I was surely not the only one hoping that the AFL’s ‘Round Zero’ to kick off the 2024 season was a silly rumour, but I was wrong.
Andrew Dillon and the AFL are determined to continue on with this perplexing start to a season. The name is the first confusing component- being named ‘Opening Round,' is just a fancy name for 'Round Zero,' with the round after actually being 'Round One.' Confusing, right?
Therefore, the first round of season 2024 will be a four-game event, spread across Sydney (twice,) Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
By beginning this season with just four matches over a weekend, this will cost the AFL big time. The venues average capacity is 34,635, compared to the MCG of 100,000, where the Richmond vs Carlton and Geelong vs Collingwood both had crowds in the high 80,000's in season 2023. What is the AFL doing?
To add to that, there is the decision for the season opener to be a split round where the other 10 teams all play the weekend after. That means there is also an issue with match fitness and competition integrity to consider.
For example, Brisbane head into their proper ‘Round 1’ clash with Fremantle in Perth having had a week to shake off early-season rust against Carlton, going in with extra miles in the legs compared to the Dockers – it’s an obvious disadvantage for Fremantle. Melbourne have a similar edge for their clash with the Western Bulldogs on the following Sunday.
On the flipside, Richmond will go into their season opener against Carlton on the next Thursday night off a five-day break compared to the Blues’ six, while also having to play Gold Coast at Carrara in mid-afternoon. They’ll be doing well not to be sapped by the heat.
The attendance numbers for those two games will be fascinating: the Giants will get a boost due to travelling Collingwood supporters, as will the Suns for the Tigers, but their opponents would surely be the only reason crowds for their games to exceed the 8,169 and 13,648 respectively they received in 2023 when their opponents were Adelaide and Sydney.
It’s far from the most significant problem, but it’s also a bit of a rough idea to make the Magpies launch their premiership defence interstate, rather than giving them the opportunity to unfurl the flag in front of 90,000 supporters with a first-up MCG home game.
Round 1 of 2023 had the third-highest total attendance in the game’s history, and second-best opening round ever – a fact the league weren’t shy about proclaiming.
As for the stupidity of having rounds not correspond with the number of games teams have played – so, for instance, at the end of ‘Round 1’ Collingwood will have played two games – well, that just speaks for itself.
Not quite sure what the AFL is doing, its bound to get a lot more media scruitney as the season approaches. We’ll just have to wait and see.
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