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It is what it is and no amount of complaining will change that. Truth be told, I don't care about when we play as long as we win and I'd much rather be a team that flies under the radar, so to speak, than one in the glaring spotlight. On a positive side, whilst we don't get a lot of Friday night matches, we do get the two marque matches that we really wanted. Both these games should pull 80K plus to the MCG. In addition, the short turn around following the ANZAC match against Essendon actually work significantly in our favour. Plenty of matches at our home ground and a few 'away' matches at our home ground is a plus and hopefully we can win at least 3 of the first 4 and use that as a springboard into the year. As some have already said, if we're good enough, we'll win.

You obviously believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy 'steve'... Give it a break. How did Carlton earn it?

Today I renewed 14 family memberships and signed up 3 new family members. You can add 17 to the 2018 tally.

Well, we're the ones who take the whack but to my way of thinking, we've always played our part and will always continue to do so. Blaming of supporters is just childish & a puerile way of thinking. And that's right across the board in any sport. We're mere onlookers who effect very little. It's a minor miracle that we have in excess of 42.000 members. We are nothing but resilient.

Why are we even talking about Melbourne's fixture when we could be discussing Jack Watts draw.

I swear, we could play 22 games at the MCG, 11 of them on Friday night and the other 11 on a Saturday afternoon, and people will still find reason to complain. We have been given a draw that gives us a great opportunity to win enough games to make finals. We have been given a draw that gives us, the supporters, an opportunity to go to a lot of the games. Given our status, our draws over the past few years has been quite favourable, it's just we haven't been able to make the most of it. It's time for supporters to stop pointing and whinging. This whole mindset of "poor us" has to cease. We need to demand more from our players, and the club should bloody well demand more from us. We are no longer "insignificant". We are more "neutral" now. But between us supporters, the playing group and the club, we are entering an era that could see us become something special. Pizzing and moaning about the draw just continually allows that negative cloud to hang over our heads.

I passionately hate that we sell those games, and for as long as we do it, we really can't complain of who/when/how we play the week after. It is our choice to sell those games, which was good while we were garbage and needed money, but it is now costing us on the field, which is the only thing we should care about at this stage.

Shafted again The NT Deal is going to hurt again. Is the money worth the absolute compromise? The NT money means NOTHING if we miss September

I am at the stage that what ever the draw is we just need to put our heads down, play where ever and when ever and just compete and WIN. It’s time to have an us against them mindset and turn our mental mindset around.

And not one of those interstate games in Sydney... again!! As much as I love the opportunity to visit my old home town, if I want to attend a game to see the club I have followed for nigh on 60 years playing, it costs me a small fortune (relative to my current income). So please do not let me hear any Melbourne based supporters complaining about games at Etihad and Geelong - at least you're all getting 14 games (15 if you include Geelong which is a relatively short drive) that you can attend. Sometimes I feel like we interstate members just exist to bolster the club's coffers. Not happy!

1 friday night game against Port in Adelaide - absolute BS

The current membership figure is a lowly 16,689. (It picks up MCC memberships and the annual automatic rollovers which occurred on Oct 25). I don’t have the comparable figure for Week 4 of Oct last year. But the figures for week 3 of October in recent years were: 2017: 21,890. 2018 Shortfall at least 5,291 (24%) 2016: 19,026. 2018 Shortfall at least 2,337 2014: 17,625. 2018 Shortfall at least 936 It is reasonable to assume that it is the diehard supporters that pay up 'early'. So it would be alarming to the club that at least 24% of last year’s diehard renewals have not occurred. Equally alarming would be we are under the equivalent 2014 figure (ie after the announcement of Roos as the new coach). If 24% fewer diehard supporters have not renewed, one wonders how many of the new members that took us to 42,000 will also fall by the wayside. We can all guess the reasons for the non-renewals: Round 23 capitulation Missing finals The post round 23 communication vacuum from the club The early finals ticket brochure fiasco. (and maybe for some the handling/departure of a fan favourite) On DL we have done those to death and on here we are quite forgiving and our belief in the club and its management, while questioned at times, is very resilient. But rightly or wrongly those events hurt the club and seem enough for members to start voting with their wallets. DL posters can ridicule them and say they are not 'true supporters' but they have the right to not take out a membership if they are not happy with what the club has shown. PJ and co really have their hands full to get the disenchanted members back. I hope he has some aces up his sleeve because patience seems to have run out. If the trend doesn't reverse it will really hurt financially which we can ill afford with the ordinary fixture we have been given. It will also hurt PJ's attempts to get a front of jumper sponsor ( I believe AHG will not be renewing their sponsorship). We might be lucky to reach 40,000 for 2018. FWIW - I did my bit and signed up last week.

Think the AFL may have caught wind of Viney and Lever going toe-to-toe in the ring, and with Tomas Bugg fresh in mind, thought it perhaps best to keep us out of the prime-time slots. Bring on Unsociable Sundays!

I was a fan of Lennon in his draft year. Thought I could see a Steve Johnson type there, but better overhead. Not only was I completely wrong, but he is not really what we need at all.

How is it that we have played once as the home side against Essendon since 2005 ? Who TF does these fixtures? Carlton hasn't played at Geelong since 2007?? Since 2008 Carlton have been the away side against melbourne twice?? Since 2009 Melbourne have been the away team against Geelong all but once Seriously, people complain about melbourne receiving equalisation money. Its a joke. We get shafted by having to play interstate sides at the G and a severe lack of games against the big pulling teams when we are at home.

There are anomalies with other clubs like Carlton and St Kilda, that are unfathomable on the surface of it, but I'm in the camp that says a basket case of a club that has been out of the finals for 11 years doesn't have much to complain about. We've got a terrific opportunity to get lots of wins on the board early on, which should set up the season.

Rippa Rita two games up in Brisbane. Cant wait to c the boys play live with me and my family sitting in the stands.

We were in the top 6 last year for Home and Away crowds.. The AFL have literally no fkin idea

Round 23 cost the club far more than 4 points...

Each to their own but I have signed up to the Luni bin again along with my family. Let the fun and games begin.

My response to the AFL:

Not sure that will be the case this year See this thread: A poor FTA fixture wont' help the cause. There is a reason the AFL has given Carlton their prime time FTA in the first months of the season: get members, sell merchandise and help them get a major sponsor. Pity they didn't give us the same considerations.

The fixture is not all that tough from a playing point of view but from a financial point of view we could have done with 2 home fixtures against teams like the Hawks, Blues or Dons. But, we've got 3 blockbuster fixtures in the first half of the season and it should be remembered that we pick up 800k from each of the NT games. The lack of exposure for our sponsors with regards to free-to-air prime-time games is a concern and of the 104 slots available in those prime-time free-to-air games, we received a total of 4. We are on free-to-air a dozen times though which seems more than what has happened in the recent past. From a playing point of view only having 4 six day breaks is a great result ... both Sydney & GWS are hard to beat at their home grounds but we only play both those teams at the MCG. And we don't visit Tassie either - another tough place to find a win. Our toughest away games are against the Crows, Port & Eagles but we won 2 of those away encounters in the recently completed season (Crows & Eagles) In summary we've got a lot of very winnable games and from a financial viewpoint, the club pockets some very decent coin in the first half of the year ... which means we can set ourselves up for a fruitful 2nd half of the season. Home games in the 2nd half of the season against the Saints, Bulldogs & Swans could end up being quite rewarding. The attitude from the playing group and coaching department should be anyplace, anywhere, anytime

No Hobart and no Sydney - Swans and GWS both in Melb. That balances some of the other bad news well IMO.

LOLsies at those saying we are "shafted", etc. We are such a delicate, mentally fragile community, aren't we? I don't think any player on our list will be sooking about the draw. If they just turn up with the mindset of winning any game, then we will make finals easily.

Fixturing shouldn't be a tool for the AFL to punish/reward. If it is, why do Carlton get looked after? It's a joke.

It’s quite entertaining coming home on a Friday after a long week and watching Carlton get thumped.

Well we had a very favourable draw in 2017 and squibbed it. The AFL reward the performers and big crowd drawers. Right now, we're neither of those things

Financially: 12/21 on FTA - Good Q'Bday and Anzac Eve - Good Very few Thurs/Fri nights - bad No etihad home game - good Our first 6 MCG home games come against Vic sides, should average 45k+ to those games and bank profits - good Football: Repeat against Geel, Adel, St K, WB, GC - Ok, not too unfair - Saints and Dogs could be the same as this year, Crows almost certain to go backwards, Cats a good test 4/5 at the G to start - Great! 3 finalists in the first 9 games and all of those in Melbourne. 3/4 at the G to finish - nice, not too much travel leading in to finals Only 11 games at the G - yuck All in all I don't think it's as bad as some are making out. Silver lining on getting screwed on Friday night games and extra Sunday's = no players going out on the beers after Friday nights and getting in trouble!

Give it a rest creepy Jesus. If that’s how Ding feels and what he’s decided to do then so be it.

How ever will i manage......

as did round 22 in 2016. I did not expect finals in 2016 but the way we gave up against Carlton left a sour taste in then mouth of many supporters. To see it repeated in even worse form in 2017 was heart breaking.

The Carlton Navy gets the gravy and the Demons get the beans. http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afls-fixture-blue-why-carlton-shouldnt-be-playing-to-many-friday-night-games-20171031-gzbvkg.html

I think he might be the reason we got one.

Spot on Macca. As you say we are not the ones on the field. Just the one who cough up the membership fees year in year out.

Any game is winnable ... especially round 1 against the Cats. The Tigers will fall away too - they'll come right back to the field unless they get an extremely good run with injuries again. Hangovers happen too. I just ran across our first dozen games to a mate (a non Demon) and he has our toughest game being Essendon in round 6 followed by the Crows in round 10. Then the Tigers and then the Cats. A better way to look at it is nominating an absolutely certain loss in that fixture. Our fixture is not a tough one ... unless we regress. .

But we have to listen to the 7 commentators...

The draw does us no favours. Negatives: - One Friday night game, in Adelaide - Playing 11 games against teams that have had more rest than us (7 games + 1 day, 3 games + 2 days and 1 game +6 days). Adelaide in Traeger park with 2 extra days rest will be tough. To balance that up, we only play 4 games where we’ve had additional rest over our opponents (3x +1 day, 1x +3 days) - Last 6 rounds include 5 against teams in this yrs top 8. Three of those road trips, and two of those three against teams with home team having extra rest (Geelong +2 days, WCE +1 day) - A lot of Sunday 3:20pm games (6). Not good for crowds, it’s an effing school night AFL. We’ve got 4 traditional Saturday/Sunday early afternoon games (2 home, 2 away). Timing of games not terrific for people wanting to take smaller kids along. Might pair back the membership level given I’m not going to get to a lot of these games. Positives: - Only 3 road trips in the 13 rounds before the bye - Playing 8 teams that finished 10th or lower, in the 12 rounds before the bye - If we make the finals, we’ll have earnt it.

Exactly. And making September would mean more merchandise sales, more members, and a better draw financially .next season. We would do much better $$ wise. The NT games are ridiculous.

From a playing perspective, the draw is OK. No multiple 6 day breaks, but a block of interstate games which again, we sell some of those, so we only have ourselves to blame for that. We play GWS, Sydney, Richmond, Port and WCE once, which is not bad as I think they'll all be strong again next year. From a commercial point of view, this draw is, again, absolute rubbish. We have ONE home Friday night game and it's in goddamn Adelaide, where we will likely lose to Port. We do get to host the pre-Anzac clash this year where revenue will be high, but how they can justify giving us just 1 Friday night game, is beyond me. Only 2 Saturday night games, again both away, and a heap of rubbish Sunday 3:20 games. The deadzone! Having said all that, if we are good enough, we can make finals this year and it is in our hands. Sick of excuses to be honest.

Spot on DemonOx if we are good enough we will win enough games to make the finals it is that simple.

You know why they did that don't you? To keep them interested in buying memberships and coming through the turnstiles. This is insane any reputable sporting competitions around the world would laugh and scoff at how uneven this draw really is. Carlton they play the worst brand of football known to man and they achieve 4 Friday Night games amazing.???

Be real about what this means. This is not a handout to weak clubs. Its about the uneveness of the ground rules set by the AFL and trying to fix that monetarily. 1. Stadium deals. If you are going to make people play at 'clean' vs 'unclean' venues then this is massively unequal. Geelong, WCE, Adelaide in particular have huge revenue from corporate boxes, advertising, food and beverage, parking etc. We don't because we rent the MCG as it is. The MCC get the revenue from the extraneous stuff. What does this mean? WCE spend more than $300k a week more than Melbourne on the footy dept. That is huge in the context of providing elite training facilities, medical rehab, marketing etc 2. Fixturing. The blockbuster/derby/showdown games. Twice a year huge revenue. The myriad of BS fixturing such as gifting Essendon 11-12 Friday night, Saturday night games. Or two games against the big crowd pulling clubs generate massive reveue in gate recepits and advertising. If you are a sponsor are you going to back Collingwood with all of their TV exposure or Melbourne that has had about 2 friday night games in 5 years? Carlton haven't played at Geelong since 1998 I am told. Why not? We haven't hosted Essendon at the MCG since around 2006. Why not? We don't play the big melbourne teams twice most seasons. Why not? These all add up to ridiculous amounts of revenue and TV exposure. It also measn we have to sell home games to the NT. The playing field is far from level and like everything in the AFL it is compromised by the fixture and money. The AFL is not 'assisiting' Melbourne it is giving back a fraction of the revenue that Melbourne would otherwise earn if the fixture and TV wasn't such a basket case.

It’s as if people have forgotten that we haven’t made the 8 since 06 and have also been the laughing stock of the competition for the best part of a decade. We will EARN a favourable draw by performing week in, week out. Until then, stfu.

I have no problem with the MFC earning it’s position within the hierachy of clubs. What i have long objected to is the weak management we have had administering the club for decades before Jackson. Bartlett is right in one important aspect. The MFC should be sitting alongside The City of Melbourne as do The Yankees to New York. Good management would have seen that when TV kicked in post 1965 We totally missed that.

For less than that you can fly return to Phuket. Airlines rip us off in Aus.

All I care about are 6 day breaks. Don't care who we play or how many times. But if we get 9 six day breaks again we are stuffed... as would be any other team that gets that.

'Old Melbourne' would draft this guy. That's because we had a rubbish list and would take anyone who smiled nicely at us. We've moved past guys like this. We'll play a high brand of pressure again next year and with talls in Hogan/McDonald and excellent marking mid-talls in Petracca, Hannan, Balic and vandenBerg we don't need this guy. Harmes marks pretty well too. Two talls and high pressure smalls and mid-talls is the go. Let North take him.

Anyone else disappointed that there'll be no double-headers this year? I thought it was a good way for fans to see two games in a day, and for the AFLW to motivate supporters to come along when they otherwise might not.