FIXTURE: Rounds 16 to 19

[Lucifers Hero 40,365]

Players and Coaches don't care:  Anytime.  Anywhere.  Anyone.

Sponsors do and Pert may need to explain what the AFL is up to.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,942]

I hope the Bulldogs are out of business by round 17 to make a mockery of the floating fixture.

Essendon certainly have in the upcoming weeks when they have a mortgage of Friday night games.

[Rab D Nesbitt 8,511]

Bosh! Just booked my flights for ADL. North v Hawthorn at Blundstone will be lucky to get two guys and a thylacine through the turnstiles. 

[rpfc 28,781]

7 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I hope the Bulldogs are out of business by round 17 to make a mockery of the floating fixture.

Essendon certainly have in the upcoming weeks when they have a mortgage of Friday night games.

If the Dogs already got that time slot with a ‘non-floating’ fixture; is that a failure of the ‘non-floating’ fixture?

They will be right in it IMO. The real mistake was floating Essendon into prime time when they should not have been.

I think the 2 months is plenty of time to plan and, if properly applied, the floating fixture can avoid terrible games given prime time slots.

[The heart beats true 18,145]

It’s hard to read this as anything but a genuine concern at headquarters that we might be too good. Keep us off Broadway in case the masses figure it out.

 

[titan_uranus 25,045]

1 hour ago, FearTheBeard said:

I think we should expect to be let down again when the last four weeks are announced.

Round 20 vs Fremantle should definitely be a Friday night but expect it to be Saturday or Sunday because the AFL hates both clubs..

Round 21 vs Carlton should definitely be a Friday night but there are three games at Marvel so it will be shunted into Sunday 3:20 or Saturday night.

Round 22 Vs Collingwood will end up in the Saturday 1:45 as it always does when we play them late in the year 

Round 23 vs Brisbane should be Friday night but can just see Gill's lovechild Saints getting it against Sydney.

Fair points these.

Fremantle's on Friday night in Round 19, so the AFL may not be keen to double-down on the Dockers in prime time. Geelong v Bulldogs and Richmond v Brisbane are contenders for the Friday night. We could easily be Saturday night, though (far preferable to Sunday twilight, particularly for the following round).

Round 21 is the Collingwood game. There are plenty of contenders for prime time that will come before that if Collingwood is, as you'd expect, no good by then (Brisbane v Carlton, Geelong v St Kilda, Port v Richmond, Bulldogs v Fremantle). Agree that a Saturday afternoon game is a good chance.

Round 22 is the Carlton game and as you've identified, there are three Marvel games. Unless Thursday night games persist to that point, we can't be the Friday night absent some whack Marvel double-header. St Kilda v Brisbane likely.

If the above three games don't get us into prime time then surely Round 23 vs Brisbane gets us there. If not, we'll have had one single Friday night game for the entire season, surely a record low for a Victorian reigning premier?

[DemonOX 8,801]

So we play SUNDAY at TIO Traeger Park, 

then play the follow sat, WTF. 

Being premiers has done SFA for our fixture, it’s pathetic. 

Meanwhile the bulldogs continue to get prime time exposure. What BS  

[poita 3,902]

I just realised that's a full month of football with no home game in Melbourne, and three games outside Melbourne in a row - how does that happen?

Thursday night football is the absolute pits.

It would be nice to get some 1pm Saturday or Sunday games to allow kids to go, and to deter the derelicts who spend the whole game drinking.

 

[ding 5,126]

So the Bulldogs keep getting maximum exposure on Prime Time FTA games.

 

League headquarters must be trying to make up for the horrible run they keep getting from the umps.

 

/SARC

ffs.

[Demonland 73,165]

[DeeZone 10,146]

4 hours ago, DubDee said:

Agreed.  I want to go to round 23 in Brisbane for the weekend.  do I book thursday arvo to sunday?    pain in a back side

You are so right Dundee my wife and I booked for the Alice game and had to keep Friday Saturday and Sunday clear because we didn’t know when the game was being played. Finally we know it is Sunday and we are flying back on Monday. Grrrrrrr.!!!

[CHF 2,768]

Re: the Bulldogs.... In the Round 1 post game thread after watching Beverage's presser I said that they would not make the 8 this year. I still believe that.

[Longsufferingnomore 1,647]

Why are we playing at Geeeelong. This game at MCG would get 60 - 70000. It should be moved to allow for a bigger crowd

and when did Essendon or Collingwood play down there last!!

I wonder how many tickets Geelong will hand out to us this year with all the construction going on down there. There is little to no hope of a good contingent of Melbourne supporters getting to the game. Exactly what they want. I can understand the AFL sending us down there in previous years but we are the Premiers and surely that has to count for something. You’d think.

[dees189227 12,401]

Well definitely not going to Geelong. I have to be at work at 7 the next day. No thanks. 

[titan_uranus 25,045]

10 minutes ago, Longsufferingnomore said:

Why are we playing at Geeeelong. This game at MCG would get 60 - 70000. It should be moved to allow for a bigger crowd

and when did Essendon or Collingwood play down there last!!

I wonder how many tickets Geelong will hand out to us this year with all the construction going on down there. There is little to no hope of a good contingent of Melbourne supporters getting to the game. Exactly what they want. I can understand the AFL sending us down there in previous years but we are the Premiers and surely that has to count for something. You’d think.

The Geelong situation is one of the many inequalities in the AFL fixture.

Essendon played there last year, for the first time since 1993.

Collingwood hasn't played there since 1999.

Hawthorn played there in 2020 (no crowd due to COVID) but previously hadn't played there since 2006.

Richmond's played there once since 2012 (2017).

Carlton played there in 2018, 19 and 20, but before that hadn't played there since 1997.

Meanwhile we've played there 18 times in the last 22 years (this year included).

The game was always going to be there this year because of Round 23 last year. But the real reason we, the Dogs, St Kilda and North continually get sent down there is because Geelong has 9 games there each year, and as they can't (and don't want to) play all 8 interstate sides down there, they need 3-4 Victorian opponents each year, and the above five Victorian clubs are generally speaking immune.

[layzie 34,014]

Yeah that's right, twist the knife some more with Geelong at GMHBA on Thurs night. Ya mad?

[58er 6,569]

13 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

A shocker.

At least Geelong is on the same five-day break.

No complaints Titan as usual has answered the question. All is fair after all.!! 

[58er 6,569]

8 hours ago, DeeZone said:

You are so right Dundee my wife and I booked for the Alice game and had to keep Friday Saturday and Sunday clear because we didn’t know when the game was being played. Finally we know it is Sunday and we are flying back on Monday. Grrrrrrr.!!!

I think  you can reasonably expect the Dees Round23 game in Brisbane to be Sat night as the majority of Lions games are in the Sat time slot at night. If not Sat then might just be Friday night or if AFL are off their mind and want this  game almost last  on the agenda fir excitement say for top etc. then 3.20 pm Sunday.

But really it's about 80% certain of aSat night fixture. Starting around 7.30pm. IMO. 

PS I go to lions games as a Trust member if I aren't in Melb fir Dees matches. 

[58er 6,569]

11 hours ago, poita said:

I just realised that's a full month of football with no home game in Melbourne, and three games outside Melbourne in a row - how does that happen?

Thursday night football is the absolute pits.

It would be nice to get some 1pm Saturday or Sunday games to allow kids to go, and to deter the derelicts who spend the whole game drinking.

 

Look at our draw with multiple back up games early in the season now for instance. Can't have it both ways 

And  please 1pm Sat or Sunday are commercially and inconveniently ugly for developing Club marketing and  premiership team at least should be 2 pm start. 

Prime  time allows others to watch ( who can't go) and fills our Club with greater money to prosper as we deserve. 

Sat or Friday  night is kid friendly as no school next day. 

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,942]

13 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

Round 22 is the Carlton game and as you've identified, there are three Marvel games. Unless Thursday night games persist to that point, we can't be the Friday night absent some whack Marvel double-header. St Kilda v Brisbane likely.

The AFL will be desperate to get the round 22 Melbourne V Carlton game on Friday night, more so because of Carlton than Melbourne. If Carlton are still top 4 by then, it will be billed as Carlton’s massive test before finals and this could seriously attract a bumper crowd because of their large supporter base that are attending games at the moment.

The three Marvel games in round 22 looks on paper to stop this from happening.

However, the way around this is as follows:

The AFL can schedule the round 22 St Kilda V Brisbane game at Marvel on the Thursday night. Neither side up until that point would have had a 5 day break. Furthermore, Brisbane will likely play Carlton on the Friday night of round 21 so won’t even be imposed a 5 day break into a Thu night rd 22 game. On the other hand, St Kilda must play Hawthorn no later than the Saturday of round 21.

I would say the AFL are working on having the Dees V Carlton game on the Fri night by exhausting all options. That’s the point of the floating fixture and the allowed one 5 day break for each side.

[Dr. Gonzo 24,307]

Bad enough we have to play at that [censored] every single year but then we get scheduled on a Thursday night?? Absolute joke 😡

[Roger Mellie 4,103]

I wonder if we'd lost the grand final, would we get 16 FTA, 10 Thursday/Friday night games and no twilight games like the Bulldogs?

Lucky we're premiers so we can capitalise on all these twilight games! The marketing department must think all their Christmas's have come at once.

[Lucifers Hero 40,365]

AFL prime time FTA criteria:  Win games.  Big memberships.  Blockbuster games.

Bulldogs fail miserably on the first two counts.  They have won 4 of 9 games for goodness sake!

The AFL is hoping they come good as they have lots of games vs top 8 teams which might be blockbusters.  If they don't it will be a big flop; just like all the Friday night games they gave Carlton a few years ago.  And the flop that will happen in a  few months when Ess have 3 consecutive Friday night games.

The Bulldogs will be lucky to make the top 8 as they need to win at least 8 or 9 of the last 13 games and build some %.   Just can't see what the Bulldogs attraction is to Ch7!

They AFL should have waited to see if the Bulldogs win today before they put their chips all in on them.  Lose and top 8 becomes even more unlikely. 

The AFL should stop making 'captain's calls' on teams they want to promote and reward those that fit their criteria.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,942]

It’s understood Freo V Melbourne in round 20 will be on a Friday night but our games against Collingwood and Carlton won’t be.

Brisbane V Carlton is favoured to  be Friday night in round 21 and Saints V Brisbane should be Friday night in round 22.

The AFL tossing up whether to put Brisbane V Melbourne or Carlton V Collingwood on Friday night for round 23. With how well Collingwood are going, it will likely be the latter.

The latest fixture instalment will be released this week so the above isn’t confirmed as yet.

Edited June 19, 2022 by Bring-Back-Powell