Fixture AFLW Gather Round (??)

[Teen Wolf]

A subject already raised in the 2024 fixture thread, but likely in need of its own space eventually, if not already. ICYMI...

AFL and AFLW Collective Bargaining Agreement 2023–2027:

Schedule 5B – AFLW Player and List Management

1. AFLW Season Structure​

1.3 2025, 2026 and 2027 AFLW Seasons​

(a) ... the 2025, 2026 and 2027 AFLW Seasons will consist of a minimum of twelve (12) AFLW Premiership Season Matches for each AFLW Team and a four (4) week AFLW Finals Series.​

12 May 2024, News Corp:

The AFL and NT Government have begun talks of hosting an AFLW Gather Round in Darwin in future years...

The Sunday Territorian understands both stakeholders are in the early stages of planning a potential Gather Round for Darwin to host across four grounds.

TIO Stadium would be the main stadium used with options to play games at Cazalys Arena in Palmerston and potentially even the smaller boutique Gardens Oval situated just outside the CBD. TIO Stadium Oval 2 would also be considered as an option.

17 July 2024, News Corp:

A far North Queensland city has made a bold bid to the AFL to host the inaugural AFLW Gather Round.

Cairns Council and AFL Cairns have launched the ambitious bid after landing the Hawthorn AFLW side on a three-year deal in June and now wants to continue to expand the game in the region.

The round could see four games played at Cazalys Stadium, two games in Port Douglas and one game each at suburban grounds. Cazalys Stadium has hosted an AFL game between 2011-2022, except in 2019. The region hosted its first AFLW game in 2023.

In summary:
The AFL have to add at least one more round next year, and they're looking for a council/government to pay for it.

If they can strike a really good deal, perhaps it'll even fund a 13th round which would make it worthwhile imo (as everybody would then get 6 home, 6 away, and 1 GR game).

Both Darwin and Cairns proposals sound dreadful (particularly for the players), let's be honest, but I wouldn't object to either without being privy to the commercial terms of such an arrangement.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Marvel Stadium would be the best option if there's not going to be a 13th round, since it'd be the only way to retain something vaguely resembling 6 home and 6 away games per team (by making each GR game a Melbourne team vs Geelong/non-Vic team).

Plus you don't actually need multiple grounds for AFLW Gather Round, as the matches are Rugby League length. The fixture could simply be something like:

Fri 6.05pm: Rich v Syd
Fri 8.20pm: Coll v Adel
Sat 12.35pm: Melb v GC
Sat 2.50pm: Carl v Frem
Sat 5.05pm: WB v WCE
Sat 7.20pm: StK v Geel
Sun 12.05pm: Haw v GWS
Sun 2.20pm: NM v BL
Sun 4.35pm: Ess v PA

We all know the other benefits of having a whole round of women's footy at a proper stadium, so I won't get into that. And anyway, the AFL would actually go for this if the Vic govt wanted it badly enough (which I'd say is a 0.1% possibility).

 

[Teen Wolf]

Arguably Sydney "deserves" to host it, and the AFL would love the promotion (I guess there's also a 0.1% chance that the final decision won't be entirely dictated by money).

It would be ok in Adelaide too but my initial thought about that is... if Mr Malinauskas cared about AFLW, he would've found a way to add it to the contracts signed ~15 months ago.

Darwin, Cairns, Canberra, Regional Vic etc: don't seem like good options to me, assuming they all involve 2nd/3rd/4th grounds with substandard facilities.

I didn't add Perth to the poll because of timezones, even though it could be said the AFL should be doing more to help inject life into WA women's footy and this would be a good start.

SE Qld and Tasmania: Maybe it could be done across Brisbane/Gold Coast or Hobart/Launceston, but that'd require more dealings with either of those state's governments, and Andrew Dillon would rather stick pins in his eyes I'm sure.

 

[Teen Wolf]

I put North Sydney Oval and Henson Park as the option for Sydney in the poll, but it might be better to just use one to start with (hard to know if two venues isn't going to cannibalise each other).

That one venue would have to be NSO, since it has proper lights and also a 2nd oval within ~100 metres, on which players can warm up and therefore minimise time between matches.

From the perspective of maximising attendance: The best fixture for a Sydney AFLW Gather Round is probably to put the Swans on Friday night, and the Giants on Sunday. Then put the 6 biggest Vic clubs on Saturday, and also promote both NSW clubs (men's and women's teams) will be there signing autographs and running clinics etc.

Here's what my team have come up with:

 

[Teen Wolf]

No concrete information about this yet, but obviously talk popped up during the week about doing it in Melbourne leading up to the men's Grand Final.

Cast your vote if you haven't already!

 

[Canberra Pear]

Obviously biased, but I think Canberra would be perfect for AFLW Gather Round.

We're pretty much the only city within road trip territory of both Melbourne (seven hours) and Sydney (three hours).

Manuka is a great size for it (15k). Manuka is also in a great area of Canberra. Would put on a real festival atmosphere, lots of pubs and restaurants. We also have several grounds that could play other games. I think Queanbeyan, Gungahlin, Phillip or Ainslie, would all be capable of hosting a game. Queanbeyan would make it a two-state event.

Canberra is a progressive city and gets behind women's sports. We already have most of the Giants' largest home crowds and we have women's teams without men's counterparts in basketball and soccer. We're also a city made for school visits, so plenty of alternate entertainment options for kids.

We're more or less a neutral ground as well. We host Giants games, but fandom is spread across all the teams. Every team would get support.

 

[Aristarchus]

My vote is Sydney based on merit, ideally a gather round involves more than one stadium imo. A Vic event at just Marvel makes some sense but is just at one ground and honestly hosting spreading it across Melb/Vic is just a normal footy week. So Sydney first preference at 2 or more grounds, then probably Perth/WA, then Adelaide.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

They effectively had it 2 years ago, and the interstate sides had a sook about it

 

[Canberra Pear]

My vote is Sydney based on merit, ideally a gather round involves more than one stadium imo. A Vic event at just Marvel makes some sense but is just at one ground and honestly hosting spreading it across Melb/Vic is just a normal footy week. So Sydney first preference at 2 or more grounds, then probably Perth/WA, then Adelaide.

Gather Round has to be somewhere it's easy and cheap to get to. Especially for the W.

No chance it's WA this early on.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Cats put hand up for AFLW Gather Round

Geelong has put its hand up to host an AFLW Gather Round if the concept is adopted in the women’s season. CEO Steve Hocking has revealed the plan to have the competition’s 18 clubs in the state’s…

www.krock.com.au

Putting a hand up is one thing... but it's not quite the same as putting money up, which is ultimately what it will require.

Mention of possibly involving Ballarat also seems fanciful, considering the Bulldogs just signed a new deal for 2 AFL games and 1 AFLW game per year, across 2025-2027.

 

[Canberra Pear]

Cats put hand up for AFLW Gather Round

Geelong has put its hand up to host an AFLW Gather Round if the concept is adopted in the women’s season. CEO Steve Hocking has revealed the plan to have the competition’s 18 clubs in the state’s…

www.krock.com.au

Putting a hand up is one thing... but it's not quite the same as putting money up, which is ultimately what it will require.

Mention of possibly involving Ballarat also seems fanciful, considering the Bulldogs just signed a new deal for 2 AFL games and 1 AFLW game per year, across 2025-2027.

It's better than Melbourne, but I really hope it's not a Victorian host.

10/18 teams, the men's grand final, some idiots are pushing for the AFLW grand final to be permanently at Marvel. Victoria has enough.

Gather Round should be used as a tool to share more footy around the country, not give Victoria more content.

 

[Teen Wolf]

It's better than Melbourne, but I really hope it's not a Victorian host.

10/18 teams, the men's grand final, some idiots are pushing for the AFLW grand final to be permanently at Marvel. Victoria has enough.

Gather Round should be used as a tool to share more footy around the country, not give Victoria more content.

Sounds like you're kneejerking there. Having it in Melbourne wouldn't necessarily mean more content for Victoria.

The fairest way of doing a Gather Round in a 12-round season (which is the confirmed length for next year) would actually be to have the 9 Melbourne teams play at Marvel against the 9 non-Melbourne teams. That way everybody retains 6 home and 6 away games in reasonably legit fashion.

 

[Canberra Pear]

Sounds like you're kneejerking there. Having it in Melbourne wouldn't necessarily mean more content for Victoria.


The fairest way of doing a Gather Round in a 12-round season (which is the confirmed length for next year) would actually be to have the 9 Melbourne teams play at Marvel against the 9 non-Melbourne teams. That way everybody retains 6 home and 6 away games in reasonably legit fashion.

That's barely different from just a regular round. Most AFLW rounds already have five games. One round in 2023 had seven games.

Other than playing them at the one stadium, it doesn't add much more than the status quo.

I'd still go, but I'd be disappointed. Feels like a lazy option.

 

[Teen Wolf]

That's barely different from just a regular round. Most AFLW rounds already have five games. One round in 2023 had seven games.

Other than playing them at the one stadium, it doesn't add much more than the status quo.

I'd still go, but I'd be disappointed. Feels like a lazy option.

It would mean an entire round of games untarnished by bad weather (and sink holes) at a venue with world class spectator facilities. By no means trivial additions to the typical AFLW product.

 

[Dirty Bird]

Melbourne on Mens Grand Final weekend.
The support of the womens league isn't really enough to justify it anywhere else.
And I'd rather play them all in Melbourne with fans already converging there, rather than some fans maybe having to choose between the two. I'm sure there's some diehard Brisbane fans who were unable to get home in time to watch their team play Adelaide earlier this year

So
9 Melbourne teams vs 9 non-Melbourne teams

Thursday Night - Marvel Stadium double header
Friday Night - Marvel Stadium double header
Saturday Night - Princes Park standalone
Sunday Early - Princes Park double header
Sunday Evening - Marvel Stadium double header.

 

[Canberra Pear]

It would mean an entire round of games untarnished by bad weather (and sink holes) at a venue with world class spectator facilities. By no means trivial additions to the typical AFLW product.

There's ~90 games a season they could use Marvel for and don't. Plenty of opportunities to have the game untarnished by weather. A bit of a cop out to pull that card out now just for a Gather Round.

There's also world-class spectator facilities in most major cities.

 

[Teen Wolf]

There's ~90 games a season they could use Marvel for and don't. Plenty of opportunities to have the game untarnished by weather.

That has no bearing on whether it would actually be a good venue for Gather Round.

There's also world-class spectator facilities in most major cities.

And if GR is held in any of them but Melbourne, in a 12-round season, some teams will end up with 7 home games while others get as few as 5. Maybe you think that's fine, but it's not reasonable imo.

 

[Canberra Pear]

And if GR is held in any of them but Melbourne, in a 12-round season, some teams will end up with 7 home games while others get as few as 5. Maybe you think that's fine, but it's not reasonable imo.

Then what happens when the season expands to 13 rounds?

 

[Teen Wolf]

Then what happens when the season expands to 13 rounds?

I guess one of three things:

• No GR held whatsoever, resulting in 7 home games for some teams and 6 for others.
• GR in one of the major markets, resulting in 7 home games for some teams and 6 for others.
• GR in another location, resulting in 6 home games and 6 away games and 1 neutral game for all teams.

 

[Canberra Pear]

I guess one of three things:

• No GR held whatsoever, resulting in 7 home games for some teams and 6 for others.
• GR in one of the major markets, resulting in 7 home games for some teams and 6 for others.
• GR in another location, resulting in 6 home games and 6 away games and 1 neutral game for all teams.

And the first two are unacceptable with an uneven number of home games, right?

One of the main points of Gather Round is to bring more footy somewhere. Playing it in Melbourne doesn't do that. We don't have to have Gather Round for the sake of having a Gather Round. It doesn't take a Gather Round to have double headers at Marvel.

 

[Teen Wolf]

And the first two are unacceptable with an uneven number of home games, right?

One of the main points of Gather Round is to bring more footy somewhere. Playing it in Melbourne doesn't do that. We don't have to have Gather Round for the sake of having a Gather Round. It doesn't take a Gather Round to have double headers at Marvel.

...it's about making more money.

Ideally it isn't done in a way that dramatically reduces competition fairness. For an 18-team competition, 13 rounds where some teams play 7 home and others play 6 home games is arguably fairer than 12 rounds where every team plays 6 home and 6 away.

 

[Canberra Pear]

...it's about making more money.

Ideally it isn't done in a way that dramatically reduces competition fairness. For an 18-team competition, 13 rounds where some teams play 7 home and others play 6 home games is arguably fairer than 12 rounds where every team plays 6 home and 6 away.

If you want fairness, put it in Canberra.

It's technically a Giants home ground, but barely. Pretty much the closest you'll get to neutral territory that's still big enough to host it.

Some clubs would have similar levels of support as GWS in Canberra. Heck, I know more Freo supporters than Giants here. Because everybody, or their families, are from interstate, it's probably the closest you'll get to a even spread of supporters in one city.

Manuka is fantastic for it. 15k-capacity will be pumping all weekend. In a great district with pubs and restaurants, too.

We have a few secondary grounds that could support smaller games, too. Ainslie, Gungahlin, Phillip, even Queanbeyan if you wanted to make it over two states. You could play the Giants at one of those grounds so they won't have familiarity.

We're also as central as you can get (for the east coast). Seven hours' drive from Melbourne, three hours' drive from Sydney. Would be a lot of road-trippers.

Canberra makes way more sense than putting it somewhere that already gets ~90 games a season.