2025 Draw - hoping for MUCH softer

[Jeffcrowe]

Why is it vital for us?

Because every time we struggle early season it seems to set the tone for our season

Last season we looked unprepared for the season in early rounds and that was how it played out

Come out win , get confidence and set the tone early will suit us better

Mostly just want to see we are prepared for season and not on back foot

 

[Jeffcrowe]

Im just trying to avoid a belting at the hands of the Lions haha

We don’t seem to get belted at the Gabba

 

[kirky]

2023 was the season that got Nick's extended, it was done on the back of a great sunset season from Tex and a very soft draw. I'd hate to again get a really soft draw and fall into finals on the back of that, thus saving Nicks again.

Fear not, we'll get a soft draw because we're 15th. A gutted Richmond twice for certain, WC probably won't improve much, Norf may but who knows, probably get those twice. Only Port in the top six, in the middle bracket I'd like Essendon twice as they're looking dead set bottom four replacing us

AFL paid us for the goal error so reckon we'll again be sent all over the place, but take whatever comes and just win, not whinge!

Sorry but how was 2023 a soft draw - we ended up playing the Grand Finalists twice (Brisbane and Collingwood), a Preliminary Finalist twice (GWS) and Port Adelaide twice (top 4 then straight exits).

Yes we played West Coast twice but that was it - no double up against North Melbourne (hasn’t happened the last two years).

Hardly soft and played in Geelong, Ballarat, Darwin and Launceston plus the normal capital cities as well.

 

[kirky]

I can't believe what I'm reading in here.

Yes of course you still have to be a good team to win finals.

BUT, the draw absolutely impacts on your chances of making finals and/or winning them. It absolutely impacts your chances of winning the flag.

A fair draw means that maybe we make finals in the last two years. Imagine the benefit of experience for our guys playing some finals games.
A fair draw also means that you are a chance (eventually for the mens team, not yet obviously) of getting home finals. Home finals is huge. It means you have a much bigger chance of winning and hence making a GF. It could make the difference between a top 2 finish and a 4th or 5th placed finish.

In the AFLW it can make the difference between a home GF or not (as we have seen). Our draw the last 2 years has been blatant cheating by the AFL.

The draw is not an accident. It is very deliberately crafted by the AFL for the outcome they want.

Given the way we get treated with this, the all Vic umpiring panels, the Father-Son and academy etc... it's fair to say we don't get the benefits of others and we absolutely should be complaining about it.

The fixture, it isn’t a draw, is to maximise crowds to ensure those higher up in the AFL achieve their KPIs.

The interesting thing next year is what will the AFL do with Richmond. The crowds are going to drop off the cliff - guaranteed.

Reckon the stronger crowd drawing non-Vic sides will play Richmond at the G whilst the lower drawing non-Vic sides won’t. Lets see.

 

[kirky]

No regional grounds bullshit.

No Tasmania, no Ballarat, no Darwin.

And can we skip Skilled Stadium just one time, please?

Don’t care who we play.

Although would be good to play a North or Richmond or West Coast round 1 just to get some momentum. If not that… can we not play a team playing their second game when it’s our first (surely they’re retiring R0, right?).

With regard to Geelong, they have 9 home games and their are 17 other sides - you can eliminate Collingwood, Carlton and Essendon playing there and previously could add Richmond but given they are going to be crap they will play there. So that means 9 games with 14 possible opponents. That is the reason we always play there.

 

[FR0GGY]

We don’t seem to get belted at the Gabba

Neil Craig dislikes this

 

[Jeffcrowe]

Neil Craig dislikes this

* recently

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Neil Craig dislikes this

Apart from the killing of Craig, I reckon we would have a decent record.

 

[Draft Bored]

5 games against Richmond's under 19s thanks.

 

[1970crow]

Because every time we struggle early season it seems to set the tone for our season

Last season we looked unprepared for the season in early rounds and that was how it played out

Come out win , get confidence and set the tone early will suit us better

Mostly just want to see we are prepared for season and not on back foot

We’re never on the back foot, we’ve always got our ‘reasons’ locked and loaded and as soon a we vanquish some crap club we’re talking up our game and the F word is back in vogue. Lack of confidence is not an affliction of our club.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

5 games against Richmond's under 19s thanks.

In all seriousness, playing them twice should be a huge advantage... so long as we don't have a repeat of this year's performance!

 

[Jeffcrowe]

We’re never on the back foot, we’ve always got our ‘reasons’ locked and loaded and as soon a we vanquish some crap club were talking up our game and the F word is back in vogue. Lack of confidence is not an affliction of our club.

We weren’t ready last year , simple as that

Could see it in trial games

Looked physical and mental issue

 

[1970crow]

The fixture, it isn’t a draw, is to maximise crowds to ensure those higher up in the AFL achieve their KPIs.

The interesting thing next year is what will the AFL do with Richmond. The crowds are going to drop off the cliff - guaranteed.

Reckon the stronger crowd drawing non-Vic sides will play Richmond at the G whilst the lower drawing non-Vic sides won’t. Lets see.

The clubs provide the AFL their wish lists, which are generally geared around crowd maximisation. Every club wants to play Collingwood in a home game, it’s that simple. No matter how bad they are, clubs gear their requests to crowd and exposure.

 

[jackster83]

We weren’t ready last year , simple as that

Could see it in trial games

Looked physical and mental issue

The whole club spent the summer huffing its own farts after almost making the finals in 2023.

 

[kirky]

The clubs provide the AFL their wish lists, which are generally geared around crowd maximisation. Every club wants to play Collingwood in a home game, it’s that simple. No matter how bad they are, clubs gear their requests to crowd and exposure.

Understand but the AFL head honchos certainly frame it to their advantage as well.

Not sure why Bulldogs want games in Ballarat given they only get 10k even when the play us. How the **** do they make money with that?

 

[1970crow]

The whole club spent the summer huffing its own farts after almost making the finals in 2023.

Tex Walker preseason interview, ‘I had a good year last year and we’re even better this year’. Hadn’t played a game in anger and yet we were already moving the ball more quickly and better. We’re a club that overvalues performance outside of game day.

 

[1970crow]

Understand but the AFL head honchos certainly frame it to their advantage as well.

Not sure why Bulldogs want games in Ballarat given they only get 10k even when the play us. How the **** do they make money with that?

Depends on the stadium deal. Reckon some clubs were losing money at Etihad in the very low drawing games. Might have been prior to AFL buyout though.

 

[Dirty Bird]

No one in SA gives a shit when Port are doing well, when Adelaide is up and about this town is buzzing, shops get crows colour decorations, the drive to Melbourne all the country town put out balloons, paint their cows and sheep blue red and yellow. It's awesome.

A strong Adelaide is so much better in terms of making money and viewership for the AFL.

I said it a decade ago.

The 2 best grand finals

For the AFL and tv revenue: Sydney vs Brisbane
For the economy (regional revenue): Sydney vs Adelaide

Why? Exactly what you say above for the country towns, they tap into the tourism of people driving to Melbourne.

 

[Dirty Bird]

I'm hoping for Adelaide to be lest soft in 2025, finals or no finals.

Played their some of worst footy against the sides outside the 8 last year.

Double ups, Port, Brisbane, Sydney, Collingwood, Richmond, Western Bulldogs, Carlton. We need a solid draw against good opposition to test us.

• Play Hawthorn in Launceston.
• Play GWS in Canberra.
• Play North at home.
• Play Geelong at home on a Thursday night.
• Play Fremantle at home, West Coast away.
• Gather round home game against Carlton or Western Bulldogs.
• MCG games against Collingwood, Richmond and Melbourne.
• Bulldogs at Marvel on a Saturday twilight slot.
• Essendon at Marvel on a Friday Night.
• Need two games vs Carlton as it rarely happens and I will be shocked if it happens.
• First Showdown is away, second is home.

I disagree with your Gather round request.

Should be fair in the long run. What does that mean this year? Adelaide and Port Adelaide play 2 of Richmond, Collingwood, Geelong, Hawthorn, St Kilda or North Melbourne.

Adelaide vs Geelong and Port Adelaide vs Collingwood is what I want.

Port Adelaide vs Collingwood might be what Gather Rd names to shut up the doubters. Do that Friday Night and try and tap into the Collingwood fans and try and outnumber Port. Make it neutral and shut up the media spin of it being an extra home game for Adelaide and Port. Afterall, there's greater access to the away team than it is for us at the Grand Final.

 

[Dirty Bird]

No regional grounds bullshit.

No Tasmania, no Ballarat, no Darwin.

And can we skip Skilled Stadium just one time, please?

Don’t care who we play.

Although would be good to play a North or Richmond or West Coast round 1 just to get some momentum. If not that… can we not play a team playing their second game when it’s our first (surely they’re retiring R0, right?).

Yet if all things were equal, all but 2 clubs would get 1 regional game not including Geelong.

People complaining about the trip in general are obviously ignorant. Even 2 a year (including Geelong) is fair. It's when you get to 3 regional games (including Geelong) where it becomes bs

How would you find this:

Gold Coast vs Adelaide - Darwin
Gold Coast vs West Coast - Darwin
Melbourne vs Fremantle - Alice Springs
Western Bulldogs vs Port Adelaide - Ballarat
Western Bulldogs vs North Melbourne - Ballarat
Greater Western Sydney vs Collingwood - Canberra
Greater Western Sydney vs Hawthorn - Canberra
Greater Western Sydney vs Geelong - Canberra
Hawthorn vs Gold Coast - Launceston
Hawthorn vs Greater Western Sydney - Launceston
Hawthorn vs Richmond - Launceston
Hawthorn vs St Kilda - Launceston
North Melbourne vs Sydney - Hobart
North Melbourne vs Brisbane - Hobart
North Melbourne vs Essendon - Hobart
North Melbourne vs Melbourne - Hobart

Teams not to go regional - Carlton, Western Bulldogs

Just make both go to Geelong and only 8/9 teams have 2 regional games in 1 year.

 

[Bovo]

As I wrote earlier, forget who and concentrate on where and when.

Yes we need to play:
1 game in WA
1 game in NSW
11 home games
I’d love at least 3 games at the G

Of course we get 1 away game against Port
1 gather round away game at home
So in a perfect world 4 matches at Marvel?

Not sure on my maths, but what I’d like to avoid is
2 x WA
Tassie or Canberra

I don’t mind a Kadinia game
We have to play at least one of GWS or Swans away. I hope it’s Swans

Anyway let’s just start being competitive and finish off games really strongly no matter where we play

 

[119others]

Be interested to know who you get a response from.

Probably not from the AFL itself but from Silvers or Reidy more likely (thats what happened last November when Silvers emailed me out of the blue and said “assume you are happy with the draw” after we got an unprecedented amount of Thu and Fri games many against “big clubs “ 3rd best in league overall - despite finishing out of the 8 in 2023

For 2025 bugger the commercial side of things relative to having an easy draw. I want to win 14-15 games and believe it’s possible

 

[119others]

I can't remember the last time we won an away game to start the season. Probably 2009 against Collingwood.

I was at that game at The G. Classic game actually. Young Tex debuting and snagging one from the boundary Punt Road end. Also 2 other youngsters - I think Danger(although he had played 1-2 games in 2008 whilst living at home) and perhaps Otten

 

[119others]

A “soft” draw is meaningless and I’ll explain why. Every year a team that wasn’t a top four team the year before surges into top four form. Likewise a team that has been fairly consistent can bottom out. A soft or hard draw can’t be determined until the season is in full swing. All I want is at least 2 games at the G, no Tassie games and not finish the year in WA

Ok so you believe getting Tigers, Weagles, Kangas and Saints (along with Power) TWICE could backfire and see us playing all finals teams. Cmon, seriously?

 

[119others]

2023 was the season that got Nick's extended, it was done on the back of a great sunset season from Tex and a very soft draw. I'd hate to again get a really soft draw and fall into finals on the back of that, thus saving Nicks again.

Fear not, we'll get a soft draw because we're 15th. A gutted Richmond twice for certain, WC probably won't improve much, Norf may but who knows, probably get those twice. Only Port in the top six, in the middle bracket I'd like Essendon twice as they're looking dead set bottom four replacing us

AFL paid us for the goal error so reckon we'll again be sent all over the place, but take whatever comes and just win, not whinge!

2023 was NOT a very soft draw, quite the opposite. how this fallacy keeps getting rolled out is beyond me,

The articles are linked even. We played the top 3 teams in double ups. The only team to do this and has he second hardest draw overall (I took some poetic license calling it hardest in email to AFL)