The 2027 AFL fixture is under scrutiny after the Herald Sun published a club-by-club rating of the draw, arguing that some teams were given a kinder run than others. According to the Herald Sun, the draw produced clear losers while the competition's favoured clubs were "looked after again."
The rating appeared alongside separate fixture analyses from other outlets. The AFL's own website published a ranking of every club's fixture difficulty from 1 to 18, while the Sydney Morning Herald described the fixture as being like a lottery and identified its biggest winners and losers.
Club-level announcements have also begun to emerge from the draw. The Sydney Swans said they are set for Friday night fixtures in 2027, and Fremantle confirmed prime-time slots for the same season, according to their respective club websites.
The debate centres on how evenly the league's marquee slots and travel demands are shared among the 18 clubs. The Herald Sun's assessment frames the outcome as uneven, though the full detail of its club-by-club ratings was not available in the material reviewed.
Fixture fairness is a recurring talking point each time the league releases its schedule, with clubs and supporters often measuring their own draw against rivals'. The release of multiple rankings within days of each other suggests the debate will continue through the pre-season.
What to watch next: how the league and clubs respond to the fixture criticism, and whether the prime-time allocations for Sydney and Fremantle are matched by similar treatment for the clubs the Herald Sun identified as losers.
