Richmond and Hawthorn going down to the Cattery 

2 minutes ago, deanox said:

7 interstate "away" matches, plus Alice Springs.

But we don't go to Tassie or Geelong.

 

Double ups against Pies, Lions, Port, Freo and West Coast, seems a supremely hard draw, with only WCE really expected to be a bottom fixture, and three of those teams being genuine top 4 chances.

I suppose you just don't know. Freo, Port and Lions could all dip.

Nobody expected Freo to be so poor in 2023 or Port to be so strong either.

But on paper this looks a hard draw. At least we get a proper mid year bye and our travel is more evenly spread out, and the two weeks in Adelaide are pretty much going to be one intestate trip from a conditioning perspective as I doubt we will fly back in between games. 

tbh there's not much there in terms of financial positives - there's only two 'marquee' home games, against puddy tatts and the peptides

2 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

don't know where people are seeing the r24 vs the filth - i've got it against the pear on the official fixture?

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/matches/fixture?Competition=1&CompSeason=62&MatchTimezone=MY_TIME&GameWeeks=0

Its becuse the club havent loaded it in, its in the AFL fixture

2 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

don't know where people are seeing the r24 vs the filth - i've got it against the pear on the official fixture?

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/matches/fixture?Competition=1&CompSeason=62&MatchTimezone=MY_TIME&GameWeeks=0

That fixture is missing round 23/24

It's Collingwood

2 minutes ago, FearTheBeard said:

Richmond and Hawthorn going down to the Cattery 

Thought they might have gone for one more mega club down there to sell some more superboxes. Not many "great" games at a stadium we the taxpayers have spent a fortune on

12 minutes ago, DubDee said:

i thought we had swans round 1?

Round 0 - opening round?

 

That’s a good draw for us. How do we not win the flag from here? 😂😜🤦‍♂️

No trip to Geelong is unbelievable. I’m in shock.

8 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

don't know where people are seeing the r24 vs the filth - i've got it against the pear on the official fixture?

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/matches/fixture?Competition=1&CompSeason=62&MatchTimezone=MY_TIME&GameWeeks=0

This is the DA spreadsheet.

 

Looks pretty good to me

17 minutes ago, DubDee said:

i thought we had swans round 1?

Swans in ‘opening round’ a week before round one. 

22 minutes ago, Clintosaurus said:

Pies in Round 24 will be HUGE. Freo, Port and WCE twice is interesting.

We will get the chance to knock the Pies out of the finals, and Maynard out of the park!

Financially devastating.

Our opening home game is at 1pm on a Sunday.

Our next home game is almost a month later, against Brisbane on a Thursday night. Solid 33k in attendance. 

Anzac Eve is an away game.

Geelong at the MCG might pull in 50k but depends on how both teams are going.

vs Carlton is an away game.

St Kilda on a Sunday at 3:20 might pull a decent crowd. Maybe 50k.

King's Bday is away.

vs North on a Saturday night. 25k.

vs WC, finally a home game against them. 25k.

vs Essendon, finally a home game at the MCG against them. 60k.

vs GWS. 25K.

vs Port. 30k.

vs Pies. 70k.

Only two of our home games will require reserve seat upgrades for GA members: Essendon and Collingwood.

For the general fan attending games it's great because we have 8 of our 10 MCG home games are against non-MCG tenants.

Financially, the club would surely be livid with this draw. It's a disaster.

No Friday games in first 15 Rounds but 4 Thursdays. Geez I hope Carlton are [censored].

My initial thoughts:

1. No trip to Geelong is always a win. Even better, Richmond and Hawthorn are (completely fairly) going down there instead.
2. We have an average slate of MCG home games - we get Collingwood, Essendon and Geelong but don't get Carlton, Richmond or Hawthorn. 
3. West Coast at the G breaks a 10 year duck. But of course means we get the overwhelmingly likely better WA team as a road trip. 
4. 8 interstate games is the same as this year, as is the one Marvel game. The difference is we trade the Geelong trip for an additional MCG game. That's a win.
5. Zero Friday nights for us so far. Four Thursday nights means we don't miss out on prime time football but I detest Thursday night games when we are playing so that is, to me, a major loss.
6. Our double-up games look very hard on 2023 form - Collingwood, Brisbane and Port Adelaide are the entire top 4 outside of us, which is ridiculous. But it's always folly to rate the double ups on this year's form, when every year we see a strong club flop and a weak club rise. 
7. It does not surprise me at all to see us get the equal-worst allocation of five-day breaks. You'd hope that means we don't get any in the last 9 rounds. You'd also hope that the sides to currently not have any five-day breaks all get at least one to make it somewhat even.
8. I reckon back-to-back games in Adelaide is a good thing. One less set of flights, ability to adjust/acclimatise. Hopefully we can make that work.
9. Indeed, the Adelaide fortnight is the only time during the year we spend more than one week away from the G. That is a major upgrade on, say, 2022, in which we had a 5-week period of playing away from the G.
10. Our travel feels well spread, and we have four of our last five games in Melbourne, which is good.
11. The Wednesday ANZAC Eve game looks to have been spaced out really well for us - 7-day break from Gather Round, 13 days to ANZAC Eve, 10 days to the next game - the bye works perfectly for us there
12. Proper bye after KB is also welcome

Back to back games in Adelaide with five days in between. Thanks a bunch AFL. 😢

Better than I expected. Huge win no Geelong trip. Good to see Geelong and West Coast come to the 'G for once. Only 1 Marvel game is a good surprise too. Few teams that struggle at the 'G like Lions, Saints, Roos play us there too. Suns in GC then Pies to finish season will be tough.

1 minute ago, praha said:

Financially devastating.

Our opening home game is at 1pm on a Sunday.

Our next home game is almost a month later, against Brisbane on a Thursday night. Solid 33k in attendance. 

Anzac Eve is an away game.

Geelong at the MCG might pull in 50k but depends on how both teams are going.

vs Carlton is an away game.

St Kilda on a Sunday at 3:20 might pull a decent crowd. Maybe 50k.

King's Bday is away.

vs North on a Saturday night. 25k.

vs WC, finally a home game against them. 25k.

vs Essendon, finally a home game at the MCG against them. 60k.

vs GWS. 25K.

vs Port. 30k.

vs Pies. 70k.

Only two of our home games will require reserve seat upgrades for GA members: Essendon and Collingwood.

For the general fan attending games it's great because we have 8 of our 10 MCG home games are against non-MCG tenants.

Financially, the club would surely be livid with this draw. It's a disaster.

How many big MCG home games are we supposed to get? We get Collingwood and Essendon but not Richmond or Carlton. We get Geelong but not Hawthorn. We get all of North, St Kilda and the Dogs, and we get Brisbane (biggest or second-biggest drawing interstate side) and Port (who should be decent). 

What I am a bit disappointed in is that of the four Thursday night games only the Brisbane one is a home game. Hopefully we're doing OK by the time the floating part of the fixture is released so that we can try to get the Essendon, Port and Collingwood home games in prime time slots.

1 minute ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

Back to back games in Adelaide with five days in between. Thanks a bunch AFL. 😢

We’ll beat Port and get smashed by Adelaide 

No taxpayer park trip and Essenscum home game!!! Wtf??? Is this upside down world?

Play twice: Collingwood, Brisbane, Port Adelaide, Western Bulldogs, Fremantle, West Coast

First four: Sydney (A), Western Bulldogs (H), Hawthorn (A), Port Adelaide (A)

Last three: Port Adelaide (H), Gold Coast (A), Collingwood (H)

Bye: Round 6, Round 14

Thursday/Friday matches: 4/0 (Total: 4)

Five-day breaks: 2

Degree of difficulty: 49 (equal third hardest)

 

2 minutes ago, Gorgoroth said:

No taxpayer park trip and Essenscum home game!!! Wtf??? Is this upside down world?

You forgot playing West Coast at the MCG. I was negative years old when this last happened. 

A home game against Geelong

Whale Oil Beef Hooked

Said with an Irish accent.