SOME questions related to the closing round of the 2024 AFL home-and-away series are expected to be answered this week... some will linger until the end of the month... some will never be explained.
Round 24 is a "floating fixture" - match-ups were determined when the program was released late last year, as were the venues but not the timeslots. These blanks are expected to be filled in at AFL House this week.
Port Adelaide is on the road to Fremantle at Perth Stadium - away from Adelaide Oval for the home-and-away closer for the first time since 2021 (when it won that epic top-four decider with the Western Bulldogs at the Docklands in Melbourne). History is repeating.
No game at Adelaide Oval in round 24 is a mystery considering the basic AFL mantra of having at least one national league match in the capital city of every mainland State each weekend of the marathon home-and-away series.
Even the continuing relevance of the "floating fixture" is questionable considering there is a week off after the qualifiers. This bye was introduced in 2016 after Fremantle coach Ross Lyon, with nothing to gain in terms of top-eight rankings, created his own "week off" by resting 11 players from the 2015 home-and-away season closer against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval (where Fremantle inevitably lost by 69 points but then won its qualifying final at home against Sydney by nine points).
Of course, keeping open the finer details of the last home-and-away series does allow the AFL to serve its official broadcasters, in particular television partners Seven and Fox, with a dramatic script from Friday night to Sunday twilight. The "live ladder" becomes the star of the three-day show.
Fans do often ask why can't the AFL put all nine matches on at the same time, as the English Premier League does with its 10 games all being played simultaneously on the 38th and final week of its championship schedule?
In an era of multiple digital channels on television - that have become a blessing while trying to watch multiple events from the Paris Olympic Games - there is not the limitations of the past when Seven had just one outlet on the small screen in the family lounge room.
But would there be enough camera crews, commentators, production staff - and venues - to cope with the demands of a "Super Saturday" for the final round of the home-and-away series? The drama from venue to venue, supporter base to supporter base and scoreboard to scoreboard would - as noted in the Premier League - deliver some extreme emotions and gripping images, on and off the field.
Then there is the question of the nine ideal match-ups during the home-and-away series closer. The week off before finals has diminished the concern about travelling - as Port Adelaide will in round 24 with the long-haul crossing of the Nullarbor Plain.
Should the home-and-away series close with derbies - as Port Adelaide had with Showdowns in 2004 (won), 2003 (won) and 2000 (won)? Port Adelaide would then always finish a home-and-away season at "The Portress" and Adelaide Oval would be assured of the meaningful game it has been denied this season.
The South Australian clubs did ultimately petition the AFL to avoid Showdowns in the closing round arguing the derby, regardless of the suggestion it is "finals like", was more damaging than helpful in preparing for the sprint in September ... In return, the AFL has substituted the derby closer with more than a fair share of trips to Perth to play West Coast or Fremantle.
And reality - from a competition historically loaded with 10 teams in Victoria - prevents five derbies in Melbourne and Geelong all played simultaneously on a "Super Saturday" when there are just three AFL venues: Kardinia Park at Geelong, the MCG and the Docklands in Melbourne.
Solve one problem, create another .... and another. Tasmania's impending entry as the 19th team in 2028 creates the bye and the need to avoid the double-bye: in the last round and before the finals. It must be fun for the creative minds in the planning rooms at AFL House in Melbourne.
The biggest question of all today is what will it take to make the cut from 18 starters to the eight who are invited to play AFL finals in September? A month ago the "magic number" appeared to be at least 13 wins. Now it seems the qualification mark is 14 wins, 56 premiership points - and a healthy percentage, at least 108 percentage points this year.
After leading the league for much of the season, Sydney is no longer guaranteed a finals berth even with its current tally of 14 wins. As Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley noted on Saturday night, each week a win can make the difference to finishing the round in or out of the top eight.
The first AFL top-eight series - with 15 teams - in 1994 demanded at least 12 wins from 22 home-and-away games with Melbourne and Collingwood tipping Richmond out by percentage.
But now there are 23 home-and-away games with the introduction of Gather Round in Adelaide last year when the "magic number" was 50 premiership points - 12 wins and a draw - for eighth-ranked Sydney.
The ladder predictor has become, at the same time, the most useful and most frustrating device introduced in the AFL. Determining as a Nostradamus the remaining 27 winners of the home-and-away series is one thing. Sorting out the margins - to get the percentages that will settle rankings and the rights to home finals - is another challenge that equate to the question of "how long is a piece of string?"
Floating fixture, good or bad or even necessary anymore? Week off before finals? Nine simultaneous games for a dramatic finish to the preliminaries? Derbies to closer the qualifiers? Wild cards to fill-in the pre-finals bye - that does blunt momentum to the major round - to avoid percentage being the decisive factor in settling the finalists?
So many questions.... and the answers can be as difficult to find as working the ladder predictor.
