titan_uranus

The Round 23 Geelong game was as outlandish a period of Geelong dominance as you'll ever see. What they did simply wasn't sustainable (that game, and the PF, proved it). Everything went their way, in a period of quite literal perfection. I put very, very little stock in that run. If sides want to try to repeat it, good luck to them. As to the Dogs, yes, they were on top for a fair part of the GF through the second and third quarters. The way they played that game, and Round 19 when they beat us, is far more indicative of how I expect opponents to approach us in 2022. But it has to be remembered that the Dogs are the only side to bat deeper than us in the middle. No other side is as stacked in that part of the ground as they are, not to mention with a top 5 player (Bontempelli) in there to boot.

I agree that we don't go overboard. Other clubs seem to do it a lot more than us. I'd like to think our defensive set up is better than most other clubs such that we're not heavily reliant on buying an extra few seconds here or there in delaying our opponent in moving the ball. Other clubs maybe less so, and indeed if that is right then we may find it easier to score against those clubs who need that additional time to get their back half sorted out.

The delaying play thing is important. Everyone does it, including us. I hope to see a number of free kicks/50m penalties doled out in Round 1, so that it sinks in. The holding the ball changes are in the right spirit but I imagine are going to just create more problems in their interpretation by umpires.

Turned the cricket off for half an hour and England lose 9 wickets! Any Australian cricket fan should be pretty happy with that series. We played four Tests from January 2020 to December 2021. England, in that period, played 21. We had our incumbent captain dismissed in the weeks prior to the series, then had one of our best bowlers injured in the first Test, then our current captain Covid-ed out of the second Test, then our series best batsman Covid-ed out of the fourth Test. Despite all that, somehow, we were clearly more prepared and more settled than they were. Cam Green seems something special, as does Scotty Boland, but our 2022 Test cricket schedule is mainly three tours of the sub-continent, so poor old Boland probably won't be getting much game time as you'd expect a second spinner to be in his spot. Hopefully he's in the touring squads and gets some game time if we're resting/rotating Starc and Hazlewood.

Raiders 14, Bengals 21 Patriots 21, Bills 24 Eagles 7, Buccaneers 28 49ers 17, Cowboys 21 Steelers 24, Chiefs 31 Cardinals 28, Rams 21

Chiefs, Colts, Patriots

Chiefs, Bucs, Rams

Ravens, Bucs, Chargers

Cardinals, Cowboys, Titans

I agree re: Essendon. I'm sure they try to avoid that match-up due to complaints about jumper clashes. But that's, self-evidently, not good enough. Also agree re: Geelong, but not for 2022. We're the premiers. Hawthorn is a basket case, Collingwood is a mile off finals. In recent years Essendon and Carlton have been sent to Geelong when crowds have been available, so why not use this season as the chance to even up things and send Hawthorn and Collingwood down in seasons where you can reasonably expect them not to be in the finals? The WC/Fremantle stuff is inexplicable. There is no reasonable basis for us to consistently play WC in Perth and not even get a return game in Melbourne.

Saints, Seahawks, 49ers

2019. They have to wear their all-red jumper against us. It's rare: 2022 will be only our third home game against Essendon since the Troy Broadbridge memorial game in Round 1, 2005. That's right, in 17 seasons we'll have had three home games against Essendon. Some other stats/quirks: We haven't played Essendon twice in a season since 2005 We haven't played West Coast in Melbourne since 2014. 2022 will make it 7 consecutive seasons of us playing them in Perth (in 2015 we played them in Darwin) We're playing Geelong in Geelong for the 11th time in the last 14 seasons. The three we avoided were 2014, 2017 and 2020. 2017 we were still away to them, but the game was at Marvel during GMHBA renovations. 2020 we were drawn to play them away but then COVID meant the fixture was revamped. 2022 is our first away game against Fremantle since 2015, meaning it's the first time we'll play them at Optus Stadium (despite us having already played 7 games there) 2022 will be the 8th time in the last 10 seasons we've played Adelaide in Adelaide. Over the same period we've played them at the MCG twice. 2022 is our first away game to North at Marvel since 2014, ending a run of four consecutive away games drawn in Hobart I had thought our stretch of five games in a row away from the MCG might have been a record, but we had that same stretch in 2013, when we had "home" games against Brisbane on the Gold Coast and North Melbourne at Marvel (what the [censored] happened with that season?!) Our Round 11 home game vs Fremantle will make it 10 of our last 11 games against them have been our home games.

My early thoughts: We double-up against the Dogs, Port Adelaide, Brisbane, Fremantle and Collingwood. That's three of the best four sides of 2021 other than us, plus a side who should be pushing for finals in 2022 (Fremantle). At first glance, that's brutal. However, almost every year one of the previous season's top sides falls away. It's a bit dangerous to read into the five return games. We will learn a lot more about the difficulty of our fixture as we see what happens with 5 and 6 day breaks. So far, in the first 9 rounds we've been given three 6-day breaks, two of which are back-to-back Hard to explain why we get three Wed/Thurs/Fri games in the first 9 rounds but the Dogs get six. We were the premiers, not them. Plenty of opportunities for more prime time games in the ones yet to be given a timeslot: Brisbane at the G off the bye is ripe for a Thursday night, and the games vs Geelong, Port, the Dogs, Collingwood and Brisbane the second time are all options It's farcical that we, again, play West Coast in Perth. Whilst I'd prefer not to have to play in Geelong, that game was a certainty after Round 23 this year. Pencil it in for a prime time slot absent one/both sides struggling We open the year in prime time at the G. A bit disappointing we have to close it on the road, but it's not wholly unjust This was the perfect year to send Richmond, Hawthorn, Carlton and/or Collingwood to Geelong. Instead, not a single one of them is forced to make the trip. The unfairness continues on that front Only one game out of Melbourne between Rounds 5-15 inclusive. A pretty good stretch

Because it's not a risk to the players' health.

Bucs, Vikings, Colts

I've been a bit disengaged from footy the last few weeks. In need of a bit of a pick-me-up today though. GF highlight reels doing the job nicely!

Knowing nothing at all about Van Rooyen or the other options available with our pick and just reading what's been discussed here, I'm pretty happy with this pick. I suppose that's what being the reigning premier does!

Bills, Bucs and Chargers Boy, am I struggling to get a read on the competition this year.

Packers, 49ers, Saints

I'd be livid if I were a GC supporter. I mean, for one, I'd have had no finals in 11 years. But to take one of the club's better players and turf him because list management is so poor you couldn't find the minimum three picks without having to delist him, only to have a rival take him for free, is a failure of the highest order.

Getting in late here but Bills, Bucs, Rams (unfair advantage, I know, as I get to avoid going what seemed the obvious one in Ravens...)

Bills, Chargers, Packers

Bucs, Rams, Bengals.

Here's what I'd like to see in the 2022 fixture: All Victorian clubs play the same number of games interstate - no more of Carlton/Collingwood/Richmond getting fewer interstate games than Melbourne/North Melbourne/St Kilda Collingwood/Richmond/Hawthorn play at GMHBA Stadium (I'd argue for Carlton and Essendon too but at least they've been there in recent years) We play West Coast in Melbourne for once

Night games are great for sponsorship and keeping the focus on us, but for our family supporters I'd like to see a good blend of afternoon games as well. I don't want to be like Hawthorn/Geelong/Sydney of the early 2010s who seemingly played every single week at night. I'd like a few Saturday or even Sunday afternoons at the G, ideally. But obviously we deserve and will want night games on FTA at the start of the year. I reckon it's 100% certain. The AFL will want the reprise of the Round 23 classic, given how impactful the goal after the siren was to our flag.