Its no different to West Coast playing Freo at Perth Stadium.
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AFLW 2024 - Round 10 - Chat, game threads, injury lists, team lineups and more.
Any chance we could make the season opener not the same teams every year?
- Thread starter mick500
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Noone in Victoria cares. There's a very substantial following of Blues and Tigers supporters in the competition.
If WCE played the Dee's for example, nobody in Brissy or Sydney would watch that either. So it kinda just comes down to whoever is playing gets the audience, in person or on TV.
I could care less about the Tigers and Blues for the most part but I know the first game of the year will be sold out and a massive atmosphere so I always turn it on. It's going to be a good show for the neutrals and that is all that matters in that regard. The AFL have the supporters and the neutrals, why would they want to change the model then?
When a marque game is working, why is there so much pressure to change it? I have never understood this. People seem to look at that marque game and want what those teams have. Just maybe you can't have that, maybe the teams that represent are a part of the magic that is.
If you have the 'top two' from the previous year or such then what does that do? Will people watch WCE vs Dees if the Eagles finished on top? If the Eagles won the flag do they host the following year? Would the AFL allow the first game of the season to be played outside the MCG? Join us next time for more adventures of Batman and Robin!
Simple fix. Don’t watch it.
And then Collingwood vs Western Bulldogs is your first game for the year.
- Apr 13, 2015
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It is the dictionary definition of an anticlimax, nothing against Richmond and Carlton but they've never rarely been good teams at the same time and the matches always follow a similar pattern and are very boring for neutral fans.
I am not going to watch it. As a footy fan though I would prefer to have an interesting game to start the season. Like something different from the same thing every single year.
I’m over it. Even though Carlton are due to beat us sooner or later, this clash would work anywhere during the year. I’m just as interested in say a GWS V Bulldogs or an Eagles v Swans, bombers v Hawks would be a good one to start with as well. I’m not sold on GF rematch but I think the Premier should get the Opening game to raise the flag etc.. opponent doesn’t really matter. In this case it should have been Carlton home game so we should have just played someone we are due to host. Port for example
mcgarnacle
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The winner has been predictable every year. Carlton were winning it regularly when they were competitive, Richmond winning it more often than not now.
At least by scheduling the Premier vs another competitive team, football fans in general will be interested rather than just Victoria.
The NRL scheduled Melbourne Storm vs South Sydney Rabbitohs. Premiers vs the prelim finalist they didn't play in that match last season. Anyone who followed rugby league looked forward to the match between the Champs and the challenger most pundits are favouring to take out the premiership this season - even despite Souths' poor record in Victoria. It was a high quality match.
99% of footy fans know Richmond will win - even Carlton supporters.
Some fair points I guess. I like that from the NRL.
- Aug 8, 2009
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They could do Grand Final re-match, but the Tigers beat Geelong by 5 goals in a shortened format, so arguably Carlton are more competitive in round 1.
Guaranteed to fill the G up....it won't change.
Its pretty shit - im amped as f}#% for some good footy
Last year we had port and brisbane firing and probably underachieving a but - what a great matchup that would be for the first game of the year - id be frothing thinking of that to come. Richmond / port or richmond / brizzy be a good one also
Alas - its the VFL - snoozefest carlton / richmond it will be....
Prob flick the box on in forlorn hope that carlton have turned the corner - most likely be watching netflix 20 minutes later.
Last year we had port and brisbane firing and probably underachieving a but - what a great matchup that would be for the first game of the year - id be frothing thinking of that to come. Richmond / port or richmond / brizzy be a good one also
Alas - its the VFL - snoozefest carlton / richmond it will be....
Prob flick the box on in forlorn hope that carlton have turned the corner - most likely be watching netflix 20 minutes later.
Kapow!!!
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Parramatta vs Storm shapes to be a cracking contest. Could go either way, looking forward to it.
*Big vic clubs
The Goon
Norm Smith Medallist
Don't know about you but I always find the first 3-4 weeks of the season pretty ordinary. Seems it takes that long for teams to get up to speed with the season.
Oh and west coast and freo get plenty of what you guys call the worst time slots - but still manage to get outstanding crowds to the games.
Of course there are isnt an excessive amount of teams in perth
Thats why id prefer the gf rematch at about round 5/6
I reckon it would be awesome if the first game every year was a re-match of the previous years Grand Final. The home team would be the winner. They get to unfurl their flag in front of the team they hosed the year before.
Mainly I'm just tired of getting the shits with footy 20 minutes into the season every year because our blokes forget to show up.
Mainly I'm just tired of getting the shits with footy 20 minutes into the season every year because our blokes forget to show up.
I like this idea much more, but in its absence the Carlton v Richmond tradition is alright as well.
As you like
You can bag Geelong all you want, I really don't care. There are plenty of other match ups that could fill the G and get a large TV audience, but instead we have to have the same boring one every year thanks to creative types like you....
- Mar 11, 2018
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I like the idea of a "traditional rivals" clash to kick off the season. But as others point out, rotate so that the match up is between two traditional rivals that are "going". And that makes it harder. Plus the limited subset of "traditional rivals". Do Brisbane even have one?
Based on the above, and that St Kilda look like they might be "going" this season - who would you nominate as a Saints "traditional rival" worthy of the season kick off match? Cats? Pies?
Based on the above, and that St Kilda look like they might be "going" this season - who would you nominate as a Saints "traditional rival" worthy of the season kick off match? Cats? Pies?
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Yet it still draws massive crowds (COVID permitting) and a large TV audience. Predictable, boring, call it whatever you want. Despite all the whinging, it still provides the AFL with a big kick-off to start the season. They've tried other teams/venues and it just doesn't stack up.
To be honest, I couldn't care if we play first or last in round 1, and I couldn't care if we play Richmond or North. The AFL schedule it for a reason. If/when they choose to change it, I'm fine with that, but the sooking doesn't seem to be changing the crowds at the ground or the people watching at home.
I am not really fussed if the Saints don’t get it but second tier clubs like the Lions, Power and Bulldogs who made the finals last year also deserve a crack.
They all play pretty attractive football and would be worthy participants in a season opener.
Why this Richmond vs Blues season opener is such a sacred cow I have no idea.
No, it absolutely would not.
For a long long long long time both Richmond and Carlton were bottom feeding clubs (in terms of performance and obviously it hasn't applied to Richmond for the last couple of years ) whose fans were wide-eyed with optimism and full of hope about their team's chances in the new season hence why the attendance for these game early in the year has been pretty good.
However as the season progressed, usually by about Round 8 or 9 if not sooner, it became evidently clear for fans of both clubs that they were destined to either finish 9th or near the bottom of the ladder like in many other seasons past. By mid season this fact gradually started to impact the attendance of both clubs, with attendance numbers understandably dwindling as the season wore on.
This is the primary reason why the AFL has scheduled Richmond vs Carlton as the first game of the season; to take advantage of the large supporter bases of both clubs before the reality that they were once again going to be also-rans (impacting attendance numbers) set in later in the season, resulting in a substantially smaller crowd if it were scheduled in Round 15 for example.
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