Tough draw, but an excellent fixture. 

 

Overall i’m very happy and I’d assume the club would be too. 

 

Feels good to be relevant. 

I can't believe we finally got a home game against Essendon. Our first since 2010 and only second since 2005.

28 minutes ago, Demonland said:

Round 23 match against Kangaroos in Tasmania.

That will be the 8 th game of the year not in Melbourne. Yes I know NT are 2, but that is very disappointing for Victorian fans, who want to see their team play live, without the extra expense of travel and in the case of Geelong, it’s probably sold out anyway, as it’s their first home game. 

 

35 minutes ago, Demonland said:

 

I counted 4, I may have been a Thursday night.

Financially it's the best fixture we've had in a long long time. We're on the up on-field, we've been on the up off-field for years now, and this will only drive us further up off-field. We're going to make a lot of money next year and start becoming a powerhouse again if we can be competitive for years to come and maintain this sort of draw and sustained success.

In terms of exposure in prime time night games and free to air tv, it's the best fixture we've had in 15-20 years. This fixture is brilliant for supporters. We get to see a number of quality games in prime time, and more games on free to air than we've had in bloody forever. Neutrals are going to see more of us and our hard attacking brand and we're going to get more positive hype, media and exposure as a result.

In terms of difficulty... it's rough. Really rough. We're a top 4 team now, and we'll be made to earn it. If we make top 4 again based on this fixture, we'll win the flag. We've got one of the hardest fixtures by a mile, but if we show up each week then we'll be fine. This will be a good test for the youngsters to see if they're maturing properly of if there's still a ways to go.

For those that think our draw is hard have a look at Richmonds,, 1st half is brutal.

Edited November 1, 20186 yr by Jibroni

So the Druggies get 8 prime-time games for finishing outside of the 8.

The filth made the GF so their fixture is understandable, but the scums draw reeks of being the AFL's lovechild.

5 minutes ago, deeology said:

I don't understand people being upset about QB. The home game should have always been rotated. Maguire could have easily been saying he didn't want to play QB against Melbourne. As we've been a rubbish side for the last decade.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Dees members need to pay to get into a Pies home game? Collingwood sells an away game membership package for games at the G. This means they are collecting revenue on what should be our ticket sales when it's our home game.

38 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

West Coast, Collingwood and Richmond twice.

We play Gold Coast and West Coast back to back interstate. West Coast off a 6 day break.

Very stiff draw.

I’m glad we’ve got those teams twice, I don’t want to finish 4th like Collingwood last year on the back of only beating 1 top 8 team. We wanted to be a big club, we wanted big games and we got them. Very excited. Hawks have had draws like this for years. 

Will be interested to see what happens with the Big Freeze on QB. Now it’s not our home game. 

I assume it will still happen.

If we play well the club could make some serious coin. 

 

The good:

We've got 9 night games (Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat = good for exposure), one trip to Perth.

The bad:

We've got a four day break before the Anzac eve game, and the worst draw of the top 6 teams last year for playing the top 6 teams twice. The below list shows the ladder positions last year for the teams the top 6 play twice. We have the worst of the lot, playing 4 of the top 6 teams twice. How the Swans get to play Carlton twice is beyond me.

Tigers (1)	3,5,7,10,18
Eagles (2)	3,4,5,12,14
Pies (3)	1, 2, 5, 11, 13
Hawks (4)	2,7, 8, 9, 15
Dees (5)	1,2,3,6,16
Swans (6)	5,7,8,11,18

1 minute ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

I’m glad we’ve got those teams twice, I don’t want to finish 4th like Collingwood last year on the back of only beating 1 top 8 team. We wanted to be a big club, we wanted big games and we got them. Very excited. Hawks have had draws like this for years. 

True. And the flip side of the coin is those 3 teams all need to play us twice.

It's a great draw to test us out, but we'll need to have improved on this year to make top 4.

since 2009 we have had two home games against Geelong at the G. (2014 & 2018). They have had 9 with 8 in Geelong.

 

The fact this board hasnt exploded in outrage at the financial implications of this fixture says to me that its a great result.

Add to that our TV exposure in good time slots and this is surely our best fixture in many years.

Hard, well yes, but thats what happens when your team starts winning games.

I like it. A lot.

We don’t have a bad run home after the bye.

17 minutes ago, Lord Travis said:

Financially it's the best fixture we've had in a long long time. We're on the up on-field, we've been on the up off-field for years now, and this will only drive us further up off-field. We're going to make a lot of money next year and start becoming a powerhouse again if we can be competitive for years to come and maintain this sort of draw and sustained success.

In terms of exposure in prime time night games and free to air tv, it's the best fixture we've had in 15-20 years. This fixture is brilliant for supporters. We get to see a number of quality games in prime time, and more games on free to air than we've had in bloody forever. Neutrals are going to see more of us and our hard attacking brand and we're going to get more positive hype, media and exposure as a result.

In terms of difficulty... it's rough. Really rough. We're a top 4 team now, and we'll be made to earn it. If we make top 4 again based on this fixture, we'll win the flag. We've got one of the hardest fixtures by a mile, but if we show up each week then we'll be fine. This will be a good test for the youngsters to see if they're maturing properly of if there's still a ways to go.

Agree with this.

Commercially it is an amazing draw.

But I only care about winning flags, and this is one hard draw. However realistically I think our tough end to the season this year, is what drove us to succeed in finals. No point having a soft draw and making it on the back of that alone... hello Geelong!

I cannot believe we are being sent down to geelong again. 

Last time we played them we got over 90,000. Yes I know its a final but I thought surely this year we won't need to go there again next year.  

Also make it a saturday arvo not night.  

It will be interesting to see which strip the AFL make Essendon wear for our home game against them. Either we'll have to wear our away strip or the AFL will decide that there is no clash.

Just now, dees189227 said:

I cannot believe we are being sent down to geelong again. 

Last time we played them we got over 90,000. Yes I know its a final but I thought surely this year we won't need to go there again next year.  

Also make it a saturday arvo not night.  

To be fair none of their fans got to see that game live because they couldn't be bothered turning up. Let's reward them for that effort.

Should be huge crowds for the home games against Richmond and Collingwood. Very happy the boys play in Hobart again. Better [censored] win this time!!

I am sure Richmond, West Coast and Collingwood fans aren't thrilled about playing us twice either... think about that! 

Disappointed the QB and Anzac eve games are both away. It would have been good to alternate 1 as a home game each yr.

Why is the Round 5 game against St. Kilda at 4:35pm on Saturday when we have the 4 day break before the ANZAC day game?

FFS AFL get your [censored] together. Why is this game not at 1:20pm? Not that it make a huge difference but come on.

Home games at the G vs Ess, Hawks, Tigers and Pies is huge for us financially. 

Also huge for fans to see us play some really big games at the G.  Will be good for memberships.  Lots of good value games to watch - a few may be sell out games! 

Edit:  Not fussed that ANZAC and QB are 'Away' as we only miss out on hosting rights - the 'return' games will still get good crowds as fans come to the G to watch some damn good games.

Edited November 1, 20186 yr by Lucifer's Hero