Always hard to tell how teams will perform when the draw comes out but it looks reasonable to me. Of the teams we double up against, there’s no reason we shouldn’t beat GWS, WC and St Kilda twice, Collingwood and GC we probably should be better than but we have trouble against these two sides and Melbourne will be tough. Only one trip to the AO, which we haven’t ever won at, is also a reasonable result. If we keep injuries under control, this draw doesn’t hold too many fears.

I'm with you.
I hate to be a pessimist but we could be 0-5 to start the year, hopefully 3-2 though.
Richmond have added good depth to their midfield and that's what killed us in their last game, now they're even better.
Geelong is a possibility because they will not be 100% fit due to finals, but still tough to win.
Giants is a 50/50 over there, but we are more likely to win than not.
Kangas, who knows what they will look like. Possible win as they may not have their new game plan down pat or the total opposite could happen.
Adelaide in Adelaide, 100% loss.
Tough start to the year, at least we will have a mostly fit team to see how we match up.

I think I still have PTSD from the end of this season.

https://twitter.com/sam_mcclure/status/1601600845245620224

I'm sure we'll find a reason why the AFL hate us next year...

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“I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” ― Richard Feynman

Every year I come on here and read the posts about this topic

1 The draw is flawed to some degree because you play 5 teams twice 12 teams once. A joke.
I have always said that every team plays the 17 teams once. All interstate teams play home 9 teams at home.
All Victorian teams play interstate the same number of games.

Have a week off after round 17 then top 6 play each other for positions in the eight
The middle six play each other for finals spots
The bottom six play each other for draft picks

Much better and fairer system
Of course the other factor you can argue is it doesn’t matter if you play all the bottom five teams twice
from the previous season
If you got the news that your team was played Collingwood twice this time last year you would be rubbing your hands together.
As it turns out they were arguably the second best team given their efforts compared to the Swans against Geelong in the finals
Sticking with the Collingwood theme as 2022 even panned out you would want to have played them early in the season given the two worst teams in the comp by a country mile beat them and lost by 7 points including West Coast winning in Melbourne
So it’s all relative
But hey the system I advocate is such a better fairer more interesting system


O

A positive - the interstate matches are relatively well spread out. In 2022, Carlton played back to back interstate matches, which upset the team's momentum. Very odd.



a negative - I always look at the first five matches of the season as the make or break period. Richmond and Geelong early up is a tough ask. Pray and pray a lot.


I initially thought that Carlton played less matches interstate than Collingwood. I was wrong...it is the same number of interstate matches. Five matches each plus than round in Adelaide....so all up six matches interstate is too many in my opinion, as winning percentages go down significantly interstate.



The first thing I do with the draw is look at how many interstate matches each team gets and also what the first five matches are. I can't remember the last time Carlton's interstate draw was more favourable than Collingwood's, but Richmond technically got a worse draw than Carlton for next year.

It is worse in terms of the fact they have six interstate matches plus the Round 5 Adelaide festival round.

Then again, they get a massive break of interstate matches between Round 2 and 12 (excluding the Round 5 Magic Round).

Carlton gets one of the worst draw in that Round5 round as they play Adelaide- most other teams gets a neutral fixture there - eg Richmond get to play the Swans in Adelaide.

Nah we play GC up there in Rd 23.

Interestingly we also play them at the G, don't think we've had that before.

Also - there's a stretch in May-June where we play Lions, Dogs, Pies, Swans Dees in a row. That'll be a tough month at the office!

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#DonTheStash

Very tough first two games which could really test us if we lose both BUT this could also be the making of us.
Sets a really good challenge for the whole summer, on top of the pain of missing the finals by a nanometer last season - we should hit the ground at full speed.
I think we need to at least break even over the first two rounds and then be ruthless over the next month after that to set ourselves up.

But just magine if we beat Richmond in Round 1... after they've bolstered their midfield as they have AND beat Geelong!!

I think you are right about not playing GC at the MCG.

“Commercial gains”…. What a load of shite.

Gate receipts will take a hit next year - three interstate sides & two perennial no-shows amongst the six return fixtures.

Home games against:

R2: Geelong (MCG)
R6: St Kilda (Mrvl)
R8: Brisbane (Mrvl)
R9: Bulldogs (Mrvl)
R10: Collingwood (MCG) 3.20pm on a @#$%&! Sunday
R13: Essendon* (MCG) Sunday night on a long weekend
R14: Gold Coast (MCG) Sunday lunchtime ffs. Unless the seagulls carry cash, the stadium will charge us for this one.
R18: Port (Mrvl)
R19: West Coast (Mrvl)
R22: Melbourne (MCG)
R24: Giants (Mrvl)

That’s as poor a hand as we could’ve been dealt.

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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

Agree.. Especially if we flog the AFL babies (GCS, GWS) first time around.... Might be crickets (except for some of us desperadoes)

Go Blues

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“Every single element of the Club has to be the best in the league, meticulously and methodically, and only by doing this will we be elite and challenge for number 17.”
Greg Lee

Weren’t we the most attended club this year?

If we’re up and about and playing great footy we’ll pack out most games.

I’m more than happy to watch us belt a few foreign mobs in real life.

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"Liberals feel unworthy of their possessions. Conservatives feel they deserve everything they've stolen."

Mort Sahl

Give us the Cup now.

If we are not 'disturbingly' hit with injury in 2023 will get wins against them all, anywhere.

Home games at the MCG against Pies, Effencheats and Cats is a big tick for me.
We will still pack houses in 2023.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

For home game attendance I believe, and second for total after the Filth (who get more MCG games).

We got great crowds for all our home games against interstate clubs this year.

I'm not entirely confident about Walsh for Rd 1. Been burnt by this club's injury updates for too long

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#DonTheStash

Pretty sure they mean Rd 1 2024.

Have to be a fair chance.

_________________
"Liberals feel unworthy of their possessions. Conservatives feel they deserve everything they've stolen."

Mort Sahl

It sounds like they don't really know tbh.

1-2 seasons

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#DonTheStash

If it is ok weather, carlton v gold coast at the G sounds like an enjoyable afternoon, just before the bye. Gc have a habit of killing us right when we don't need it so need to give them some hurt. Can also give shazbot some stick if he ends up fluking some more games. From a very low base predicting a record crowd between the clubs at this one. Also thinking the ladies might be interested in fool of a touk.

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Stop it.