Is the draw that important?

[mjm28]

How can you call it a draw.

A draw implies there is some randomness and equality about it

It is a fixture, Fixed by the AFL to maximise $$$

Well they call it the 'Official 2005 AFL Premiership Season Fixture'

That's why it's not a draw.

 

[purplesoul]

Success on the field
The Melbourne team that plays the majority of its games in Melbourne v the Melbourne team that travels. The team that plays twice against teams towards the bottom of the ladder v the team that plays twice against teams towards the top of the ladder.

Success off the field
The team that plays in heavily promoted games against other local clubs on public holidays when there are no other games scheduled v the team that plays games on sunday afternoons against interstate teams. The team that plays games at night - particularly Friday nights v the team which plays on Sunday afternoons. The team which plays in local derbies v the team playing interstate.

Of course the draw is important.

Totally agree with point 2, and support the AFL fixturing games for best financial result.

I still maintain that if a team is good enough, it should not matter where they are playing. It could possibly affect mid table teams but what comes around goes around. My point is, I do not think the draw is a viable excuse or sledge for supporters to drag out when commenting on performance.

 

[Total Package]

Eagles were losing in early games because they had no interest in putting any defensive pressure on. If you look at the ordinary teams that kicked cricket-like scores against you its not hard to figure what went wrong. When Eagles started to put some defensively pressure on they improved out of sight, but it was too little, too late.

Quite the expert on our team aren't we... little interest in putting defensive pressure on? How many players in our backline in Round 1 played in Round 18 because we were struck down with injury? I'll help you.

Round 1 Trent Carroll, Jeremy Humm, Rowan Jones, Glen Jakovich, Quentin Lynch.

Round 18. Darren Glass, Adam Hunter, Brett Jones, Beau Waters, Daniel Chick.

 

[dogsbody]

I still maintain that if a team is good enough, it should not matter where they are playing. It could possibly affect mid table teams but what comes around goes around. My point is, I do not think the draw is a viable excuse or sledge for supporters to drag out when commenting on performance.

Most players in all teams come from the one pool, the Victorian U 18’s. That, the draft and salary cap mean that most clubs are much of a muchness when it comes to playing talent. The difference is in the incidentals, training facilities, quality of coaching staff and the draw. Good teams, particularly Melbourne teams, lose away. Geelong was a perfect example this year. There is a difference between “ven given those differences, there is probably not much difference between sledge for supporters to drag out when commenting on performance” and realistically assessing the impact of the schedule on team performance.

 

[Tas]

Quite the expert on our team aren't we... little interest in putting defensive pressure on? How many players in our backline in Round 1 played in Round 18 because we were struck down with injury? I'll help you.

Round 1 Trent Carroll, Jeremy Humm, Rowan Jones, Glen Jakovich, Quentin Lynch.

Round 18. Darren Glass, Adam Hunter, Brett Jones, Beau Waters, Daniel Chick.

I do not claim to be an expert on anything, unlike some other people...

Defensive pressure does not mean pressure in the back line, it is the pressure put on the opposition all over the ground, particularly in the midfield. If you have the misfortune of watching the early games again you will see a lot of loose marking, forward running and soft receiving from both teams involved in those games. Both teams were happy to just have a shoot-out.

Forwards did not chase and keep the ball in the forward line, midfielders didn't put their direct opponents under pressure during large portions of the games and that included Cousins, Judd, Kerr and Fletcher.

Eagles turned it around and played excellent football in the second half of the season but the damage was done early on. Mind you, that was not every week, when we played the Eagles they played a more accountable style of football, particularly in the midfield but your midfielders were shut out in that game.

I'm sure you can find a few stats to convince yourself otherwise but trust me, I am a relatively neutral watcher of football and I love watching the eagles play their hard running and fast accountable football, it just wasn't there at the start of the year.

 

[monoccular]

To call it a 'draw' is an outright lie - it is a fix.

Take the example of the one true 'home ground advantage' in Victoria:

-Geelong win 64.9% at home over the last 10 years
-Collingwood played there twice in last 10 years, lost both
-Essendon have not played there for a decade
-Melbourne have won 0/8 at KP in the same time frame
-Richmond have won 0/5 in this decade
-Saints won 2/8
-Port, current Premiers 1/4

So, by making Melbourne play there every year and Essendon never, Collingwood 1995 and 1999, they really set up one more win for their favourite teams at Melbourne's expense.

For the AFL to say, as it has done, that the draw is fair is hypocrisy.

source : http://www.allthestats.com/stats/summary.asp?t1=Geel&yrfm=1994&gnd=SS