On 26/10/2016 at 22:24, Grimes Times said:

R1 V Saints changed to Sat 4.40 twilight . 

 

  On 26/10/2016 at 22:40, old demon me!!! said:

1st game v St.Kilda moved to 4.45 pm Sat 

Fabulous marketing opportunity round 1 - thanks Gil.  After all, Essendon deserved it far more than us (you bastard).

  On 26/10/2016 at 22:43, Bimbo said:

At least there is apparently a bye after the round 10 game against the Suns in Alice.

Good, though Alice in winter is hardly an exhausting game.  Easier in fact then travelling to Perth.  

I still think that a bye after a Darwin game for both teams would be far fairer, but then when was fairness on the AFL's agenda?

  On 26/10/2016 at 22:52, Sir Why You Little said:

Excellent...We may finally make some money off this draw..

All depends on whether the team can win of course and not decide whether to switch off...

This.

There is money to be made for this club if we continue our progress.

I am actually really happy with our fixture. The only bad is repeat 6 day breaks, but given the rest I'll take that. 

  On 27/10/2016 at 09:44, monoccular said:

 

Fabulous marketing opportunity round 1 - thanks Gil.  After all, Essendon deserved it far more than us (you bastard).

Good, though Alice in winter is hardly an exhausting game.  Easier in fact then travelling to Perth.  

I still think that a bye after a Darwin game for both teams would be far fairer, but then when was fairness on the AFL's agenda?

3hrs to Alice Springs vs 4.5hrs flight time to Darwin....

  On 27/10/2016 at 10:30, jnrmac said:

3hrs to Alice Springs vs 4.5hrs flight time to Darwin....

Average Max at Alice = 19.8 and 19.7 degrees in June and July

Average Max at Darwin= 30.6 for both June and July

A very big difference

  On 27/10/2016 at 08:28, A F said:

I'd prefer St Kilda getting airtime. They won't have anywhere to hide when they get exposed by decent sides. I'm glad they're not being overrated by anyone other than their own supporters.

Have you scrolled through the 'Top 8 2017' thread?

  On 27/10/2016 at 11:27, Skuit said:

Have you scrolled through the 'Top 8 2017' thread?

I probably posted on it. All these threads run into one eventually in my mind.

I take it a bunch of us were saying St Kilda were going to trouble some teams? Well, they're wrong. :D

I think Port [censored] up choosing to play, of all teams Gold Coast, the team that shares the national colour of China,  in China.

Crowd will naturally back Gold Coast 

Ok, having studied the fixture all day it will be a disaster if we dont play finals in 2017.  There are no excuses anymore.

Pretty happy with the fixture overall and 6 day breaks are overrated. Where they become an issue is when you start getting them back to back. The 6 day break against the Cats is early in the season the second is after Anzac Eve and the Bombers will be coming off 5 days. The one that I am not happy with is against Meth Coast in Perth when we will be on back to back 6 day breaks and a long road trip. Overall though on face value it is a good draw.

  On 27/10/2016 at 11:35, olisik said:

I think Port [censored] up choosing to play, of all teams Gold Coast, the team that shares the national colour of China,  in China.

Crowd will naturally back Gold Coast 

I mentioned this on an SA radio station when I was telling them that Port are NOT pioneers when it comes to the whole China saga...

Surely Port realise that the Chinese people LOVE the colour red 

  On 27/10/2016 at 04:29, Petraccattack said:

St Kilda got

4 Friday nights

14 games at Etihad

4 Six Day breaks

 

How much did they pay the AFL under the table for that?  We got robbed.

But the muppets only got 2 games at the G.

We only play out side of Victoria 6 time, 2 of those games at in the NT, 1 in Tassie against North. And one of the NT games is before our bye.

That's a really good fixture for us.

 

  On 27/10/2016 at 12:40, ILLDieADemon said:

We only play out side of Victoria 6 time, 2 of those games at in the NT, 1 in Tassie against North.

That's a really good season.

 

It will be judged after Round 23 I feel...

The fixture looks good to me. If we can continue our linear progression upwards, a final series beckons. The ingredients appear to be there ... a popular and new coach in the modern day mould, a young and talented side with an extra year for bodies and minds to mature and some experienced players to help them move forward in their journey. But as always, there's many a slip ...

At this time last year for example, double up games against Fremantle would have looked ominous. Nobody would have predicted their collapse from a top of the ladder finisher in 2015 to bottom four in 2016. In late October 2015, we also were uncertain of the outcome of the impending CAS decision that affected Essendon and a handful of other clubs that had Bomber players in their midst. In the end, clubs that played them twice reaped a nice little bonanza.

On the face of it, not having to play last year's top eight twice bar Adelaide and North Melbourne seems very agreeable to me. We play Fremantle once also, and that's a home game on the MCG. If my expectations are correct - i.e that North will fall and Fremantle will move up the ladder - then it's a good fixture indeed.

Factors such as a run of games in Victoria to start the season are important as well - the Bullies had a great launching pad this year when they had so many early games at home.

The issue of six day breaks and their timing might be a challenge but that's a matter for the health and conditioning people and I think we should be able to handle it better with a stronger, more mature list that has extra depth. As usual injuries will play their part - if we can maintain a fit and healthy list we will win plenty of games.

And if we win the games, the crowds will come. 

You couldn't be anything other than optimistic with this year's fixture.

After the bye this year we had an unkind run of interstate games and 6 day breaks.  The coaches did a great job of rotating/resting young players and we won in Darwin (Freo), MCG (GCS and Hawks) and almost beat WCE in Perth.  So, I think we can rely on the fitness and game coaches managing those nasty 6 day breaks next year.

On the fixture overall, it is disappointing that so many of our Home games are on a Sunday and vs interstate teams which isn't good for crowd size and gate revenue.  But at least we have avoided the 'graveyard' time slot and quite a few games are @ 3.20 on FTA ch 7 so our sponsors get some airtime and supporters/potential members get to see our young team play and then might sign up as members!

Rd1 Saints Etihad     50/50
Rd2 Carlton MCG      win
Rd3 Geelong Etihad  loss
Rd4 Freo MCG            win
Rd5 Rich MCG            win
Rd6 Essendon Etihad    win
Rd 7 Hawks MCG         win
Rd8 Adel AO            50/50
Rd9 North MCG       win
Rd10 Gold Coast Tregar    big win
Rd11 Bye
Rd12 Queens Bday        win
Rd13 Bulldogs Etihad     loss
Rd14 West Coast Away    50/50
Rd15 Swans MCG           loss
Rd16 Carlton MCG        win
Rd17 Adel Darwin         50/50
Rd18 Port MCG             win
Rd19 North Tassy         win
Rd20 GWS Manuka      50/50
Rd21 StKilda MCG       50/50
Rd22 Brisbane MCG     win
Rd23 Collingwood MCG     win

 

feeling 12 wins and a few that are 50/50 so the 2 games against the Saints in my opinion will decided if we play finals or not.

  On 27/10/2016 at 04:29, Petraccattack said:

St Kilda got

4 Friday nights

14 games at Etihad

4 Six Day breaks

 

How much did they pay the AFL under the table for that?  We got robbed.

Saints have no blockbuster games we have Queens Bday and ANZAC Eve. I don't think we can start whinging about their Friday games.

  On 27/10/2016 at 11:35, olisik said:

I think Port [censored] up choosing to play, of all teams Gold Coast, the team that shares the national colour of China,  in China.

Crowd will naturally back Gold Coast 

 

  On 27/10/2016 at 12:09, Krazy Jaeger O'Smeara said:

I mentioned this on an SA radio station when I was telling them that Port are NOT pioneers when it comes to the whole China saga...

Surely Port realise that the Chinese people LOVE the colour red 

Good get. Also "gold". Team from "Golden Land" who wear the colour of good fortune.

 

Prosperity + good fortune. It's enough to make you want to go to distant casino.

  On 27/10/2016 at 19:58, Whispering_Jack said:

And if we win the games, the crowds will come. 

Talking around the traps, one of the buzz subjects last season was the exciting brand of footy we play when we're "on".

Especially after the Hawthorn win. That really had them sitting up and taking notice. Gave us a lot of credibility.

Plus the hype surrounding Hogan. The kind of player people go to watch just because he's playing.

Winning in an exciting fashion, as opposed to a Freo or Sydney under Roos fashion, is a crowd puller... of people who wouldn't normally watch the Demons.

Go Demons!!!

  On 27/10/2016 at 12:08, Pennant St Dee said:

Pretty happy with the fixture overall and 6 day breaks are overrated. Where they become an issue is when you start getting them back to back. The 6 day break against the Cats is early in the season the second is after Anzac Eve and the Bombers will be coming off 5 days. The one that I am not happy with is against Meth Coast in Perth when we will be on back to back 6 day breaks and a long road trip. Overall though on face value it is a good draw.

We have 3 x 6 day breaks in a row mid-season and on top of that, we have to travel for one and our opponents are having 10, 9 and 7 day breaks before playing us. 

That's pretty significant.

  On 27/10/2016 at 20:26, Dr. Gonzo said:

Saints have no blockbuster games we have Queens Bday and ANZAC Eve. I don't think we can start whinging about their Friday games.

Yeah we can. When was the last one we had? The Toiges have 13 in the past few seasons I heard Brendan Gale say...

They wonder why some teams don't make money? It aint rocket science.

I don't think I've said this in previous years (been more pragmatic about it) but I'm pretty happy with this fixture. It's given us more prime time exposure (hopefully we'll make good on it), and I think it's pretty equitable in terms of the teams we play.

I'm laughing about the tigers being unhappy about getting no Friday night fixtures. They don't deserve it, they've been spoonfed good slots for years now, back to the pack until you actually play decent footy.

  On 27/10/2016 at 04:20, Jaded said:

Their Jewish supporters won't be happy! 

 

 

  On 27/10/2016 at 05:21, nutbean said:

gets worse for all observant Jewish supporters of any clubs - the grand final next year falls on Day of Atonement  - the holiest day on the Jewish Calendar 

If you're into omens, St Kilda won it's (only) Premiership when the Grand Final was played on the Day of Atonement in 1966. Keep in mind that this was before live TV coverage, colour TV or VCRs. Most Jewish St Kilda supporters who were observant and missed the game never got to see it. 

Ian Synman, a Jewish St Kilda player was a big story that year...would he play in the Grand Final or not? He played.

  On 27/10/2016 at 21:38, jnrmac said:

We have 3 x 6 day breaks in a row mid-season and on top of that, we have to travel for one and our opponents are having 10, 9 and 7 day breaks before playing us. 

That's pretty significant.

Yep read that after I had posted very difficult period and will be very important for us to win Queens Birthday and at least 1 of those 3(6 day breaks) at least