26 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

It looks like a tough draw now but this time last year getting Adelaide twice looked tough as well. Commercially it's great that's as much as you can hope for from the fixture. Competitively if we're good enough we'll win. Prefer a battle hardened team than downhill skiers

If we are playing the sort of footy that puts us in premership contention, I really don't think it matters who we double up on as we should be better than 50/50 against the best sides.

It's also a double edge  sword in a good way.  Every time we play a good side, it's also a chance for us to deny them 4 points as well. In the context of playing Adelaide twice last year, our two victores against them essentially kept them from playing finals.

1 hour ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

If we are playing the sort of footy that puts us in premership contention, I really don't think it matters who we double up on as we should be better than 50/50 against the best sides.

It's also a double edge  sword in a good way.  Every time we play a good side, it's also a chance for us to deny them 4 points as well. In the context of playing Adelaide twice last year, our two victores against them essentially kept them from playing finals.

I love this perspective, the top 4 sides last year are overwhelming favourites to decide the premiership. By playing the other 3 twice we hold our destiny in our own hands. Yes we play Richmond off a 4 day break but Richmond has less time than us to recover. We do have 7 interstate games but two of them are of our own making and 3 of the other 5 should be straight forward victories if we are seriously in contention. Love this draw. Also apologies if some of this has already been stated, didn’t have time to read it all.

5 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

In the last two years the team who was 13th has gone on to win or challenge for the flag,

Guess who was 13 this year.... yep the Bulldogs

We will break that this year. I am paying for GF guarantee. Next year there will be a new stat: the team that finished 5th wins the Cup!

Fantastic that we are no longer stuck in the world of sunday twilight footy!

Great draw. Only 5 sunday games. Which is great and blockbuster games against Richmond, Collinwood and Essendon. Can't ask for much more than that. BRING ON 2019.

Enjoyed our break from Blundstone this year but here we go back there next year

If we are destined to play so much paddock football

Why cant we play on Mars ?

3 hours ago, defuture15 said:

Fantastic that we are no longer stuck in the world of sunday twilight footy!

You mean we have escaped from 'The Twilight Zone!'.

16 hours ago, ben russell said:

Bloody hell, they're making us earn a top 4 finish with doubles against the Eagles, Pies and Tigers..

On our day we can beat anybody so let's hope the boys rise to the challenge.

Yep they are indeed but practice makes perfect they say. We got slaughtered in a final with 1 reason being a lack of games against top sides i reckon. Being em on, will make us better.

Hawks complaining about the fixture.

I think the compromised fixture as we know it is in danger simply because there is now way too much manipulation to try and satisfy the various stakeholders while still maintaining some form of competitive integrity.

Odds on that there will be a committee formed to look at the fixture.

As with the gambling dollar the AFL is so hooked on the TV dollar that in turn is driven by Murdoch's Foxtel it will take strong wills to swim against the ever increasing tide of manipulation.

Yeah, it’s a hard draw.

Good thing we are a great team...

5 hours ago, puntkick said:

Why cant we play on Mars ?

The AFL are still trying to work out how to give us a 6 day break to the next game despite the fact it takes 9 months travel time 

6 hours ago, puntkick said:

Why cant we play on Mars ?

You want to play in Ballarat?

A reasonable summary and explanation of the draw by Jake Niall

https://www.watoday.com.au/sport/afl/afl-s-2019-fixture-punishes-clubs-as-much-as-it-helps-20181101-p50ddg.html

20 hours ago, Clintosaurus said:

winner, winner, chicken dinner. Also Friday away v Eagles and home v Sydney.

Also Round 23 v North in Hobart. @Nasher

Yay! I think. My experience there in 2017 was the pits. Seats where my kids literally could not see anything, food lines 100+ deep, and the MFC played like arse. Walked out of there irritated, hungry and miserable.

Shame North Hobart oval isn’t up to scratch as an AFL venue. Have never been a massive fan of Bellerive, partly because when I was a kid in to local footy, it was the home of the mortal enemy.

11 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

The benefit is the $$$ we pocket

Would love to know how much the same game at the G instead, plus less costs would work out at. In other words what is the bottom line difference?

Also taking away another 2 games from your fans has to be factored in, not to mention the travel for the players and the extra disruption to recovery etc.

The big clubs don’t do it for a very good set of reasons, I would hope that we have now entered the same set of circumstances and can get rid of one or both games. 

10 minutes ago, Redleg said:

Would love to know how much the same game at the G instead, plus less costs would work out at. In other words what is the bottom line difference?

Also taking away another 2 games from your fans has to be factored in, not to mention the travel for the players and the extra disruption to recovery etc.

The big clubs don’t do it for a very good set of reasons, I would hope that we have now entered the same set of circumstances and can get rid of one or both games. 

Don't forget to add from the other side of the ledger:

• sponsorship dollars from the NT Government
• membership money (if any) from NT locals
• "brand" exposure value (if any) from being physically present in Darwin and the Alice

I suspect only the first dot point has any meaningful value.

58 minutes ago, Redleg said:

Would love to know how much the same game at the G instead, plus less costs would work out at. In other words what is the bottom line difference?

Also taking away another 2 games from your fans has to be factored in, not to mention the travel for the players and the extra disruption to recovery etc.

The big clubs don’t do it for a very good set of reasons, I would hope that we have now entered the same set of circumstances and can get rid of one or both games. 

First and foremost, we're not a big club.  Yes, we had quite a successful year on and off the field in 2018, but we now need to maintain/sustain that momentum in consecutive years.  The NT agreement had a significant financial benefit in our dark years, which has helped contribute to where we currently stand.  But at this stage, we still have much to achieve.

Is the club taking away anther two games from fans?  Maybe, maybe not.  Yes, it's difficult for most fans to travel to the NT, so we do miss out on those games.  That said, the reciprocal games that we are given means that I probably go to two games that I may not have done so previously.

There could be an argument, especially this year, that us playing two games in the NT helped provide us with the opportunity to play two extra games after the season finished.  We won both games in the NT this year, which helped us make the finals and play 2 extra games at the MCG.  Would we have beaten both Adelaide and Freo if those games were played at the MCG?  While likely, it is irrelevant, because it can't be proven.  If we win both games in 2019 in the NT, then all of a sudden we are starting to prove difficult to play against up there. Time will tell on that point.

With regards to the travel for the players.  Most players and coaches comment about how they enjoy the break in routine, especially getting away interstate where they can create a different bond within the group.  While it could be just media speak, I could (and do) believe them when they say this.

My last point (which was your first point)  about the bottom line is an unknown, and I'd doubt we would find exact information on this.  What can be said with great confidence is that five years ago, if we played West Coast/Freo/Adelaide at the MCG, we'd get 20-25k people at best.  From all reports, those sort of figures would see us lose money, so the NT deal was a no brainer.  Given our 2018 performance, I'd imagine our crowds for those games would draw more around the 30-40k mark if played at the MCG in 2019, so we would be making money on these.  That said, and as I referred to in my opening paragraph, we've had one good season.  Let's see us do it for two or three seasons in a row, then we could look at selling one game out instead of the two.  My main concern with this is that we'd want to be very careful how we ended the relationship with the NT, mainly because if our onfield performances turn to poo, we will then see a drop off in members, crowds, and profit, meaning we'll need to go back to the well to stay afloat.

 

 

Edited November 1, 20186 yr by The Chazz

1 hour ago, Redleg said:

Would love to know how much the same game at the G instead, plus less costs would work out at. In other words what is the bottom line difference?

Also taking away another 2 games from your fans has to be factored in, not to mention the travel for the players and the extra disruption to recovery etc.

The big clubs don’t do it for a very good set of reasons, I would hope that we have now entered the same set of circumstances and can get rid of one or both games. 

Very much agree  Redleg and time we had some transparency on this issue.

This year we had 37k against GWS at the MCG. We don't need to go to NT on the pure basis of crowd numbers if we can maintain momentum.

2 hours ago, Nasher said:

Yay! I think. My experience there in 2017 was the pits. Seats where my kids literally could not see anything, food lines 100+ deep, and the MFC played like [censored]. Walked out of there irritated, hungry and miserable.

Shame North Hobart oval isn’t up to scratch as an AFL venue. Have never been a massive fan of Bellerive, partly because when I was a kid in to local footy, it was the home of the mortal enemy.

In 2016 I was in the Ponting Stand on the wing - great place to view the game. 2017 was near the behind post, and I broke my big toe kicking the fence at the end of the game.

You are right about Clarence. Scummy club, and currently there is a major divide between the women's team and the club itself. The women are treated like 5th class citizens. I'm a Lauderdale fan as they are my local team and the last few years have been good, regularly beating Clarence and pretty much everyone except North Launie.

Out of interest is there any sense of "belonging" in Tasmania for either the Hawks or North from the general Tasmanian population?

Thanks

1 hour ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Very much agree  Redleg and time we had some transparency on this issue.

This year we had 37k against GWS at the MCG. We don't need to go to NT on the pure basis of crowd numbers if we can maintain momentum.

This is the key, DJ.  We need more than 12 months of work to base our argument on, because if you have a look at the 5-10 years prior to that, we consistently drew poor numbers to those types of games.

The other key is to know what contractual arrangements we have.  You are wasting your breath about flicking the NT games if we have committed to two of them until 2020 (for example).

I don't know when the current contract is up, but hopefully it gives us time to show we are maintaining that crowd-drawing ability.

 

5 hours ago, rpfc said:

Yeah, it’s a hard draw.

Good thing we are a great team...

Goodwin also talks about challenges, lots of 6 day breaks, travel etc.

He will just be taking this approach and the self belief of the team will do the rest.

48 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Out of interest is there any sense of "belonging" in Tasmania for either the Hawks or North from the general Tasmanian population?

Thanks

Having worked and lived in both devonport and launceston, the answer is  NONE or very little.

Its just a day out is the way the locals tell me.

The crowds in Hobart tell the same story. The hawks and Roos are only over there for the cash, and in the Hawks (or "family club") case means they don't have to have even more pokies than they already have sucking $20M out of problem gamblers and the community. 

1 hour ago, The Chazz said:

This is the key, DJ.  We need more than 12 months of work to base our argument on, because if you have a look at the 5-10 years prior to that, we consistently drew poor numbers to those types of games.

The other key is to know what contractual arrangements we have.  You are wasting your breath about flicking the NT games if we have committed to two of them until 2020 (for example).

I don't know when the current contract is up, but hopefully it gives us time to show we are maintaining that crowd-drawing ability.

 

On the money side of things here is an article from 2016 talking about the extension into 2017 and 2018.

The figure quoted is $3.2 million or 800k per match contributed by the NT Government. That is consistent with what Peter Gordon was quoting a year or two back as the least amount ($1M) that the Bulldogs would want to play in China.

I know we extended last year but I cannot find the press release as for how long.

https://www.ntnews.com.au/sport/afl/melbourne-demons-agree-to-multimillion-dollar-deal-with-nt-government-to-play-two-home-games-annually-in-territory--for-next-two-years/news-story/94d5ee23d8073221ac36931352

Edited November 2, 20186 yr by Diamond_Jim

Its worth remembering we are contracted to play only 9 Home games at the G. 

So the extra two 'Home' games will almost certainly be at Marvel Stadium.  Plus the two 'compulsory', 'Away' games there it totals 4.  Not so good for members.

Without NT members gain only  if there are more (total) games in Vic but lose because we will no longer get the 2 NT substitute games at the G.  It will be only the 9 contracted 'Home' MCG games.

What could be worse, the AFL could change other aspects of the fixture:  oh, gee whiz the Dees go i/state only 5 times lets even it up with other teams and give Dees extra 'Away' game(s) i/state'.  Two annual trips to Perth, anyone?  Lets be careful what we wish for.

Edited November 2, 20186 yr by Lucifer's Hero