The AFL are trying to kill Melbourne

[Striker475 696]

Melbourne sides - number of home games vs Collingwood, Carlton, Essendon, Richmond, Hawthorn

Melbourne: 1
Hawthorn: 1 (4 possible)
North: 3
Carlton: 3 (4 possible)
Collingwood: 3 (4 possible)
Essendon: 4 (4 possible)
Richmond: 3 (4 possible)
St Kilda: 3
Bulldogs: 3

While I know we as a club don't want to be reliant on opposition supporters for revenue, this is a fair dinkum joke. We simply don't have the supporter base to sustain not getting at least one extra decent home game per season. It's genuinely what will kill the club, and quickly too.

[jabberwocky 2,301]

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.

[rpfc 28,047]

We are doing a fine job of it ourselves thankyouverymuch...

[Bang Bang Bang 5,764]

They've deliberately given us a soft draw (especially early) so that we might start winning again. That's what the AFL wants (a competitive Melbourne). And with that the crowds will come. Can't please everyone I guess.

[DemonTux 95]

or they are protecting us...? easier games = better results = more member interest

[Carrot Top 947]

Screw the AFL. And screw this whining sense of entitlement we have. If we play football that is AFL standard people will come to watch and we won't need handouts. If we don't even the Lord God above wouldn't be able to save us.

[Striker475 696]

or they are protecting us...? easier games = better results = more member interest

Screw the AFL. And screw this whining sense of entitlement we have. If we play football that is AFL standard people will come to watch and we won't need handouts. If we don't even the Lord God above wouldn't be able to save us.

Is it protection? Possibly. Is it entitlement? When we are now officially the 'have-nots' as judged by the fixturing, I think there's a point.

The AFL keep banging on about 'equalisation' yet you have the club struggling the most in the league suffer yet another awful fixture financially. And yet it's 'entitlement'. We've had [censored] for draws for 2 years. It's a death spiral - the [censored] draws mean we don't get the money to invest, which means we don't develop as well, which means we don't get better, which means we get shitter draws.

[dazzledavey36 52,735]

Trying to kill us?

If they wanted to kill us they would never have given us that bail out fund and Peter Jackson aswell.

Silly thread.

[DeeSpencer 24,701]

Exactly

They are trying to help us.

To say they are trying to kill us off is laughable.

We play all of Hawthorn, Carl, Ess and Rich as the away team. Then have home games against North, Brisbane (at etihad) and Geelong.

I know I'd much prefer the away games against North, Brisbane and Geel and the home games against 3 teams that will help us get some cash in.

Plus 0 Friday night, minimal Saturday night, a bunch of twilight games.

We've been given a life line with a good football draw but it comes with the huge handicap of the commercial draw being a disgrace.

The overlying impression here is that the AFL is saying win some games and then you'll get your share. But if we don't win games this year we'll be so far in the red it might not matter. I don't think it's over the top to say we have to win 3 or more games in the first half of 2014 or we'll be one foot solidly in to game over.

[DeeSpencer 24,701]

Trying to kill us?

If they wanted to kill us they would never have given us that bail out fund and Peter Jackson aswell.

Silly thread.

Giving us enough rope to hang ourselves maybe?

It's a bit early for the conspiracy theories, but the AFL have given us some help but also made it clear we have to dig ourselves out. Time for us to start digging.

[Striker475 696]

The overlying impression here is that the AFL is saying win some games and then you'll get your share. But if we don't win games this year we'll be so far in the red it might not matter. I don't think it's over the top to say we have to win 3 or more games in the first half of 2014 or we'll be one foot solidly in to game over.

Tell that to Port.

I think the AFL at a minimum don't care if they don't actually want us on life support.

[titan_uranus 24,583]

We play all of Hawthorn, Carl, Ess and Rich as the away team. Then have home games against North, Brisbane (at etihad) and Geelong.

I know I'd much prefer the away games against North, Brisbane and Geel and the home games against 3 teams that will help us get some cash in.

Plus 0 Friday night, minimal Saturday night, a bunch of twilight games.

We've been given a life line with a good football draw but it comes with the huge handicap of the commercial draw being a disgrace.

The overlying impression here is that the AFL is saying win some games and then you'll get your share. But if we don't win games this year we'll be so far in the red it might not matter. I don't think it's over the top to say we have to win 3 or more games in the first half of 2014 or we'll be one foot solidly in to game over.

So you want an easy draw, like we have now, with all the home games against the big clubs as well? That's the ultimate draw; no one gets that.

We can't have our cake and eat it too. We earned nothing in 2013.

By giving us a draw that offers the chance to win games in 2014, the AFL is giving us the best long-term financial assistance it can - the ability to draw crowds ourselves. You know that saying, give a man a fish and he eats for a day, that one? Same deal here. We're better off in the long run winning, improving our brand, not being an impediment to the AFL, and building a supporter base. Then, when we're pulling 30,000+ to MCG home games against interstate crowds, we can start getting better home games.

I also note we drew merely 28,546 people to the Hawthorn home game this year. Not exactly coffer-filling, that.

[hardtack 10,400]

Looks like they want Hawthorn gone as well?

[Demoneyes 562]

A home game against Brisbane at Etihell is not helping at all either! What percentage of people on here actually go to this ground?

[Adam The God 29,335]

The fixture is fair, particularly considering the onfield rabble that was this season.

[DeeSpencer 24,701]

So you want an easy draw, like we have now, with all the home games against the big clubs as well? That's the ultimate draw; no one gets that.

We can't have our cake and eat it too. We earned nothing in 2013.

By giving us a draw that offers the chance to win games in 2014, the AFL is giving us the best long-term financial assistance it can - the ability to draw crowds ourselves. You know that saying, give a man a fish and he eats for a day, that one? Same deal here. We're better off in the long run winning, improving our brand, not being an impediment to the AFL, and building a supporter base. Then, when we're pulling 30,000+ to MCG home games against interstate crowds, we can start getting better home games.

I also note we drew merely 28,546 people to the Hawthorn home game this year. Not exactly coffer-filling, that.

That's much better than a crowd of 15,000 and writing a cheque to play the game.

I want a draw that is both fair in terms of football and commercially.

At the moment the 5 teams we play twice are GWS, Bulldogs, West Coast from the bottom 6 and North and Port for the other teams. No problems with the first 3 but then the other 2 are 2 of the lowest drawing teams around.

Of the top 8 teams we play home games against Freo (2nd) and Geel + Syd (3rd and 4th) and Coll (8th) yet play away games against Carlton, Richmond and Essendon. (5, 7, 9). Explain how that is helping us win games?

From the bottom 8 we play away to Adelaide and St Kilda, 2 teams that would help with crowds, and then home against the 2 Queensland sides. That may well be the AFL's way of giving us a shot at winning games. But to mitigate it they put the Brisbane game at Etihad.

Then we also get stuff all prime time and not even one token away game on a Friday night. We get 2 home games on Saturday night channel 7 but they go with Sydney and the dogs? Hardly making it an attractive game for neutrals. I get the Sydney one with the Roos angle but the dogs one will likely be a turn off after quarter time for everyone watching affair anyway.

We start winning and the crowds will stay strong and we are a shot to make enough out of the gate plus the NT trips to keep the bottom line in tact. I just worry about how big a hole we will be in if we haven't got 2 or 3 wins by halfway through the season.

[hardtack 10,400]

A home game against Brisbane at Etihell is not helping at all either! What percentage of people on here actually go to this ground?

I don't understand this... sure, I agree that we should not be playing home games at Etihad and I believe that Etihad is a dangerous ground with regards to a high risk of leg/knee injuries, but since we are playing there, why would people not go? It's convenient to transport, relatively comfortable and to get the the heart of the matter, when we go to watch a game, we go to support our team, not to critique the ground and its amenities. If anyone has cause for complaint, I would say it's the players, not the supporters.

Having said that, I haven't attended a game there (my comments are garnered from other people and from seeing it on TV)... so what exactly is the problem from a spectator's point of view?

[spirit of norm smith 15,117]

A home game against Brisbane at Etihell is not helping at all either! What percentage of people on here actually go to this ground?

agree ... this is madness. why do we have an etihad home game.

[Beetle 4,531]

The title of this thread is ridiculous.

"Lets give them a $2.7 million bailout package that's doesn't have to be re-paid, put Peter Jackson in place....who knows he may even be able to lure someone like Paul Roos as their coach! Mwaahahahahaha" laughed Andrew with disdain.

[Pirlo 813]

They just gave us $2m, what are you talking about?

[Pirlo 813]

A home game against Brisbane at Etihell is not helping at all either! What percentage of people on here actually go to this ground?

Why don't you get off your arse and go the extra 10 minutes on the train or tram. None of us like it there, but get through the turnstiles and support the club.

[DeeSpencer 24,701]

The title of this thread is ridiculous.

"Lets give them a $2.7 million bailout package that's doesn't have to be re-paid, put Peter Jackson in place....who knows he may even be able to lure someone like Paul Roos as their coach! Mwaahahahahaha" laughed Andrew with disdain.

Well they didn't give us 2.7 million, in fact once you take out what we will pay them for the rubbish tanking fine they only gave us about 1 million. And Peter Jackson wasn't some hidden AFL man. He came recommended for sure but he wasn't gifted to us as a charity. So far they've given us about 1 mil and helped us get a board organised. They will then take away about 1 mil from us with this commercial disaster of a fixture.

[Demoneyes 562]

I don't understand this... sure, I agree that we should not be playing home games at Etihad and I believe that Etihad is a dangerous ground with regards to a high risk of leg/knee injuries, but since we are playing there, why would people not go? It's convenient to transport, relatively comfortable and to get the the heart of the matter, when we go to watch a game, we go to support our team, not to critique the ground and its amenities. If anyone has cause for complaint, I would say it's the players, not the supporters.

Having said that, I haven't attended a game there (my comments are garnered from other people and from seeing it on TV)... so what exactly is the problem from a spectator's point of view?

Its interesting! I have been once (and we won!) but just didn't like it! I don't know if it feels claustrophobic, or whether it just isn't our home (spiritual) ground but I won't go again. Anyone else feel the same?

[Mgdee 319]

The AFL not trying to kill us they are just giving us a chance of standing on our own two feet.

We need to win games this year.

If we do that the AFL will continue to back us financially because it is in their interest to have 18 competitive teams in the league.

[RalphiusMaximus 6,012]

If you look at the chat on the AFL site, they have rated us 4th for cushy draw. Obviously this is focused more on the chances to win games than to make money, but it seems that from that perspective we have been given a gift. However we have been given far too many Sunday fixtures, including the totally dead time slot of Sunday Twilight, and no Friday fixtures at all. If they want to talk about equalisation n the competition then they need to give every team one home fixture on a Friday night and then reward the best performed sides with the extra six. As it stands, they gave Carlton (a mediocre side) four Friday home games while letting the teams that actually need to the financial assist to rot in purgatory. They can't even claim that the games are going to the better sides or the bigger crowds, because they have only given the reigning premiers one Friday home game as well. Meanwhile along with Carlton we see Geelong (who are fading) and Richmond (who might be on the rise) as the next best-loved with three each.

Basically, while we can't complain about the draw in terms of winnable games, we are being clearly shown that the AFL are going to keep on helping their special buddies and shafting the rest when it comes to the best timeslots to pull crowds and make a few dollars.