The 2016 Fixture

[Je Roos Salem 661]

If we get our pants pulled down twice in the top end again we have to terminate the partnership immediately.

The Richmond game is our only night game in Melbourne (And it's Sunday).

Some of the slots suck (Wish we could play Carlton early in the season) but who we play twice is fairly trivial as a soft fixture has never really helped us (or our crowds)

Also if you include preseason we play the Saints at Etihad 3 TIMES this year

We just have to win 2/3 of Bombers, Tigers and Pies to get our season rolling. At our very best I could see us 5-4 after Round 9, but from thereon I could still see us struggling our way to 8-9 wins

Also, it's nice to see that the AFL has scheduled us in Geelong for the 2nd season in a row before the bye (wink)

[Je Roos Salem 661]

Also a big pat on the back to the AFL for having no interest in showcasing the best young talent in the game, Jesse Hogan, on Friday night footy in 2016.

Brilliant stuff.

He still goes down alright on Sunday nights with a roast dinner though

[monoccular 17,413]

Hang on a minute... we only play the Bombers, Blues and Lions once

Arent all bottom 6 teams supposed to play each other twice? The AFL makes less sense with every year that passes

They are basically corrupt and lie when they talk of equalization.

Nothing new.

[The Song Formerly Known As 6,479]

[Jaded No More 68,862]

Unfair.

We had a decent season and could do a Doggies next year

We have the most exciting key forward in the competition and when we play well we are exciting to watch

I don't expect 7 Friday night games like we are some sort of Carlton like superstar team (sarcasm meter just blew), but at least one Friday night game and home games against Essendon, Carlton or Richmond, would be nice.

Also one of only 2 Vic teams made to play in Geelong. Plenty of other rubbish Vic teams who never go near the joint.

[The Song Formerly Known As 6,479]

Unfair.

We had a decent season and could do a Doggies next year

We have the most exciting key forward in the competition and when we play well we are exciting to watch

I don't expect 7 Friday night games like we are some sort of Carlton like superstar team (sarcasm meter just blew), but at least one Friday night game and home games against Essendon, Carlton or Richmond, would be nice.

Also one of only 2 Vic teams made to play in Geelong. Plenty of other rubbish Vic teams who never go near the joint.

Losses:

Carlton

St. Kilda x 2

Essendon

etc.

[titan_uranus 24,970]

We've been given one extra home game against a Victorian side (Coll, Haw, Rich, WB, St K). We get home games against three big Vic clubs. We get QBD and the ANZAC eve game.

Only one finalist twice is also helpful.

The remainder of the draw is abysmal. I hate that the AFL through its own incompetence is contractually required to send MCG tenants to play home games at Etihad. I hate it even more that the AFL thinks its OK to have us host an Etihad tenant in the process. We effectively have 10 home games this year and 12 away because of that.

No Friday nights is bad but expected. No Saturday night home games is a disgrace (that's a reduction from 2014 - how could we go backwards after an improved year?). We play in the dreaded Sunday 1.10 slot 5 times. Miniscule FTA exposure.

Worst of all, we have one fewer game overall at the G (down to 12 from 13 this year).

How our draw could go backwards in two or three regards despite only improving in one regard after our clearly improved year on field escapes me entirely.

[P-man 13,366]

It's laughably bad, especially from a commercial standpoint. Indeed, I laughed out loud a few times reading it. The biggest chuckle came after seeing that we play the Saints at Etihad twice

IF we can get our win column into double figures we should see some Fri/Sat night action in 2017. We'd want to be improving the football brand as well though. The Dogs have got themselves the much better fixture but it's the brand as well as the results that would have contributed to that decision. People want to watch them.

[special robert 438]

So bad I want out! Get me out of this competition. I live here in Melbourne because I can go and see the Dees. I'm totally sick of this big money TV thing....I hate it that I can't see them for 7 games.

I want out of the AFL.....let's play suburban football....form our own League....The Melb football league.

Play every Sat afternoon somewhere in Melb. We started this thing more than 150 yrs ago................Its time to LEAVE AND TAKE OUR TEAM WITH US!!!

[Gorgoroth 12,920]

Seriously...

It's pretty much as I expected. Until we play good football, not just win, but play good football and when our "supporters" become members and show up to games, then, and only then will we get a better draw.

The interstate games at the G we need to get 25k+ to each one to prove to the AFL it's worth us having them at the G, not Etihad.

If we get under 25k (really 30k) in round 1 then the AFL will think themselves justified by giving the G to other clubs on those sort of days.

[Demon17 5,186]

Super disappointing. Bummers get 2

I like it!

We play only one out of the eight finalists from this year twice - the hawks. Thus if we are ever to find out if we are getting ahead of the competition for spots 5 to 8 on the ladder next season will tell us. This also gives us lots of chances to have ' 8 oint' games against the middle level teams - if we can take those chances.

Importantly, the west coast and Dockers games are at their home ground, as is Sydney which saves our Victorian games for weaker teams in Victoria when we probably might go down to those 3 at the G anyway.

E.g. first up chance against western Sydney irrelevancies (sorry - giants) will be a great start.

Very optimistic!!!!!!

[timD 994]

The fixture is commercial hell but we've earned it. And it is not fair to boot. Carlton are awful but have had much better draws than us.

Life isn't fair; this competition isn't fair. All we can do is deal with it - and turn up. That means the supporters turn up to games and just maybe the team decides to turn up a few times as well - and there were plenty of times this year where that just didn't happen. Or they turned up late. Like the friend with chronic fatigue.

What this boils down to is winning games. We've been so bad for so long that opposition supporters don't turn up to watch their team beat us. That is reality. We have been a shameful joke and we get a draw that inflicts the least hurt on the competition. Well, that is tough for us but good for everyone else.

Stop sooking either way.

[ManDee 7,124]

I never said anything about home fixtures. I commented how people complain about going all the way to Docklands. I do a round trip of 20,000km's to watch the Dees play twice a year but so called supporters have a whinge about having to travel all the way to Etihad instead of the G. Grow up!

Well TD you are to be congratulated on your dedication. I suspect you make the pilgrimage to the MCG.

I have a much shorter trip of about 450km round trip and I avoid Etihad. For me it's the G or the TV.

Edited October 29, 2015 by ManDee

[Good Times Grimes 2,396]

Not thrilled with the fixture, but in past years I've been quite optimistic about it and we've served up big plates of [censored], so I'll try not to get too upset.

Last year you had to have 13 wins to make finals, so if that's to be our goal...

Realistically we should beat: Essendon, Gold Coast x 2, Brisbane, Carlton [5 wins]

We should also realistically win 50% of: GWS, North, Collingwood x 2, Richmond, St Kilda x 2, Bulldogs, Port Adelaide x 2, Adelaide [5.5 wins]

That leaves us needing 2.5 more wins, which could come from matches in the list above, or against sides I think we're more than likely to lose to: Hawthorn x 2, Sydney, Fremantle, WC, Geelong.

Finals are definitely a legitimate possibility for us for the first time in a long time, but we'll require a good run with injuries and a bit of luck. We can't afford to drop any matches to "easybeat" teams like Essendon and Carlton like we did last year.

[rpfc 28,249]

Those of us saying "I guess we have to suck it up and start winning, playing good footy, and getting people to games" realise that the draw should not care about that - we are just trying to say that reality is something we may want to deal with at some point...

[H_T 3,043]

[jnrmac 20,053]

Seriously...

It's pretty much as I expected. Until we play good football, not just win, but play good football and when our "supporters" become members and show up to games, then, and only then will we get a better draw.

The interstate games at the G we need to get 25k+ to each one to prove to the AFL it's worth us having them at the G, not Etihad.

If we get under 25k (really 30k) in round 1 then the AFL will think themselves justified by giving the G to other clubs on those sort of days.

What an unbelievably misguided post.

[jnrmac 20,053]

All these arguments about we earned it are just bulltish.

Carllton didn't earn 6 Friday night games and 2 Saturday night games this year. Carlton didn't 'earn' the fact that they haven't played at Geelong since last century.

The AFL do what they want and we need to rage about it. The comp will never be equal until they fix this crud.

[True Heart 115]

Not thrilled with the fixture, but in past years I've been quite optimistic about it and we've served up big plates of [censored], so I'll try not to get too upset.

Last year you had to have 13 wins to make finals, so if that's to be our goal...

Realistically we should beat: Essendon, Gold Coast x 2, Brisbane, Carlton [5 wins]

We should also realistically win 50% of: GWS, North, Collingwood x 2, Richmond, St Kilda x 2, Bulldogs, Port Adelaide x 2, Adelaide [5.5 wins]

That leaves us needing 2.5 more wins, which could come from matches in the list above, or against sides I think we're more than likely to lose to: Hawthorn x 2, Sydney, Fremantle, WC, Geelong.

Finals are definitely a legitimate possibility for us for the first time in a long time, but we'll require a good run with injuries and a bit of luck. We can't afford to drop any matches to "easybeat" teams like Essendon and Carlton like we did last year.

I love your optimism.

[The Stigga 1,090]

I'll say it again...

We are essentially playing two extra away games that are also interstate...

That's a massive disadvantage to a team who many on here believe are on the cusp of finals...

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,687]

For everyone complaining about "equalisation" keep in mind that the major driver of equalisation is money. Whether that money helps clubs with off field staff, rebuilds grandstands or is used for promotions, that money has to come from somewhere. And the biggest source of money is TV rights. So, to help with equalisation the AFL needs to create a draw that satisfies the wishes of its TV "partners".

I suspect the major problems with the draw result from the unwillingness of the free-to-air TV partner to see the bigger picture. So rather than wishing for a pox on both AFL House and the Seven Network (which are ironically both physically located in the same building), I just want to wish it upon the Seven Network.

[Chris 2,892]

Out of today's HUN, the draw difficulty ladder according to Champion data.

2016 FIXTURE DIFFICULTY LADDER

Points are calculated using the difference in each team’s FOR and AGAINST totals at the end of last season’s home-and-away rounds.

For example, Hawthorn at +904 points is rated hardest to play against. Carlton at -829 is the easiest.

1 North Melbourne +1302

Play twice: Adelaide, Hawthorn, St Kilda, Sydney, Western Bulldogs

2 Adelaide +1038

Play twice: Fremantle, Geelong, North Melbourne, Port Adelaide, West Coast

3 Richmond +660

Play twice: Collingwood, Essendon, Hawthorn, Port Adelaide, Sydney

4 Melbourne +545

Play twice: Collingwood, Gold Coast, Hawthorn, Port Adelaide, St Kilda

5 Fremantle +401

Play twice: Adelaide, Gold Coast, GWS, West Coast, Western Bulldogs

6 Hawthorn +298

Play twice: Melbourne, North Melbourne, Richmond, Sydney, West Coast

7 GWS +281

Play twice: Fremantle, Geelong, Gold Coast, Port Adelaide, Sydney

8 Brisbane Lions +219

Play twice: Carlton, Geelong, Gold Coast, Port Adelaide, West Coast

9 Sydney +115

Play twice: Carlton, GWS, Hawthorn, North Melbourne, Richmond

10 West Coast +92

Play twice: Adelaide, Brisbane Lions, Collingwood, Fremantle, Hawthorn

11 Collingwood -20

Play twice: Carlton, Melbourne, Richmond, West Coast, Western Bulldogs

12 Western Bulldogs -189

Play twice: Collingwood, Fremantle, Geelong, North Melbourne, St Kilda

13 Carlton -397

Play twice: Brisbane Lions, Collingwood, Essendon, St Kilda, Sydney

14 Port Adelaide -719

Play twice: Adelaide, Brisbane Lions, GWS, Melbourne, Richmond

15 Geelong -780

Play twice: Adelaide, Brisbane Lions, Essendon, GWS, Western Bulldogs

16 Gold Coast -893

Play twice: Brisbane Lions, Essendon, Fremantle, GWS, Melbourne

17 Essendon -967

Play twice: Carlton, Geelong, Gold Coast, Richmond, St Kilda

18 St Kilda -986

Play twice: Carlton, Essendon, Melbourne, North Melbourne, Western Bulldogs

Source: Champion Data

Interesting that the measures put in place were supposed to give the lower teams an easier draw, we finish fifth last and get the fourth hardest draw! Get stuffed AFL, I am bloody close to walking away for good with the crap they go on with.

[H_T 3,043]

Source: Champion Data

Interesting that the measures put in place were supposed to give the lower teams an easier draw, we finish fifth last and get the fourth hardest draw! Get stuffed AFL, I am bloody close to walking away for good with the crap they go on with.

I find this all obsolete, given the ever evolving lists, delistings, retirements, draft choices of the lower sides of recent years, development and improvement from within the club.

I'm content with the fact we've made our bed and that we will lie in it in 2016 and kick it's ars e.

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,687]

I find this all obsolete, given the ever evolving lists, delistings, retirements, draft choices of the lower sides of recent years, development and improvement from within the club.

I'm content with the fact we've made our bed and that we will lie in it in 2016 and kick it's ars e.

Always good to see Moderators finding ways around the auto-censor.

[Kumamoto_Ken 1,531]

Always good to see Moderators finding ways around the auto-censor.

[censored] oath!