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Some thoughts: 2023 is the 8th consecutive year we've played West Coast in Perth. We haven't played them in Melbourne since 2014 We haven't played Essendon twice in a season since 2005 (18th straight year of only playing them once) We will be playing Geelong in Geelong for the 12th time in the last 15 seasons Only 1 game at Marvel all year - dropping down from 2, which gives us a 13th game at the MCG Yes, 8 interstate games, but only 5 genuine ones (Brisbane, West Coast, Gold Coast, Port Adelaide and Sydney). The other three are our home game in Alice Springs, North in Hobart, and a pure neutral game against Essendon at a ground we play well The most games we play away from the G in a row is three (Rounds 15-17, Geelong then Alice Springs then Marvel). That's a huge improvement on this year's 5-straight stretch Our spread of MCG and interstate games feels like a much better spread. 8 MCG and 5 interstate games pre-bye, then 5 MCG games + Marvel and 3 interstate + Geelong post-bye. Finishing with 5 of our last 7 games at the G is fantastic We get dudded with the bye again - Monday vs Collingwood, then the "bye", then Thursday vs Carlton means we get a 10-day break. That's the same as playing Thursday night one round and Sunday the next round. It's not a bye. Four 6-day breaks and one 5-day break in the 15 rounds scheduled so far. Not sure how that stacks up against other clubs. Feels OK to me Getting North and Hawthorn twice looks like a good draw at this point. Getting Sydney and Brisbane looks tough. Carlton should be good, Richmond should be average, so it's probably a fair slate.

That's a bloody good draw - from a financial perspective, fan perspective- but most of all in terms of who we play. Massive we play roos and hawks x 2. That's 4 wins banked. And of the top teams, we only play the cats and pies once. Swans twice is tough, but happy to be playing lions twice given how well we match up against them. Crucially our run home is not the issue it was last season.

Congratulation on the podcast Andy, George and Bin. My only comment is that I think you should have led with the Women's GF win. It was epic, just the most inspiring effort and the determination and courage they showed was of the highest quality. That flag has been 7 years in the making and IMO deserved top billing. JT gets a go every year. And on the comment made by Bin (I think) who said we had to change our gameplan when we realized the ground was so soft we couldn't bounce the ball. I reckon Brisbane's gameplan is even more dependent on outside run and speed. IMO it probably helped us. I thought JT was interesting about JVR. He's 19, don't expect too much. With Grundy coming in and Max playing more minutes forward I think BBB, Tmac and JVR will share duties. Half a season for JVR at most I'd think (subject to form and injury of course). And it was interesting that we got new software that allowed us to view Seston's highlights for the last two years. I wonder how long that software has been available and we didn't have it. Anyway, thanks for your effort's lads, most entertaining.

Still HATE Jeelong Nothing changes there…every F$&@ing year…

Of course we play Jeelong at kitty litter park for the millionth time in the last 50 years. But meanwhile Carltank and the Filthy slime of humanity NEVER get to play down there. FRIGGEN AFL are a disgrace!

Barring serious injury to numerous players we simply must win it in 2023. We’ve tasted success, you could argue last year we had some injuries, bad luck and some unsettling influences, but we’re now back at arguably full strength with the addition of Grundy and Hunter. We may never see this much talent in their prime again on our list. Our coaching team also didn’t get raided as we had thought, what have we learnt from last season?

Not worried about how hard or soft the fixture might be at this point in time. As long as everyone at the club has the resolve to atone for our disappointing 2022 finals series I’ll be happy. The AFL has given us the opportunity to come face to face with that reality almost immediately by pitting us against the Lions and Swans in Rounds 2 & 3 and let’s not forget that the Bulldogs got us in Round 19. So we start the season facing three teams that beat us last time up.

If we get back to our best we can beat any team anywhere. Bring 'em all on! We need to be challenged and we need to challenge others Relish the games against the best and that includes the Cats on their ground

I take your point. I was going to do a separate AFLW Grand Final podcast but I was just post op for my shoulder surgery at the time. Whilst not the reason for talking about the AFLW Grand Final at the end on this podcast the live listener stats each week drop as soon as we start talking about the AFLW. This fact does not deter me from discussing AFLW. During the Live show the other night we had about 50 to 70 live listeners throughout and during the time that we were talking AFLW it dropped into the teens. I have the LIVE listeners stats open whilst we are broadcasting live and this dramatic drop off in listeners is a weekly occurrence when we start talking about AFLW. To be clear this lack of interest whilst disheartening does not dissuade me from covering AFLW on the podcast or helping to promote the game in any way that I can. I recognise that the more that we cover the game and give it exposure the more interest that there will be. I have no such stats to draw on from the downloaded/streamed shows once they are uploaded as listeners drop off stats aren’t provided. Engagement on Demonland’s various social media pages is also quite low for any AFLW content we posts (with the exception of the Premiership winning post after the Grand Final). Whilst I understand that mens content engagement is going to trump the womens, the gulf at the moment is huge. We should promote the game more and give it equal billing but I don’t think Demonland as a website can be accused of ignoring the women’s games. We post a match preview & report prominently each week and there is discussion of the games and any news. One of our first interviews on the podcast was with Mel Hickey. This was organized directly through Mel. At another time I requested an interview with an AFLW player through the club and I didn’t receive a response back and haven’t actively tried again. I hope to promote the women’s game on Demonland and the podcast more in the future and do appreciate the feedback.

Can you just Imagine your luck WCW to have me on the left and good old Uncle Bitter on the other side, on that flight !You would be in seventh heaven eh??🤩😍🥰😇

Of the first 14 rounds we have 8 marquee or night games. fantastic for TV and sponsors

They’re no certainties against those 3 for mine.

I suspect that by the end of the season, this could have become my favourite thread

Deathride in this context is to be wishing on the downfall of whatever teams pick you own, not really sure where it originates from but has become the common phrase used in pick swap scenarios. You'll find various threads on other footy forums 'deathriding' other teams i.e Swans have one for Hawthorn, as they own their 2nd rounder next year Peter Bell liked using the feather in cap phrase to describe his many trade 'wins' & accomplishments

Long as they don’t make you grizzly.

At the G Saturday night with 70000 others enjoying a great concert. And the drummer proudly wearing the jumper! (Apologies for the quality of the photo) Hope every one enjoys the break and stays safe Go Dees.

Can only hope the top 5 pick we wanted for Jackson this year will be delivered next year to correct the imbalance of this trade.

Re: not having a proper bye. I hear the angst but the flip side is that we get a 10 day break into the Pies Kings birthday, 10 day break into Geelong then a 9 or 10 day break into GWS in Alice.

Let’s go down and beat the [censored] out of them

Its not that we go there, its the inequality of other teams literally never going that grinds

Thanks @Nascent I will update the Holy Thread Freo with double ups against Bulldogs, Sydney, Geelong, Brisbane, West Coast, Hawthorn #deathride

Is this the club recognising we won’t turn up for 9 games?

We all are DeeZone, well 99%

We keep a low profile. Like Meghan and Harry, we prefer the quiet life.

Saints v Freo may be a nil all draw?

Funny you should say that - yes i am concerned about that block of games, becuase our training program will likely be almost the same as in 2020, 21 and 22. Will not be surprised if we drop 3 of those 4 games. In fact i could see us mirroring last years run up to the post by round - unbeaten, then drop games that on paper we should be winning. The difference is the final stretch of games will likely be much less difficult and draining

I posted this in ‘No T$ No BS’ but despite its thread title it’s actually full of both those things.Therefore only a small group of us moderately unhinged types read it. 😁 This is a pic my buddy took last night at the Billy Joel concert. Seems the drummer has picked the right team…

B: Lever, May, Rivers HB: Salem, Petty, Bowey C: Hunter, Petracca, Langdon HF: Neal-Bullen, McDonald, Pickett F: Chandler, Gawn, Fritsch FOLL: Grundy, Viney, Oliver IC: JVR, Brayshaw, Sparrow, Jordon Sub: Howes

But why not alternate the Eagles and Dockers?

Q: Why do Billy Joel's eyes bulge like they do? A: He STILL can't believe he was married to Christie Brinkley. Yes, it's an oldie.

It was awesome, I loved the drummer being in a Dees jumper and Billy Joel was brilliant

Was a great surprise, and when Billy announced him, I tried on my best ‘Go Dees!’. Got a few laughs only…..not enough Dees supporters there. Brillant gig though…..what a playlist!!!

Based on the remaining fixtured but not scheduled games we might have up to 4 extra Friday night games. Carlton, Brisbane, Sydney & Richmond

Great fixture. Actually surprised it is quite different to the usual. 6 of our last 8 games are in Melbourne.

😂😂😂

Will love watching them implode in public this year.

In the first 15 ruonds. we have seven night games : 1 x Thursday in Geelong 2 x Friday night interstate 1 x Friday night at the G 2 x Saturday night at the G 1 x Monday night at the G for sponsors it is ok as they still get the FTA exposure of the 1/state games. for fans we don't have much to complain about: the usual problems with night games have been removed: winter weather, school/work the next day, digital tickets, late finish (3 of the 4 start before 7.30), we have lots of day games. all except one night game will be FTA. It looks like the club has prioritised crowd attendance. Fans wanted more day games, we have them so hopefully we support the team by turning up, day or night!

The AFL seem desperate to promote Carlton: Two additional 'blockbuster' games: Good Friday and KB Eve vs Ess Umpteen FTA prime time games The easiest 'double up' games possible: Collingwood, Melbourne, St Kilda, Gold Coast, Greater Western Sydney, West Coast. Anyone would think they just won the premiership!! I so hope this backfires on the AFL and Carlton.

Honestly, we've got a pretty good record against Brisbane. I'm calling it a win that we have them twice. There are teams we have a lot more trouble with that could have been doubled up for us. Overall I'm pretty happy with this. It's not super-easy, but we have a pretty good run to start the season and most of the sides that really trouble us we only play once. I think we should do pretty well out of this draw.

Gather- round features only 2 games where Melbourne based teams play each other. Dees v ESS and Saints v Pies. These meetings are also the only time these teams play each other for the year. I think this is very poor that these teams have not been scheduled against each for a 2nd meeting back in Melbourne. I traditionally go with Essendon friends to Dees v ESS every year and it is not right that due to gather-round this has been taken away. I am sure this would apply to other Dees fans as well as pies and Saints fans. Gather round is a bonus money spinning round not a replacement round and by rights all teams that clash in this round should see a return match at a traditional venue at some point in the season. Only 2 matches are replayed later in the year (Rich v Swans, Haw v GWS)

Possible. They have a pretty brutal middle part of the year though. If they drop only 1 or 2 of those first five games it may change their fate dramatically. At least at the start of the year the poorer sides typically are more competitive, with greater chance of upsets.

The Good: two games v hawks & Kangas The moneymakers: rd 6 vs Richmond (Anzac Eve) Rd 12 vs Carlton (Friday Night) Rd 13 vs Collingwood (King’s Birthday) The Bad: Rd 15 v cats at PussyPark on a Thursday night again. Ffs

Sorry WCW, but I'm actually so happy to finally have a game in Sydney since I'm NSW based! It means at least one guaranteed game I'll see in person 😊

Six of our last eight games are in Melbourne I believe which is excellent. A complete contrast to this year’s disaster of Adelaide-Geelong-Alice-Docklands-Perth in the second half of the year.

First time listening to a podcast. At this time of the year, any good dees info is good for the soul. The most interesting, and new, insight was that we picked up Oliver Sestan with a rookie pick to ensure that, if he went back to Oakleigh and played as expected, it was likely that he would be a great pick up in the mid season draft where we would, we hope, be down the bottom of the pecking order. Good planning and we still have good draft position next year. Sounds goody all round.

This is going to be a fun watch this year. It’s usually just the Pies that I want to loose.

I certainly will Luci!! Love afternoon games and will always attend Not keen on night games Seems un natural to me but others love them So there you go!

This is absolutely outrageous and I am disappointed the club didn't push back on the AFL to demand a proper bye. I can't see any other club so far that has less than a 12 day break and some club's have a 15 day break. Geelong play Thurs June 15 so have a 7 day break leading into our game only 3 days less than us and we have a bye!!! Nevermind the fact we have to play in Geelong again, sick of playing there every single [censored] year

Im annoyed we have to play there again, but thankyou afl for making essenscum play at Geelong. Watch them whine

McDonald's back that's all we need up forward. If Brown isn't fit then van Rooyen takes his spot. Injuries and McDonald out ruined 22.