5 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Sutton's warning for new AFL season

"While the permits will be easily secured should the virus be under control, Premier Dan Andrews said on Monday he would not hesitate to change the status of an interstate city from green to red within hours, potentially meaning teams would have to scramble home, thereby adding more fixture drama".

Does not bode well.  Having whole teams stranded interstate would be a terrible situation and would really derail a fixture, even a condensed one.

As I mentioned in an earlier post the personal toll of the 2020 hubs may make it difficult for the AFL to get buy in from the AFLPA and the AFLCA to set up hubs again. 

As things stand, I can't see the season going ahead without some sort of Hub or quarantining arrangement around travelling teams. If the players want to play, they will have to "buy in".

The circumstances surrounding last year's cancelled Melbourne Essendon game shows that we are, at any time, only one positive test away from a fixturing  disaster.

There is too much money at stake (Broadcast rights money predominately) for the games not to be played in some way (reduced quarters and/or reduced season again?)

There will be hubs or no hubs but the games will somehow be played regardless.

Remembering that the players are still 'supposed' to be paid so without any real income, the clubs will go broke

The NFL & EPL have continued on in a relentless manner despite both the USA & UK being ravaged by covid.  Mostly empty stadiums as well.  NBA as well

And many of the teams from those 3 competions have had numerous players test positive left, right & centre.  Still the games go on

TV ratings through the roof have resulted.  Ratings so good that the broadcasters may have to fork out more dosh in time. Same story here in Oz

Big sport & big money rules. The Sydney cricket test match went ahead despite widespread condemnation. 

The players will be told to play or take a huge pay cut or perhaps not get paid at all.  They'll play.  Money talks

Edited January 12, 20214 yr by Macca

1 hour ago, Macca said:

There is too much money at stake (Broadcast rights money predominately) for the games not to be played in some way (reduced quarters and/or reduced season again?)

There will be hubs or no hubs but the games will somehow be played regardless.

Remembering that the players are still 'supposed' to be paid so without any real income, the clubs will go broke

The NFL & EPL have continued on in a relentless manner despite both the USA & UK being ravaged by covid.  Mostly empty stadiums as well.  NBA as well

And many of the teams from those 3 competions have had numerous players test positive left, right & centre.  Still the games go on

TV ratings through the roof have resulted.  Ratings so good that the broadcasters may have to fork out more dosh in time. Same story here in Oz

Big sport & big money rules. The Sydney cricket test match went ahead despite widespread condemnation. 

The players will be told to play or take a huge pay cut or perhaps not get paid at all.  They'll play.  Money talks

Agree. If the AFL can do it in 2020, it can do it again in 2021.

The Victorian government has worked out a way to get 1200 tennis players/staff into Melbourne for the Australian Open. The NSW and Queensland governments have worked out a way to get the Sydney and Brisbane tests played.

The games will go ahead, whether as currently planned or with hubs or with quarantining or special rules or no crowds or whatever.

The hope is that the outbreaks we've seen in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in the last month are aberrations, not the norm, and that the earliest doses of the vaccine go to hotel quarantine workers to prevent it getting back into the community once we get rid of it again.

On 1/2/2021 at 2:09 PM, dl4e said:

100% correct.It just stuns me with the borders. It is a virus and there will be a vaccine in march. if WA wants to play hardball then sit out eagles and dockers for the season. mcgowan can get stuffed.

Yeah WA can play hardball and Freo and West Coast can spend the entire season in a Victorian hub and not play a single game up there. How sweet that would be! 

 

If a vaccine becomes available in late Feb /early March, it would not surprise me to see the AFL community get priority access to the vaccine. AFL is big money and nobody wants another interrupted season, not the AFL and not the states. 

Edited January 13, 20214 yr by Jaded

On 1/6/2021 at 4:18 PM, 58er said:

Why unfairly for  Lions and Suns?
They had the advantage in 2020 now it's our turn!!!

 

Youre right on this, but I thought that given how well QLD has managaed the virus its tough they would still get impacted by the southern bubble. NSW is a bit of a lottery virus -wise (masks not generally mandated mostly for example).

Our turn for sure as you say though in any case.

I had a bit of a look at this and realised a few interesting things. All in all, we have a pretty easy ride that way things are.

ROUND 1 - We play Freo here at the MCG so they have to travel. Our round 2 and 3 opponents clash in the first round With GWS Hosting the Saints. ( this will be a good scouting game for us to watch)

ROUND 2 - Saints at Marvel with them having 1 less day recovery and coming back from GWS. GWS, our R3 opponent play Freo in WA.

ROUND 3 - GWS in the ACT with them having 1 less day recovery and coming back from WA. Cats, our R4 opponent, play Hawks the following day at the MCG

ROUND 4 - Cats at the MCG with them having 1 less day recovery. Hawks, our R5 opponent, play Freo in WA on the same day.

ROUND 5 - Hawthorn At the MCG with them coming back from WA. Tigers, our R6 opponent, Play the Saints on the Thursday night before our Sunday game.

ROUND 6 - Richmond at the MCG. NM our R7 opponents play Freo in WA on the same day.

ROUND 7 - NM in Tassie with them coming back from WA and then travelling to Tassie.

So in the first 7 rounds we have a WA team at the G, pay Saints after their trip to Sydney for GWS, GWS, Hawks and North the week after their trips to Freo, the Cats at the MCG after we have traveled to the ACT and the Tigers at the MG with them having a few extra days rest. 4 games at the MCG, 1 at Marvel and one each In the ACT and Tassie.

Not a bad run I would have thought. Would like to see us 5-2 at the worst looking at R8. It is doable given the travelling our opposition are doing in the round before they play us.

 

 

 

Good analysis of the early draw CHF, - looks favorable for us. Just hope the draw stays the same. We all remember the Cairns debacle but ironically we were supposed to play the Swans and Dockers in rounds 5 and 6 last year. 

5-2 would be a super result, but 4-3 or 3-4 is more likely i think...

i'm expecting wins against freo, hawthorn and north, 50/50s against the aints and gw$, and tough asks against tiges and cats

Excellent analysis and it's a bit of a fluke that we play a few sides that are coming off road trips - some from WA.

I can't see us being any better than 3-4 though. I'm concerned about our weak forward line and still a bit scarred by the AAMI Series game against the Dogs where we were so poor that afternoon (albeit with a few out). Hoping it was a case of one team treating it like a week 1 final and the other managing their injuries to round 1. 

Does anyone have a link to subscribe/add  Demons games to Phone calendar for 2021? Cheers in advance.

8 hours ago, 3Dee said:

Does anyone have a link to subscribe/add  Demons games to Phone calendar for 2021? Cheers in advance.

https://fixturedownload.com/sport/aussie-rules

On 3/17/2021 at 3:44 PM, CHF said:

I had a bit of a look at this and realised a few interesting things. All in all, we have a pretty easy ride that way things are.

ROUND 1 - We play Freo here at the MCG so they have to travel. Our round 2 and 3 opponents clash in the first round With GWS Hosting the Saints. ( this will be a good scouting game for us to watch)

ROUND 2 - Saints at Marvel with them having 1 less day recovery and coming back from GWS. GWS, our R3 opponent play Freo in WA.

ROUND 3 - GWS in the ACT with them having 1 less day recovery and coming back from WA. Cats, our R4 opponent, play Hawks the following day at the MCG

ROUND 4 - Cats at the MCG with them having 1 less day recovery. Hawks, our R5 opponent, play Freo in WA on the same day.

ROUND 5 - Hawthorn At the MCG with them coming back from WA. Tigers, our R6 opponent, Play the Saints on the Thursday night before our Sunday game.

ROUND 6 - Richmond at the MCG. NM our R7 opponents play Freo in WA on the same day.

ROUND 7 - NM in Tassie with them coming back from WA and then travelling to Tassie.

So in the first 7 rounds we have a WA team at the G, pay Saints after their trip to Sydney for GWS, GWS, Hawks and North the week after their trips to Freo, the Cats at the MCG after we have traveled to the ACT and the Tigers at the MG with them having a few extra days rest. 4 games at the MCG, 1 at Marvel and one each In the ACT and Tassie.

Not a bad run I would have thought. Would like to see us 5-2 at the worst looking at R8. It is doable given the travelling our opposition are doing in the round before they play us.

 

 

 

Thought I would bump this as we are travelling a bit better than expected at 5-0 with the next 4 fixtures confirmed. 

ROUND 6 - Richmond at the MCG. NM our R7 opponents play Freo in WA on the same day. Tough game, Big game. - Winnable

ROUND 7 - NM in Tassie with them coming back from WA and then travelling to Tassie. R8 opponent play Geelong in Sydney - Very winnable, disappointed if we lose.

ROUND 8 - Sydney at the MCG. travelling to Melbourne. Our R9 opponent, Carlton have a tough game against Bulldogs on the same day we play. - We should account for them.

ROUND 9 - Carlton at the MCG.

Love to win all 4. 

The North game is weather dependent.

Nice day...we win easily

Wind and rain... 50/50

Just like Kardinia Park we get the questionable stadiums