Forget 'Opening Round', the first clash of season 2024 is between ...

17 Nov 2023

Truth be told, each season’s AFL fixture for the league’s 18 clubs is simply a list of games, with a nominated opponent, a start time and a venue to play at.

AFL fixture 2024 - Figure 1
Photo The Age

Pretty straight up-and-down, yes? Nothing too complicated? Well, try telling that to the clubs. As soon as the 2024 draw was released by the carrier-pigeons at AFL House on Thursday afternoon, it seemed a gauntlet had been thrown down to the social media teams at each of the 18 clubs. The challenge they eagerly accepted was the task of making the fixture as sexy and interesting as possible.

Some of the footage from the video released by Melbourne FC to mark the release of the 2024 fixture.Credit: Melbourne FC

It was shades of what’s done at the NFL, where our friends in the United States got their juices going when their new schedule was unveiled in May.

Here are what the clubs came up with:

Adelaide Crows

Time to tap into Taylor Swift. With the catchy Blank Space tune from the global music superstar playing in the background, club skipper Jordan Dawson, in animated form, points out the fixture highlights for the Crows – not beyond round 16, of course, because the fixture is presently “floating” from that point onwards, meaning only the barest of details are as yet confirmed.

Handy work by the Crows here.

Brisbane Lions

This year’s grand finalists teased their fans ahead of the fixture release time with some simple tweets – such as “ready for something a bit cheesy?“. Hours earlier, they posted a photo of a sumptuous-looking cheese board, accompanied by the words “the taste of 2024 dropping soon”. So, low and behold, when the club pressed send on their fixture details it was cast as a full guide to the season “on a platter”. Their video outlining their matches was the slow build of a cheese board, starting with some berries for the first match against Carlton. “Expect a berry good contest,” they punned.

Yes, that’s cheesy. But nice work.

Carlton

The Bluebaggers sold it as a “fixture reveal party”. In their catchy video (below), the cake is cut for the round one game against Richmond. But make sure you stay with the vid’ at least until the round seven game against Geelong for some early sniping between the clubs and an activity reserved for kids’ parties. A food theme runs through it, with party pies getting a run for the Collingwood clash and another cheeseboard for the game against, ahem, Melbourne.

Collingwood

You can do what you want when you’re the reigning premiers. Collingwood tapped into their sponsors – or certainly a potential sponsor – by publishing the fixture as if it was an Ikea catalogue. Cult figure Brayden Maynard features on the cover.

They had a simple and easy way to deliver the message for 2024: “New season, same great products.”

Essendon

They were a tad more understated at Bomberland. Given the way the club fell away late in this year’s home-and-away season, maybe the focus is simply on pre-season training. There’s a terrific graphical representation of the club’s opponents from round one (yes, the real round one) up until round 24.

Fremantle

The Fremantle staff, like other clubs, have had a busy week. The Dockers tapped into their supporters for some rapid-fire reactions about their round-by-round opponents. We’re not sure what to make of one fan’s comment about the round three clash against Adelaide at Optus Stadium. “Not Victorian,” the man said.

Geelong

Time for an episode of Cats Idol at the Cattery. The club got busy tracking down some of their much-younger supporters to have a crack at the theme song of each opponent. Geelong may want to hope that none of those young fans actually get swayed to follow another team.

Gold Coast

The handiwork from the AFL’s outfit in south-eastern Queensland doesn’t make for good viewing for those league types who are banking on Australian football taking off on the Gold Coast. The Suns took to the streets for some vox-popping to check in on the level of footy knowledge. Put it this way, there’s some room to grow.

To their credit, Gold Coast had no problem owning up to the fact that they’d borrowed the idea from an NFL team.

Greater Western Sydney Giants

The AFL’s other expansion club are gaining a bit of a following for their social media exploits. I don’t even need to mention the Big, Big Sound. The product to showcase the club’s 2024 fixture comes in poem form. Player Cooper Hamilton sits in a chair and goes through the opponents round-by-round. This took a bit of work and preparation. Make sure you watch until the end.

Hawthorn

Some creative flair here. The club convinced a couple of players to play charades as a way of identifying an opponent and then matching that to a specific round. It’s a nice reveal. But notice what footage they included for the round three match versus Geelong. Yes, it’s youth versus experience.

Melbourne

The Demons have hit the mark with an eye-catching video showing each opponent. The best bit? It’s old-school style. But some Melbourne fans haven’t at all forgotten about this year’s finals results, offering an obvious reference to the season’s exit with a September loss to the Blues. One pundit simply said in response to the video: “You forgot to trip over before the Carlton guy.” OUCH!

North Melbourne

It’s nice and simple at Arden Street, too. They’ve presented the fixture details as if it was a PlayStation video. More old-school trends here.

Port Adelaide

There’s an impressive video from the Alberton team. With a stick-figure on a bicycle gliding through the air, the theme for 2024 is “riding into 2024”. Good work.

Richmond

The Tigers needed player co-operation, too. There’s a video of “Guess Who We’re Playing” to help fans find out the opponents. It’s a tad reminiscent of what happens during the Australian Open with the world’s elite tennis players. Take notice of how they reference their match against Gold Coast and Damien Hardwick ....

St Kilda

St Kilda’s offering came with a sharp message. Yes, about a specific timeslot that’s massively relevant to the Saints fraternity. They deserve some credits.

Sydney Swans

The Swans had a similar approach to Gold Coast. It’s all good fun, however, as tourists in Sydney are quizzed about their Australian Rules knowledge and how it relates to the club’s 2024 fixture.

Got to love a good vox pop.

Western Bulldogs

This is great. You’ll remember Otto the Bulldog from 2015.

It’s a blast from the past as Otto goes on to reveal the club’s opponents, round by round. But make sure you watch the video until the end – there’s a delightful reference to the confusion as to when the Doggies play their first match.

West Coast

It’s a standard approach in the far west with a graphical representation of who plays who and when. But, hey, like the Bombers, there might be a greater focus on turning around the club’s on-field fortunes.

Now that you’ve seen them all, tell us what you think. Vote below to say which club found the best and most creative way to pump up the fixture reveal.

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