Analysis 2020 Fixture - Thoughts and guesses

[Tom14]

Feels like they could easily have given GWS the North game in Tassie and us the North game at Marvel instead. You can't tell me that you'd get better crowds for the GWS game at Marvel. They even aren't that different in terms of rounds (13 for us and 16 for GWS).

Would have been an easy way to give us 5 games in Melbourne and 6 in Vic which isn't ideal but is far better than 4. I don't think its entitlement to have a problem with only 4 games in Melbourne. Maybe 6 has become unrealistic but there really shouldn't be an issue with us getting 5.

 

[chopperduck]

Not worth trying to figure out wins and losses. The form of teams changes every year. But if we are basing it off this year, then it will be important to have a good start i think. Home games aren't too bad, and we are good at home. The big games v Tigers, Pies, Cats and Eagles will be important, if we can convert a good amount of those then i think we will be once again very very competitive next year.

 

[chopperduck]

Feels like they could easily have given GWS the North game in Tassie and us the North game at Marvel instead. You can't tell me that you'd get better crowds for the GWS game at Marvel. They even aren't that different in terms of rounds (13 for us and 16 for GWS).

Would have been an easy way to give us 5 games in Melbourne and 6 in Vic which isn't ideal but is far better than 4. I don't think its entitlement to have a problem with only 4 games in Melbourne. Maybe 6 has become unrealistic but there really shouldn't be an issue with us getting 5.

Maybe, but you don't know if there are background deals with this. The Tassie game is a sell off from North, probably somewhere in there they need to have a half decent team to play there, which is why they don't send GWS.

All in all, the draw is never as simple as it looks with so much background stuff. However, it is the AFL's fault for having so much background stuff to make the draw difficult. Should be a set in stone rotating fixture. You play each team home then away alternating years, rotating through the double up teams with the extra 5 games a year.

I don't mind the double up bracket finish position thing in theory, but the problem is teams don't stay the same the next year, so what could be a hard draw can turn into an easy one and vice versa.

 

[youtwo]

The entitlement of Vic fans never gets old

I am a third generation Melbourne based "Lions" fan and I have two children (fourth generation Lions fans) who love to go and watch their heroes play when they are down here.

As a loyal member every year since the merger in 1997, we have supported the club through good times and bad.

While the promise of at least 7 Melbourne games is long gone, if you think that my disappointment for my kids not being able to see their heroes play for more than 4 Melbourne games next year is a sense of entitlement, then good on you.

 

[Roylion]

Yep so exciting that Melbourne fans are royally screwed. 4 whole games in Melbourne when the merger agreement provided for six.

It's a disgrace really. But the AFL will justify the 'six' in that four are in Melbourne, one in Geelong and for the purposes of fixturing the Brisbane Lions are classed as a Victorian club when we play North Melbourne in Tasmania.

I wonder if the Lions will attempt to make up for the shortfall in Melbourne based games by wearing a Fitzroy jumper against Collingwood on 4th July (ironically the 24th anniversary of the 'merger') and maybe working towards getting Fitzroy Football Club to play their VAFA match at the MCG as a curtain-raiser to that match. There's a perfect marketing opportunity there to promote the Lions in Melbourne and Victoria. It happened in 2003 when the corresponding VAFA match was played at the MCG as a curtain-raiser, so why not again?

Oh well, better get onto renewing my 2020 Fitzroy Football Club membership. 45 years of continuous Fitzroy membership this year! Brunswick Street Oval here we come!

 

[Fatcat08]

Commercially its about as good an outcome for the club as I can remember. Will be interesting to see what sponsorships we manage to shake out of it especially for home game signage. Could triple our income from that with that many home prime time games.

Feel for Melb fans especially in light of GWS melb games.

Tough one for families in brisbane who have been going with their kids the last few years with all the night games but thats more of a personal one for me tbh as its hard getting a child to night games.

 

[Nunez]

Outside of the missing Victorian game, this is a pretty incredible fixture!

 

[jackess]

I am a third generation Melbourne based "Lions" fan and I have two children (fourth generation Lions fans) who love to go and watch their heroes play when they are down here.

As a loyal member every year since the merger in 1997, we have supported the club through good times and bad.

While the promise of at least 7 Melbourne games is long gone, if you think that my disappointment for my kids not being able to see their heroes play for more than 4 Melbourne games next year is a sense of entitlement, then good on you.

I probably watched the Lions live once or twice as a kid and a lot of the games I had to listen to on the radio before Foxtel started broadcasting games so yeah I don’t really feel sorry for your kids.

 

[CarterS]

I'm not celebrating yet.

Our away fixtures in particular, include a few tricky and downright difficult assignments.

Two trips to Adelaide, one each to Geelong, Tasmania and Canbera and you would be hard pressed treating our two MCG games as gimmies.

We'll do well to finish top 4 again

Agree with this, overall I'd consider it quite a difficult draw particularly the away games.

 

[WhiteLionFeva]

The entitlement of Vic fans never gets old

South Australian

 

[chopperduck]

Commercially its about as good an outcome for the club as I can remember. Will be interesting to see what sponsorships we manage to shake out of it especially for home game signage. Could triple our income from that with that many home prime time games.

Feel for Melb fans especially in light of GWS melb games.

Tough one for families in brisbane who have been going with their kids the last few years with all the night games but thats more of a personal one for me tbh as its hard getting a child to night games.

Yeah, i think this is why the club prefers the twilight timeslot more (which i also do for the same reasons, kids). They are at the ages now where they are easier to take to the footy, so twilight games we take them. Night games are far far too late for them, which means we have to find baby sitters or miss out. The other part of it is, being in SEQ, the twilight timeslot at the Gabba is just a fabulous time for footy. Gabba looks amazing with the sun setting.

Less day games is good, i feel like family commitments also means less games for families with kids for these games, which is why they don't pull great crowds. But the Sat night timeslot means a national game. Would be great if we could own that twilight slot and still get the national game slots though. I would also imagine the Suns would be very similar, twilight games being the ideal home game time. The AFL should really look at the opportunity to really grow the game by having that time slot nearly always on in SEQ every week.

 

[adey115]

That's BS. Lets look at how many Victorian games the other non-Victorian teams play in Victoria, remembering none of them have merger agreements stipulating that they should play 6 games in Victoria and Melbourne preferably:

8 - GWS (includes one in Geelong)
6 - Sydney (all Melbourne)
6 - West Coast (includes one in Geelong)

5 - Brisbane (includes one in Geelong)

We have NEVER had 8 games in Victoria, yet GWS, without any affiliation to Melbourne get 8. Hell, Sydney get 6 games in Melbourne alone.

Dylan, I agree with your post, EXCEPT for the potting of Swann. I blame AFL HQ, and their baffling daftness at getting the basics right.

When you look at the above, it does seem blindingly obvious that as a unique club with a clear Victorian affiliation, we should have had an additional game allocated in Victoria at the expense of WC or GWS. The concept of GWS playing in Melbourne against North, versus the Lions playing in Tassie against North, stands out like absolute dogs proverbials.

GWS are going to draw about twenty extra fans to a game in Melbourne, compared to Tassie.
I'd suggest the Lions will draw 3,500-4,000 LESS fans to a game in Tassie compared to Melbourne.

I can't see how its even a great commercial decision, let alone in relation to shafting the Victorian side of the Lions family.

Another baffling AFL initiative, at the expense of those who actually want to go to the game. Gee, head office are really good at that.

 

[Back2Back2Back]

I am actually well and truly over the moon for this fixture.

We get 2 games at the MCG, both should draw good crowds, and the first half of the year sees no two weeks of travel back to back. They give us one trip to Perth the entire year, and that's against the softer of the two WA teams, and it's just before the bye, and follows a home game against GC. Straight after the bye we do a Tassie trip against Norf, get two weeks at home to recover, and then we're back to the home-away-home flip. And we close out the year with a home game against West Coast, a soft away trip down the coast, and another home game against the Dons.

Honestly, that's a pretty impressive fixture. I feel for the Victorian supporters not getting very much in the offer, from that perspective it's a pretty shithouse deal - especially since the AFL is likely doing the whole "but Geelong is still close" thing for the VIC game count - but as a Brisbane based club, this fixture suits the team pretty freaking well IMO.

Pies on Thursday at the Gabba, Tigers on Friday at the Gabba... hnnggggg

 

[WhiteLionFeva]

Great commercial outcome for the club. Hoping to get to all Vic games bar the one at Geelong.

 

[Roylion]

I would’ve given anything to see Brisbane play 4 times in a season. They’re lucky kids.

Could have seen the North Fitzroy Kangaroos play 12-16 times in a season.

 

[jackess]

Could have seen the North Fitzroy Kangaroos play 12-16 times in a season.

I know which one I'd rather

 

[Dalions]

To an extent I think we are a victim of the requests by the club in relation to Melbourne games.
You can bet your bottom dollar the Club would have requested as many home games against Melbourne opposition as possible.
And unless we are playing all Melbourne teams twice then it makes it pretty hard.
The game that was an opportunity missed for the AFL was the game against North?

 

[Roylion]

I know which one I'd rather

You might have a particular preference, but not all Melbourne based (mostly Fitzroy) supporters feel that way. A Melbourne based club with a partly Fitzroy identity playing 12-16 games per season in Melbourne was certainly more attractive to many back in 1996. In the end there was a different outcome, thanks to AFL machinations, but nonetheless certain promises were made at that time. They simply have not been kept, which angers many and the 2020 Lions fixture is just the latest example of that. But that's the AFL for you.

 

[rangatangtang]

GoldCoast
North
Hawks
Collingwood
Geelong
The double ups

we should start favourites in all of those bar pies but with their game against us the biggest blemish of the home and away season I'd expect us to get revenge at least once. Also without Aish they are a shadow of their 2019 list

 

[haystark]

Absolutely rapt with the fixture. So glad I don’t have to make the arduous drive to Launceston and instead can watch them in Hobart. For all those unhappy, keep in mind there are so many Lions fans down here that will be just as happy. Also, its a perfect time slot for a FIFO, it’s an hour on the plane from Melb, and Bellerive is 10 minutes from the airport. Easy.

Pretty chuffed we only have three games on a Sunday. Gone are the days we’re shoved into the forgotten time slot.

 

[lioninthesand]

I am stoked with the fixture. Lots of kind stretches of games and plenty on commercial benefit. Yes, only 5 games in Melbourne but it's the same every year, it's not that hard to take a trip to Geelong.

 

[bato]

I am stoked with the fixture. Lots of kind stretches of games and plenty on commercial benefit. Yes, only 5 games in Melbourne but it's the same every year, it's not that hard to take a trip to Geelong.

It’s 110km away from my place with limited public transport. I’d say it’s more on the ‘harder’ side.

BTW, it’s only four games in Melbourne.

 

[Dylan12]

Yes, only 5 games in Melbourne but it's the same every year, it's not that hard to take a trip to Geelong.

Its not the same every year. GWS get 7 games in Melbourne and an eighth in Geelong and Sydney get six in Melbourne, so no its not the same.

As for the trip to Geelong, yes it is hard for a lot of people. Its not included in the membership and secondly, the seats allocated to the away fans are utter garbage (not undercover) and there are no options to sit in a stand unlike sitting wherever you like at the MCG and Docklands.

I guess you've taken the Greg Swann view that us Vic fans have been rewarded somehow:

“We can’t wait to kick off our season against the Hawks on the biggest stage, the MCG, in Round 1. What a reward for our passionate Victorian members and supporters.”

So after round one, Melbourne based fans we get a whole three games to watch our team live. Such a reward Greg / Lions_Insider , such a reward that I can hardly contain my excitement.

Would be nice if the club actually came out and cited why or how GWS / Sydney were given 8 and 7 games respectively in Victoria despite no formal arrangement existing for them to play X amount of games in Melbourne. Sydney I get with their South Melbourne connection, but Brisbane merged with a Victorian based club, so why we have been screwed? Hell, Adelaide, Port Adelaide, West Coast and Gold Coast all get the same amount of games in Victoria as we do, so I'm at a massive loss.

Lions_Insider - an email to Victorian members is a must addressing this farce and what the club does to push the point around Victorian games (if anything), because the inequality of us getting no more games in Melbourne than any other non-Victorian team is insulting.

 

[dlanod]

Maybe, but you don't know if there are background deals with this. The Tassie game is a sell off from North, probably somewhere in there they need to have a half decent team to play there, which is why they don't send GWS.

GWS have played down there the last three seasons running. I'm guessing that might have something to do with it, though I'm not sure it should matter.

 

[Danny3]

Only two double ups against other finalists (Magpies and Cats) is a super result!

Here's how the others faired:

Giants — 4 (Tigers, Cats, Bulldogs, Bombers)
Magpies — 4 (Tigers, Lions, Eagles, Bombers)
Tigers — 3 (Magpies, Giants, Eagles)
Cats — 3 (Giants, Lions, Eagles)
Eagles — 3 (Tigers, Cats, Magpies)
Bombers — 2 (Giants, Magpies)
Bulldogs — 1 (Giants)