I'm sick of people in here whingeing that the draw is rigged and Collingwood travel less than other sides... this is blatantly untrue.
Let's look at some FACTS here.
Firstly, for the Interstate clubs:
All six of the interstate clubs travel 10 times. Can't do much about this, it's the way it works out when there are 10 Victorians and 6 non-Victorians in a 16 team comp, with each team playing 11 "home" and 11 "away" games. Fact of life. Get over it.
Now, looking at the Victorian clubs:
Several clubs CHOOSE TO SELL "home" games interstate for financial incentive. You can't have it both ways and complain about travelling too much when you willingly sell off your home games. This is not unfair AFL scheduling.
Here is the breakdown of "away" interstate games each of the Victorian clubs play in 2004:
Hawthorn 3
Collingwood 4
Essendon 4
St Kilda 4
Carlton 5
Geelong 5
Melbourne 5
Richmond 5
Western Bulldogs 5
Looks pretty even to me, all teams travelling either 4 or 5 times ... the Hawks are the lucky ones with only 3 interstate trips. But how can all these other clubs accuse Collingwood of never travelling when they travel one game less than five Victorian clubs, the equal amount with two other Vic clubs, and one game more than one Vic club?
The draw isn't completely random I'll admit, but as to the travel aspect, I cannot fathom why so many people are claiming Collingwood have a much easier run than other clubs. This is simply not the case.
Let's look at some FACTS here.
Firstly, for the Interstate clubs:
All six of the interstate clubs travel 10 times. Can't do much about this, it's the way it works out when there are 10 Victorians and 6 non-Victorians in a 16 team comp, with each team playing 11 "home" and 11 "away" games. Fact of life. Get over it.
Now, looking at the Victorian clubs:
Several clubs CHOOSE TO SELL "home" games interstate for financial incentive. You can't have it both ways and complain about travelling too much when you willingly sell off your home games. This is not unfair AFL scheduling.
Here is the breakdown of "away" interstate games each of the Victorian clubs play in 2004:
Hawthorn 3
Collingwood 4
Essendon 4
St Kilda 4
Carlton 5
Geelong 5
Melbourne 5
Richmond 5
Western Bulldogs 5
Looks pretty even to me, all teams travelling either 4 or 5 times ... the Hawks are the lucky ones with only 3 interstate trips. But how can all these other clubs accuse Collingwood of never travelling when they travel one game less than five Victorian clubs, the equal amount with two other Vic clubs, and one game more than one Vic club?
The draw isn't completely random I'll admit, but as to the travel aspect, I cannot fathom why so many people are claiming Collingwood have a much easier run than other clubs. This is simply not the case.