AFL fixture boss Travis Auld says it’s troublesome to make sure groups coming off a break can play one another regardless of a placing pattern rising over the bye rounds.
Clubs enjoying after the bye this season have slumped to a staggering 0-8 document towards opponents who performed the week earlier than, with solely two of 12 sides managing to win in any respect, albeit towards different groups contemporary off the bye.
The most pronounced of the outcomes was Hawthorn’s win over a contemporary Brisbane on the MCG in spherical 13, whereas the Hawks had been then thrashed by Gold Coast after their very own bye, the week after Gold Coast was comprehensively overwhelmed by Carlton instantly following the Suns’ break.
St Kilda’s spherical 13 win over Sydney on the SCG and Collingwood’s heart-stopping win over the Crows on Sunday had been the one victories for rested sides, however Auld stated it was troublesome to be “cute” sufficient with scheduling to make sure that all groups might face opponents who shared the identical bye.
He hinted prioritising fairness over the bye rounds might intervene with the cautious fixturing of blockbuster clashes and the equity of interstate journey.
“Well (the trend) has been this year, but that will be part of the conversation that we have,” Auld stated.
“We will have the teams that won really happy with how it works, and those that didn’t not (happy).
AFL bye rounds
“I don’t have a direct response from the clubs just yet … it’s just not that simple. It makes it difficult to get as cute with that in the fixture because there’s other consequences – if we could do that, we probably would to the extent you could, but it’s not that easy.”
Auld stated the league would proceed to reassess its weekly match timeslots, together with the Friday 7.50pm sport, which he acknowledged was troublesome for kids to attend.
“You’ve always got to balance accessibility, the reality is giving everyone the opportunity to either go to a game or watch it on television,” h stated.
“There’s a lot of people watching it on television at 7.50, it just happens to be that’s a slot that works for a lot of people.
“You do need to balance it up with giving kids access, so maybe you look at doing it a touch easier – it’s a conversation we have every year about every slot through the weekend and trying to get that balance right.”
Auld stated it was too early to say whether or not West Coast deserved a precedence decide following the heaviest defeat within the membership’s historical past however wouldn’t rule out the Eagles being granted a further choice.
“We’re having conversations with West Coast about how we can support them, and we’ll continue to do that like we do with any football club,” he stated.
“Whether they feel like they’re in a position to apply for a priority pick is their decision, and that doesn’t occur until some time later.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
