I thought that the top 6 teams had to play 3 other top 6 teams twice and then 2 teams in the 7-12 group twice too. We shouldnt be playing any bottom 6 teams twice. I could be wrong here but that was my understanding.

Yep, that's the plan. It was reported SYD & GWS will be the only double up of the top & bottom 6 pairings due to rivalry but FRE & WCE would also be the in the same category.
We should miss a rematch of one of Coll, Ess or Richmond.

Quite happy with the planned "NAB Cup Bonanza" of 18 games in 18 days. Get to see all teams, great for DT & SC teams.

You can have a maximum of one double-up against the bottom six actually if you're a top six team

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-08-28/l ... -structure

Cheers, that clears things up.

Would then prefer Melbourne twice at the G than St KFC twice at shitihad.

When does the fixture come out?

Oct 31

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"I had to eat"

According to Caro our fixture will include the following;

1st game against Port at Etihad on Sunday 16th March
Play Richmond only once (round 2)
Play Port and Geelong twice of the top 6 teams.
Play Collingwood and Essendon* twice.

That leaves only one other side to play twice, my guess is St Kilda.

Playing Geelong & Port twice doesn't sound too bad. It could be worse with maybe Freo & Hawthorn twice.

Surely if we play Geelong twice, at least 1 will be at the G?

We get an 11 day break between Round 1 & 2 (we play Port on the 16th & the article says we play Richmond on the 27th) so we must be the first week of the split round 1.

I thought Port was playing Adelaide @ The Adelaide Oval in round 1?

*deleted*

It won't be ready. So more than likely Rnd 2, with both playing away Rnd 1.

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"They're [REDACTED]'

Sounds like losing that final to us has been a big win for the Tigers, at least from an on field perspective:

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"I had to eat"

Yep, and we are being disadvantaged for being promoted into the finals.
Both in the fixture and our draft picks.

Richmond, Collingwood, North Melbourne & Adelaide all with easier fixtures than us will see them in a really good position to overtake us, not to mention West Coast being in the bottom 6 grouping and having a particularly soft draw. Rather than the split round rubbish I'd prefer we just play an extra round of footy and end up with 6 return matches, 2 teams from each group of six. Equalisation should be about providing an even draw for all teams in the competition, not providing a softer draw for the lower teams in order to make them more competitive.

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@cecil_anderson

On the bright side, the fact our only game against Richmond is an away game probably increases the chances of one of our geelogn games being at the G.

There's nothing that sh*ts me to tears more than consistently having to have home games against Geelong and Hawthorn at Etihad when we then play home games games against the likes of Adelaide and Melbourne at the G.

So what's your answer? Don't beat Richmond in front of 94k at the G? Would you have rather lost that game?

I will never understand that mindset. Why follow football.

Of course i wanted to win that game.
Just pointing out that for a team that finished 9th we now are disadvantaged because we won the final.
I was simply responded to a poster who said that losing that final was a win for Richmond.

It sucks from a monetary point of view. That's all.

We didn't finish 9th we finished 6th.

And kezza, this isn't directed to you personally, but FFS!! The mindset that dwells on the 'penalty' for winning games of football will never be successful. I would have thought this lesson should have sunk into Carlton more than most.