Winners and losers from the 2023 AFL fixture

We’ve had a look at the difficulty of each club’s fixture heading into 2023.

STAFF WRITERS | December 11, 2022 - 11:46am

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The AFL fixture for 2023 has officially been released with fans now scouring over the pages to assess their club's schedule for next season.

As always, there are some winners and losers, and with a new look fixture that sees the introduction of a South Australian based 'Gather Round' there is plenty to take a look at.

Winners

Carlton seem like big winners both on field and off, with the Blues handed plenty of financially beneficial prime time matches. The Blues feature heavily on Thursday and Friday matches and play GWS, St Kilda, West Coast, Collingwood, Melbourne and Gold Coast twice.

St Kilda also seem to be winners, playing Gold Coast, Carlton, North Melbourne, Richmond, Hawthorn and Brisbane twice, only two of whom made finals in 2022. The Saints' run home though, featuring games against Carlton, Richmond, Geelong and Brisbane is a worrying sight for St Kilda fans.

Adelaide also have emerged as winners, scheduled to play five games at Adelaide Oval in the first seven rounds, though three of those come against 2022 finalists.

Losers

Port Adelaide's opening month of the season features four 2022 finalists, while they play Adelaide, Collingwood, Essendon, Geelong, Richmond and Western Bulldogs twice. The Power have been given four prime time Thursday or Friday night games, three of these coming against Melbourne, Geelong and the Western Bulldogs.

The Lions have been bolstered by some off-season moves, but are facing a tough draw in 2023. Brisbane face Melbourne, Collingwood, Fremantle, Gold Coast, Adelaide and St Kilda twice, while also only playing two home games in the opening six weeks of the season.

Draw difficulty

The top finishing team from the 2022 season (Geelong) is assigned 18 points. Moving down the table, each team is then assigned one less point with the team that finished last worth 1 point.

Each teams matchups for the season are then combined, with the opponents points tallied. The tally shows which team has the most difficult draw based on how well teams performed last year.

Port Adelaide 228

Sydney 226

Brisbane 225

Fremantle 223

Richmond 222

Western Bulldogs 221

Geelong 221

Hawthorn 220

GWS Giants 220

Gold Coast 218

North Melbourne 215

West Coast 215