Both Halves of a Double-Header, Finally

Double-headers are two opponents, two results, one lineup. TheLeague runs them in Weeks 1 through 3 and Week 13; the AFL has three of its own. Set Lineup never let on. It found the first game with your name on it, drew the matchup panel, and stopped — so half the week you were setting a lineup for simply wasn't on the page. If your second opponent was the one you needed to worry about, the page had nothing to say about them.

Now there's a card for each game. On a phone they sit side by side and snap under your thumb, with a dot for each and a small “Game 1 of 2” that keeps up as you swipe. On anything with a mouse, arrows sit on the panel and click through the same cards. A normal single-game week looks exactly as it always has — no dots, no arrows, nothing new to learn.

Each card knows its own game. Home and away follow the schedule, so you're on the right side of each scoreboard, and the projected total facing you is that opponent's, not a number borrowed from the other game. The one number both cards share is yours: MFL takes one lineup for the week and scores it twice, so every swap you make ticks your total on both cards at once. Watching one go up while the other sat there stale would have been its own kind of lie.

AFL owners get the whole thing at once. That page had no matchup panel at all — you set nine slots with no idea who they were pointed at. Now the same strip sits above the slots, each side wearing its franchise's colors and crest, with the projected score under it and a player of the game from each roster. Two opponents means two of those faceoffs, which is what a double-header week actually looks like.