Is the AFL taking revenge on North via the draw?

[morgoth]

Honestly from a money making point of view the North Melbourne draw is shocking http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/north-melbourne-2010-fixture-list/story-e6frf9jf-1225792711290. The majority of their homes games are against interstate teams and the lower supported Melbourne clubs.

The only teams they play where you would expect a decent turn out are, Saints, Carlton and Essendon and two of them are in the last 5 rounds when their season is likely to be over.

Brayshaw would be a very unhappy man today and would be questioning the clubs relationship with the AFL and his CEO's ability to negotiate.

 

[strategy]

yep and its a disgrace

 

[Fire]

Nothing new unfortunately.

No doubt that the old "if they start playing well they will get the games" myth will be wheeled out again, even though it was categorically disproven in 2008 after making the Prelim.

No point bitching about it anymore, I can only hope my club can somehow bite back. We have shown enormous faith in the AFL by surrendering the GC games last year (we could have held them to their contract and demanded a payout), and I thought part of the reasoning was that we would see a fairer draw in the future.

 

[didak04]

The AFL don't want North to survive in their current form, it's that simple.

They attempted to ship them off to the GC, which failed and are now trying to destroy them through dodgy fixturing.

In the long term, 10 Victorian teams wont be sustainable in a national competition. The AFL are aware of this and have North firmly in their sights.

 

[JeffDunne]

It's not revenge, it's a natural outcome of scheduling that's severely compromised by the AFL's desire to maximise THEIR income.

North unfortunately are #16 in the pecking order of priorities.

Soon to be #18.

It won't get any better for them anytime soon.

 

[AlecDuncan]

Any club that finishes down the bottom end of the ladder gets treated like shit. That goes for the draw, telecasts, and even umpiring quality.

I'll admit if they were the Gold Coast Kangaroos, they'd be getting different treatment altogether.

 

[mcgarnacle]

absolutely reammed from a financial perspective.

 

[Rioli magic]

The AFL have been hammering North for years. Disgraceful.

 

[Philhawk]

To be fair though, in 'football terms', don't they have a great draw?

 

[Chadwiko]

Any club that finishes down the bottom end of the ladder gets treated like shit. That goes for the draw, telecasts, and even umpiring quality.

Made a Prelim in 2007. Got 1 friday night game in 2008.

That whole argument is a myth.

 

[JeffDunne]

Any club that finishes down the bottom end of the ladder gets treated like shit. That goes for the draw, telecasts, and even umpiring quality.

I'll admit if they were the Gold Coast Kangaroos, they'd be getting different treatment altogether.

Nice way to contradict yourself.

It has nothing to with your ladder position.

FFS, Carlton got a dream draw last year after years of being a basket case!

 

[didak04]

Nice way to contradict yourself.

It has nothing to with your ladder position.

FFS, Carlton got a dream draw last year after years of being a basket case!

Agreed.

Melbourne's draw for '10 further proves this point

 

[rdhopkins2]

In footy terms, North have a great draw. Win some, lose some. Will be interesting to see the response from Nth fans. Perhaps a few more home games early for membership boosting.

Overall though, play good footy, get more members and set themselves up for finals and more leverage next year with the AFL. Up to the North faithfull to get aboard and the club to produce the results.

 

[morgoth]

To be fair though, in 'football terms', don't they have a great draw?

I guess it depends on how you see North going next year. Most seem to be saying bottom 4 and in that case it will not matter who they play and the problem with interstate teams is that they tend to recover a lot quicker than Vic clubs.

I guess you could argue the AFL is screwing Eithad also but from a money making point of view it is the worst draw I can recall. And for a club that is always struggling financially that is not good.

I always thought Vlad would come after them over spurning his advances re GC but he has outdone himself this time.

 

[AlecDuncan]

Nice way to contradict yourself.

It has nothing to with your ladder position.

Oh yes it does, it's just that being the AFL's pet project trumps everything else.

Because they didn't move, North are just another club in the bottom half of the ladder to the AFL. No different to Port, no different to Melbourne - ask them about their draws sometime.

FFS, Carlton got a dream draw last year after years of being a basket case!

We did - after years of shit draws because we were a basket case. We stopped being a basket case in 2008. We finished a few games out of the eight, were obviously on the rise, and played a TV-friendly style of football. Hence we got better treatment.

 

[JeffDunne]

Show me Carlton's worst draw this century and compare it to ours of this or next year.

Then compare our results this century - especially of late - and then try and tell me the AFL rewards performance.

 

[sherrinorburley]

In footy terms, North have a great draw. Win some, lose some. Will be interesting to see the response from Nth fans. Perhaps a few more home games early for membership boosting.

Overall though, play good footy, get more members and set themselves up for finals and more leverage next year with the AFL. Up to the North faithfull to get aboard and the club to produce the results.

I dont mind it apart from the low number of games at the G. That is what happens when your a lowly team like say, Melbourne(14 MCG games).

I like what the NMFC CEO has to say about it-

This is an excellent draw purely from a football perspective with a good spread of interstate matches and reasonable breaks between games.

"With five Saturday afternoon home matches, there is an excellent opportunity for our supporters and members to attend our games at the traditional time. We want to encourage our fans to turn up in numbers to support our young and developing team on what will be an exciting journey.

"From a commercial point of view the draw will be challenging, however, the recent improvement in the stadium deals will allow us to invest more in fan development and crowd engagement.

"Our partnerships with the City of Ballarat and the City of Wyndham together with the opening of the Learning and Life Centre will help us increase our membership and grow our crowds." - chief executive Eugene Arocca

 

[GarnerSmash]

In footy terms, North have a great draw. Win some, lose some. Will be interesting to see the response from Nth fans. Perhaps a few more home games early for membership boosting.

Overall though, play good footy, get more members and set themselves up for finals and more leverage next year with the AFL. Up to the North faithfull to get aboard and the club to produce the results.

Win games, get into finals playing good footy, draw crowds in 2011, get better games in 2012.

 

[AlecDuncan]

Show me Carlton's worst draw this century and compare it to ours of this or next year.

Then compare our results this century - especially of late - and then try and tell me the AFL rewards performance.

You're welcome to trawl through a decade of draws if you like. I know as a Carlton obsessive you'd enjoy nothing more. You're a bigger fan than me if you do.

I'm confident that from 2003-2008 inclusive, we got the dregs of free-to-air coverage and any venue requests we made (because we were a basket-case the previous year). The few exceptions would be playing Collingwood and Essendon twice each year at the G.

BTW, your ordinary live-to-air schedule in 2009 was partly a result of the negative, low-scoring game style you played in 2008. The AFL & broadcasters failed to anticipate (like most of us) that it would blossom into the winning style of 2009. I think they'd like that decision over again.

We've got 19 FTA games this year which is extremely favourable. I wish I was as confident of our form as the broadcasters are. That might become another decision they'd like over.

 

[Royal Flush]

Fukem the afl is making a mockery of our game.

Surely the AFL has such a strong hold in this country that it can stop trying to control and manipulate draws for percieved benefits in broadcasting pay cheques and game day attendance increases.

Two year rolling system, everybody plays each other home/away over a two year period. The block busters will sort themsleves out.



Its a disgrace.

 

[Cosmo Kramer]

To be fair the roo's got to play Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Richmond and Hawthorn as the home team in 2009, that was a dream financial draw.

 

[Durham Hawks]

North:

unattractive to watch in 2009 and going through a "rebuilding" phase with a new coach in 2010. basically signed their papers for a bad draw. the club has come out today and said football wise it's good, commercially its bad. go and win some games then north, it's literally the only option.

 

[MightyHawks]

To be fair the roo's got to play Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Richmond and Hawthorn as the home team in 2009, that was a dream financial draw.

STOP PUTTING FACTS INTO THIS THREAD...

I actually thought the North 2009 fixture was pretty good... you got home matches against: Hawthorn, Essendon, Richmond & Collingwood all in the first 6 weeks. Great start to the year... in fact the only good $$$ drawcards you've missed were against St.Kilda, Geelong and Carlton...

WAIT... but they got home matches against St.Kilda & Carlton as well. Throw in matches against the Dogs & the Dees and they've had 8 home matches against 9 of the other Vic clubs!!!!!!!! Isn't this the greatest fixture of all time??? Seriously, how could you possibly want a better fixture?

 

[SweetLeftFoot]

In footy terms, North have a great draw. Win some, lose some. Will be interesting to see the response from Nth fans. Perhaps a few more home games early for membership boosting.

Overall though, play good footy, get more members and set themselves up for finals and more leverage next year with the AFL. Up to the North faithfull to get aboard and the club to produce the results.

Meh. I love a good whinge about the evils of the AFL and how they shaft us but I don't have too many complaints about this draw. The renegotiated stadium deals mean we won't at least LOSE money playing Freo in melbourne etc.

I'd actually suggest this thread is a passive aggressive troll by a notorious North hater hoping the usual suspects will pile aboard with their 'Shoulda gone to the GC' and 'Too many Vic teams' crap.

 

[SweetLeftFoot]

I always thought Vlad would come after them over spurning his advances re GC but he has outdone himself this time.

Oh get over it.

Vlad would come after us? That's why he went to court with the stadium operators in order to get us a deal that guarantees our survival?

Your North hating is tiresome and predictable. I suggest you refocus your efforts on Carey stuff or something because on the financial/politics side, you've got nothing.