The Draw........

[Peter]

Was sitting on the computer just going through the run home and thought to myself has this ever happened before??

We play Richmond who we played in Rnd 3

Hawks play Bris who they played in Rnd 1

Then this stagered me: Port plays Carlton who they only played in Rnd 11

Kangas play WCE who they played in Rnd 10

Sydney play St.Kilda who they met in Rnd 7

Geelong play Adelaide who they only played 8 weeks ago in Rnd 11 as well

How did this happen this year??? I know people say we have a soft draw but really...who would you rather be playing

What normally happens this is who we would have played twice
Kangas at G WIN Rnd 1
WCE at G Honurable LOSS Rnd 2
Richmond at G WIN Rnd 3
Port at G LOSS Rnd 4
Essendon at G WIN Rnd 5
Adelaide at Dome WIN Rnd 6
Carlton at G WIN Rnd 7

Instead we play: or played:

Essendon at G WIN
Brisbane at G LOSS - Should not have played them twice
Carlton at G WIN
Richmond at G - ????????
Melbourne at G - Should not be playing twice
Sydney at G - Hitting form at right time of year
Adelaide at Dome - Lost both games ta the Dome this year

I suppose you take the GOOD with the BAD....time will tell.

[favourites 2008]

Its cos we always play syd and melb midway through the year and thus never play them twice, this year they are making us play them twice. We actually lost to port.

[HAL]

Should I know cos we play syd and melb midway the year and thus never play them twice this year they are making us play them twice is?

[Mich@el]

The fixtures have become weirder and more manufactured over time, but this year is extra bizzaro as you've highlighted above.

Instead of a Pre-season competition or State of Origin it would be great from a supporters point of view to just have an awesome long season and play every team twice. I can't really see the relevance of the pre-season cup, why waste energy on practice matches. The winner also gets figured out by all the other clubs.

[Peter]

anddddd so figure this out then...draw made for Collingwood they say...so Port Carlton twice played them Round 11, then go backwards playing Hawth who they played in rnd 10, then Geelong who they played in rnd 9...and just in case they don't make the top 4 why not let them play Freo in the last Round at AAMI who they played in Round 1...when we should be playing Carlton....

Just thought it was a weird draw this year.....

[rosspies]

I recall hearing they got some new software from the USA that makes creating the draw easier to accomodate blockbuster games and dates etc, i think this is why the draw is so much different this year to past years

[Piethagoras' Theorem]

They must find another way to work out the draw!

[Alec. J. Hidell]

Well, I'm speechless

[David]

Well even in previous years when they swapped things about a bit, you would still have the standard formula: every team plays each other once, and then the first 7 rounds are repeated. Last couple of years they swapped it about a little (like replaying round 5 in round 22 and round 7 in round 20) but nothing like this season.

I don't know how they manage to actually pull games from other rounds and not stuff up the draw. But I don't have a problem with it... adds a little unpredictability.

[John Wren]

[David]

I think you'll find it's the other way around with the finals system. We had the final 8 first, and the NRL copied it. They've still got the old pre-2000 AFL finals series now, I think.

[John Wren]

yes, they took the mc intyre system but i'm sure their finals system for the first year or two was what the afl currently have.

[David]

Seems odd though that they would swap... I've always thought this final 8 system was far superior

[Piethagoras' Theorem]