The one I hate the most is the away game at the MCG against Essendon. The league needs to give us the gate against Essendon more than once every 5 years. Rigged.

First brush and, based on the degree of difficulty of the draw, I'd say we should be happy.

It's a very easy draw.

Not good for attendances though. But you can't get both because of the strength of the Victorian clubs at the present.

Two sides to a fixture, the playing side we have every chance to play finals with the teams we play, the commercial side good TV coverage but we will rely on winning many games to get our homes crowd levels high. The off field has been the strength of the club over the past 2 years, over to the on field side to draw crowds

brilliant draw just have a look who we have to play twice!!!!!! financially it is not brilliant but if we are any good we should be making finals and that will more than compensate.

Double games against Hawthorn, Carlton, Port Adelaide, Richmond, West Coast and Gold Coast. I guess that's pretty good, in that we only have to play Geleong, St Kilda, Collingwood, the Dogs and Fremantle once each.

Brilliant draw IMO.

All out attack in '11!

Here's a quick breakdown of our draw at a glance. It's not the greatest financially but it's fantastic from a competitive point of view and let's be honest, that's what really matters.

PLAY TWICE

Hawthorn, Gold Coast, West Coast, Carlton, Richmond, Port Adelaide

2010 finalists - 2

TIMES

Thu night - 1

Fri night - 3

Sat arvo - 5

Sat night - 1

Sun early - 3

Sun mid - 5

Sun twilight - 2

Mon - 1

TBC - 1

VENUES

MCG - 13

ES - 4

Gabba - 1

AAMI - 1

Subiaco - 1

TIO - 1

SS - 1

Vic - 18

Interstate - 4

TV COVERAGE

Seven - 8

Ten - 6

Fox - 7

TBC - 1

FTA - 14

Fox - 7

TBC - 1

So, by the numbers

13 games at the MCG

4 games at Etihad (inc. 1 home game)

1 at Skilled

4 interstate trips (inc. Darwin)

8 games on SEVEN

7 games on FOX

6 games on TEN

1 TBC

1 Thursday night

3 Friday nights

6 Saturday games (5 day, 1 night)

10 Sunday games (3 at 1.10pm, 5 at 2.10pm, 2 at 4.40pm)

1 Monday

1 TBC

Not happy!! Yes, it appears to be a pretty good draw in 2011, but I am extremely disappointed that yet again we have no game against Sydney in Sydney... that makes almost 4 whole seasons without a game here... over 124 games since the last time I could travel down the road to see them!!!!!

The fixture has been released - http://www.afl.com.au/portals/0/afl_docs/fixture_document.pdf

Pros:

1. Pretty easy fixture. Only one trip to Perth.

2. No trip to Adelaide.

Cons:

1. We do not have one home game at the MCG on a Saturday.

2. We play a HOME game against the EAGLES at ETIHAD on a SUNDAY at 1:10PM. FFS! Why Hawthorn has a home game on Saturday against Port, and we're delegated to Etihad on a Sunday against the Eagles is beyond me.

3. We have 5 home games against interstate clubs on a Sunday, 3 of which start at 1:10pm

4. We have four Etihad matches.

I'm very happy with our draw.We only play Pies,Saints and Cats once and we play Eagles,Tigers,Power and Suns twice.2 Friday night games and a Thursday Night game.13 MCG games,1 AAMI game and 1 Perth game.

Pros:

1. Pretty easy fixture. Only one trip to Perth.

2. No trip to Adelaide.

Cons:

1. We do not have one home game at the MCG on a Saturday.

2. We play a HOME game against the EAGLES at ETIHAD on a SUNDAY at 1:10PM. FFS! Why Hawthorn has a home game on Saturday against Port, and we're delegated to Etihad on a Sunday against the Eagles is beyond me.

3. We have 5 home games against interstate clubs on a Sunday, 3 of which start at 1:10pm

4. We have four Etihad matches.

I can't imagine the club being particularly impressed by that fixture.

Yes we do. Round 22 vs Port.

The cons, IMO, are ones I thought we'd be able to avoid given our improvement this year.

Apart from the "Home" match at Etihad Stadium, i am pretty happy with that draw.

Round 24 is not ideal against Port, but could be a good challenge with september beckoning.

Not the greatest fixture for attendance, but if we play good footy people will come to watch the demons.

I do like the Bye before our trip to play Wet Coke over there.

Three friday night games is pretty huge for the club... especially for corporate and sponsorship

Yep, my bad. Missed the round 22 match. At least it's only 1, and at the end of the season.

Great fixture for on-field, terrible for off-field. I can't imagine the club being particularly impressed.

How people are whinging about this draw is beyond me.

Tell me how many games we play against this years top 6.

Not having a home game against another vic side till round 10 will hit hard financially. Also 7 home games against interstate sides.

Glad we will be getting more free to air though.

No Subiaco game this year. (Paterson?)

only 1 at AAMI.

Great.

Its good that we start off with a round 1 game at home. Lets hope we can finally win first off. I dont mind playing the interstate teams at home. Id rather play them here than there. Dont worry the crowds will come. Except whose stupid idea was it to play West Coast at Etihad at 1:10 on a sunday. But thats not until the later rounds so hopefully we are going really well and the crowds will come.

Its good that we only play the pies once. That means we only play our 1 grand final for the season. Lol. Interesting to play the gold coast at home. Why wouldnt we get the buy the week after playing at darwin then the week before.

Dont mind the friday night games but its sucks one of them is at etihad. Sorry but there is something about that ground that never gives me a good experience. Anyway the first 3 at the G is pretty good.

How people are whinging about this draw is beyond me.

Tell me how many games we play against this years top 6.

6.

I'm just a bit disappointed with what I perceive to be a lack of acknowledgement of our higher crowds and growing supporter base.

From an on-field perspective it's fantastic.

home game at Etihad stadium?

Saw that. Unbelievable. Wouldn't happen EVER at the Pies. AFL = still a transparently rigged comp. And no-one does anything about it.

How people are whinging about this draw is beyond me.

Tell me how many games we play against this years top 6.

I think in that case I reckon people are ho-hum about that because it changes every year. No-one thought Freo would be a tough side to play this year for example. What looks like an easy draw becomes hard halfway through the season and vice versa. The only one I can say looks like it might be easy is the Gold Coast games... and even then...

unrelated i know, but lol at kangaroo supporters whinging about their draw on bigfooty in a thread entitled "it's official the afl want us to die". apparently they have "too many saturday arvo games"

No Subiaco game this year. (Paterson?)

only 1 at AAMI.

Great.

Paterson is Subi, new name.

6.

I'm just a bit disappointed with what I perceive to be a lack of acknowledgement of our higher crowds and growing supporter base.

6, exactly. The bare minimum.

I disagree with the lack of acknowledgment. 2 extra Friday night games, a Thursday night match, 14 of 22 (possibly 15 of 22) games on FTA is a fair step-up IMO.

I think the best thing that could happen to the footy club this year it to make finals. This draw gives us that chance.

I would much rather have an easier draw that will hopefully give us a better shot at playing finals, rather than a blockbuster-filled draw that boosts attendances and sees us with a much tougher run. In the end, finals are what matters. Our fixture wasn't great this year, but I thought our crowds were and when it's all said an done, if we're winning the crowds will be up anyway - and if they're not, well, then we don't deserve the blockbusters.