I’m expecting the AFL in the coming days to release their fixture for the 2020 season. There are certain things that are already a given – Port Adelaide and St. Kilda playing in China again, Richmond and Carlton will open the season as they have done over the past decade and all the marquee games will be back again.
We haven’t heard anything from the Western Bulldogs yet, but we’ll most likely get some answers by the end of the week. Until then, here’s what I am hoping to see the Bulldogs get next year. Whilst it’ll be more likely than not that more than half of what I am about to write won't be approved of by the AFL, a man can dream can't he?
Good Friday Football
This has been a constant bug bear the past two years, so let’s get this out of the way first.
I want to see the Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne on the Good Friday stage once again. They played out a thriller in the first game two years ago, but since then, the Dogs have been replaced by opposition that have made the following games largely unexciting. St. Kilda were pathetic when they were given it in 2018 and Essendon tore the Roos to shreds in the game this year. I will say in defence of the Bombers though, they were given it to combat their Anzac Day game, which was on the following Thursday.
There won’t be such issues next year as the Easter weekend falls between the 10th-12th of April. There really shouldn’t be any excuses next year as to why the Bulldogs can’t get it. They finished inside the top eight and played some exciting football in the back-end of the home and away season and I’d wager they will get better next year. North have shown some promise, and history between the two sides across the past five years will dictate that they have had an entertaining rivalry.
To say that I want this is probably an understatement. I can only speak for myself when I say this, but I think both Dogs and North supporters need Good Friday footy. I have been beating this case like a dead horse over the past two years - we've seen some really good contests between the twoover the past five years or so, quite a few of them have been decided by less than a kick - including the first Good Friday game. Make it happen AFL.
The Season Opener
I’ve given this a bit of thought. Who’d be a good opponent to open the season against? Assume Carlton and Richmond kick the season off and it’s already been reported that St. Kilda and North Melbourne will also match-up in the opening round, so that rubs out four of the 17 teams.
Sydney this year at Docklands was a good contest – they seem to have consistently good matches with the Swans – perhaps the only one game in the past five seasons that they’ve had where it turned to a real manure-fest was in 2017 where the wheels for the Bulldogs started falling off completely. I wouldn’t mind seeing them at the SCG this year to start off the season for the two teams.
I like the idea of playing Collingwood on a Friday night again. These two teams played each other twice this year and both occasions have been tight affairs – 14 points in round four and nine points in round 14. They played on the Friday night stage in round one a couple of years ago in what was again, a pretty close contest, with 14 points separating the two sides by full-time. We got just under 60,000 at the MCG this year when they met. I can see over 65,000+ at the MCG on Friday night to kick the season off.
One last idea I’ll toss up here – a meeting against GWS at Marvel Stadium? I could, perhaps, 90 percent guarantee that it will be as fiery of an encounter as it was in the Elimination Final. I don’t think the Bulldogs will forget about how they were bullied and if they’re as good a side as they believe they are, they’ll give it to the Giants just as badly next year. It probably won’t be a sell-out crowd, but a healthy crowd of between 35-40,000 would be apt to see two sides resume what has been a bloody good rivalry over the past five years.
Friday Night Footy
This year, the Western Bulldogs were only given just the one game on the primetime Friday night slot, and that was against Collingwood in round four. It was probably fair enough considering that 2018 was an unmitigated disaster of a season. The fixture used to favour all the big-name clubs, regardless of position. Now it gives any given club the number of primetime games, based on how the team performed the previous year.
Basing it on when the Bulldogs finished sixth in 2015 and were knocked out of the first week of the Finals, they were handed three Friday night games in 2016 and they were scattered through the season. I think between three and four Friday games would be fair. I’d be happy for just three games on primetime. You’d assume they will be against the bigger clubs – let’s say we get the round one game against Collingwood on a Friday night at the MCG, which is of course, a Collingwood home game.
Who else? They’ve had Friday night games against Geelong across the past four years. It wouldn’t shock me if they got them in Geelong for a Friday night - yawn. Let’s be a bit more innovative. There’ll be an interstate game in here somewhere, I want to see it against Brisbane at the Gabba on a Friday night – a match-up against two teams that have incredibly bright futures within the competition. Who wouldn’t want to see that?
So we’ll need a home game. It’s probably going to be against a top-tier Victorian team, because I can’t see the Dogs playing an interstate side on a Friday night just yet. Let’s say Richmond, because I haven’t seen these two sides square off on a Friday night for a while, and given how well the Dogs match up with the Tigers, I’d say that these two teams could pull off a classic in front of what probably will be a full-capacity crowd at Marvel Stadium.
The Double-Ups
They say it’s the double ups that determine the difficulty of a team’s schedule. These days, teams are give specific ‘double-up’ matches, which are based on where each side finishes on the ladder. For those that aren’t sure how it works, teams play each other once and then will play another five teams again. The ladder gets broken into three groups of six – the teams that finish in the top six will get the harder draws, meaning they will play other teams in the top six twice and will play one team in the bottom once. Vice versa if you finish in the bottom six – they’ll get the easier draws, playing two other bottom six teams and one top six team.
It’s going to be hard to decipher who the Dogs will play twice. As they finished seventh, they may narrowly miss out on getting to play two of the top six twice. But looking at who finished in the top six, I can probably see them playing the Giants twice to try and milk the rivalry or Collingwood to exploit the attendances. From the middle six, I expect to see them play three teams twice. They’ll play one of the two South Australian teams twice for sure, hopefully it’ll be Adelaide, as they’re tipped for a big downfall in 2020. Based on recent history, I would also like to see the Dogs play the North Melbourne twice and I’d like to see them play Hawthorn twice – they haven’t doubled up on the Hawks since 2011.
Whoever the Dogs play out of the bottom six will be anyone’s guess. It’s easy to want to play someone like the Gold Coast twice, but I personally can’t see that happening. St. Kilda will probably be the toughest of the lot, so if the Bulldogs want to be serious in 2020, I’d like to see them play the Saints twice. Otherwise I’d be happy with one of Melbourne, Carlton or Sydney – all three have provided tough challenges this year.