same time on the Saturday night.”
5 - The three Sunday games should never overlap
“We should always have a situation where you’ve got the first game, which might start at 12 o’clock. Then you’ve got a three o’clock and a six o’clock start.
“If the six o’clock start means that most of those games have to be played in Perth, which would be an afternoon game in Perth, I would think that that is okay.
“Perth footy fans might not agree with me on that one but make it a situation where you can stagger them so there is no crossover. Actually have a triple header every Sunday.
“Likewise with a Saturday – don’t have two games on at the same time on a Saturday afternoon. It doesn’t have to happen!
6 - No Friday night double headers
“Why do we have double headers on a Friday night? One on the Friday night. It’s meant to be the showcase game of the weekend, so don’t dilute it by having two on.
“If you have a second one, it finishes well after midnight half the time. Just one! One on the Friday night, one on the Thursday night, no double headers on a Friday night and make that Friday night a showcase game.”
7 - The Showdown should be on a Friday night
“Adelaide and Port Adelaide – the way that they play those games, they deserve to have a Friday night game. One of the two – which isn’t on the same night as another game. Just that one.”
8 - Play a game on Labour Day
“Considering the AFL has decided to play a game on Sunday night before the Labour Day Monday in Melbourne, why then wouldn’t they play a blockbuster on the Monday?
“Being a public holiday Monday in Melbourne, play a game!”
9 - Bring back Heritage Round
“Where each club can honour the history and the legacy of their club in a significant manner each season.
“Don’t have the clubs dedicate a game to retro round or whatever. One round every year, Heritage Round. You wear an old jumper and actually celebrate the history of the football club.
“The history, and the champions of that football club, but also the history f the game. So that the young people get to learn a little bit more about what their club means and what their club has done over a long period of time. Make it a significant weekend, Heritage Round.”
10 - Host a curtain raiser round to celebrate football
“Late in the season, we should have a round where we actually celebrate the actual game. Like, a football feast.
“Each game has curtain raisers, so it might me AFLW curtain raiser, it might be an U18 Championship, it might be a country representative game that’s played as a curtain raiser.
“Celebrate the game by having a weekend where we showcase everything that is good about the game, not just AFL football. Give the best country teams or the best country players an opportunity to play at the MCG, or at Marvel Stadium or Adelaide Oval.
“Let’s showcase the U18s and give them a chance as well.”
