Good result.  Will know exactly what we need to do to maximise our chances.  

1 minute ago, Swooper1987 said:

Good result.  Will know exactly what we need to do to maximise our chances.  

Exactly. Hate the time slot normally but happy to go with this one.

Carlton to lose the last game of the round and finish 9th?

Would love to see it but won’t happen. My ladder predictor has them finishing 5th. 

Fantastic to have a 7 day break to get ready for the last round.

Dogs and bombers have 6 day breaks

Also if we have top 2 confirmed, we can manage game minutes

11 minutes ago, Newport34 said:

Carlton to lose the last game of the round and finish 9th?

Would love to see it but won’t happen. My ladder predictor has them finishing 5th. 

If blues lose to us and beat the Suns which is likely, they will be 12 wins with the Giants to come.  Still a chance to drop out!

An analysis of the 2023 fixture.  Melbourne did alright as it turns out.

 https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/winners-and-losers-who-really-has-had-the-toughest-afl-fixture-this-season-20230815-p5dwl4.html

12 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

An analysis of the 2023 fixture.  Melbourne did alright as it turns out.

 https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/winners-and-losers-who-really-has-had-the-toughest-afl-fixture-this-season-20230815-p5dwl4.html

I agree that we have had a softish draw. However, the article is a bit misleading in that it spells out out all our double up games except for the Lions. And Richmond would be currently 8th if they had have knocked us off twice this year, so part of the reason our draw looks soft is that we have won more games than we have lost.

15 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

An analysis of the 2023 fixture.  Melbourne did alright as it turns out.

 https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/winners-and-losers-who-really-has-had-the-toughest-afl-fixture-this-season-20230815-p5dwl4.html

We couldn't possibly have got a favourable fixture when your team gets penalized every week by inept, bias umpires who practise their newly found powers and vague rule variations that create more perplexed supporters including the bottom of the pile media cult lovers and officials who kiss their own self importance where it don't smell.

Bit premature for me.

3 minutes ago, Willmoy1947 said:

We couldn't possibly have got a favourable fixture when your team gets penalized every week by inept, bias umpires who practise their newly found powers and vague rule variations that create more perplexed supporters including the bottom of the pile media cult lovers and officials who kiss their own self importance where it don't smell.

Bit premature for me.

Do you think the AFL umpiring is out to get Melbourne, and only Melbourne?

 

6 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Do you think the AFL umpiring is out to get Melbourne, and only Melbourne?

 

Certain AFL Umpires, yes i do.

Especially to certain players at MFC yes i do.

When dumbfounding decisions, and pivotal changes of momentum are made to the detriment of one club especially, yes i do.

Not just me noticing......

40 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

An analysis of the 2023 fixture.  Melbourne did alright as it turns out.

 https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/winners-and-losers-who-really-has-had-the-toughest-afl-fixture-this-season-20230815-p5dwl4.html

Yeah i saw this as well. I think the main difference is the number of bottom 4 teams we have played vs others. Getting both North and Hawthorn twice is the main reason. I think most top 8 teams have only played one bottom 4 team twice, whereas Cats have only played them each once. 

 

1 hour ago, Willmoy1947 said:

We couldn't possibly have got a favourable fixture when your team gets penalized every week by inept, bias umpires

The umpiring standards have nothing to do with the fixture.

You seem to have an unhealthy fixation with umpires.

16 hours ago, Demonstone said:

The umpiring standards have nothing to do with the fixture.

You seem to have an unhealthy fixation with umpires.

Rash generalisations will not solve the problems.

Umpiring seems ok most of the time its just games where there is a huge home crowd in tight last qtrs and momentum changing moments where they screw up.

I am amazed at the number of crucial frees Essendon get especially in their fwd half. That Draper guy is loved by the umps. 

As for the draw id like to see a chart showing how many games we've played at the Gabba and Eagles in Perth over past 25 years

We already know the stats farce of playing down at Geelong and Norff in Tas.

Cannot possibly increase the size of the AFL comp. Someone has to go out and it wont be Suns or GWS.

Norff or Aints?   All hell will  break loose regardless especially Stkilda.

55 minutes ago, Willmoy1947 said:

Rash generalisations will not solve the problems.

Free kick Demonstone!

On 8/18/2023 at 4:41 PM, Fat Tony said:

I agree that we have had a softish draw. However, the article is a bit misleading in that it spells out out all our double up games except for the Lions. And Richmond would be currently 8th if they had have knocked us off twice this year, so part of the reason our draw looks soft is that we have won more games than we have lost.

Have we though?

Yes we had Hawthorn and North twice. But we also are on track to have three of the top 6 twice too (Brisbane, Carlton, Sydney). 

Fixture difficulty should also take into account short breaks, travel, venues, etc. We got Brisbane in Brisbane, Port in Adelaide, Sydney in Sydney, and Geelong in Geelong. 

I don’t know how that stacks up with other clubs but the analysis in the linked article is horrendously shallow.

Having posted the above last night, I've had some more random fixture musings as I contemplate whether we've had an easy fixture or not.

Firstly, I looked at interstate games in the last four weeks of the season (just the 9 sides vying for finals):

1. Brisbane - 2
2. GWS - 2
3. Melbourne - 2
4. Port Adelaide - 2
5. St Kilda - 1
6. Sydney - 1*
7. Bulldogs - 1*
8. Carlton - 1
9. Collingwood - 0

(*Sydney played a game at GWS and the Dogs play one in Geelong)

Then I looked at interstate games in the first four weeks of the season:

1. Brisbane - 2
2. GWS - 2
3. Melbourne - 2
4. Port Adelaide - 2
5. Sydney - 2
6. Carlton - 1
7. Collingwood - 1
8. St Kilda - 0
9. Bulldogs - 0

Which has us level on 4 with Brisbane, GWS and Port, playing half our first month and half our last month on the road. By comparison, St Kilda and Collingwood play all bar 1 (total) of their opening and closing months of the year on the road.

As I said, just a random musing. There are heaps of ways to analyse the fixture and this is just one of them, but it's the sort of analysis that is done so poorly by the generally poor AFL media.