‘Show me the correlation’: Swans president Andrew Pridham rejects concerns over multiply byes

The Swans have had two byes before most clubs have had a single week off. They’re two games clear on top of the ladder. But, president Andrew Pridham tells JON RALPH there’s no link between the two.

Sydney's Chad Warner during the Round 13 AFL match between the Sydney Swans and Geelong Cats at the SCG on June 9, 2024. Photo by Phil Hillyard (Image Supplied for Editorial Use only – **NO ON SALES** – ©Phil Hillyard )

Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham says Opening Round would benefit from a Sunday All-Victorian clash at the MCG but says it is ridiculous to link his club’s form to two perfectly placed byes.

The Swans are one of the eight clubs to be handed two byes in rounds 5 and 12 after playing in that mid-March round before clubs like the Western Bulldogs or Geelong receive their first bye.

Geelong’s bye comes this week, while the Dogs have to wait until next week for their bye.

The AFL will review the byes amid club complaints about the equity of the fixture.

The league’s football general managers will meet on Tuesday afternoon to get the latest update from the league on its competitive balance review.

With as many as 70 different variables that go into the fixture the league will have to work through whether clubs with two byes can have them placed either side of clubs with one bye.

Pridham said any suggestion Sydney had a better fixture given its significant travel demands was wide of the mark.

“I think the Opening round was a huge success. What I don’t accept is how you can draw any correlation to performance and two byes. Brisbane has had two byes and they have gone from a Grand final to well out of the eight. Show me the correlation,” he told this masthead.

Chad Warner and the Swans are two games clear at the top of the AFL ladder. Phil Hillyard.

“There is none. Collingwood plays seven of the last eight games of the season at the MCG.

I have no doubt the opening round will and should go ahead.

“Whether there should be a game at Melbourne on the same weekend, where the byes land, that is up to the AFL. We play when we are told to play but the Opening Round is a good thing.”

A Sunday game at the MCG is possible in the opening round given cricket can be moved to Junction Oval and it would mean ten clubs have a second bye through the season.

“I don’t accept there is any difference in fairness. The fixture has all sorts of inequity and trials and tribulations,” Pridham said.

“Someone will have to get some AI bot to tell me how it works but there are so many elements to the fixture that you could say this caused that or this caused that.

“I would say to you simply if it’s an advantage, how come Brisbane has had such a poor season. Is that because of two byes? What is it?”

The league seems certain to continue with the opening round given it was a such a ratings and attendance success that also boosted northern states membership figures.

But WA clubs are keen for more advantages given their travel burden as the league also considers whether it can schedule blockbuster games around the June WA Day public holiday.

Originally published as ‘Show me the correlation’: Swans president Andrew Pridham rejects concerns over multiply byes