good to see the AFL did not schedule the bye after either of out Northern Territory games

you cna mark both those games down for loses

Just can't comprehend this. Give us an even break for promoting the game. But oh no, screwed again. Makes no sense.

Absolutely. Of the eight home MCG games four are against non-Victorians and neither Norf nor the Dogs can pull a crowd.

Commercially it's a disaster but in football terms not so bad.

Right now, the Club needs wins more than making money at the Gate. The psychie of this team has to be fixed with a few early wins, otherwise it will stay in the black hole dug for it over the past couple of years. Get a couple of wins, team starts to believe in itself, supporters start coming, sponsors start coming on board, we get a better fixture. I say take the wins and suck up the commercial pain this year.

Hard to sell memberships with home games like that.....

Right now, the Club needs wins more than making money at the Gate. The psychie of this team has to be fixed with a few early wins, otherwise it will stay in the black hole dug for it over the past couple of years. Get a couple of wins, team starts to believe in itself, supporters start coming, sponsors start coming on board, we get a better fixture. I say take the wins and suck up the commercial pain this year.

Of course you are right, we do need wins and some credibility and perhaps a hard draw might have been good for the pocket in the early part of the year and not so good later if we were performing badly.

i doubt we could get a softer draw than this and it's possible that we could get 7 wins without doing anything brilliant and maybe a few more if we improve a bit; that wouldn't be hard to do. Guess you can't have your cake and eat it.

All , my first post on demonland,

As CEO , draw reflexs our ladder position

players & coaches start winning some games & will get Friday night games

Welcome aboard sis

and correct winning fixes everything

I reckon our run up to the bye is sensational, with only Swans top 6, and the rest within the realm of possibility...

Really need to used the first half of the season to build some confidence and momentum.

Interesting.

That should've been the case this year though, 12/14 at the G to start

In previous years I reckon many of us were looking at the fixture to see how many games were "winnable" (picking out the weaker teams for those winnable games) It's not necessarily the best way to attack a season.

Bring on the tough games now I say. We've got ourselves a top notch experienced coach and there's a stack of players who can improve out of sight. If Roos can instil belief and confidence then we should make some big improvements (not all our players will respond so there might be some early casualties) I'd be astonished if Roos can't get this group up in the early rounds. Most good coaches have an immediate impact.

During the Northey and Daniher era's we couldn't care less who we played. Every game was just another test. We may not win a lot of games in 2014 but in year one of Roos, I'm expecting us to take it up to every team. Weak and half hearted performances must be off the table. More than anything else, we need to learn how to put in our best efforts against the best sides.

Everything has to be geared around winning games of football. Having said all that, it would be great if we could beat the Saints in round one!

So what wrong with our new home ground that a little paint can not solve

Just think of the packed crouds we will get to the games

The commercial opportunities in the 2014 fixture reflects our on field performance over the last couple of years.

Peter Jackson, MFC CEO (2013.10.31)

ouch!

This is the point though. Because we are crap we get less commercially? Thatll really help us get better

1 - St Kilda (Etihad) - 50/50

2 - West Coast (MCG) - Loss

3 - GWS (Giant Stadium) - Win

4 - Carlton (MCG) - Loss

5 - Gold Coast (MCG) - 50/50

6 - Swans (MCG) - Loss

7 - Crows (Adelaide) - Loss

8 - Doggies (MCG) - 50/50

9 - Tiggers (MCG) - 50/50

10 - BYE

11 - Port (TIO Traeger Park, Alice Springs) - 50/50

12 - Pies (MCG) - Loss

13 - Dons (MCG) - Loss

14 - North (MCG) - Loss

15 - Dogs (Etihad) - 50/50

16 - Freo (TIO Darwin) - Loss

17 - Cats (MCG) - Loss

18 - Port (Adelaide) - Loss

19 - Lions (Etihad) - 50/50

20 - Hawks (MCG) - Loss

21 - GWS (MCG) - Win

22 - West Coast (Patterson) - Loss

23 - North (Etihad) - Loss

This is my thoughts on win potential. 2 wins, 7 50/50 and the rest loss. To me the fixture at this stage is irreverent. No one should expect instant miricles and PJ and Roos have indicated this. What I want to see is competitiveness. Fight f***** hard for the ball and if you still lose by 100+ points hold your head high, know you tried your best and move onto the next week. I do think its critical that Roos can develop a team capable of a chance in winning at Etihad. I dont recall Melbourne ever having a good record here and it's time we should develop a game plan suitable for the oval size and conditions. The AFL will always have to scheduled games at Etihad, and therefor 4 games lost. Doesn't matter immediatly but when your playing for top 4, and a game win to determine ladder position we will suddenly cost ourselves.

I don't see the point of these exercises in prediction. No-one last year saw Port rising and WC and Adelaide falling. While the whole pack of cards isn't going to be thrown in the air, there will be clubs that do better (or worse) than expected - and no reason we couldn't be one of them.

Decent draw apart, I would have thought though that just the addition of Hogan, Clark and hopefully Dawes, plus a few midfielders who have shown that they know how to find the footy, plus a few of the younger brigade stepping up, plus a few players getting in a full pre-season for a change, plus a first-rate coach and coaching team, should all combine to give us reasonable grounds for optimism.

Does anyone know where to find the link that magically puts the fixture into iCal?

Someone has posted on the equivalent thread for the past couple of years and it is a winner

1 - St Kilda (Etihad) - 50/50

2 - West Coast (MCG) - Loss

3 - GWS (Giant Stadium) - Win

4 - Carlton (MCG) - Loss

5 - Gold Coast (MCG) - 50/50

6 - Swans (MCG) - Loss

7 - Crows (Adelaide) - Loss

8 - Doggies (MCG) - 50/50

9 - Tiggers (MCG) - 50/50

10 - BYE

11 - Port (TIO Traeger Park, Alice Springs) - 50/50

12 - Pies (MCG) - Loss

13 - Dons (MCG) - Loss

14 - North (MCG) - Loss

15 - Dogs (Etihad) - 50/50

16 - Freo (TIO Darwin) - Loss

17 - Cats (MCG) - Loss

18 - Port (Adelaide) - Loss

19 - Lions (Etihad) - 50/50

20 - Hawks (MCG) - Loss

21 - GWS (MCG) - Win

22 - West Coast (Patterson) - Loss

23 - North (Etihad) - Loss

This is my thoughts on win potential. 2 wins, 7 50/50 and the rest loss. To me the fixture at this stage is irreverent. No one should expect instant miricles and PJ and Roos have indicated this. What I want to see is competitiveness. Fight f***** hard for the ball and if you still lose by 100+ points hold your head high, know you tried your best and move onto the next week. I do think its critical that Roos can develop a team capable of a chance in winning at Etihad. I dont recall Melbourne ever having a good record here and it's time we should develop a game plan suitable for the oval size and conditions. The AFL will always have to scheduled games at Etihad, and therefor 4 games lost. Doesn't matter immediatly but when your playing for top 4, and a game win to determine ladder position we will suddenly cost ourselves.

1 - St Kilda (Etihad) - Win

2 - West Coast (MCG) - 50/50

3 - GWS (Giant Stadium) - Win

4 - Carlton (MCG) - Win

5 - Gold Coast (MCG) - 50/50

6 - Swans (MCG) - Loss

7 - Crows (Adelaide) - 50/50

8 - Bulldogs (MCG) - Win

9 - Tigers (MCG) - 50/50

10 - BYE

11 - Port (TIO Traeger Park, Alice Springs) - Win

12 - Pies (MCG) - Win

13 - Dons (MCG) - Win

14 - North (MCG) - Loss

15 - Dogs (Etihad) - Win

16 - Freo (TIO Darwin) - Loss

17 - Cats (MCG) - Loss

18 - Port (Adelaide) - Loss

19 - Lions (Etihad) - Win

20 - Hawks (MCG) - Loss

21 - GWS (MCG) - Win

22 - West Coast (Patterson) - Loss

23 - North (Etihad) - Loss

I think we have a guaranteed 9 wins, just what i think.

We need to have 5 wins as a minimum this year anymore than that is a bonus any less would be a let down

Does anyone know the other game the members get as compensation for our NT matches, Carlton was one and the other was meant to be advised on Friday

We need to have 5 wins as a minimum this year anymore than that is a bonus any less would be a let down

5 would be a joke

8 wins minimum and a % close to 90 is what we should be aiming for at the least

I really think we'll get 8-10 wins

There are a couple of absolutely critical areas we should see a big boost in

5 would be a joke

8 wins minimum and a % close to 90 is what we should be aiming for at the least

Putting a win-loss target on a season is pointless.

We need to be more holistic. Just like a 2-win season doesn't accurately describe how insipid we were in 2013, we need to focus on the overall standard of our football in 2014. We need to be more competitive for longer at clearances, we need to apply something that resembles defensive pressure through the middle, we need to generate more scoring chains from the back 50, defend kick-outs better, use our own kick-outs better, all that stuff. That may not translate into 8 wins, or 7, or whatever, but we need to show, across a season, that our football is of a higher overall quality.

Percentage is a more important measurement, as Roos said in the video today. Something around 85-90% would be good (GC this year finished on 91.73%, Brisbane on 89.65%, Bulldogs on 85.15%), but again, we need to end the year happy with what we showed overall in 2014.

Who are we beating for these '8 minimum wins'?

Who are we beating for these '8 minimum wins'?

GWS/GC/bris/saints/dogs = 7 wins + 1 for WCE at the G

surely you are not so jaded that seems out of the question ffs

GWS/GC/bris/saints/dogs = 7 wins + 1 for WCE at the G

surely you are not so jaded that seems out of the question ffs

Oh, yeah, FFS...FFS? Really?

You are talking about minimum not 'a possibility, not out of the question.'

It isn't out of the question that Roos inspires a complete turnaround with these weak-willed airheads and we make the finals, but we are coming from a low base. 54%? God damn...

I expect consistent effort and a dearth of blow outs.

I don't expect a 400% increase in the amount of wins as a minimum.

Oh, yeah, FFS...FFS? Really?

You are talking about minimum not 'a possibility, not out of the question.'

It isn't out of the question that Roos inspires a complete turnaround with these weak-willed airheads and we make the finals, but we are coming from a low base. 54%? God damn...

I expect consistent effort and a dearth of blow outs.

I don't expect a 400% increase in the amount of wins as a minimum.

I didn't say 'minimum'.

We are going to have a good 8 changes to our regular side last year, in some very important spots and we have the genuine article coach instead of a complete hack.. last year's output is almost irrelevant. Last year we lost a good 10 matches because we switched off for a quarter but matched our opponent for the other 3. That's the big one for me.

also.. calling it 400% is a bit silly. An increase of 6 to 12 wins is also 6 more wins but an increase of 100%. 12 to 18 wins is 50%. It's not an applicable unit of measurement is it?

also.. calling it 400% is a bit silly. An increase of 6 to 12 wins is also 6 more wins but an increase of 100%. 12 to 18 wins is 50%. It's not an applicable unit of measurement is it?

Of course it is. The fact that a 6 game increase represents 400% highlights how awful we are.

A 1 game increase for us is a 50% increase on our year. For the Gold Coast to increase by 50% they'd need to win another 4 games. It reflects the fact that GC is better than we are.

Anyone, anywhere, anytime....brings on the Saints in Rd1, pretty happy we get WCE early also, a nice test as they try bounce back, much respected footy club. Happy we get the Swans early and Crows away, would have liked a Bombers, Pies or Hawks early also. Test us hard and often, time to harden up!

Sounds like our players attitude is already up and about, I mean Christ if its not we are stuffed. We will win in Rd1, and by a comfortable six goals going away.......from there lookout we must just get momentum, and its bloody hard to stop.

8-10 wins my minimum expectation, similar to this time last year but now confident not hopeful we can deliver.

Go Dees.