No return games before mid-season

RA-05Catalogue name: No return meeting before Round 11

What it means

A pair's second meeting cannot come before Round 11. The 2027 model is stricter and puts the earliest return game in Round 13.

Keeps return games in the second half of the season, when the first results have had time to matter.

Collingwood and Essendon could meet in Round 6 on Anzac Day and again no earlier than Round 13.

Must-follow The fixture must obey this rule. A separate checker tests the finished fixture afterwards.

Must-follow. The Round 13 threshold is the model's declared setting; the catalogue's figure is Round 11.

How the fixture is made shows how this plays out across the season.

One cell per release, oldest first. Each shows the verdict that release recorded for this rule; a release with no row for the rule says so.

First checked independently in Repeat games fixed, 14 Sep 2026.

For analysts: catalogue text and codes

Rule id: RA-05
Catalogue text: If two teams meet twice, the second match cannot occur before round 11.
Catalogue type: Hard
Catalogue family: Round Assignment
Class: hard · The fixture must never break it.
Step: S2 · Step 2: rounds
Recorded status: met · source row evaluated
Catalogue reason: Keeps return fixtures in the second half of the season.