Rules · Balance · Must-follow · the model’s own rule

Thursdays spread across the season

internal:date.DATE-PRIMETIME-THIRD-SPREAD

What it means

No club has more than three Thursday games in any third of the season.

Why it exists

Spreads each club's Thursday nightThe week's first game. The 2027 model has 24 of them, plus one Wednesday night on the 17 March calendar.Read more in the glossary across the year instead of bunching them in one stretch.

For example

Geelong cannot have five of its seven Thursday games in the first eight rounds.

How strictly it applies

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

Must-follow. The value three is the 2023 to 2025 maximum, a modelled assumptionA value we chose because the AFL has not published the 2027 fact, or because a convention is only visible in past fixtures.Read more in the glossary. Checked from the 30 September release.

Where to see it

Teams played twice shows how this plays out across the season.

How it played out across versions

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.

13 Sep13 Sep 2026Preview 13 September2027 · Generated
This version has no recorded result for this rule.
13 Sep13 Sep 2026Preview 14 September (seed 42)2027 · Generated
This version has no recorded result for this rule.
14 Sep14 Sep 2026Repeat-qualified (seed 42)2027 · Generated
This version has no recorded result for this rule.
14 Sep14 Sep 2026Corrected (seed 43)2027 · Generated
This version has no recorded result for this rule.
14 Sep14 Sep 2026Rules release (seed 43)2027 · Generated
This version has no recorded result for this rule.
15 Sep15 Sep 2026B009 nominal (seed 43)2027 · Generated
This version has no recorded result for this rule.
18 Sep18 Sep 2026B010 nominal (weight 0.10)2027 · Generated
This version has no recorded result for this rule.
19 Sep19 Sep 2026B011 nominal2027 · Generated
This version has no recorded result for this rule.
30 Sep30 Sep 2026B012 Wednesday opening2027 · Generated
Met, met
20252025 season as played2025 · As played
Off, switched off by these settings
rule source not recorded

First checked independently in Realism rules added, 30 Sep 2026.

For analysts: catalogue text and codes

Rule id: internal:date.DATE-PRIMETIME-THIRD-SPREAD
Catalogue text: No club has more than three Thursday games in any third of the season.
Catalogue type: modelled rule (not a catalogue row)
Catalogue family: internal
Class: hard · The fixture must never break it.
Step: S2_5 · Step 3: dates
Recorded status: met · source row evaluated
Catalogue reason: Spreads each club's prime-time Thursdays rather than bunching them; the value is the 2023 to 2025 maximum.