2 hours ago, mauriesy said:

We beat them three times in 2021 ... at the MCG, GMHBA and Optus. Time to get over the hurt.

It’s not hurt mauriesy, just plain hatred due to their entitled attitude, coach and players. 

Edited December 9, 20213 yr by DemonOX

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

g

Just looking at that makes me dizzy 

Normally I read what has been written in a thread before I post.

Today I haven't bothered 

Every other team should look at the fixture and panic if they play Melbourne twice.even worse for them if it's in WA or Geelong

3 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Agreed. We’re absolutely hopeless against North at Hobart.

Even during a season when we win a flag and they cop the spoon, we still take 3 and a half qtrs to put them away at Blundstone.

And we play very very well at Marvel. It holds no fears. 

1 hour ago, rpfc said:

Raining night games for the sponsors which is great

Also very handy for those of us in a different time zone. Only one 4 .a.m. start that I can see.

(Though I accept, I'm not really a target market here, so I would have taken whatever came.)

I don't care about prime time positions I don't care about Channel 7 televised games. We win the Granny Again next year and they'll give us 27 discs with all the games for us to watch over and over again like this year. Well we still godda pay for it but I'll be only too happy to. My Dad and Sister are happy as well, as long as I pay for them.  And I'm happy to, what a brilliant year of Footy. 

Maybe AFL and broadcasters know more. 
Probably only us who enjoy 11 goal thrashings. Good for advertisers after goals but people probably won’t watch a snorefest; rather see Hawthorn guts out a draw or Saints n Pies in a shocker with a kick in it. 

Edited December 9, 20213 yr by radar

After our Premiership this year, I don't want to be negative (clearly Gary Pert wants to be positive, but I hope he's giving some genuine feedback to Gil behind the scenes).

This is a ridiculously hard draw. If we win the premiership next year it will be an incredible result. Sides we play twice: Bulldogs (2nd), Port Adelaide (3rd), Brisbane (5th), Dockers (11th), Collingwood (17th), Does anyone seriously think Collingwood are the 2nd worst team in the AFL, and Fremantle are potential Top 8. We play in Perth twice, Adelaide twice, Queensland twice, and Geelong. Our home game in Alice Springs is against Port Adelaide rather than a Victorian team. West Coast don't play us in Melbourne, neither do Port. The only interstate teams we play at the MCG that we don't also play interstate are Sydney and GWS (why isn't there at least one game in Sydney in 2022?).

The club requested playing the Bulldogs in Round 1 on a Friday night. Instead it's a Wednesday night so no country/interstate members can be there. The Friday night game is St Kilda (10th) vs Collingwood (17th). Why do either team deserve that night? We play on Wednesday, then at Metricon 2nd Round after a 10-day break (!!), then come back to the MCG to play Essendon off a 6 day break, then play Port Adelaide in Adelaide off a second 6 day break. Why wasn't this something like 8, 7, 7? Even 9, 7, 6 would have been fairer. I understand that 6-day breaks happen but why should these be in conjunction with interstate travel and why are they consecutive and involving interstate travel in Melbourne's case? Both Essendon & Port are also playing off 6 day breaks but neither have to travel.

I'm totally fine with the idea of the top teams getting a harder draw, but the AFL couldn't possibly have made it any harder for Melbourne in 2022. The AFL did their best to sabotage Melbourne in 2021 by putting an unnecessary 2 week break between the Preliminary Finals and the Grand Final which clearly potentially aided the Bulldogs. Just because we were able to overcome that obstacle doesn't mean we should put up with any crap that is thrown our way. Would anyone from Melbourne Football Club care to make a genuine comment on the draw?

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Edited December 9, 20213 yr by Sydney_Demon

24 minutes ago, Sydney_Demon said:

After our Premiership this year, I don't want to be negative (clearly Gary Pert wants to be positive, but I hope he's giving some genuine feedback to Gil behind the scenes).

This is a ridiculously hard draw. If we win the premiership next year it will be an incredible result. Sides we play twice: Bulldogs (2nd), Port Adelaide (3rd), Brisbane (5th), Dockers (11th), Collingwood (17th), Does anyone seriously think Collingwood are the 2nd worst team in the AFL, and Fremantle are potential Top 8. We play in Perth twice, Adelaide twice, Queensland twice, and Geelong. Our home game in Alice Springs is against Port Adelaide rather than a Victorian team. West Coast don't play us in Melbourne, neither do Port. The only interstate teams we play at the MCG that we don't also play interstate are Sydney and GWS (why isn't there at least one game in Sydney in 2022?).

The club requested playing the Bulldogs in Round 1 on a Friday night. Instead it's a Wednesday night so no country/interstate members can be there. The Friday night game is St Kilda (10th) vs Collingwood (17th). Why do either team deserve that night? We play on Wednesday, then at Metricon 2nd Round after a 10-day break (!!), then come back to the MCG to play Essendon off a 6 day break, then play Port Adelaide in Adelaide off a second 6 day break. Why wasn't this something like 8, 7, 7? Even 9, 7, 6 would have been fairer. I understand that 6-day breaks happen but why should these be in conjunction with interstate travel and why are they consecutive and involving interstate travel in Melbourne's case? Both Essendon & Port are also playing off 6 day breaks but neither have to travel.

I'm totally fine with the idea of the top teams getting a harder draw, but the AFL couldn't possibly have made it any harder for Melbourne in 2022. The AFL did their best to sabotage Melbourne in 2021 by putting an unnecessary 2 week break between the Preliminary Finals and the Grand Final which clearly potentially aided the Bulldogs. Just because we were able to overcome that obstacle doesn't mean we should put up with any crap that is thrown our way. Would anyone from Melbourne Football Club care to make a genuine comment on the draw?

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Amazing SD You have made a decision for about 5,000 to 6,000 of our members that NO ONE can/will  be there on the Wed night, with the flag unfurling after 57years.

In 2018 it didn't seem to matter when we made the 8 when 90,000 plus turned up over 2 successive Friday nights,

Not everyone works kids can take a half day off school and some members are rusted on enough to be there or be square. Annual leave is available for fans if they wish to attend such an event to most people it gets back to their desire.to attend.

BTW I live interstate and it doesn't worry me Wed or Friday I will be there !!

36 minutes ago, Demonland said:

Jeez the AFL wants Richmond, Brisbane and Sydney fighting out the top 4 huh?

4 hours ago, Jontee said:

Glad we have given Blundstone the boot.

A win is a win whenever or whatever It was after our best performance to date in the 2021 season of smashing the Tigers. No mean feat for our lads to storm home over Roos in Round7.after realising that we were a serious contender. 

10 hours ago, CYB said:

if i was Gary Pert, i would be seething. This is not a good draw from a commercial perspective (Thu/Fri night footy) or from a general week-to-week proposition given we just won the GF - i dont know what else we need to proove. We play entertaining football.

I don't mind playing the top teams twice - its only fair given we have 23 rounds with 18 teams. But to get WC and Geelong away yet again is farcical. WC doesnt phase me as it once has, but the Cattery is a hard place to win. We also don't play at our home ground for 5 consecutive weeks and have yet another final round game away. Seriously WTF.

I don't mind playing the top teams twice either. You could in fact argue the Bulldogs have it worse. They play 4 Top 8 teams and the 5th team they play is Hawthorn. I agree with you what sucks is we are playing two many away games. There would be a potential 9 games away from Melbourne if Melbourne played every team twice (34 games in total). We are playing 7 of 22 which is 1 too many. Either the WC or Geelong game should be at the MCG. Further, the Alice Springs game should feature another Melbourne team, not Port Adelaide. Port get to play us in Adelaide so the return game should be at the MCG.

28 minutes ago, 58er said:

Amazing SD You have made a decision for about 5,000 to 6,000 of our members that NO ONE can/will  be there on the Wed night, with the flag unfurling after 57years.

In 2018 it didn't seem to matter when we made the 8 when 90,000 plus turned up over 2 successive Friday nights,

Not everyone works kids can take a half day off school and some members are rusted on enough to be there or be square. Annual leave is available for fans if they wish to attend such an event to most people it gets back to their desire.to attend.

BTW I live interstate and it doesn't worry me Wed or Friday I will be there !!

Sorry 58er. I wasn't making a decision for all country/interstate members. I'm happy for those who can get there, wherever they live. I'm looking at trying to get there too. I hope it's a sell-out for the sake of the Club. What I was trying to say was that it will be a lot harder to get there on a Wednesday (inarguable I would have thought). Yes, it get's back to people's desire/ability to attend but it shouldn't have come to that. The game should be on Friday night at the MCG. Why should Melbourne supporters have to make extra sacrifices? We won the Premiership, the Doggies finished second. The Friday night game is St Kilda (10th) vs Collingwood (17th). Let those two losers play at Marvel on Wednesday night. Why do they get to play on Friday? A special reward for being mediocre?

Wednesday would possibly be forgivable if we had a marquee spot in Week 2. Oh, sorry we do. We get to play Gold Coast at Metricon. I'm glad we get a 10 day break too to properly prepare, because it means we get the luxury of playing the next 2 weeks against Essendon and Port off 6 day-breaks including travel where our opponents get to stay home. The AFL is really looking after us, aren't they?

And Melbourne don't play in Sydney at all this year but I shouldn't complain about that. If I was a properly-committed supporter I shouldn't care. I should be prepared to travel anywhere at any time to see Melbourne play, no matter how inconvenient.  
         

7 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Jeez the AFL wants Richmond, Brisbane and Sydney fighting out the top 4 huh?

On the other hand we played much better against top teams last year than against the bottom teams. 

8 hours ago, Wrecker46 said:

Normally I read what has been written in a thread before I post.

Today I haven't bothered 

Every other team should look at the fixture and panic if they play Melbourne twice.even worse for them if it's in WA or Geelong

Great take on this issue Wrecker.

Very relaxed.

To the other 17 clubs. - Be scared - be very scared.

The Dees now have fortresses everywhere.

9 hours ago, DemonOX said:

Just looking at that makes me dizzy 

It’s a magic eye picture. If you blur your eyes you see Max holding the 2022 cup!

I don’t like how the AFL uses the draw to equalise the competition. The fixture should aim to be even and the Draft and Salary Cap should be strengthened to do the job of equalising the competition properly.

Our draw is tough because we play most of the other top sides twice, with Port away twice (AO and Alice) and the Cats at Kardinia. Still, we’d be favourites in 18/22 games if there was a market today, being underdogs away against the Dogs, Cats, Port and Lions. 

How many clubs thought they got the easy draw last year when they got us twice...

2022 is a new year.

8 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Jeez the AFL wants Richmond, Brisbane and Sydney fighting out the top 4 huh?

Wouldn’t be at all surprised if 4/5 of Sydney’s double up teams make the 8. 

I like that we have a hard draw. We actually had a fairly tough draw last year and beat every team in the top 8.

If we finish top 4 we have earnt it and it gets us ready for the real thing. Having an easy draw can be a negative, as you think you are better than you actually are and then get found out against the best sides.

9 hours ago, Sydney_Demon said:

This is a ridiculously hard draw. If we win the premiership next year it will be an incredible result. Sides we play twice: Bulldogs (2nd), Port Adelaide (3rd), Brisbane (5th), Dockers (11th), Collingwood (17th),

 

Are our double ups in 2022 really that much harder than 2021?

In 2021 we played Dogs (2nd), Geelong (4th), GWS (6th), Hawthorn (14), Adelaide (15).

We ended up having a tough fixture in 2021.

And, our double ups in 2022 are very similar to Richmond's flag defense in 2021 when they played 3 top 6 teams twice from the previous year, like us for next year.

12 hours ago, Nascent said:

I'm just surprised they gave us a home game against the Bombers. Can't remember the last time that happened. Do they even have a clash jumper?

2019. They have to wear their all-red jumper against us.

It's rare: 2022 will be only our third home game against Essendon since the Troy Broadbridge memorial game in Round 1, 2005. That's right, in 17 seasons we'll have had three home games against Essendon.

Some other stats/quirks:

1. We haven't played Essendon twice in a season since 2005
2. We haven't played West Coast in Melbourne since 2014. 2022 will make it 7 consecutive seasons of us playing them in Perth (in 2015 we played them in Darwin)
3. We're playing Geelong in Geelong for the 11th time in the last 14 seasons. The three we avoided were 2014, 2017 and 2020. 2017 we were still away to them, but the game was at Marvel during GMHBA renovations. 2020 we were drawn to play them away but then COVID meant the fixture was revamped.
4. 2022 is our first away game against Fremantle since 2015, meaning it's the first time we'll play them at Optus Stadium (despite us having already played 7 games there)
5. 2022 will be the 8th time in the last 10 seasons we've played Adelaide in Adelaide. Over the same period we've played them at the MCG twice.
6. 2022 is our first away game to North at Marvel since 2014, ending a run of four consecutive away games drawn in Hobart
7. I had thought our stretch of five games in a row away from the MCG might have been a record, but we had that same stretch in 2013, when we had "home" games against Brisbane on the Gold Coast and North Melbourne at Marvel (what the [censored] happened with that season?!)
8. Our Round 11 home game vs Fremantle will make it 10 of our last 11 games against them have been our home games.

Edited December 9, 20213 yr by titan_uranus

It doesnt seem an outrageous draw for the premiers.

Against teams in the 8 in 2020 when they won the premiership, Richmond this year were given two games against Brisbane, Saints and Geelong.  They also played Port and West Coast away.  

Amongst the other teams they played the Giants twice and Freo and Suns away.  (they lost to both Freo and Suns)

I dont see ours as being a harder draw than that.

Dogs play us, Swans and Giants twice.