trimster wrote:

QUOTE:
why don't they just organise a normal league competition, where each team plays every other team home and away over the course of a season?

In fairness to the AFL (did I just say that?), a 30 game season would be too long especially as you couldn't possibly ditch the finals series in a competition without promotion, relegation or Champions League places at stake. The problem is the way the 7 fixtures are allocated after the 15 games where everybody plays everybody else once.

Take Collingwood, for example. It's written into the draw that they must play Essendon, Carlton and Richmond twice each season to maintain "tradition." Collingwood also get Anzac Day, the Queen's Birthday and, during the split round, a game against Sydney at ANZ Stadium which stands alone on a Saturday night. Collingwood do not have to play at Geelong because of the restriction that would place on the attendance (the same applies to Essendon, Carlton and, surprisingly, St Kilda but not Richmond). Collingwood will never play in Darwin, Launceston, the Gold Coast or Canberra for the same reason. In fact, they hardly ever leave Melbourne. This year, they have 18 fixtures in Melbourne, 16 of them at the MCG!

Every year, when the draw comes out, everyone complains about Collingwood's fixtures and, every year, the AFL say the same thing. Each club is asked to submit a wish list prior to the draw and, every year, 15 clubs put the same thing on their wish list – 2 games against Collingwood.

While Collingwood get treated as a special case, North Melbourne, the Western Bulldogs, Melbourne and Hawthorn are prostituting themselves all over Australia to make ends meet. Both Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs have actually "sold" home games in recent years because they can make more money playing away.