Big Changes in 2013 AFL Schedule

by Johnson Leung reporting for AFANA from Melbourne

The AFL released the 2013 schedule in Melbourne last week. Even though the League has made several changes to make the schedule fairer for all 18 teams, there are still winners and losers. The schedule follows the model used this year with each club playing 22 games over 23 Rounds. Under the new scheduling arrangements, this year's Top Four teams (Sydney, Hawthorn, Collingwood and Adelaide) will only play the bottom four teams (GWS, Gold Coast, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs) on one occasion in 2013. However, the Swans will be granted two games against the Giants to help build their rivalry. The ten non-finalists from 2012 are scheduled to have a maximum of two return games against the Top Eight teams from 2012. Where possible, the eight finalists from 2012 are being fixtured to have a maximum of two return games with the bottom ten sides from 2012. Another change is that no teams will play each other for the second time until after Round 10, and there must also be a minimum of six weeks between teams' first and second meetings.

Round 1 will be played over two weeks, starting March 22, with a Friday night game between Adelaide and Essendon (the last time the Crows played in a season opener was their first ever game in the League, against Hawthorn in 1991), followed by a Western Australian derby featuring Fremantle and West Coast on the Saturday night. In the second week, Carlton will host Richmond in the season's first game at the MCG on Easter Thursday, March 28. The round finishes with the Hawthorn Geelong game on Easter Monday, April 1.

Sydney will unfurl the 2012 Premiership flag at the SCG in Round 2 against the Gold Coast Suns in their first match ever at the SCG. The Swans have also been rewarded for their stunning performance in 2012 with two Friday night games at the SCG, against Geelong in Round 4 and Carlton in Round 14.

2012 runner-up Hawthorn has been given what was described as the "draw from hell". It will play the other seven 2012 finalists in the first seven rounds of the 2013 season, culminating with the Grand Final rematch against 2012 Premiers Sydney in Round 7 at the MCG. Hawks Chief Executive Stuart Fox said at the time: "It's probably the start from hell - it's a really, really tough start." Hawthorn will also play a home game against West Coast at Etihad Stadium in Round 13. It will be the Hawks' first home game at the venue since 2006. With four games in Tasmania, this means that he Hawks will only play six home games at the MCG.

Other highlights from the schedule include:

* Carlton Coach Mick Malthouse will take on his previous club Collingwood for the first time in Round 2.

* Six games to be played in Tasmania, with North Melbourne to again play two home games at Hobart's Blundstone Arena, against Sydney (Round 3) and Port Adelaide (Round 6), while Hawthorn will play four games at Launceston's Aurora Stadium, hosting Fremantle (Round 4), GWS (Round 8 ), Brisbane Lions (Round 14) and the Bulldogs (Round 17).

* GWS will host three games at Canberra's Manuka Oval, in Rounds 3 (under lights for the first time), 5 and 15, against St Kilda, the Suns and the Bulldogs respectively, with other home games at Skoda Stadium.

* Two matches at TIO Stadium in Darwin with the Western Bulldogs hosting Port Adelaide in Round 10 and Melbourne hosting the Brisbane Lions in Round 17.

* The now traditional Richmond-Gold Coast game at Cazaly's Stadium in Cairns in North Queensland will take place on Saturday, July 13, with Richmond looking for its first win against the Suns.

* Two Monday night games in 2013, between St Kilda and Carlton in Round 7 at Etihad Stadium, and West Coast and Richmond in Round 10 at Patersons Stadium, on the Western Australian public holiday.

* A rare Friday night game at The Gabba in Round 10, when the Brisbane Lions take on Collingwood.

* There will be four Thursday games in 2013. After the Carlton-Richmond clash at the MCG in Round 1, the second and third will take place on Anzac Day (April 25), with Essendon and Collingwood playing their traditional afternoon blockbuster at the MCG, before St Kilda hosts the Swans at Westpac Stadium in the New Zealand capital of Wellington. It will be the first game for premiership points to be held outside Australia. The final Thursday game will be a night clash between West Coast and Essendon at Patersons Stadium in Round 14.

* Two of Fremantle's Sunday afternoon games at home, against North Melbourne (Round 13) and St Kilda (Round 15), will be broadcast on free-to-air TV in Victoria. It will be the first time since 2001 that a Sunday afternoon game from Perth is shown on free-to-air TV in Victoria during the regular season.

* Dockers Captain Matthew Pavlich is scheduled to play his 300th game in the clash with Melbourne at the MCG in round 21. The six-times best-and-fairest winner made his debut against the Demons in 2000. The Dockers will play twice against the Demons, as well as Richmond.

* Three games will be played at ANZ Stadium, including a derby between the Giants and Swans (Round 1), and blockbusters featuring the Swans up against the Pies (Round 20) and the Hawks (Round 23).

* Geelong will play its first ten games away from home next year, with six of them outside Victoria, due to the redevelopment of its home ground Simonds Stadium. The first game at Simonds Stadium will be in Round 10 when Geelong will host Gold Coast in the first night game at the venue. The Cats will finish the season with seven games out of the final 11 at the stadium. They also have a tough schedule with successive six-day breaks in the first three rounds.

* Round 23 will remain as a floating draw to maximise scheduling flexibility for the first week of the Finals. In that round Port Adelaide will play at home, in what could be the final game to be held at AAMI Stadium. West Coast will also play at home in the final round, with Adelaide and Fremantle set to play away from their respective states.

* Of the 2012 finalists, Carlton plays only Collingwood twice, and Essendon plays only Collingwood and West Coast twice. Adelaide is the only team to have just three games against the other top-four teams of 2012 and two of those are at home.

* Richmond has a good schedule, with only nine of its 22 games against the Top Eight teams of 2012. The Tigers play the Top Four teams of 2012 (Sydney, Hawthorn, Adelaide and Collingwood) only once.

* Melbourne has been given a "soft" schedule, with 12 of the team's first 14 gamest at the MCG. They will play twice against GWS, Gold Coast and the Bulldogs.

* Both North Melbourne and West Coast will enjoy eight six-day breaks, the most for any clubs in 2013.

* The Western Bulldogs have the hardest run of this year's bottom four clubs. They begin their 2013 campaign with two home games against the Lions and the Dockers. They will have seven interstate trips and do not play Gold Coast and GWS twice.

* All Victorian-based clubs will travel interstate on a minimum of five occasions.

* All clubs will play at least one game at the MCG, as part of a minimum five in Victoria.

* Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs, as well as GWS, Gold Coast and Port Adelaide, will miss out on playing on Friday nights next year. Up until this year, each Victorian team was given at least one Friday night game. The AFL has defended the move to omit some clubs from the Friday night timeslot, saying it made the games even more attractive for broadcasters and supporters. 

AFL Chief Operating Officer Gillon McLachlan ruled out introducing conferences, as in the NFL, NBA and NHL competitions, to make the scheduling fairer. ''The simple message I would say about conferences is that, ultimately, our view is that any sort of structural advantage you may get through that certainty is outweighed by potential inequalities that are created,'' he said. ''You can get very soft conferences, ultimately. That means you can get teams missing out on Finals who are actually a stronger team than others who are in (the other) conference just because the way the conferences are structured up."

The AFL said the desire to equalise the schedule and play marquee games meant there would always be winners from the draw. League General Manager Broadcasting, Scheduling and Legal Affairs Simon Lethlean said: "I don't think it's penalising (the clubs). I think it's getting match-ups we all want to see, because they are playing each other ... I think it's the best type of model of fairness and commerciality and everything else that I have done in four or five years. But who knows? Someone might be playing a side that falls well below where we thought they would have been and might get an easier run."

Many details of next season's schedule were already known, either through AFL announcements or club leaks during October. 

Sources: afl.com.au, AAP, The West Australian, The Age, Herald Sun