I reckon it's because the AFL knows that we'll turn out in droves, so they can then point to the crowd figures, and claim Thursday night footy as a "success".

_________________
I AM DISENFRANCHISED

Hey Sticks have they implemented a DLP solution at the Herald Sun so you can't post our fixture in advance?

1 Richmond MCG
2 Brisbane Lions Gabba
3 Essendon* MCG
4 Adelaide AAMI Stadium
5 Geelong Cats MCG
6 Collingwood MCG
7 St Kilda Etihad Stadium
8 Port Adelaide AAMI Stadium
9 Hawthorn Etihad Stadium
10 West Coast Eagles Etihad Stadium
11 Melbourne MCG
12 North Melbourne Etihad Stadium
13 Fremantle Etihad Stadium
14 Brisbane Lions Etihad Stadium
15 Western Bulldogs Etihad Stadium
16 Sydney Swans Etihad Stadium
17 West Coast Eagles Subiaco Oval
18 Collingwood MCG
19 Essendon* MCG
20 Richmond MCG
21 Geelong Cats Etihad Stadium
22 Fremantle Subiaco Oval

_________________
Go Blues

I dont like it


12 wins maybe

_________________
*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.

rounds 2 to 9 are horrible

3 top 4 sides, 3 interstate trips, a hungry 2008 premier and Essendon* minus Judd.

@#$%&!

Play once

Adel (away)
St K
Port (away)
Haw
Melb
North
Dogs
Swans

Play twice

Rich
Bris
Ess
Geel
Coll
WCE
Fre

_________________
#DonTheStash

So we are gonna be 3-6, then win 8 in a row, then lose 4 of our last 5? lol

That on its own isn't disastrous.

We know that we play Coll, Ess and Rich twice each year. Means the other 4 teams we play twice are Geel (ouch), Bris (or level), WC (we're better than) and Freo (we're better than). We could have done worse.

Of the 7 teams we play twice, we should be getting to a point where we reasonable expect to beat Rich, Freo, WC and Ess (I know, I know, but really, we should be beating them). Geel is hard, Coll and Bris average out to 50:50.

_________________
Mens sana in corpore sano.

Bring back the laurel wreath logo!!!

If we lose twice to Essendon* next year, we don't deserve to play finals.

_________________
Mens sana in corpore sano.

Bring back the laurel wreath logo!!!

And our bogie teams of late have been Haw, St K, Syd (even though we beat them last year), Adel and Ess.

Haw, St. K, Syd and Adel have all played that stifling style that we have struggled against. Good that we only play them once each, not so good that we don't get a better chance to work out how to beat that style.

As for Essendon*...there is no excuse next year.

_________________
Mens sana in corpore sano.

Bring back the laurel wreath logo!!!

I can see 14 wins there, which I would be extremely happy with next year. Two extra wins against Essendon*, one extra against Freo in R22, and an extra loss against the Dogs. Gives us 14.

Realistically, given we have lost Fevola and Stevens, 12 or 13 and improvement from the youngsters would be a good result.

_________________
Mens sana in corpore sano.

Bring back the laurel wreath logo!!!

Thanks Sticks, I knew you wouldcome through. No reason we can't win 5 of the first 6.

Alot of things change during an off-season. I'd be backing our young talent to continue to improve as a collective, hence clubs will be fearing us in the draw and no longer the other way.

Perth in Round 22 isn't ideal...

I was really hoping that we wouldn't play Essendon* until Round 4 when Judd returns.

If we win 4 out of our first 9 I'll be happy.

_________________
There is no footy god

The dates for the Rd22 fixtures are on hold until late in the season.
If we were playing finals the next week the AFL will hopefully give us a Fri night match or Sat arvo at worst.

_________________
There is no footy god

If we can get to 4-5 or 5-4 by Round 9 then that could really sets up for a big assault from rounds 10-20 as confidence would be high with a few big scalps in the earlier rounds.

In saying that we could be easily 1-8 by Round 9 and our season virtually over.

So not to sure what to think with this draw.

Interesting times ahead, can't wait for the season to kick off again....

Chris Judd's first game back will be filling him with excitement I bet - nothing like sitting on the sidelines for three weeks then come back in have to go to Adelaide and cop one of the heaviest tags in football

apart from that it looks OK


No Gold Coast game

_________________
If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

By oath that's a tough start! Those first nine weeks are absolute shockers.

That said, it is time for our club to galvanise and start to stand up against everyone else again. I expect the Fevola trade to provide our players with a greater unity in the culture, and a rising sense of self belief.

We NEED two wins against Essendon* next year. No ifs, buts, or maybes. We need to be at least 2-1 after three rounds going into that round 4-9 set of fixtures. At that stage, I would be pretty confident that we can get at least two wins out of the games against Geelong, Collingwood, and Port Adelaide.

And time to stand up and knock off one of Hawthorn and St Kilda too!

If we come out of round nine with at least a 5-4 record then I think we can be very confident about our chances of coming top 4. The second half of the season is very soft for us.

Well you might be if for a surprise going by the latest TV schedule Channel 72 is running AFL from 1.30 am to 5.30 am every day of the week - So if you dont like sleeping you can sit back and watch old replays of days gone by

_________________
If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

12 or 13 wins at best...
We could easily lose our first 6 or 7 games if we're not careful...

_________________
James Hird and Essendon* FC - #FOREVERDRUGCHEATS