THE AFL placed a greater focus on creating more big games in 2010 but says the fixture’s integrity hasn’t been compromised in the process.

The League officially released the 2010 Toyota AFL Premiership Season fixture on Friday, with the draw highlighted by the number of blockbuster matches - largely featuring Victorian-based clubs.

While the South Australian showdowns and Western Australian derbies will again be played twice, the AFL will attempt to capitalise on the strength of Victorian football by scheduling several double-up clashes between a number of the state’s heavyweights.

Clubs such as Carlton, Geelong, Essendon and Collingwood will all meet each other twice in 2010.

Speaking at Friday’s fixture release, AFL chief operating officer Gillon McLachlan acknowledged the League had this year been more willing to schedule blockbuster matches. 

“You never know who’s going to be up and down,” he said. “Who would have predicted Hawthorn wouldn’t have made the top eight [this year]?

“So, by being incredibly strict around the rules about creating football fairness, I believe we’ve missed some opportunities [in the past] to actually create some big games and big fixtures.

“So I think this year, while not walking away from having football fairness, we’ve worked very hard on creating some big games and these big fixtures that our fans and our supporters love.”

A quick glimpse at Essendon and Collingwood’s fixture gives an indication of the expected blockbusters to come in 2010, with the traditionally high-drawing clubs both set to host several big matches at the MCG.

Carlton and Hawthorn will play 19 matches between them at the MCG, many of them in primetime slots, while reigning premiers Geelong will also play seven matches at the home of football.

McLachlan said clubs hadn’t complained about the AFL’s increased focus on creating more marquee match-ups.

“I haven’t heard any issues around the shift in priority,” he said. “I haven’t heard anything from the clubs around a lack of football fairness … the concerns or the feedback are always around commercial issues - who they’re playing in terms of their ability to draw crowds and at what venues they’re playing.”

The League executive said working to achieve an equitable draw across 22 rounds was always a challenge but the AFL was confident it had produced a fixture to please all its stakeholders.

“The fixture cannot be fully even when sides do not play each other twice but it is our aim for all clubs to start the season with the best opportunity to qualify to reach the finals,” McLachlan said.
 
“The software programming we use enables us to deliver an outstanding result in terms of an equitable football draw - across the travel load for clubs, breaks between games, match-ups between finalists and non-finalists from the 2009 year and the mix of home and away games in different slots - while marrying that with the AFL's key goals of maximising our attendances at games and on television.”