Demonland

It has been 6,675 days since Essendon last won a final. Embarrassingly they defeated the Melbourne Football Club that day on the MCG. Since that fateful day Essendon and Melbourne have been scheduled to play against each other on 19 occasions. Essendon have been listed as the Home Team on 15 of those occasions. Melbourne has won 12 & lost 7 of those matches. Between Rd 01 2005 and Round 15 2010 Melbourne were listed as the Away Team 5 times. 3 x Docklands 2 x MCG Between Rd 15 2010 and Round 03 2019 Melbourne were listed as the Away Team 8 times. 6 x MCG 2 x Docklands During COVID the Dees were scheduled to play Essendon in Rd 03 as the Away Team at the MCG but the match was infamously cancelled due to a suspected COVID case in the Bombers camp. The match was subsequently played in Rd 18 with Essendon the Home Team at Metricon Stadium. Since then both teams have had a Home game at the MCG with Essendon having the honour in 2021 and the Dees being gifted this rare gift in 2022. Now you might ask why is this an issue as the majority of these games were played at the Demon's Home ground the MCG. There are two reasons for this: 1. Cosmetics 2. Financial The first is cosmetic and ultimately not that important but for the majority of those games the Demons were forced to wear that horrible white clash strip despite the Bombers having their own clash strips during that time. Did the Bombers not want to wear a clash strip? The 2nd is financial and this is a problem because the Home Team takes the gate receipts for matches and for a 17 year period the Essendon Football Club has taken the gate receipts for 15 out of 19 clashes against the Demons. Crowds for Matches between MELB & ESS between 2005 & 2022 (Home Team listed by first letter) M 47,849 E 55,016 E 35,019 E 47,552 E 46,334 E 42,087 M 49,203 E 53,077 E 42,987 E 51,153 E 44,626 E 38,861 E 50,424 E 44,040 E 35,964 M 52,475 E 2,175 (COVID) E 19,414 (COVID) M 44,503 Melbourne Home Games vs Essendon Average Crowd 48,507.5 Essendon Home Games vs Melbourne Average Crowd 45,164.6 (not including COVID affected games) It is obvious that Essendon has benefitted financially over a 17 year period having taken the gate receipts in 13 more games (COVID affected games excluded). In 2023 Essendon once again have the honour of hosting the Demons however this time the game will be played in Adelaide as part of the AFL's Gather Round. Both teams will be compensated an estimated $500,000. Who will be the home team in 2024? Finally, this FUN FACT bears repeating; It has been 6,675 days since Essendon Football Club last won a final. You can follow along at home to see how long this astonishing record will last by following @FinalsEssendon on Twitter.

They're probably at Gosch's today.

Not from a financial perspective. During the white bali jumper era it was an offense to my eyes.

Thank you for your service.

On the flip side we have had the rub of the green when it comes to playing Sydney since 2010. 11 Home Games at the G (including the QF in 22) to only 3 games at the SCG (and 1 in Cairns in 2020). Prior to 2010 we played them 3 times in a row in Canberra as our Home game. Anyone know why that was?

Since 1987 when the West Coast Eagles entered the competition we have played 56 times 29 x H&A games in Perth 20 x H&A games in Melbourne 2 x H&A game in NT 3 x Finals have been played in Melbourne where WCE should have been the Home team 2 x Finals have been played in Perth We have played the Eagles in Melbourne at the following venues: 16 x MCG 3 x VFL Park (as Away Team in Finals) 2 x Optus Oval 2 x Marvel Stadium 2 x Northern Territory (not in Melbourne - obviously) We have not played the Eagles in Melbourne since Rd 2 2014. In that time we have only had 2 other Home Games against the Eagles & both of those were sold home games in the NT. We have played the Eagles 8 times in Perth during that period (not including the 2018 PF). This century we have played the Eagles 18 times in Perth and only 11 times in Melbourne and 2 in the NT. Our only match against the Eagles in 2023 is at Optus Stadium in Perth. It will be the 4th H&A match in a row that we have played against the WCE in Perth. Prior to our last Home match (in the NT) against WCE we had a stint of 5 games in Perth which included the 2018 PF. Fun Fact: the Demons have won more Premierships than the Eagles at their current Home Ground Optus Stadium.

Please post all fixture related posts in the fixture thread. The 2023 Fixture Thread

Thank you 🙏

I think you can make an educated guess for when the game is likely to be. Round 16 when we play the Giants in Alice Springs will be From Friday 30/6 until Sunday 2/7. There about a 0.01% chance we will be playing the game on the Friday night. We usually play the games in AS during the day so it will either be Saturday 1/7 or Sunday 2/7. The game against Port last year was on Sunday at 2:50pm. 2020 against the Saints was on a Saturday night in late August. 2019 vs WCE was on a Sunday afternoon in mid July 2018 vs Adel was also on a Sunday afternoon in late May https://afltables.com/afl/venues/traeger_gm.html

They generally don't train on a Tuesday. Monday, Wednesday & Fridays are usually the training days. I assume if the club website says Friday is at Gosch's then that is an "Open" session. Therefore Wednesday is probably a "Closed" (or non advertised) session at Casey. From: https://www.melbournefc.com.au/teams/training-times AFL Training Sessions Date: Friday 16 December Time: 9.30am Location: Gosch's Paddock *Please note: Training times and locations are subject to change at late notice.

That's the issue with chopping and changing. I went to Gosch's on Friday morning as I was heading in that direction anyway only for there to be no training. I had planned to go there again this morning but had something come up in the last minute. This is a big deterrent for me heading down there again unless I have business in the area. I definitely won't make the trek down the freeway for a session of watching the grass grow.

Hairline at the rear looks the same.

I assume it's Schache.

MONDAY 12TH DECEMBER 2022

SATURDAY 10TH DECEMBER 2022

FRIDAY 9TH DECEMBER 2022

The club has put a spanner in the works of our preseason trackwatching activities by interchanging between Gosch's and Casey. As a result I thought I'd start a thread for any of the training sessions that we don't have any trackwatchers present. In this thread I will post any photos and videos that the club puts up on social media. If we have a trackwatcher at a particular session then that will have it's own thread.

You'd have to assume that it is Victorian Free to Air. I'm not sure they even know AFL exists in Sydney.

Free to Air for the first 15 games.

Most Games at Kardinia Park in the AFL era (1990 to 2023) TOTAL Melbourne 25 Brisbane 24 West Coast 24 Adelaide 23 Western Bulldogs 23 North Melbourne 22 Sydney 22 Fremantle 20 St. Kilda 19 Port Adelaide 16 Richmond 15 Hawthorn 9 Gold Coast 7 GWS 7 Carlton 6 Essendon 5 Fitzroy 4 Collingwood 3

HOW THE LADDER COULD LOOK AFTER ROUND 6 1. Carlton 5-1 2. Melbourne 5-1 3. Geelong 5-1 4. Fremantle 4-2 5. Brisbane 4-2 6. Richmond 3-3 7. Collingwood 3-3 8. Sydney 3-3 ---------------------- 9. Western Bulldogs 3-3 10. Port Adelaide 3-3 11. Hawthorn 3-3 12. Gold Coast 3-3 13. GWS 2-4 14. St Kilda 2-4 15. Essendon 2-4 16. Adelaide 2-4 17. North Melbourne 1-5 18. West Coast 1-5