AFL’s biggest fixture losers revealed after coach’s swipe at Collingwood

Scott Pendlebury unwittingly said it all with a brutal laugh at a rival club, but it’s now been revealed he should be laughing at someone else.

North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson set the cat among the pigeons in the AFL world on Saturday night when he dropped a fixture swipe in the middle of his post-match press conference.

Since round 5 Clarkson’s Roos have played in the Barossa Valley, Docklands, Adelaide Oval, Hobart, the MCG, Bunbury and Optus Stadium.

READ THE FULL FIXTURE WINNERS AND LOSERS AT CODE SPORTS

Alastair Clarkson raised eyebrows with a jab at the Pies last week. Picture: Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Although two of those games were home fixtures sold by the club, in a deal with the WA government to net North $2.5m, the frequent flyer miles were not lost on the coach.

Especially when comparing it to rival Collingwood who has travelled outside of Melbourne three times.

“I would like to be like the Pies and play at the MCG most weeks,” Clarkson said.

“I ran into Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood captain) on the plane when I came back from the Hall of Fame on Wednesday.

“He was laughing about the amount we have had to travel compared to the gifts they get playing at the MCG on a regular basis. The Collingwood side are able to generate revenue from crowds and North aren’t in that position at this current time.

“We need to get on the road and play our games in Tassie, in this case WA and we are happy to do so. If we don’t it puts the competition and our club in a perilous state if we can’t balance the books.

“It’s an important part of any organisation and we are happy to do so and if we had got all the things right in our game we would have won this game of footy and we just didn’t get there.”

The Bombers have been smashed by footy’s 2025 fixture. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

But are the Roos really the biggest losers in the AFL fixture?

Through an analysis of travel distance, opponent injury luck and draw difficulty, the real AFL fixture loser can be revealed as Essendon.

Hit by injuries as hard as any side, Essendon has had no luck going its way.

So far this year, opponents have entered games against the Bombers with an average of 6.1 players out injured, the lowest number in the league.

Basically, that means the Bombers have been playing against sides closer to full strength than any other team.

In tallying up travel time, only Hawthorn will spend more time in the air than Essendon in 2025.

Where does your club’s luck rank? CODE SPORTS has broken down the full fixture wins, losses and quirks for every club.

Originally published as AFL’s biggest fixture losers revealed after coach’s swipe at Collingwood