6 months until round 1. i’m gonna need that full amount of time to recover from September

Why do so many want us to play West Cioast at the MCG? Yes, it’s bizarre we haven’t played them there for so long. But while West Coast are weak, why waste a home game against them? Happy to play them away. If we played them twice, for sure, that would be a bonus. We did get lucky this year with North and Hawthorn (two of the bottom three sides) twice.

Come next year, we wouldn’t have played Essendon away for three years. Yep, I do get we played them away seemingly every year before that. The home games are great for gate receipts, the away games at the MCG (there appeared to be a number of these) are great as an additional ‘home’ game when they’re not a home game.

We actually had a dream draw in 2023, unlike 2022. Anything mirroring it would be great. Finishing top 6, probably not likely again.

We theoretically shoot ourselves in the foot with Alice Springs because it’s our call to play there. Then again, if we didn’t play that game and had 11 home games in Melbourne, the AFL would probably fixture us to play an additional away game interstate anyway - for instance, against a Victorian team, such as Hawthorn in Tassie. Maybe the club knows this and had been told this, hence keeping the Alice Springs game brings in cash and might not mean an overall additional interstate trip.

1 hour ago, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

How many months away is the fixture away from release?

Last December they released the first part of this year’s fixture. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be in December this year, for as we know, the AFL will do as the AFL pleases.

Edited October 1, 20231 yr by WalkingCivilWar

We'll get West coast in gather round 

Watch the pies get to play every Friday night & their last 5-7 games @ the G vs multiple road trips for us and playing the Cats away for the 400 time in a row

 

The hint is in the name FIX-ture

I might be in the minority but I'm hoping we play down in Hobart again as it's a great long weekend. The flight is less than an hour and there's no feral opposition fan base to contend with inside the ground, unlike SA and WA away. 

I hope people realise that if we didn't have the Alice Springs game, we'd be given a home game at Marvel instead, just as Collingwood and Richmond have. There are no extra MCG games to be had.

And a trip to Geelong likely saves us another interstate trip. I can't believe anyone wants us to be hosting games against WCE at the MCG - we'd be lucky to get 20K at the game. Much better to try and dodge Brisbane and Sydney away, and play WCE and Fremantle at Optus.

I thought the players had said they liked our bye schedule. I've certainly never heard the club say that it is a disadvantage to us. Either way if the club wants to be involved in Kings Birthday (Monday) and Anzac Eve (Wednesday), expect some short turnarounds.

3 hours ago, YearOfTheDees said:

The hint is in the name FIX-ture

Slash marketing fixture.. no question pies played well & with such tight scores across all of their finals did no travel in the last 5 rounds help? Are these the 1% that gets ignored? How would an interstate team not leaving their state for the sane time? No team should have a draw like this it’s BS

Any danger we can actually play a final round game (ie -round 24, previously round 23) at the MCG?

The last time we played a final round game at the MCG, was 2018 against GWS and we ended up having a good finals campaign.

2019 V North at Hobart

2020 V North at Hobart in the pre covid fixture

2021 V Geelong in Geelong

2022 V Brisbane in Brisbane

2023 V Sydney in Sydney

 

19 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Any danger we can actually play a final round game (ie -round 24, previously round 23) at the MCG?

The last time we played a final round game at the MCG, was 2018 against GWS and we ended up having a good finals campaign.

2019 V North at Hobart

2020 V North at Hobart in the pre covid fixture

2021 V Geelong in Geelong

2022 V Brisbane in Brisbane

2023 V Sydney in Sydney

 

Would argue that we had a pretty good finals campaign in 2021 too hehe.

4 hours ago, poita said:

I hope people realise that if we didn't have the Alice Springs game, we'd be given a home game at Marvel instead, just as Collingwood and Richmond have. There are no extra MCG games to be had.

And a trip to Geelong likely saves us another interstate trip. I can't believe anyone wants us to be hosting games against WCE at the MCG - we'd be lucky to get 20K at the game. Much better to try and dodge Brisbane and Sydney away, and play WCE and Fremantle at Optus.

I thought the players had said they liked our bye schedule. I've certainly never heard the club say that it is a disadvantage to us. Either way if the club wants to be involved in Kings Birthday (Monday) and Anzac Eve (Wednesday), expect some short turnarounds.

Agreed with all points except the 20K against the eagles at the G.

Anzac Eve next year will likely be a 4-day break as it was in 2019 where both sides are made to play on the Saturday before and open the next round on the Wednesday night.

On 10/1/2023 at 5:06 PM, WalkingCivilWar said:

I’d be happy to have the entire fixture revealed at once. The floating fixture isn’t necessary post-Covid. 

Keep the bustards honest. You've got my vote WCW.

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Any danger we can actually play a final round game (ie -round 24, previously round 23) at the MCG?

The last time we played a final round game at the MCG, was 2018 against GWS and we ended up having a good finals campaign.

2019 V North at Hobart

2020 V North at Hobart in the pre covid fixture

2021 V Geelong in Geelong

2022 V Brisbane in Brisbane

2023 V Sydney in Sydney

 

This really sucks. We are such pushovers according to the afl, in so many ways.

8 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Any danger we can actually play a final round game (ie -round 24, previously round 23) at the MCG?

The last time we played a final round game at the MCG, was 2018 against GWS and we ended up having a good finals campaign.

2019 V North at Hobart

2020 V North at Hobart in the pre covid fixture

2021 V Geelong in Geelong

2022 V Brisbane in Brisbane

2023 V Sydney in Sydney

 

Compare that to Collingwood last 5 in Melbourne vs 2 road trips for all the other 7 finalists!  Afl do deals with the so called bigger clubs ..  until you play each other twice continue to expect a shafting & god knows the draw the pies will get next season 

Edited October 2, 20231 yr by Demonsone

21 hours ago, Rab D Nesbitt said:

I might be in the minority but I'm hoping we play down in Hobart again as it's a great long weekend. The flight is less than an hour and there's no feral opposition fan base to contend with inside the ground, unlike SA and WA away. 

Last two times we played that ground we suffered serious season ending injuries. Coincidence or [censored] ground?

19 hours ago, leave it to deever said:

Keep the bustards honest. You've got my vote WCW.

Surely “keep the bastards honest” implies honesty presently exists.   
Surely (try to) make the bastards honest would be a more realistic way to put it. 

12 hours ago, Jaded No More said:

Last two times we played that ground we suffered serious season ending injuries. Coincidence or [censored] ground?

Hi Jaded. I'm of course speaking about why I like that we play in Hobart. I don't think Maxy was too complimentary of the surface in our last game but North play there four times a year and I can't recollect any major injuries they've suffered over that time so I'd put it down to coincidence. By way of comparison Rick Lever's ruptured ACL and T-Mac's Lisfranc were both done at Docklands. The exact same injuries as Tommo and Petts. 

10 minutes ago, Rab D Nesbitt said:

Hi Jaded. I'm of course speaking about why I like that we play in Hobart. I don't think Maxy was too complimentary of the surface in our last game but North play there four times a year and I can't recollect any major injuries they've suffered over that time so I'd put it down to coincidence. By way of comparison Rick Lever's ruptured ACL and T-Mac's Lisfranc were both done at Docklands. The exact same injuries as Tommo and Petts. 

Fair enough. 
The standard of the surface there isn’t great. It’s also not great at Marvel. Glad we don’t play at those grounds often. 

8 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

Fair enough. 
The standard of the surface there isn’t great. It’s also not great at Marvel. Glad we don’t play at those grounds often. 

Agree with all that. At Docklands in particular they always seem to be laying new patches of turf. They did it along a whole wing at Optus recently too which looked awful. The centre wicket area of the Gabba has been an issue too as the head groundsman doesn't seem to give a [censored] about AFL footy. The AFLW Grand Final was actually moved to Metricon because it was so bad one year. 

On 10/1/2023 at 11:32 PM, Great Northern Summer said:

Why do so many want us to play West Cioast at the MCG? Yes, it’s bizarre we haven’t played them there for so long. But while West Coast are weak, why waste a home game against them? Happy to play them away. If we played them twice, for sure, that would be a bonus. We did get lucky this year with North and Hawthorn (two of the bottom three sides) twice.

Come next year, we wouldn’t have played Essendon away for three years. Yep, I do get we played them away seemingly every year before that. The home games are great for gate receipts, the away games at the MCG (there appeared to be a number of these) are great as an additional ‘home’ game when they’re not a home game.

We actually had a dream draw in 2023, unlike 2022. Anything mirroring it would be great. Finishing top 6, probably not likely again.

We theoretically shoot ourselves in the foot with Alice Springs because it’s our call to play there. Then again, if we didn’t play that game and had 11 home games in Melbourne, the AFL would probably fixture us to play an additional away game interstate anyway - for instance, against a Victorian team, such as Hawthorn in Tassie. Maybe the club knows this and had been told this, hence keeping the Alice Springs game brings in cash and might not mean an overall additional interstate trip.

Not sure your opinion on this is remotely accurate. 

If Melb forfeit their $500,000 game in NT Alice they would play their 11 th home game at the MCG or have one home game at Marvel which they have asked not to be fixtured over the last decade. 

The AFL would not take a genuine home game away from our fixture  as all Clubs are  entitled to 11 home games in their draw in a 22 game season. Your out of line call thetbthe AFL could schedule an 11th home game sat at Launceston's US University Ovsl and call it a home game vs the Hawks is never going to happen. No Club  either is going to request that venue as Hawthorn has a 70% plus winning ratio there even though irbid helped by allowing for them playing interstate and lower Clubs at that venue.  

Don't worry it won't happen.  
 

27 minutes ago, 58er said:

Not sure your opinion on this is remotely accurate. 

If Melb forfeit their $500,000 game in NT Alice they would play their 11 th home game at the MCG or have one home game at Marvel which they have asked not to be fixtured over the last decade. 

The AFL would not take a genuine home game away from our fixture  as all Clubs are  entitled to 11 home games in their draw in a 22 game season. Your out of line call thetbthe AFL could schedule an 11th home game sat at Launceston's US University Ovsl and call it a home game vs the Hawks is never going to happen. No Club  either is going to request that venue as Hawthorn has a 70% plus winning ratio there even though irbid helped by allowing for them playing interstate and lower Clubs at that venue.  

Don't worry it won't happen.  
 

You either missed my point or I didn't explain myself clearly enough. If the latter, I'll clear things up now.

Of course we would get 11 home games in Melbourne if we chose to call time on the Alice Springs game. No club plays 11 home games at the MCG, even Richmond and Collingwood are forced to play home games at Docklands, but that wasn't my point, whether we play 11 at the MCG or 10 at the MCG and 1 at Docklands.

We play a certain number of interstate games a year - all bar one being away games. We play a certain number of away games at the MCG and Docklands. My point was that one of those 'away' games at the MCG or Docklands would probably end up being interstate if we pulled out of Alice Springs (for instance, against Hawthorn), so we would in effect play the same number of interstate games, whether we kept the Alice Springs game or got rid of it.

I hope that clears things up and show's that my opinion probably does have some accuracy to it. Well it's not really an 'opinion', it's a suspicion...

Edited October 3, 20231 yr by Great Northern Summer

1 a proper bye

2 no trip to Geelong

3 no trip to Tassie

4 all home games at the G

2 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

1 a proper bye

2 no trip to Geelong

3 no trip to Tassie

4 all home games at the G

On 10/2/2023 at 12:19 PM, poita said:

I hope people realise that if we didn't have the Alice Springs game, we'd be given a home game at Marvel instead, just as Collingwood and Richmond have. There are no extra MCG games to be had.

And a trip to Geelong likely saves us another interstate trip. I can't believe anyone wants us to be hosting games against WCE at the MCG - we'd be lucky to get 20K at the game. Much better to try and dodge Brisbane and Sydney away, and play WCE and Fremantle at Optus.

I thought the players had said they liked our bye schedule. I've certainly never heard the club say that it is a disadvantage to us. Either way if the club wants to be involved in Kings Birthday (Monday) and Anzac Eve (Wednesday), expect some short turnarounds.

Collingwood is the other participant on Kings Birthday but they manage to get a proper bye - they played the Sunday after giving them 13 days break vs our 10 for a Thursday night game. Just because we play certain games doesn't mean we should be punished for it. The AFL compromises the draw enough I'm sure they could figure out a way to give us a proper break over the midseason bye.