9 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

I just saw this: https://www.afl.com.au/news/1255357

Sunday night games in 9 of the first 15 weeks, not all of which will be before public holidays. 

These are almost as hard to attend for fans as Thursday night games. 

Thankfully doesn't seem like we'll cop one. 

4 hours ago, FearTheBeard said:

Some fixture nuggets for the first 15 rounds... The Grand Final rematch will be Round 1. Sat March 15. Syd v Bris, 4.15pm at the SCG.

FRIDAY night matches:

4x Collingwood/Hawthorn

3x Carlton/Sydney

2x Brisbane/St Kilda/Bulldogs

1x Melbourne/Richmond

Clearly being punished for [censored] game plan and unwatchable football.

So we have 1 thursday, 1 Friday, 1 Monday in the first 15 matches. Hello Red ball footy at the G :) (alternatively could be a whole heap of Sunday 3:20s again)

brand CP5 wont be happy

AFL is turning MFC off in any prime time timedlots.  
It will quickly favour the Hokball Hawks.  The appeal and playing style of the Hawks captured the media, the AFL, Battle & Barrass. 
Time to re-energise our playing style. 

2 hours ago, Macca said:

Surely we haven't regressed to Neeldesque-like proportions, have we? 

Please no

 

55 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

AFL is turning MFC off in any prime time timedlots.  
It will quickly favour the Hokball Hawks.  The appeal and playing style of the Hawks captured the media, the AFL, Battle & Barrass. 
Time to re-energise our playing style. 

Hawthorn to get seven primetime slots in the first 16 weeks - four Fridays and three Thursdays

Edited November 13, 20241 yr by spirit of norm smith
Farrrrrk me

Seems likely we're playing GWS at the G on a Sunday to begin

13 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

The latest count is now 24 out of a possible 26 Thursday night games including week 1 finals.

Great result for fans that love their footy and love the footy weekend to start early.

I get your concern of 5 day breaks becoming more prevalent, but we've reached the stage where Thursday nights are ready to be full time I'd of thought.

Thursday night games are good if your team isn't playing.

If your team is playing then it's ok if it's interstate.

Thursday night at the G when it's not school hols (and especially if it's bucketing down like the Blues game this year) is horrific.

11 hours ago, Demonland said:

Hope you enjoy watching Essendon.

 

I love watching Essendon, nothing funnier than seeing them stink it up.

10 hours ago, Clintosaurus said:

11 wins and we are basically North Melbourne.

We play a boring style that neutrals don't like watching. Our games are often low atmosphere and look poor on TV because our supporters all sit on the broadcast side.

If we start playing an exciting brand of footy and are pushing for top 4 we will get more interest, bigger crowds and more primetime games.

To be honest I'm not fussed about the off Broadway games, it's been a pain having so many night games in recent years, tough with younger kids and my parents struggle with the late finishes these days.

1 hour ago, Clayton spirit said:

Seems likely we're playing GWS at the G on a Sunday to begin

And we'll probably get 30k+ to the game as opposed to the 16k we got on that Saturday night last season

Our supporters base is bordering on ancient so the day games appeal

Bring on the Red Sherrin! (personally, I always preferred the Ross Faulkner as the torpies went further)

5 hours ago, Clayton spirit said:

Seems likely we're playing GWS at the G on a Sunday to begin

If that’s the case, then we’ve apparently got our first 3 games in Melbourne with North at Marvel and GC at the G, if you believe the Herald Sun.

Expect a lot of travel between say round 4 and 10 to catch up on our obligatory 8 road trips.

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

If that’s the case, then we’ve apparently got our first 3 games in Melbourne with North at Marvel and GC at the G, if you believe the Herald Sun.

Expect a lot of travel between say round 4 and 10 to catch up on our obligatory 8 road trips.

That’s a roadkill of a draw !!! 

On 26/10/2024 at 07:40, spirit of norm smith said:

Agreed.  Get ready for Saturday 4:35pm games, Sunday 1.10pm and Sunday 3:20pm. Very few Friday or Saturday night games.  It’s the interstate scheduling and short turnaround games that will probably be the horror show for us.  

Get ready …. 

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

If that’s the case, then we’ve apparently got our first 3 games in Melbourne with North at Marvel and GC at the G, if you believe the Herald Sun.

Expect a lot of travel between say round 4 and 10 to catch up on our obligatory 8 road trips.

GWS play in OR. Hopefully it's stinking hot and humid.

Meanwhile we are in Melbourne chillin.

If we can beat GWS, playing North then Suns at the G creates an opportunity for a positive start to the season.

15 hours ago, FearTheBeard said:

Some fixture nuggets for the first 15 rounds... The Grand Final rematch will be Round 1. Sat March 15. Syd v Bris, 4.15pm at the SCG.

FRIDAY night matches:

4x Collingwood/Hawthorn

3x Carlton/Sydney

2x Brisbane/St Kilda/Bulldogs

1x Melbourne/Richmond

Clearly being punished for [censored] game plan and unwatchable football.

So we have 1 thursday, 1 Friday, 1 Monday in the first 15 matches. Hello Red ball footy at the G :) (alternatively could be a whole heap of Sunday 3:20s again)

If that’s right then we play our only Thursday night and our only Friday night game for the year against Richmond. This at least is an indicator that we play this year’s (and likely next year’s) wooden spooner twice. One benefit from finishing in the bottom third of the ladder is a notionally easier fixture. 

If we win games, then the fans will come in the long run and if we stay fit and healthy as a side then we have a much better opening to play finals football which is what it’s all about.

 

1 hour ago, Leopold Bloom said:

If that’s right then we play our only Thursday night and our only Friday night game for the year against Richmond. This at least is an indicator that we play this year’s (and likely next year’s) wooden spooner twice. One benefit from finishing in the bottom third of the ladder is a notionally easier fixture. 

If we win games, then the fans will come in the long run and if we stay fit and healthy as a side then we have a much better opening to play finals football which is what it’s all about.

I think that was in reference to Melbourne and Richmond playing 1 Friday night each rather than playing on Friday night against each other.

At this stage it’s unknown if we play Richmond twice.

R4- Friday night away in Geelong

 

3 minutes ago, Clayton spirit said:

R4- Friday night away in Geelong

 

Well we all saw that coming. One year off every 15 years or so seem fair. 

The drip feed is well under way. I hate to save this but the AFL play this game well. There is a lull in AFL over the period between the Melb cup and drafting. So they release the fixture bit by bit to fill the gap. 

If it was ever a mystery that the fixture is all about maximising the audience for the media at the expense of people going to games this is it. They don't care about the problems of fans going to games on Thursday nights and Sunday nights. It's all about TV ratings first, last and in the middle. Why do I still buy a membership when I go to less than 50% of games? It's because after 60+ years I cannot stop trying to help the MFC. I have mentioned on a number of occasions how much joy I get from my GD's basketball. She has now moved up to a higher level team, they play Friday nights. I will be going to watch her games which will be played around the northern/ western suburbs as well as cities like Bendigo  it is not  a contest for my attention. All things AFL now run lower on the needs basis for me. One giant thing that impressed  me about basketball at this level is how connected you feel to the players and staff. I don't feel connected to AFL any longer and this media first/ people attending last makes me less connected every year. Sorry for the ramble. 

41 minutes ago, Clayton spirit said:

R4- Friday night away in Geelong

 

We'll thump them.

On 11/11/2024 at 14:23, DubDee said:

Don't like playing the bombers early in the season, they usually don't start choking til June

season 2023 was ordinary but we'll always have that we started Essendon on their losing spiral out of the finals 

55 minutes ago, Clayton spirit said:

R4- Friday night away in Geelong

 

Thanks for the updates.

Disappointed that our only scheduled Friday night game is in Geelong rather than at the G.

Hope your Rd 1 prediction about GWS at the MCG is correct as opposed to Giants stadium.

 

Edited November 13, 20241 yr by Bring-Back-Powell

Glad we only have 1 thursday game. Midweek games suck

Sunday night games can GAGF’d too