2016 fixture wishlist

[Bucking Beads]

Leppa not a fan of the draw

 

[dlanod]

2 games v Gold Coast, West Coast, Port Adelaide, Geelong and Carlton.

Good luck.

Carlton play Brisbane, Essendon, Collingwood, St Kilda and Sydney twice.

St Kilda play North, Western, Carlton, Essendon and Melbourne twice.

I haven't looked at the other clubs but on the face of it it seems things are a little tougher for us than some of the other teams around us.

I'd figure the bolded games are the trickier games, so basically the difference is that Carlton and St Kilda play each other. That doesn't seem hugely out of line - and if trendlines from this season follow, our double games actually look a lot better with only West Coast of the best clubs, versus Sydney Carlton) and North and the Dogs (St Kilda).

 

[Kernel Kurtz]

6 games in Melbourne, plenty of winnable games and our requests of Hawthorn & Collingwood at the GABBA were granted.

The club would see this draw as a win by a big margin.

At the end of the day, every year we'll have to play the teams at the top - eventually we'll have to start beating them to get back to the top.

Big teams at home and plenty of YES Saturday games compared to last seasons Sunday's games, and 6 genuine Melb. games

It is all up to us the Lions to use this draw for a big membership drive.
Finally the AFL has listened to our needs.
Lets face facts we are a bottom side at present , any draw is daunting , hopefully we will have some luck with injuries and become at least bloody competitive against these sides , and yes snagging a big win.
Stoked, and can not wait for the Hawthorn and Colly wobbles game, I hope the boys remember this years rd 1.
I think you have to take a positive perspective on more Saturday games than Sunday games at home, other way around it would certainly sway any fence sitters not to get a full season membership, thats just the way I feel anyway.

 

[Dylan12]

Of the sides we play once, the draw is a little kinder given who we play at home / away:

Home - North Melbourne, Sydney, Collingwood, Hawthorn, Fremantle, GWS

Away - Western Bulldogs, Melbourne, Richmond, Essendon, Adelaide, St Kilda

It would have been a nightmare draw had the home and away draw been flipped.

 

[bato]

Sam Lord has confirmed that Vic Family Day will be after Dogs game. Hall of Fame not set yet as we have two Saturday day games.

 

[Jman78]

I think it's OK. Sure Port and Geelong twice but I don't see why we can't beat either of those on our day. With a bit tidier disposal you never know....

I would have liked to have seen more home game stretches TBH. A couple of 3 or 4 game stretches would of been nice.

 

[Ironmonger]

I'd figure the bolded games are the trickier games, so basically the difference is that Carlton and St Kilda play each other. That doesn't seem hugely out of line - and if trendlines from this season follow, our double games actually look a lot better with only West Coast of the best clubs, versus Sydney Carlton) and North and the Dogs (St Kilda).

My highly subjective view is that Port and Geelong are likely to do better in 2016, while Sydney, North and Western are likely to do worse.

I've always been a reversion to the mean kind of guy, rather than a trendliner.

 

[jackess]

I'm not sure about the bye after the last round. I think the season will lose a bit of momentum and it may cause some people to lose interest if their team isn't in the finals. Also a drop off in media coverage can't be good. I wonder what the broadcasters think.

 

[jjami15]

Maybe this is their way of giving us some assistance by giving us the tough draw = most probable high draft pick allowing us to get Allison with later picks!

In all seriousness on paper it looks like an absolute shocker for us.

 

[Bucking Beads]

We just need to hope we improve a lot and other teams go backwards. C'mon Lions. It looks tough but we must keep the faith.

 

[Big Sauce 21]

Every suns home game is on Saturday

 

[BRAB]

I'm pretty happy with our home games

Heaps of Saturday games, playing the best teams.

If I hadn't already bought a membership I definitely would have with that draw.

 

[dlanod]

My highly subjective view is that Port and Geelong are likely to do better in 2016, while Sydney, North and Western are likely to do worse.

I've always been a reversion to the mean kind of guy, rather than a trendliner.

If you're using previous years as a club's "mean", wouldn't that mean you expect Sydney (4,1,4,3 last four years) and North (8,6,10,8 last four years) to stay roughly the same? I'm not sure it makes much sense if you're using 50% wins as the mean in AFL.

 

[lukiuslion]

At first thought I thought it looked like we had been ripped off. But upon letting the blood pressure decrease, I think it is OK. I think when you finish second finish last, you are less likely to see 'winable games'.

I think the start is very hard and I can't see a golden patch anywhere? for EG - Melbourne, GWS, stkilda, North at home, bombers.. or something like that in a 5 game stretch, which you usually get each year.

If we improve the draw gets easier.

I also went and looked at Carlton's and imagined it was ours and theirs is about the same, that put me at ease - There is no such thing as an easy draw I suppose, except for GWS's first 8 games last year, that was a dooozey!

 

[jackess]

Bit annoyed the easter fixture is in Perth. Usually a good time for a trip to Queensland to watch a game.

 

[Ironmonger]

If you're using previous years as a club's "mean", wouldn't that mean you expect Sydney (4,1,4,3 last four years) and North (8,6,10,8 last four years) to stay roughly the same? I'm not sure it makes much sense if you're using 50% wins as the mean in AFL.

I was only semi-serious. It's not like I think every team reverts back to the mean all the time, just that in general it works better than looking at trendlines. As I said, it's highly subjective and you could probably mount a strong case against that view.

In North's case I was thinking that 4th, which is where they finished after finals, isn't their true ladder position; and in Sydney's case my view is that the top end of their list is deteriorating more quickly than the bottom end is improving.

 

[iBeng]

We only get two lots of back to back home games...Otherwise its home/away/home/away. Thats going to do great for the players Frequent Flyer Miles...

 

[Kernel Kurtz]

Don't know why all the angst.
Have people here forgotten about the 2013 season start.
So called easy beats WB Rd 1 , we got flogged and shell shocked the whole season.
Next year we faced the Hawk's rd1, we were at least competitive in parts of that game and wasn't until the Next game against Geelong that truly put us back in the basket case with a flogging.
Following year Collingwood , so called similar to us in terms of eventual ladder position, and we sucked.

It has nothing to do with who we play, it is all about our team's performance.

Yes to a degree who we play and where, but imo this draw is fair in these terms.
Doesn't matter if we have potential top 8 sides in the first part of the season or potential bottom 4 sides, see the WB comment.
We still have to be play to a standard .
Would rather see us get beaten at home by the Hawks than GWS, thank you very much.
Okay I'll get off my soap box. Just my thoughts on our recent previous starts and draws .

 

[Last of the Roys]

From a Victorian / Fitzroy Lions supporter perspective it is great that we finally get 6 games in Melbourne again and 7 in Victoria. I think I will actually head down to Geelong again for the first time in years given its the first game in Victoria (and Geelong aren't as dominant as they once were - knock on wood given their recruits).

Let's hope the AFL keeps to the 6 games in Melbourne benchmark from now on - that is the goal obviously, but it still won't be easy to achieve. I would like to say that this is a direct result of having Greg Swann as CEO - someone who understands the history of the merger. However, it will take this happening two years in a row before making that declaration.

As for our home games - yeah there are a couple of big games against the Hawks and Pies. However, a lot of the rest of the games could be pretty poorly attended given the opposition teams involved. Let's hope we can be more competitive onfield next year so our attendances don't continue to drop off the cliff.

As for the difficulty of our draw. At first glance, it hardly looks easy. But then again, what fixture would from 17th place? We are just going to have to again suck it up and do the hard yards again next year in order to build something for the future. At the moment we should be able to get 7-9 wins if we have a half decent run with injuries. If we have an excellent run with injuries, perhaps 10-12 wins, but if we have our usual horrible injury toll then we are probably looking at 3-6 wins.

 

[Pacman82]

Tough draw but at least some semblance of normality has been restored to the scheduling!

 

[____]

Stoked for our Vic fans.

Bit disappointed there's no GWS or Sydney away as they are the shortest and cheapest trips to do. Or we don't get an away game against the scum. Nothing sweeter than beating them at their own ground

 

[Cousin Jed]

Where do the "Scum" play their home games?

 

[Ironmonger]

Where do the "Scum" play their home games?

Same place as The Filth, I believe.

The Moderately Unpleasant, on the other hand, play at Etihad.

 

[notliondown]

The reaction to our fixture is an indictment on how the draw has become so "rigged or fixed" and how much it influences ladder position. The sooner its changed to play every team once or twice only cant come soon enough.

Personally I don't mind the tough draw. For the past few years we've all sat back and watched what appeared to be an overly confident team after NAB cup "success" come out and offer pretty poor performances at the start of the season.

This draw forces us to focus and prepare for the real deal. That means coaches and players alike. A real focus on settling the team, getting balance and creating familiarity.

If we are going to improve and force our way up the ladder, part of that has to be our ability to create upsets.

We finished second last. Any draw puts us against better teams.

We got our wish list ticked off. Vic games. Blockbusters.

Time to suck it up, put our heads down and test ourselves. This is the AFL after all not the NEAFL.

 

[Cousin Jed]