Richmond and West Coast played out arguably the game of the season on the weekend, with the Tigers coming from 24 points down to win the game by a goal.

Arguably being the two best teams in the competition, the Tigers and Eagles fought and battled it out all game in tough conditions, and showed their worth to all watching why both are considered the favourites to make it to the grand final.

But it's not the game that's grabbing the attention of Cornes, it's the fact that in the last six weeks, West Coast have travelled just shy of 15,000 kilometres and have spent 21 hours on aeroplanes, where Richmond haven't even left the state of Victoria, and that could have contributed to the Eagles' sluggish play after quarter time.

It's considered an unfair playing field according to Cornes.

"Richmond's 2019 fixture is the biggest gift to any club this season" Cornes said.

"The last seven games of the season at the MCG.

"No wonder they have made a late-season charge.

"15,000km and 21 hours spent on a plane for West Coast, 0km and 0 hours of travel for Richmond.

"That was the difference between the two teams on Sunday."

Cornes' issue with the fixture setup dates back to the Tigers' 2017 premiership season, where after finishing fourth on the ladder and playing against Geelong who finished first, the game was played at the MCG where it should have ultimately been played at GMHBA Stadium in Geelong.

"Would the Tigers have won the flag if not for this advantage? Who knows." Cornes said.

Richmond currently sits fourth on the AFL ladder and need a win against Brisbane on Sunday afternoon to seal a top-four spot.

4 COMMENTS

  1. Richmond’s stirling example made me think that the Eagles should get 17 games in Perth in 2020.
    Obviously 7 of these should be consecutive on the run in to the finals too. (I might consider 15 home games and only 5 consecutive running into the finals because I’m a nice guy).

    The Dockers could share some of them with us as well. How sporting is that? Overall, the deprived WA public would have the opportunity of more than just one live AFL game every week, as in Victoria.

    West Coast would in return be happy to play against the top ranked Melbourne teams at the MCG for it’s 5 interstate games to give them a fair chance too.

    Think of the benefits!
    Guaranteed big crowds at the MCG matches.
    Guaranteed big crowds at the Perth Stadium games.
    The VFL, whoops! Sorry, the AFL could send over the lower ranked teams and get at least 53,000 in for every game!!!!! Guaranteed. *ka-ching*

    The Victorian teams flying over to play both WA clubs still get to play in the world’s most beautiful sports stadium.
    The V…sorry again; the AFL could reasonably claim to have a fair and credible competition, without West Australian supporters falling about laughing at this hitherto ridiculous claim.
    All it means is that the Victorian teams will have to travel a bit more but not as much as the Eagles and the Dockers currently do. It would be 10,000% fairer than the current jerrymander.

    And the $$$$ would be chundering in.

  2. What a load of rubbish take a look at the first half of their season they travelled every second week there for while, try looking at the whole fiixture Corns

  3. The Eagles travelled every second week for the first half of the season as well. And they still are. We all accept that Victorian resident clubs of the MCG are going to have a lot of games there because they play each other. The issue is that they get given extra games because of the “big games need a big venue” factor, and then the AFL have structured the fixture badly. Richmond should have had at least a couple of games away from the MCG in the last third of the season, preferably interstate.

Comments are closed.