It's a poor draw financially but from a footy point of view it's a very good one.

Only three away interstate games, one of which is against GWS in Canberra.

Playing Collingwood, GWS, St Kilda and Western Bulldogs twice and, other than Freo, avoiding the powerhouse sides twice (Hawks, Cats, Swans, Port). Even North are another side that routinely beats us.

We have had easy draws in the past and haven't made the most of them. But if we are any good at all there are plenty of opportunities for wins there.

All it takes is a 2-3 win streak for fans to come out. If you go into a match against Freo at the MCG with 2+ loses, yeah, you're going to get 16,000 there. Play good football and you can bump that up to 23-25k and the club breaks even.

It is imperative now more than ever that the club starts winning games. We can't have another season of, "Oh yes but they're improving."

It really is a horrendous draw but that's what we get for dishing up absolute rubbish the last couple of years.

Horrendous in terms of the commercial aspect i guess you mean. I completely disagree though that we deserve a crap commercial draw. this is at the very heart of the problem with equalization. Clubs like Hawks and Pies squeal about the footy department tax and propping up other clubs but get twice as many free to air games and any number more Friday night and Saturday games.

If serious about equalization and giving all clubs a chance of rising up the ladder the AFL would take less from the broadcasters and make the draw commercially equitable. Yes in the short term there would be some lousy Friday night games but that would sort itself out when the competition became more even.

They copy so many aspects of US sports, why not this one? Look at the NBA and NFL. Yes different markets but all teams get a crack at good TV slots and both comps are relatively even, with new title winners bobbing up.

its got nothing t do with deserve and everything to do with creating a level playing field. the alternative is creating a permanent underclass of footy teams who rely on equalization payments from the AFL (and have scorn heaped on them for doing so by [censored] knuckle clubs and supporters who see such payments as a sign of weakness and evidence of rabid socialism). The irony is that these clubs will remain at the bottom and there will end up being more and more rubbish games where the top clubs smash those at the bottom of the ladder. And of course these clubs will therefore continue to get crap commercial draws because of the 'absolute rubbish' they are serving up.

Why always the bye before the Darwin game not after it.

Does my head in. Seriously how much promo work do our players need up there compared to how stuffed they are the next week.

We'll get flogged by Essendon on the back of the Darwin game, after having the bye the week before. Any momentum our season might have will be shot.

As Jackson said 'The fixture reflects where we are as a club'.

Greater success on field will bring benefits in the draw.

As a Gold Coast resident I'm entitled to be [censored] off, no games in Queensland 2 years running.

Can someone please at all explain why Carlton get 6 Friday night games. Seriously. They were awful this year. Not much better last year. They'd be close to bottom 4 for teams I'd want to see on FTA. They get commercially looked after every single year.

Who did comminsoner fitzpatrick. Play for?

Conspiracy theory 1:)

(B)itch Clark getting the shelter of Simonds Stadium against Melbourne was the most predictable fixturing ever.

Double games against GWS, Bulldogs, Saints, Pies and Freo. Happy with that. Only one of those teams will be playing finals next year.

13 games at the MCG is a big tick as well. Just 3 games at Etihad isn't too bad. Hopefully we can have the round 23 clash against GWS moved to the G. We have plenty of time to get it organised.

A Friday night game! Get all of your asses to there so we can have more of them in the future.

I can understand that the majority of our home games won't draw big crowds so from a financial point of view our fixture isn't good which is a shame.

Our fixture could obviously be better but overall I don't mind it.

Absolutely no excuse for Victorian-based members not to attend games. A lot of games in the Saturday afternoon timeslot, and even the Sunday games are generally early.

The standard of our play is absolutely impacting the free-to-air side of our draw, as we don't play a brand that other supporters would sit back and watch. What we have, however, is a draw that gives our supporters no excuse not to go to the games.

While it is hard to front up each week when we are not winning, we need to initiate the change that we are calling for. Get bigger crowds to our games, which will then give us more bargaining power when we (try and) negotiate with the AFL about better draws.

Can't say I'm particularly looking forward to the early-season run of Fremantle, Sydney and Hawthorn in successive weeks.

1. Saturday, April 04 - Melbourne v Gold Coast Suns - MCG 1:40PM

2. Saturday, April 11 - GWS Giants v Melbourne - SO 2:10PM

3. Saturday, April 18 - Adelaide Crows v Melbourne - AO 1:40PM

4. Friday, April 24 - Richmond v Melbourne - MCG 7:50PM

5. Sunday, May 03 - Melbourne v Fremantle - MCG 1:10PM

6. Saturday, May 09 - Melbourne v Sydney Swans - MCG 7:20PM

7. Saturday, May 16 - Hawthorn v Melbourne - MCG 2:10PM

8. Sunday, May 24 - Melbourne v Western Bulldogs - MCG 3:20PM

9. Saturday, May 30 - Melbourne v Port Adelaide - TP 1:40PM

10. Monday, June 08 - Melbourne v Collingwood - MCG 3:20PM

11. Sunday, June 14 - St Kilda v Melbourne - ES 4:40PM

12. Sunday, June 21 - Geelong Cats v Melbourne - SS 3:20PM

Round 13 BYE

13. Saturday, July 04 - Melbourne v West Coast Eagles - TIO 7:10PM

14. Saturday, July 11 - Essendon v Melbourne - MCG 1:40PM

15. Sunday, July 19 - Melbourne v Brisbane Lions - MCG 1:10PM

16. Sunday, July 26 - Melbourne v St Kilda - MCG 3:20PM

17. Saturday, August 01 - Collingwood v Melbourne - MCG 2:10PM

18. Sunday, August 09 - Melbourne v North Melbourne - MCG 1:10PM

19. Sunday, August 16 - Western Bulldogs v Melbourne - ES 3:20PM

20. Sunday, August 23 - Carlton v Melbourne - MCG 3:20PM

21. Sunday, August 30 - Fremantle v Melbourne - PS 2:40PM

22. Friday, September 04 - Melbourne v GWS Giants - ES 12:00AM

The thing is, if the team actually *wins* games, the matches against WB, Saints, North and probably Brisbane can potentially attract 30k+, which is what you need for a profit.

What all of this comes down to is if you want a commercially viable fixture, you need to be commercially attractive. Melbourne is not.

The only way to fix this is to win games. From that standpoint, the fixture doesn't actually make it *harder* for Melbourne to win games.

We have no fate but what we make for ourselves. We can either blame the AFL, or we can suck it up, win some damn games of footy, and entice people to come to games.

It's not rocket science.

No, it's not 'rocket science' to deliver an even draw for teams to make money.

We have had to sell games to another area of the country, otherwise we would have two games that we would make some decent coin out of.

30k isn't making money, praha - it's purely keeping heads above water.

A fixture of a well run league should be 'fairer' - a club should not have to earn 'fairness' with performance, equalisation of the AFL can't stop at beverages, but it seems to have.

Can't say I'm particularly looking forward to the early-season run of Fremantle, Sydney and Hawthorn in successive weeks.

No. We better beat GWS and pinch a win againts GC, Tiges or Crows or else we are every chance on being 0-7 which won't help the vibe.

Alternatively if we can beat GWS and pinch 1-2 other games in that stretch it sets p well for the remainder of the season

Look it's not a horrible draw. As many have pointed out from a football perspective it's actually quite good. The thing that does frustrate is us constantly getting shafted with the bigger clubs getting the "home" matches against us at the G. Richmond, Blues, Essendon, and Hawthorn all our only MCG games against these clubs and all of them away games. Meanwhile we get the Saints, Dogs, and the Roos (and our QB Pies game) as our Victorian opponents at the G.

The Essendon and Blues games really stings as it's not their home! Bombers in particular I'm sick of them always taking the gate $$$ at our bloody home.

Still we start with some winnable games (I said that this year as well!), and finish the last 4 rounds with 3 winnable games.

No, it's not 'rocket science' to deliver an even draw for teams to make money.

We have had to sell games to another area of the country, otherwise we would have two games that we would make some decent coin out of.

30k isn't making money, praha - it's purely keeping heads above water.

A fixture of a well run league should be 'fairer' - a club should not have to earn 'fairness' with performance, equalisation of the AFL can't stop at beverages, but it seems to have.

I'm as passionate and as one-eyed as anyone on this forum. I'm also passionate about the code.

Currently on a Friday night, I much prefer to sit back and watch the bigger clubs play, as generally, it's a far better brand of football that what we dish up. If it's a lower club, I'll watch for the first quarter, see what the quality is like, then decide if I should continue to watch, or flick over to SBS for a bit of T&A.

I'm quite appreciative that the MFC aren't playing Friday night games at the moment, because I would find it hard to watch the whole game.

If I feel that way, what would the average Joe, who doesn't follow the game religiously, feel about watching the game? That's what the AFL is dealing with, and that's what the commercial TV giants are dealing with.

From a perspective of a fan from Brisbane, shattered that this is two years in a row they wont be playing either at the Gabba or Metricon. Boggles the mind how this can happen when there is two teams now in the state

I know exactly how you feel... we in Sydney went for something like 8 years without the dees playing a game here (the closest they came was Canberra).

We get the Saints, Doggies, GWS, Collingwood and Freo twice = only one top 8 team + 3 other strugglers...

Not bad.

Who did comminsoner fitzpatrick. Play for?

Conspiracy theory 1:)

Carlton, Essendon and Collingwood traditionally get looked after due to their huge membership numbers.

I see they all miss the trip to Geelong yet again.

I don't get it, people complain about playing at Etihad (where our record is poor) yet they also complain when we play teams who normally play home games at Etihad at the MCG.

Well nothing more to do about it now than go out and kick some ass !!

I don't get it, people complain about playing at Etihad (where our record is poor) yet they also complain when we play teams who normally play home games at Etihad at the MCG.

Fair point.. Be interested to see the games my membership allows me into though...just saying

Every time we have played in a marquee slot in recent years we have been humiliated. I can't blame Ch 7 for not wanting us scheduled on Friday night, when the game is generally over as a contest by half time. I am disappointed not to have more away games on Ch 7 as I have very little interest in financially supporting other clubs when our performances are so bad.

The worst aspect of the draw is the three consecutive away games from rounds 2-4, particularly back-to-back interstate games. Good luck selling any memberships if we do poorly in round 1.

From a football perspective, as with this year, there is absolutely no excuse. It is an absolute gift of a draw in terms of repeat matches and lack of away games interstate - now the players need to perform.

Ultimately we will never get a better commercial draw until (a) the players start putting on a decent show and (b) the supporters start turning up in decent numbers. I don't think we can expect the AFL to help us out, we just need to provide an attractive alternative, as teams like Port have done.

I like our first four games and the second half of our season where we only play 2 top 8 (2014) teams on the way home.

If we improve enough to be a genuine contender for 9th spot (sigh), then we are playing our equals... so should be some good games.

This isn't the worst draw we could have had. Yes, we'll struggle to get big crowds to our home games, but from a football standpoint they've given us every chance to move up the ladder, and ultimately that is where the money will come from.

We have 8 home games at the MCG, two in NT and only one at Etihad. That's a win.

Only one Friday night home game and it's against GWS. That sucks commercially. We'll also be off a five day break playing at Etihad, so it's a very good chance for GWS to beat us. We've been screwed on this one.

Only three games at Etihad for the season is a win.

13 games at the MCG is a win.

Only three interstate road trips (not counting our home games in NT).

We play GWS, Doggies, Saints, Collingwood and Freo twice. Of those, only Freo is out of reach. Win.

We only have one home game against a big crowd club, that being the Queen's Birthday match. Loss.

We have five Sunday home games. This has to be called unfair. A reasonable draw would have every club with 3-4 home games on each of Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

7 of our home games are against interstate clubs. This is a bit of a win from a football standpoint, but will continue to feed low crowds.

So all in all we have a pretty good run from the football and ladder perspective, but again it's a shocker for getting people to come to our games. I know that a lot of these I won't be able to make it to due to their timeslots. We also once again cop a terrible run on the TV. So, from a footy perspective we are looking pretty good, but we've been screwed financially. Looks like the AFL is sticking with Eddie's version of equalisation.

Looking at that, we could easily pull nine or ten wins if a few things go our way.