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.

The problem is that people dont show up in numbers to crappy timeslots.

the hawks this year got 16k to a sunday twilight against an interstate club.

dont give us crappy time slots and expect to get more people there by playing well

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.

No problem playing away games but we should play 0 home games at Etihad.

I get in the overall picture Essendon away at the G probably makes up for GWS at Etihad. But I'd prefer it the other way around really. Just hate home games there

The club should get on the front foot for round 1, advertise the absolute hell out of it. get as many bums on seats as possible. Its our only home game in the first month!

Also due to the away games early against GWS and Adelaide I'm very worried if we don't win round 1.

All of a sudden we go on the road for 2 weeks before 4 home games against finalist.

0-8 start coming up.

We certainly finish the year after the bye with more winable games. Better not fade out this year.

Whinge whinge.

Because we played so well against the Cats at the MCG this year didn't we?

More referring to the fact the AFL wouldn't be able to handle some very agro Melbourne supporters hurling abuse at one M. Clark.

“The fixture is reflective of where we are at as a club.”

What a terrible effing fixture from a commercial standpoint.

The PA and WCE games in NT are never more necessary - they, and the games against Coll on QB and Syd on Sat Night in Womens Round are the only games we will make money from. Perhaps we will come out for the GC game on Sat in Rd 1, but the other 6 home games are ALL on Sunday (Rd 23 v GWS is destined for that timeslot).

Those Sunday games are against all low drawing teams - WB, St K, NM, Freo, BL, and GWS.

I hope the 'spin' about this fixture being 'for the fans' is found out - it's 'for the fans of the high drawing teams' and that is it.

It's a joke there are pros and cons but purely from a financial perspective it is another debacle! No home games against Essendon, Carlton, Richmond, Hawthorn or Geelong again! We had one against Geelong this year for the first time in a few years but besides that we played none of those teams at home in 2014 and not in 2015 either. I'm disappointed in the clubs response a fixture should not be a reflection of performance it should be created as fairly, equitably and transparently as possible. Just once I'd like to see this club grow some balls and stand up for themselves. I am sick of Jackson's platitudes and Bartlett may as well not exist for all the presence he has in the media and game at large.

The club might well have screamed and shouted PRIOR to the draw in PRIVATE.

To carry on now would be highlighting our irrelevance and impotency.

The AFL is hardly going to say "Good point Peter! lets just go away and rejig the draw just for you..."

If we can win 8-10 games in 2015 we'll move up the pecking order in terms of commercial spots and blockbusters.

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.

And Essendon 5 sat night 2 fri night and only 3 home games vs Non-vic clubs. If this is their "punishment" from the AFL for all the crap they've been through I'd hate to see what favouritism looks like!

The club might well have screamed and shouted PRIOR to the draw in PRIVATE.

To carry on now would be highlighting our irrelevance and impotency.

The AFL is hardly going to say "Good point Peter! lets just go away and rejig the draw just for you..."

If we can win 8-10 games in 2015 we'll move up the pecking order in terms of commercial spots and blockbusters.

Come on, thats a joke - we never say boo and so nothing ever changes. We said nothing last year so this year we cop the same treatment. There's absolutely no reason the Carlton, Essendon or Richmond games couldn't be our home game instead of the other way around. It happens every single year and we just bend over and cop it.

The whole point is there shouldn't be a pecking order, buying into that rubbish just shows you've swallowed the AFL's propaganda.

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.

Mate your neo-liberal economic crap doesn't work at all let alone in a closed environment like a footy league. Yeah we "may" be able to bump those crowds up to break even or make a small profit but on the flip side the big clubs get gifted games that gift them hundreds of thousands for every game. We will draw the same crowds against Richmond Essendon and Carlton regardless of who is the home side and they'll draw anywhere from 40k-60k the difference is they pocket the money from these games every year while we have to scrap to try and get a 30k crowd against rubbish interstate sides if we're lucky and all things go as well as possible.

We haven't played a home game against Essendon since 2010. We've beaten them almost every time though (3-1), so what's the explanation for denying us an opportunity to gain financially out of that match-up?

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.

Haha you have your head in the sand! Who the hell wants to watch Melbourne? Why should Melbourne be given a good draw and prime time slots? This all has an influence on how the draw is created.

Why are we selling games interstate? Because we've been a poorly managed club. Not because of the league's poor fixturing. We were given an absolute dream draw in 2007 commercially and in terms of ease, earned after a decade of good performances. We blew it and haven't come out of the funk since.

30k is better than losing money. What I am saying is that we have those matches as a product of a few things, including having to sell games, but also because the successful sides often play each other twice and so therefore need to make up the home games elsewhere against clubs like Melbourne. If we start winning, then maybe we'll get a home game against Richmond as other clubs around us become less commercially attractive for the audience and league.

The league has an obligation to fans more than it does to Melbourne. The fixture is fair in that we hardly travel for away games and we play 13 games at the MCG. Arguing that the league has an obligation to create a *commercially* "fair" league is just ignorant to how the league is run. No one gives a [censored] about Melbourne atm. The only way to change that is to win games and you'll be amazed at how much the fixture will shift in our favour.

Mate your neo-liberal economic crap doesn't work at all let alone in a closed environment like a footy league. Yeah we "may" be able to bump those crowds up to break even or make a small profit but on the flip side the big clubs get gifted games that gift them hundreds of thousands for every game. We will draw the same crowds against Richmond Essendon and Carlton regardless of who is the home side and they'll draw anywhere from 40k-60k the difference is they pocket the money from these games every year while we have to scrap to try and get a 30k crowd against rubbish interstate sides if we're lucky and all things go as well as possible.

Neo-liberal economic crap? What's the alternative? This is a competitive league. History has shown that the league's socialistic attempt to "equalise" the comp is futile when natural evolutions like free agency and growing audiences and interest shape how the league is marketed and promoted to fans. I bet you'll be applauding like an autistic seal if we sign Dangerfield next year. DAT NEO-LIBERAL CRAP!

As Jackson said, the fixture is a product of where the club is at atm. If the club and I can see and acknowledge that, why can't you?

I mean, I have Peter Jackson on my side. Thank God we don't have whatever the hell the opposite of a "neo-liberal" is running the joint!

I generally agree with the argument that until we get more competitive we're not going to get good fixtures, but Carlton was average at best this year and got 6 Friday night games. Hell, St Kilda finished below us and in addition to somehow getting a Friday night game they also have 7 home games against Victorian sides (including Carlton, Essendon, Hawthorn, Richmond and Geelong).

St Kilda's draw makes me really angry. I don't see the fairness in that.

JC, they all look unwinnable

PJ's reaction had a 'no-comment' element feel to it. Disappointed?

While we have a really difficult draw in rounds 4-7 it opens for us after that. So feeling optimistic for a much better year. I'm delighted we have the ANZAC Eve game and hope it becomes an annual event. This game is a big plus for us.

Haha you have your head in the sand! Who the hell wants to watch Melbourne? Why should Melbourne be given a good draw and prime time slots? This all has an influence on how the draw is created.

Why are we selling games interstate? Because we've been a poorly managed club. Not because of the league's poor fixturing. We were given an absolute dream draw in 2007 commercially and in terms of ease, earned after a decade of good performances. We blew it and haven't come out of the funk since.

Then kick us out of the league and then make it a fair draw, while you are at it - kick St Kilda, NM, WB, BL, GC, and GWS out of the comp - and then make it a fair draw.

Why bother at all?

I want equalisation and it involves the fixture.

I know why it is created the way it is - I am saying that they are missing a chance to equalise the league with the way they maximise crowds.

Aside from Collingwood on QB - we have no home game against any other high drawing Victorian teams.

How is that so easy to accept?

• One more game at the MCG
• One less interstate trip
• One less game at Etihad
• A marquee Friday night game
• Double up games against St. Kilda, Bulldogs and GWS
• No travel between rounds 15 to 22.

And you guys still think it's the end of the world.

Stop thinking about the calculator and balance sheet for one second and realise from a footballing point of view it's actually not too bad.

Leave PJ to worry about the commercial side.

Maybe it's time we started to alternate home games with Collingwood for QBD, with the agreement that we get at least 2 of Hawthorn, Carlton, Essendon and Richmond games as home games.

I have no doubt the AFL are using our QBD home game request as a way of justifying these other games as "away" games.

Given there is a real chance that Essendon will have a number of players out for anywhere from 1/4 of a game to 18months those that play them early are obviously going to benefit from a number of their better players not being available, we unfortunately only play them once and that is not until round 14.

The problem is the quality of our players.

Improving the player quality will mean more wins and an improved draw.

forget all the rest just win more games and everything else will follow.

More referring to the fact the AFL wouldn't be able to handle some very agro Melbourne supporters hurling abuse at one M. Clark.

They obviously haven't counted on them playing us at the MCG in our home final

They obviously haven't counted on them playing us at the MCG in our home final

They wont be hardtack

Cats wont make the finals in 2015

We haven't played a home game against Essendon since 2010. We've beaten them almost every time though (3-1), so what's the explanation for denying us an opportunity to gain financially out of that match-up?

The answer is simple. By making it a home game for Essendon, the AFL don't have to address the issue of a clash jumper! Weak as...!

I was expecting it to be worse.

We can't go crying wolf, particularly given the seasons we've had.

We'll get the big games the more we improve. Roos, PJ etc know that.

I was expecting it to be worse.

We can't go crying wolf, particularly given the seasons we've had.

We'll get the big games the more we improve. Roos, PJ etc know that.

That covers it