Just a quick trip down the Yarra to raze a rival castle.

And I do mean raze. Win the game, then burn the place to the ground.

 

 

Remind me where the Bombers finished again?

 

They finished last... sounds great when you say it out loud ? 

 

 

The last couple of losses to St Kilda there we've started well then stopped completely and allowed them a big run of unanswered goals.

Anyone got a theory of why this is, seems we can't stop the opposition's run on there or slow the game down when necessary.

The 2 games I saw this year at Eitihad we were out coached first and out played, second. Our players did not man up on saints players setting up on the opposite back flank, time and time again so when they intercepted at half back, they just switched play to 3 saints set up on the other side who would run and kick into their forward set up and goal.  My memory is it happened time and time again with no attempt to disrupt what was a set play by just going man on man in the back half. Maybe it was a learning period for us as we learnt to play our "no personal responsibility" zone defence. Anyway it cost us 2 games at Eitihad. 

Saints $1.30 Demons $4.00

the AFL are Grand Prix... 

 

Glad you feel this way 6 months before the season.

Yeah I am too

I`d rather get them in Round 1 than later in the year.....Upsets happen in Round 1, and we are now Round 1 specialists!!

Dees $1.76 saints $2.07 on sportsbet should be the other way around 

 

I know it didn't work out too well in 2014 round 1 but I like this match up. The Saints will be a good side. And win, lose or draw I'd rather play a good side in round 1 than get fake form against a bad team. 

We'll have all offseason to build our game plan to work on all grounds but also plenty of time to adapt it for Etihad and pick the right side. 

Speed and size of the ground have often been mentioned as the reasons for our downfall at Etihad but I think work rate and skills have contributed just as much if not more. 

The hard dry ground makes the ball bounce and move up and down the ground quickly so you have to keep working all over the ground whilst the ball is in motion. So often the Dees players will do a few efforts then fatigue and the other side will score. Then skills have been just as big a concern. It's a ground where you have to attack the corridor and we just haven't been able to do that.

The Saints are a high work rate pressure side. We'll have to be fit and much better at dealing with pressure. The game will sort out who is and isn't improved.

Why wouldnt we be fit?

Whats the problem in fielding a super fit side in Round1 For C@*%ts sake?

Rnd1 at Etihad sucks but it will be a good chance to break a few hoodoos early, even if we do not, atleast it will be 1 Etihad game done for the year.

 

Anyone notice they can't see who's being quoted anymore? Sorry had to post this here as no need to start a thread about it.. 

Yes, sorry what's your name? 

“Not Round 1 and not at Etihad and not on Grand Prix day, we’ll have three people there watching.

“That is not a good start for Melbourne.”

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2016/10/23/ox-on-dees-round-1-fixture-is-that-a-joke/

 

We played the Saints in rnd 1 2014 @ the dreaded Etihad. 

We lost by 3 points but that was after we kicked ourselves out of the game with 6 goals and 15 points and Tom Mc playing injured letting Reiwoldt off the leash!  in 2015 we handed them the game with a few seconds to go!  2016 didn't go so well vs Saints but we were experimenting with our structures.

We have been very close to beating them so there is no reason why we should fear this game.  From now on every game is winnable.  

Go Dees!  Lets get off to a winning start and make a statement to the competition!

 

“Not Round 1 and not at Etihad and not on Grand Prix day, we’ll have three people there watching.

“That is not a good start for Melbourne.”

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2016/10/23/ox-on-dees-round-1-fixture-is-that-a-joke/

 

Stop whinging Ox we can beat that mob, seriously the way some people are reacting you'd think we were scheduled to play the 2014 Hawks in Tassie.

There's no reason we can't win this game, we should be thankful we get to start the year in Melbourne again for the 19th season in a row. The timing isn't ideal and the AFL have destroyed their integrity with the 3 prime time games but what else is new? Saying we will start 4 points behind is ridiculously melodramatic.

bullet dodged if it's the same day as the grand prix - better to have no home game on that day than have one, as crowds and tv audiences will likely be diminished as a result.

 

Stop whinging Ox we can beat that mob, seriously the way some people are reacting you'd think we were scheduled to play the 2014 Hawks in Tassie.

There's no reason we can't win this game, we should be thankful we get to start the year in Melbourne again for the 19th season in a row. The timing isn't ideal and the AFL have destroyed their integrity with the 3 prime time games but what else is new? Saying we will start 4 points behind is ridiculously melodramatic.

His "start 4 points behind" comment is pretty silly, but I agree with what he's saying about burying us (and another upcoming team in the Saints) exposure wise.

I'm appalled that the AFL have scheduled the drug cheating team who finished last on the Saturday night of Round 1.

 

People complaining about fixture are an embarrassment to the club.

 

People complaining about fixture are an embarrassment to the club.

Don't ask PJ what he thinks of us being scheduled round 1 Sunday (probably) twilight at Etihad on Grand Prix day then...

 

 

We played the Saints in rnd 1 2014 @ the dreaded Etihad. 

We lost by 3 points but that was after we kicked ourselves out of the game with 6 goals and 15 points and Tom Mc playing injured letting Reiwoldt off the leash! 

Incorrect.

We were nearly always well behind and rallied with a couple of late goals to only lose by 17.

Edited October 23, 20168 yr by ProDee

Not thrilled about this, but I'll wait to see the full fixture before I go on an abusive rampage about what a load of sh*t this competition is

 

People complaining about fixture are an embarrassment to the club.

It's pretty awful scheduling. Round 1 is historically a big drawing round and as a club that really needs those big crowds and gate receipts, we are playing Etihad on a Sunday in an away game. We'd be better off getting 28k-30k to the MCG against GWS or GC.

I'm [censored] off not so much because it's against the Saints at Etihad and we have a bad record in both scenarios. More so because we miss out on a big windfall from the inevitable round 1 interest. Meanwhile, a team that got caught cheating is in prime time, and the season opens with two teams that finished well below us in 2016. 

I think being [censored] off for those reasons is completely rational. It's awful scheduling. I imagine the club is mightily [censored] off as well. Especially if we end up getting Freo or GC or GWS at the MCG the next week (which I'm willing to bet we will). We'd have started the year off with limited exposure with a Sunday away game at Etihad, before coming into Round 2 with the Round 1 hype having been rubbed down and us facing a low-drawing interest side. Probably at 1:10 on Sunday.

Edited October 23, 20168 yr by praha

Does anyone know when the full draw will be released?

 

Does anyone know when the full draw will be released?

I think it comes out Thursday 

Draw is released Thursday

 

 

Exactly.

Round 1 seems as good a time as any to break our duck there and against the Saints. 

A few fans need to toughen up a bit.

It's the team that plays in rd 1, not the fans, so false bravado is meaningless and worthless.

Some take the essedon approach. If we say it loud enough for long enough, it will come true. It doesn't.

It's time the TEAM toughened up, and stopped losing against the Saints, and at Etihad (and other times of course). Then you will see more people talking up our chances, instead of simply stating the plain cold hard facts, in that we always seem to find a way to lose the unlosable when it comes to playing in a given set of circumstances..

.

I don't care who we play.  Don't care where we play.  Someone just hurry up and bounce the [censored] ball!! Come on you good things!!!!