Fixture Fixture 2022

[hangdog]

Play twice: Brisbane, Fremantle, Geelong, Hawthorn, Sydney Swans

First four: Collingwood (H), Fremantle (A), Richmond (H), Hawthorn (A)

Last three: Geelong (A), Brisbane (H), Sydney Swans (H)

Bye: Round 12

Degree of difficulty: 41 (sixth)

What the club says: "Having the opportunity to begin our season at home on Friday night is great for us and our fans, and we’re determined to begin our season on the right note. We have a good spread of games, breaks and travels across the first nine games, and we finish off with a strong presence in Victoria with six of our last eight games to be played at Marvel Stadium. No matter the challenges our draw will inevitably present, we are ready to embrace whatever Season 2022 throws at us we are intent on making our members and supporters proud." - chief operating officer Simon Lethlean

 

[hangdog]

Based on last season's ladder -

Melb	Away
PA	Home	Cairns
Geel	Home / Away
Bris	Away / Home
WB	Away
Syd	Away / Home
GWS	Away	Canberra
Ess	Home
WCE	Away
Frem	Away / Home
Rich	Home
Carl	Away
Haw	Away / Home
Adel	Away
GC	Home
Coll	Home
NM	Home

Doubles against 3 of the top 6 (2 top 4) and none of the bottom 4 is rough.

Two trips to Perth.

Geelong in Geelong.

It's another tough fixture given where we are at. That said,we have been given some prime time FTA spots to open the season so destiny is in our own hands.

Collingwood, Richmond, Hawthorn, GWS & Port all on FTA in the first 9 rounds. We could win all of those which would be massive for sponsors and membership number.

Great visual on the draw. What it shows is that we play all of the top 7 away from Marvel (counting our "home" game vs Port in Cairns as away) with only 2 games at home. That is a real challenge, but you don't win flags with easy draws.

We also play every non-Victorian team outside of Victoria, with the exception of Gold Coast.

Why do the Saints always get a significantly harder draw? Ranked harder that Sydney (= 9th), Geelong (=9th) and Essendon (=7th), with Carlton being ranked a whole ten spots easier at 16th! I might save my melts from Champion Data's rankings as they're more in depth. I think it'll show that our draw is harder than it appears at first glance.

Bring it on I guess.

 

[pebblesofsand]

St Kilda

What did the Saints do to deserve this?

A year after missing the finals, partially due to a very difficult double-up draw, St Kilda once again gets a tough run with two games against top four sides Geelong and Brisbane, plus sixth-placed Sydney.

Fremantle and Hawthorn round out their quintet, which according to our numbers results in a more difficult fixture than the one given to Geelong, Port Adelaide or Brisbane.

In fact, of the eight teams to receive the most difficult fixtures, only the Saints didn’t play finals in 2021.

 

[Saints TV]

I honestly don't mind the fixture! First half is critical, second is a good test to prove we deserve to play finals and do some damage. Good balance of games we SHOULD win and testing games that can refine us before hopefully a finals run!

Video is out as well:

 

[Dard Ball Get]

Another take on things

 

[puppy_dog7]

Another take on things
View attachment 1294691

Lol, AFL desperate for Carlton to be relevant again.

Once again Port get Kissed on the Dick for finishing 1st (2020) & 2nd (2021)

 

[Joffaboy]

Another take on things
View attachment 1294691

Yup 14th hardest draw after missing the eight.
Double ups v Brisbane, Geelong and Sydney.
Of all the 8 teams with the most difficult draw, the Saints are the only team that didn't make the eight.

How can the AFL get away with this blatant bias against the Saints

 

[Dard Ball Get]

Yup 14th hardest draw after missing the eight.
Double ups v Brisbane, Geelong and Sydney.
Of all the 8 teams with the most difficult draw, the Saints are the only team that didn't make the eight.

How can the AFL get away with this blatant bias against the Saints

*5th hardest

 

[StCicatriz]

Doesn't seem so cruisey to me! But then as we see every year it's never as simple as it looks when it's announced. Certainly need a more consistent performance next season that's for sure

i think you are right. on paper i didn't mind it. then i read what other clubs got.

fmd.

i'm guessing they justify the continual reaming over the fixture because we receive more AFL money.

 

[TheEnsign]

Can't really be 'happy' with that fixture but at last there's a nice spread of primetime games in what has been released.

Getting Sydney twice could be a blessing in disguise, I think they overperformed last year a bit and could get a reality check. I quite like Freo twice, they'll be a team around the mark with us and so it's all on us to beat them twice and push into the 8.

You do get the feeling that the AFL reaaaally wants Carlton to finally fulfil the promise of all those high picks and play finals.

 

[L_W_P]

Can't really be 'happy' with that fixture but at last there's a nice spread of primetime games in what has been released.

Getting Sydney twice could be a blessing in disguise, I think they overperformed last year a bit and could get a reality check. I quite like Freo twice, they'll be a team around the mark with us and so it's all on us to beat them twice and push into the 8.

You do get the feeling that the AFL reaaaally wants Carlton to finally fulfil the promise of all those high picks and play finals.

Lions will be tough both times.

Swans could drop a bit, much like we did from 2020 to 2021.

Freo there abouts but how long do Mundy and Fyfe keep performing? Does this young midfield step up another gear?

Cats could finally fall off a cliff?

Hawks should be 2 wins in the bank.

Lots of questions to answer but, on paper, it's still a ridiculous draw given where we are at.

 

[aussierulesrules]

We play all of the top 7 away from Marvel (counting our "home" game vs Port in Cairns as away) with only 2 games at home.

We also play every non-Victorian team outside of Victoria, with the exception of Gold Coast.

Bloody hell, they sure don’t miss us when handing out the tough draws.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Yup 14th hardest draw after missing the eight.
Double ups v Brisbane, Geelong and Sydney.
Of all the 8 teams with the most difficult draw, the Saints are the only team that didn't make the eight.

How can the AFL get away with this blatant bias against the Saints

14th easiest.

 

[lewdogs]

Yup 14th hardest draw after missing the eight.
Double ups v Brisbane, Geelong and Sydney.
Of all the 8 teams with the most difficult draw, the Saints are the only team that didn't make the eight.

How can the AFL get away with this blatant bias against the Saints

Like clockwork isn't it. Every year our fixture is a joke.

 

[StWalrus]

Happy for everyone in Victoria to finally get their footy back! Round 1 looks mint! I’m pumped I’ll still get to see the lads at the Gabba in rd15!

 

[sunny3193]

Looking forward to a trip to WA in July.
*** Assuming borders are open.

 

[plugger66]

Like our fixture. Good amount of Friday and channel 7 games. Play sides around us or below us early. Finish with a couple of winnable games if we improve and lastly don’t play the clearly the 2 best sides from this year twice.

 

[Jack Green]

Like our fixture. Good amount of Friday and channel 7 games. Play sides around us or below us early. Finish with a couple of winnable games if we improve and lastly don’t play the clearly the 2 best sides from this year twice.

Yeah - could be worse .... could be better!
First 5 rounds will set the scene. Really need to bank some early to get momentum and confidence rolling. [ unlike this year]
If 16 points from the first 5 rounds , reckon we will make finals. Can't drop any of Pies/Saints/Hawks who I all expect to be bottom 6. Need to jag either one of Dockers in Perth or Tiggies at G .

 

[Mowman]

Happy to have the Cats twice

 

[lewdogs]

Happy to have the Cats twice

Hopefully this is the year they finally go to pieces.

 

[Mowman]

Hopefully this is the year they finally go to pieces.

Yep
And this is the year we become a good consistent footy club

 

[aussierulesrules]

Round 1 Collingwood MCG: win
Round 2 Fremantle Optus +2 days diff: win
Round 3 Richmond Marvel 0 days diff, we travel they dont: loss
Round 4 Hawthorn MCG 0 days diff: win
Round 5 GC Metricon 0 days diff, we travel they dont: win
Round 6 GWS Manuka 0 days diff, we both travel: 50/50
Round 7 Port Adelaide Cairns, +1 day diff, we both travel: loss
Round 8 Melbourne MCG, 0 days diff, we travel back, melbourne dont: loss
Round 9 Geelong Marvel, -1 day diff, they travel back, we don't: 50/50
Round 10 Adelaide AO, we travel, they don't: win
Round 11 North Marvel, we travel back, they don't: win

Round 12 bye

Round 13 Brisbane GABBA, +1 bye week, brisbane travel back from Perth LOLz, we travel up: 50/50
Round 14 Essendon Marvel, 0 weeks diff, we travel back: 50/50
Round 15 Sydney SCG, 0 weeks diff, they back from Adelaide LOLz, we travel up: 50/50
Round 16 Carlton Marvel, we travel back, they don't: 50/50
Round 17 Freo Marvel, they travel: win
Round 18 Dogs Marvel, they travel: loss
Round 19 WCE Optus, both travel: 50/50
Round 20 Hawthorn Marvel, both travel back albeit they come from tassie: win
Round 21 Geelong @the sh*t hole: loss
Round 22 Brisbane Marvel, they travel: 50/50
Round 23 Sydney Marvel, they travel: 50/50

that gives me:
Win: 8
Loss: 5
50/50: 9

so we probably need to win 3 50/50 games to play finals. which is very doable. i'd say WCE at optus and the two sydney games.

Collingwood in R1 and GCS in R5 are both at Marvel.

 

[gringo2011]

Great visual on the draw. What it shows is that we play all of the top 7 away from Marvel (counting our "home" game vs Port in Cairns as away) with only 2 games at home. That is a real challenge, but you don't win flags with easy draws.

We also play every non-Victorian team outside of Victoria, with the exception of Gold Coast.

Why do the Saints always get a significantly harder draw? Ranked harder that Sydney (= 9th), Geelong (=9th) and Essendon (=7th), with Carlton being ranked a whole ten spots easier at 16th! I might save my melts from Champion Data's rankings as they're more in depth. I think it'll show that our draw is harder than it appears at first glance.

Bring it on I guess.

We are seen as irrelevant so we get the scraps when everyone else gets theirs done.

 

[gringo2011]

Yup 14th hardest draw after missing the eight.
Double ups v Brisbane, Geelong and Sydney.
Of all the 8 teams with the most difficult draw, the Saints are the only team that didn't make the eight.

How can the AFL get away with this blatant bias against the Saints

I'm glad you're not my accountant big boy, you've got it upside down.

 

[gringo2011]

i think you are right. on paper i didn't mind it. then i read what other clubs got.

fmd.

i'm guessing they justify the continual reaming over the fixture because we receive more AFL money.

That first part of the season up until we meet GWS is critical. All winnable games and if we come out like we did this year we could be done by round 10 again. We have to build momentum, Melbourne and Dogs were both fast out of the blocks and never really dropped away on the back of it. There is no excuse this year, we can make our own luck. At least we don't hit much in the way of dominant teams early on.