ORFFA 2013 FIXture

HE AFL today wrote to all clubs to advise the AFL Commission had approved a change to the 22-match fixture structure whereby each club would now have two byes through the season comprising 22 matches across 25 weeks, starting from next year's 2014 Toyota AFL Premiership Season.<br style='color: #2e2e2e; line-height: 15px;[/img] <br style='color: #2e2e2e; line-height: 15px;[/img] As part of the introduction of a second bye to better manage the workload on players and clubs throughout the year, the premiership season will now commence with a split round across the weekends of March 14-16 and March 21-23 (five matches and four matches respectively on those two weekends).<br style='color: #2e2e2e; line-height: 15px;[/img] <br style='color: #2e2e2e; line-height: 15px;[/img] The pre-season period will be revitalised to feature two matches per Club scheduled nationally, with a continued focus on regional areas that don't normally host premiership matches, as well as matches in metropolitan areas and managing the travel load across all teams. In place of the NAB Cup Grand Final, the AFL is currently considering options for a representative-style game in the final week of the pre-season, together with intra-club matches for all teams, before round one gets underway.<br style='color: #2e2e2e; line-height: 15px;[/img] <br style='color: #2e2e2e; line-height: 15px;[/img] AFL General Manager - Broadcasting, Scheduling and Major Projects Simon Lethlean said the first group of club byes were likely to be across rounds 8-10 (three weeks of six matches per round) with the second group of club byes to be placed in the run to the finals in the region of rounds 18-19 (one week of five matches and one week of four matches). All up, clubs would each play 22 games across 25 weeks through March 14-16 (week one of round one) to August 29-31.

I think I am getting stupider as I get older but I read 20 weeks uncompromised in that, so we should be ok with 17 H2H and 3 Final weeks still?

 

I s'pose nothing is really confirmed yet anyway. But based on what they're saying now, it does look as though there'll only be 19 uncompromised rounds. When I noticed the 25 week bit, it threw me too Len, but they're just talking weeks, not rounds. There's a split round at the start which spreads 1 round over two weeks.
They say that all teams are playing 22 games still and having 2 byes, so it must be 24 rounds. Otherwise, I'm not sure what the clubs would be doing in the round they don't have a bye or a game
at this stage, they have proposed 5 bye affected rounds. If that stays as that, then there'll be 19 rounds for us to play in.
As you are draft man, I'd like to ask you about the MSD. Will we have two mid season drafts next season?

 

Maybe what we might need to look at (if I may be so bold as to suggest) is the structure of these 'bye rounds'. If they are just split rounds - like the first round seems to be - we should still be able to play a proper round of matches over hem, but just have the round held over two weeks (akin to what's been done a couple of time in the ESPN Fantasy NBA League, Ant). If we did this and instituted rolling lockout rules for that round, that'll give us 20 rounds in which to play.

 

chris88 wrote:
Maybe what we might need to look at (if I may be so bold as to suggest) is the structure of these 'bye rounds'. If they are just split rounds - like the first round seems to be - we should still be able to play a proper round of matches over hem, but just have the round held over two weeks (akin to what's been done a couple of time in the ESPN Fantasy NBA League, Ant). If we did this and instituted rolling lockout rules for that round, that'll give us 20 rounds in which to play. That's a good idea. I suppose we will have to see if there are any rounds where we can combine two of them with no teams playing twice. Based on the AFL announcement yesterday, I dont think its possible that there will be two bye rounds like that, but it may eventuate and is something to keep in mind for sure.

 

JC wrote:
I imagine the proposed byes in rounds 18 & 19 will work like a split round anyway. True... <blockquote><blockquote> 'the second group of club byes to be placed in the run to the finals in the region of rounds 18-19 (one week of five matches and one week of four matches).' </blockquote></blockquote> So, we could potentially use them as 1 ORFFA round. Should be right. Thanks guys

 

Jolcon, its a shame (for the match committee) that your talents were identified early and you were removed from the Match Committee for higher duties in the Commissioner's office A bit like Peter Sumich and Brett Kirk fighting over Nat Fyfe, there'll be a few ORFFA offices wishing they had JC in their throng on a more regular basis

 

just a reminder about what Im on about...anthak wrote:also, last season Jolcon and I were really careful that teams never played more than 2 games in a row either at home or away, but this year, we have not done so... You may find that you have a string of games in a row either at home or away.And, I really should acknowledge Jolcon for his efforts last season, as he did the bulk of the organising of the 2012 version, and without that, this years would have been much more difficult to sort out.Thanks mate.

 

anthak wrote:
I s'pose nothing is really confirmed yet anyway. But based on what they're saying now, it does look as though there'll only be 19 uncompromised rounds. When I noticed the 25 week bit, it threw me too Len, but they're just talking weeks, not rounds. There's a split round at the start which spreads 1 round over two weeks.
They say that all teams are playing 22 games still and having 2 byes, so it must be 24 rounds. Otherwise, I'm not sure what the clubs would be doing in the round they don't have a bye or a game
at this stage, they have proposed 5 bye affected rounds. If that stays as that, then there'll be 19 rounds for us to play in.
As you are draft man, I'd like to ask you about the MSD. Will we have two mid season drafts next season? Split round for R1 and 18/19 would be closest to what we have now? I thought the fixturing was spot on this year, if possible it would be nice to have the rounds with multiple or rolling lockouts noted as part of the fixture but at least ahead of time, I think a few of us got caught short on that. Just the one draft mid-season for mine ant, it will be earlier of course, but possibly a better time in the season for it anyway as adjustments made will have more time to take effect, we can't sensibly draft and play the same week, so if we do play that split round it would kill the 2nd possibility anyway..

 

chels wrote:
My mark for comprehension must differ from others! '<em style='font-family: Helvetica,Arial,San-Serif; font-size: 12px; font-variant: normal; line-height: 16px; outline: 0px none; color: #000000;]AFL General Manager - Broadcasting, Scheduling and Major Projects Simon Lethlean said the first group of club byes were likely to be across rounds 8-10 (three weeks of six matches per round) with the second group of club byes to be placed in the run to the finals in the region of rounds 18-19 (one week of five matches and one week of four matches). All up, clubs would each play 22 games across 25 weeks through March 14-16 (week one of round one) to August 29-31.' [span style='font-size: 12px; font-variant: normal; line-height: 16px; outline: 0px none; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,San-Serif; color: #000000;]In a 'normal' round there are 9 matches (18 teams / 2 teams per game). Thus in rounds 8-10 there will be 18 games (3 * games) which means play twice in three rounds - the same as this year. Thus a split round is problematic and we probably want the MSD at that stage. [span style='font-size: 12px; font-variant: normal; line-height: 16px; outline: 0px none; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,San-Serif; color: #000000;]In rounds 18 and 19 each team plays once (9 games total) so a spilt round with a rolling lockout would be feasible. [span style='font-size: 12px; font-variant: normal; line-height: 16px; outline: 0px none; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,San-Serif; color: #000000;]Each club in the AFL draw plays 22 games; hence, with two byes there are 24 rounds. We may choose to not have ORFFA games in rounds 8-10 and therefore we have 21 (24 less 3) available rounds. On this assumption with the head to head taking 17 rounds it leaves 4 weeks for finals. Or we might choose not to play in the split rounds (round 1 and rounds 18 - 19) and have a two week play off series. Or we might choose not to play in rounds 18-19 and have a three week play off series. Or ...... [span style='font-size: 12px; font-variant: normal; line-height: 16px; outline: 0px none; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,San-Serif; color: #000000;]There is much for next season's FIXture committee to consider. I had a long response to this written ... and then I had to evacuate my work due to water flooding our electrics. All the electricity was shut down and I lost my post! Basically was saying they have confused the issue by calling rounds 18-19 bye rounds, instead of just a split round. Why wouldnt they have 23 rounds, including 2 split rounds, or 25 rounds and refer to the first round as two bye rounds. Confusing. seems as though we will be able to have 1 ORFFA round for the AFL's rounds 18-19 and have a 3 week finals series.

 

chris88 wrote:
Maybe what we might need to look at (if I may be so bold as to suggest) is the structure of these 'bye rounds'. If they are just split rounds - like the first round seems to be - we should still be able to play a proper round of matches over hem, but just have the round held over two weeks (akin to what's been done a couple of time in the ESPN Fantasy NBA League, Ant). If we did this and instituted rolling lockout rules for that round, that'll give us 20 rounds in which to play. I read it the same way Chris. Guess we need to resolve the finals format question first before the FC gets down to tin tacks on the fixture as the finals format may (or may not) have some bearing on the number of H&A rounds.

 

A .22 round will stop a pig??????? /Portals/0/User%20Images/avatar29.jpg

 

Can see both sides on that chels, it's also part of the SC landscape, so its not a new issue or one of our making, but it would be nice to mitigate it.
I am on record as having a preference for top 4 for finals, but I understand why we have a top 8, it's more inclusive, whilst Chris has done very well to get to the GF from 7th, it's not full reward for season's effort for the teams that do finish top for mine, different if we were able to offer the double chance as in the AFL..
I think it's an absolute that we all play each other once, anything else IS a fixture resulting in manufactured outcomes. If we do that then we are bound by the number of rounds played when determining the finals structure. The teams play 22 times, one of which is compromised by the 3 weekends bye period. This does give us 21 to play with as chels has suggested some room to see if there is a better way to skin the cat.
Personally if we stick with a top 8 I would like to see us use the extra round to give a double chance instead of the opponent pick thing, and just deal with the General as it comes, but no doubt there are other ways.

 

Edit: this was in response to chels before someone stuck their beak in. As it happens, I agree with the sentiments of said beak. Not hard to agree with the idea...........but the execution? Player management seems to be determined by timing, ladder position and opponent. From memory Ross was saving on airfares to Tassie earlier in the season last year. Geelong seem to do it whenever the opportunity arises throughout the season, usually one or two. A lot of coaches in SC coloured their teams purple on the basis of Freo's easy run home. But they must have known the Lyon factor. My point is, bringing the ORFFA granny forward by one, two or even three rounds is no guarantee that 'player management' will not occur in that chosen round. Additionally, we are discussing an alteration to the fixture to satisfy (possibly) the needs of two teams. What about the other 16? How do they maintain their interest in ORFFA when their season ends prematurely in R21 or R22? And, under the existing setup, a really clever coach could choose his opponent based on how many Freo players they do have, given Ross' reputation. Also, amongst all the outs at Freo, there are also some ins and most of these ins are in ORFFA teams. Two sides to the coin. Fyfe and Drum?

 

TerryinBangkok wrote: Edit: this was in response to chels before someone stuck their beak in. As it happens, I agree with the sentiments of said beak. Not hard to agree with the idea...........but the execution? Player management seems to be determined by timing, ladder position and opponent. From memory Ross was saving on airfares to Tassie earlier in the season last year. Geelong seem to do it whenever the opportunity arises throughout the season, usually one or two. A lot of coaches in SC coloured their teams purple on the basis of Freo's easy run home. But they must have known the Lyon factor. My point is, bringing the ORFFA granny forward by one, two or even three rounds is no guarantee that 'player management' will not occur in that chosen round. Additionally, we are discussing an alteration to the fixture to satisfy (possibly) the needs of two teams. What about the other 16? How do they maintain their interest in ORFFA when their season ends prematurely in R21 or R22? And, under the existing setup, a really clever coach could choose his opponent based on how many Freo players they do have, given Ross' reputation. Also, amongst all the outs at Freo, there are also some ins and most of these ins are in ORFFA teams. Two sides to the coin. Fyfe and Drum? I think I agree with you TiB I personally like the idea of using all AFL rounds - except the 3 week bye rounds of course. and on that, in response to this: Lenh191 wrote: The teams play 22 times, one of which is compromised by the 3 weekends bye period. This does give us 21 to play with as chels has suggested some room to see if there is a better way to skin the cat. Over the 3 weeks of byes, teams play 2 games and have 1 bye... meaning there should be 20 rounds we can play with (as I thought was already worked out earlier), if we so choose