17 rounds is clearly fairest.  I could live with 18 with a double up on "rivalries", WA and SA really want that and n the long run it should be good in Sydney and Queensland.

 That leaves a 4 week media void.  I don't like an extended "play-off" with say 9th and 10th involved but it could be fairer than the current fixture inequities.

I'm not a fan but perhaps AFLW can grow to fill a 3-4 week void?

2 minutes ago, Fifty-5 said:

17 rounds is clearly fairest.  I could live with 18 with a double up on "rivalries", WA and SA really want that and n the long run it should be good in Sydney and Queensland.

 That leaves a 4 week media void.  I don't like an extended "play-off" with say 9th and 10th involved but it could be fairer than the current fixture inequities.

I'm not a fan but perhaps AFLW can grow to fill a 3-4 week void?

Unfortunately we’re now all conditioned to and can’t wait for the regular season to kick off end of March. 

I can’t imagine how I’d cope if I had to wait another 4 weeks. It’d take some getting used to. 

30 minutes ago, McQueen said:

Unfortunately we’re now all conditioned to and can’t wait for the regular season to kick off end of March. 

I can’t imagine how I’d cope if I had to wait another 4 weeks. It’d take some getting used to. 

you can have two or three split rounds that would extend the season to 20/21 weeks in length. It would also give a little less competition for the prime time TV spots

13 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

Top 6 teams, middle 6, bottom 6, from previous season. Play the teams in your bracket of 6 twice = 10 games. Play the others once = 12 games. 22 round season.

In the US the NFL draw is biased but not as badly as ours.  They have groups where every team plays the others twice in that group which creates some equity in their group. The AFL could do something similar:

1. Two conferences of nine teams (5 Vic and 4 interstate) who play each other twice. To be fair each conference to have 1 team from each non vic state and split the smaller supporter bases (Saints, North, dogs, us).  That is 16 games.

2. Other 6 games play against teams from the other conference including two games against a rival ie showdown, Coll v Mel if needed etc.  These games are also based on ladder position from prior seasons with 2 games (one home and one away) against 1-3, 2 against 4-6 etc.  means playing 5 of the teams in the other group with one double up.

3. Finals could just be top 4 from each conference and same as current series.  Or ditch the pre finals bye and have the 4th from each conference play a wildcard team from the best performed 5th and 6th from both conferences to make the final 8. 

Would even up the travel for all teams, not lose rivalry games, and the draw difficulty would be much closer for everyone.  Conference strength would change year to year but come finals it would be fair.

23 hours ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

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.

I've seen this 9 game MCG thing reported but I've never seen any confirmation of it.

At any rate, it's been reported as a 9-game minimum, not maximum. I suspect if we brought one NT game back to Melbourne it'd be at Marvel (given each of Richmond, Collingwood and Hawthorn continues to be forced into having a home game there against each club's request). If we brought the second NT game back, I suspect that'd be at the G.

I'm also not sure there's a "compulsory" two away games at Marvel, do you have a source for that?

My two cents is that this is a really rubbish fixture, for all our 'blockbusters'.

Geelong in Geelong, again. North is Tassie, again. Worse this year because we play them when a top 2, 4 or 8 spot will be up for grabs.

West Coast in Perth, again.

Playing teams in Alice that are used to warmer temperatures. again.

And we lose our QB home game.

At least we finally get a home game against Essendon and we get to spank St Kilda twice.

We also could well be 4-1 or 5-0 going into Anzac Eve - Essendon are our biggest threat in those first few games, I think Sydney and Geelong in particular, but Port as well, are candidates for a pretty big fall next year.

1 hour ago, Diamond_Jim said:

you can have two or three split rounds that would extend the season to 20/21 weeks in length. It would also give a little less competition for the prime time TV spots

And accomodate needs, like the 3 day Anzac break, 6 day back to back interstate trips and NT recovery requirement etc.

Would prolong careers as well.  

6 minutes ago, Redleg said:

And accomodate needs, like the 3 day Anzac break, 6 day back to back interstate trips and NT recovery requirement etc.

Would prolong careers as well.  

makes so much sense on so many fronts. The only people it might upset are the stadium owners but with less games you would probably see a 10% increase in crowds per match is my guess.

3 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

I've seen this 9 game MCG thing reported but I've never seen any confirmation of it.

At any rate, it's been reported as a 9-game minimum, not maximum. I suspect if we brought one NT game back to Melbourne it'd be at Marvel (given each of Richmond, Collingwood and Hawthorn continues to be forced into having a home game there against each club's request). If we brought the second NT game back, I suspect that'd be at the G.

I'm also not sure there's a "compulsory" two away games at Marvel, do you have a source for that?

Sorry, I can't find written sources for the 9 contracted MCG games and the 2 'compulsory' Away games at Eithad.   Based on memory of what I've read or heard.

I'm not entirely sure how the Stadium deals work but each stadium tenant club (ie Home ground) is contracted to play X 'Home' games at said ground.  eg I think Carlton is contracted to play 7 games at Eithad, Adelaide and Port have 11 each at Adelaide Oval etc.

I recall reading somewhere that Victorian non Etihad clubs had to play two games there to ensure AFL fulfilled its committed no of games.  This is relaxed for big clubs, when it suits the AFL or when joint memberships don't fit in the stadium.

Whatever the contracts and policies, my post was directed to the assumption that if we give up NT games that they will revert to the G.  As I noted there are a variety of reasons why this may not happen; they could be Eithad 'Home' games and we get extra 'Away' i/state games so we still travel a lot. 

You are right 9 games is the minimum.  Nonetheless, with all clubs wanting to play more games at the G I am skeptical of our chances of getting more Home games there.  

But it is a moot point as we are committed to NT.

Edited November 3, 20186 yr by Lucifer's Hero

2 hours ago, McQueen said:

Unfortunately we’re now all conditioned to and can’t wait for the regular season to kick off end of March. 

I can’t imagine how I’d cope if I had to wait another 4 weeks. It’d take some getting used to. 

AFLW and AFLX to fill the void?  The key is satisfying the broadcast revenue.  There's a fair way to go before they will fill it but it is possible and we could get to the fair 18 round with as others have suggested, more byes to cater for anomalies.

I know the relatively short NFL season made me so hungry for it when I lived there.

Death, taxes and Collingwood get a ripping fixture after one good season.

We play over 6 days

Monday afternoon 1

Wednesday night 1

Thursday night 1

Friday night 3

Saturday afternoon 6

Saturday night. 4

Sunday afternoon 5

And mystery round 23 = 22 matches

A mixed bag. Not too bad. Some 9 night matches. 

We have

9 MCG home games ; with 5 big games incl Sydney; 3 v interstate ; 1 v Sml Vic club

3 MCG away

2 Interstate home games

2 Etihad (marvel) both away

6 interstate/hostile (Cats) away games 

(7 interstate trips  - 2 home,  4 v host state, 1v host club nthmelb)

no trip to Adelaide!!

On 11/2/2018 at 10:48 AM, 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.

The club gave away thousands and thousands of free tickets to that game against GWS. We probably broke even but this sort of talk for mine is completely naive. 

Some Demonlanders keep banging on about extracting ourselves from the NT deal, but you're commenting without any inside knowledge and little awareness of how to run a football club as a business.

I also wouldn't expect transparency from the club because it's not in the best interests of the club. If the real figures were to come out, I suspect you'd be rather more hesitant to extricate us from the NT deal. 

If we can draw consistent crowds of between 35-40,000 against small interstate sides like GWS, Freo, GCS etc, we could then begin to look at other alternatives to the NT revenue stream. But without at least some consistent success, we won't and shouldn't be removing the NT deal.

Reality check needed for some. We've been a basketcase for years and have had one good season. During this season our crowds were up, but the only meaningful crowd rise was seen throughout the finals series. Our supporters certainly turned out on their own accord and out numbered the opposition. Let's see how this translates into season 2019 before we go off half-cocked and begin removing important revenue streams.

Edited November 3, 20186 yr by A F

That Hawthorne President is a real sh@t head, what the hell is he complaining about, he says that the hawks are not getting enough exposure, 5 Friday night games 12 free to air games, I bet he is looking at our fixture and  thinking that they should have 2 of our Friday night games. If I where a President of another club I would tell him to shut up. 

The 17 game season is a [censored] idea.

I like football. The more of it, the better.

There will always be inequality in the fixturing as there will always be financial interests at play - the system now relies on it and everyone's wage is based on the broadcast rights.

Let's just continue our upward trend and build a success club. The rest will take care of itself.

On 11/2/2018 at 8:36 AM, 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.

It was a shocking day for me too, made the 9hr round trip from the nth west.

We should have won but couldn't kick straight in the last and made some horrendous errors. Overall game, C grade at best. 

Sat near the cheer squad, ground level. Shocking viewing. Anyone planning on going next year avoid that area. Bloke behind me spent the entire first half bagging Don Tyson. 

Food and toilet cues ridiculous. 

All that said, I'm looking forward to doing it all again in 2019!! Sitting in the stands.

When was the last time we had a home game versus Carlton? 

 

11 minutes ago, Jaded said:

When was the last time we had a home game versus Carlton? 

 

Round 2 2017.

On 10/31/2018 at 1:10 PM, Demonland said:

If we have to play two games I would prefer this scenario.

Yep sounds great .The last time i got stuck "on" a bar for days because of the rain was in Hosies Basement Bar...women too...

5 hours ago, Jaded said:

When was the last time we had a home game versus Carlton? 

 

Round 2 2017. Before that round 11 2011. Before that round 5 2008.

21 hours ago, deeology said:

It was a shocking day for me too, made the 9hr round trip from the nth west.

We should have won but couldn't kick straight in the last and made some horrendous errors. Overall game, C grade at best. 

Sat near the cheer squad, ground level. Shocking viewing. Anyone planning on going next year avoid that area. Bloke behind me spent the entire first half bagging Don Tyson. 

Food and toilet cues ridiculous. 

All that said, I'm looking forward to doing it all again in 2019!! Sitting in the stands.

Was at that game too. Horrid day in the history of the MFC losing to a bottom 4 side with everything on the line.

Blundstone arena is a disgraceful AFL stadium. Your’re dead right about the cues to the toilets and food/bars. Probably up to 20 and 30 minutes respectively. Not good enough for a professional league such as the AFL.

Manuka oval is not much better.

On 11/1/2018 at 12:47 PM, FireInTheBelly said:

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.

Maybe someone who is savvy to the financal aspect could give you a correct answer... but seeing as you asked, Collingwood would pass on some hot car stereos and PlayStations to the MFC in return for their members entry. Wouldn't be many pies fans who could afford a full membership let alone home and away membership anyway.

If you don't want to give the filth any of your hard earned, stay home and watch it on free to air every 2nd year.

5 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Was at that game too. Horrid day in the history of the MFC losing to a bottom 4 side with everything on the line.

Blundstone arena is a disgraceful AFL stadium. Your’re dead right about the cues to the toilets and food/bars. Probably up to 20 and 30 minutes respectively. Not good enough for a professional league such as the AFL.

Manuka oval is not much better.

I went to the game in 2016 as well, what a cracker that was! Out scored 8 goals to 2 in the first only to fight back and kick 9 goals to their 2 in the second. Tough game after that, if only Buggs kick to Billy at the death was better, that would have been a famous victory!

Sat in the David Boon stand for that game, but the sun was in our eyes for nearly the entire game. Hence the switch for the 2017 game. But the sun never came out on that bleak day.  The lines for the toilets and food/beer were good in 2016.

I think the Ricky Ponting stand will be the go next year.

1 hour ago, deeology said:

I went to the game in 2016 as well, what a cracker that was! Out scored 8 goals to 2 in the first only to fight back and kick 9 goals to their 2 in the second. Tough game after that, if only Buggs kick to Billy at the death was better, that would have been a famous victory!

Sat in the David Boon stand for that game, but the sun was in our eyes for nearly the entire game. Hence the switch for the 2017 game. But the sun never came out on that bleak day.  The lines for the toilets and food/beer were good in 2016.

I think the Ricky Ponting stand will be the go next year.

I enjoyed going to that game as well, gutted we didn't win (and we were royally screwed by the umps that day) but it was a cracker or a game. I would go back there again and encourage others to make the trip south.