AFL boss Andrew Dillon blames 2025 blowouts on injury lists
But with the impending entry of a 19th team in Tasmania, the league chief executive said the view on fixturing would continue to 'evolve' with a focus on trying to avoid double-ups between inferior teams.
While there were five matches decided by under 10 points in round 22, it was an outlier in an otherwise one-sided season.
The previous week there were three matches with winning margins in excess of 80 points from the nine games and two 90-point margins the week before.
Port Adelaide lost by a combined 186 points in rounds 21 and 22.
The fight for finals also ended early and only one team outside the top eight remains a chance to break in by the final round.
It has left a large number of no-meaning matches across the final two rounds, with three games between non-finalists in round 23 alone.
The ongoing need to fixture two derbies in Perth, showdowns in Adelaide, Q-clashes in Queensland and clashes between Sydney and GWS remains a hurdle in a more balanced fixture.
Dillon said it was hard to predict which teams would rise and fall, and Essendon's unprecedented injury battles in 2025 had unavoidable impacts on games.
But Dillon said fixturing needed to be addressed as a potential way to balance out the competition going forward.
'It's nice to have nine trying to get into eight, but it would be better if it was 14/15 teams trying to get into finals,' he said.
'What you also have this year is three or four teams that weren't top eight last year like Adelaide and Gold Coast. As things move, it is difficult to predict.
'I'm finding it hard to predict what happens this weekend let alone trying to do it in October for next year.
'We need to continue to evolve. Whether that's having a formula to remove subjectivity, we will continue to assess. We have an opportunity in a couple of years with Tassie coming in to have a look at how the fixture is set and how the season runs.
'Our sport has stood the test of time. You want to evolve but you don't have to revolutionise at the same time.
'There is reasons for that. If you study injury lists, there is almost a direct correlation to where you are on the ladder. It's not where we want to be.
'We want a competition where you go to the game each week and you think you're a chance. We have had too many games this year that it wasn't the case.'
Dillon also confirmed that players were 'all in' on a potential return for State of Origin next February.
'Absolutely (players are all in). as we saw with the All Stars game, it works when the players are all in. When the players are all in, then clubs are in and fans buy in,' he told SEN.
'Conversations I have had with the players they are all in. Then we work out how often we play it and when you play it. The first part is to get it going again.
'The clubs understand we have to continue to evolve as a competition. Some traditional thinking has to be modified but not to the detriment of home-and-away season and finals.'
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