Fixture 2011 Fixture

[bombers007]

Not as bad as what It was going to be. First 5 games could make or break it.

 

[Donakebab]

Sounds like a good game to travel up for. 10 or 11am flight up, 7 or 8pm flight back.

Who's in!

Apart from the result, had a good weekend this year. 50/50 atm.

 

[dave_27]

17 games at the MCG please.

 

[Shane Hird]

Good for us Perth Bomber fans...2 games at Subi.

At least we have a chance at finally beating W.C for once after years of hell.

The bye in Rd24 will be a good for us if we make finals and the one in the middle of the season is also handy.

Gunna have to finally bite the bullet and get Foxtel. I can't stand watching one more EFC game stuck in the corner at the pub while an Eagles or Freo game blares on the five other screens.

Good draw imo. Could be worse...

 

[windyhill]

2 friday nights Can`t stand them, I can handle 2.

 

[raskolnikov]

Shit draw. Our season will be over by round 5.

 

[Walesy]

Shit draw. Our season will be over by round 5.

If we're 2-3, we're looking great!

 

[yaco55]

Sounds like a good game to travel up for. 10 or 11am flight up, 7 or 8pm flight back.

Who's in!

Word of warning.

Hard to get a 10.00am or 11.00am flight to Sydney - Dont forget the Stadium is about an hour from the airport.

Unless it is a 1pm game - Be careful about about a 6pm or 7pm flight back.

Last year the game was at the SCG and know people who missed 6pm flights out - Traffic is diabolical at the SCG - Not sure about the Olympic Stadium.

 

[yaco55]

Damn - Have to miss Round 2 game against Sydney to attend a wedding - I suppose it has saved me a trip to Sydney.

May stay an extra few days and watch the game against the Young Guns - The GC.

 

[Shane Hird]

Shit draw. Our season will be over by round 5.

Go buy yourself a jam donut. It might help with your depressive state.

 

[Air_Chester]

HATE Sunday games, HATE HATE HATE them.

That's all.

 

[lemon chicken]

Happy with it, cant make it to friday night matches so a win there, happy with the teams we play twice, just the travel factor is the issue.

 

[Frothies Mcveigh]

Apart from the days we play it's quite a good draw. First 5 games will test us but if we can go 2-3 we are looking pretty good.

 

[Donakebab]

Word of warning.

Hard to get a 10.00am or 11.00am flight to Sydney - Dont forget the Stadium is about an hour from the airport.

Unless it is a 1pm game - Be careful about about a 6pm or 7pm flight back.

Last year the game was at the SCG and know people who missed 6pm flights out - Traffic is diabolical at the SCG - Not sure about the Olympic Stadium.

The entire Olympic complex has fantastic public transport, but if you're looking to smash some brews like a champ after the game I'd suggest heading back into the city as there's nothing to do in the surround area.

 

[yaco55]

The entire Olympic complex has fantastic public transport, but if you're looking to smash some brews like a champ after the game I'd suggest heading back into the city as there's nothing to do in the surround area.

Never been to the Olympic Stadium but transport out of the SCG is a joke.

No train line and buses aren't allowed in to the stadium precinct. You have to rely on taxis which are reluctant to enter the precinct because of traffic concerns.

 

[rines]

not sure why ppl are even using words like "good" in relation to anything about our draw.

2nd year in a row absolutely dudded from football, revenue and tv point of view compared to Coll/Carl and even Rich.

First 5 weeks will be horror start that will probably mean that again we are surrounded in negativity.. Richmond ended up nearly par with us last year but no one will forget the 0-7 headlines etc..

We play the most teams after a bye out of anyone.. ie rested, niggling injuries gone etc etc

We play interstate more times that any other "big 4" club

We have only 1 home game on a Friday night

We have the most Sunday games of any Vic club

We play the most # of top 8 teams from 2010 twice

And to top it off we have the bye in the final round which essentially is the AFL pretty much telling us exactly what they think of our chances.. the think Richmond is a bigger chance of playing finals than us.. ouch!

I hope our club focusses back on getting the AFL onside and get rid of these pathetic draws.. hopefully results and crowds will be better this year and 2012 draw will reflect our progress..

 

[windyhill]

Good teams have good draws, bad teams have bad draws.

 

[Dan26]

not sure why ppl are even using words like "good" in relation to anything about our draw.

Aren't you being a bit overly pessimistic?

2nd year in a row absolutely dudded from football, revenue and tv point of view compared to Coll/Carl and even Rich.

Well, we play 4 MCG home games versus Coll, Carl, Rich and Melb.

And 7 home Dome games versus Gold Coast, WCE, Nth Melb, Geelong, W.Bulldogs, Sydney and Port Adelaide.

That's all fair enough. The Dome games are always against lesser drawing teams. And they should be. And what do you mean dudded by football revenue? Are you refering to playing home games versus non-Victorian teams? We have 4 such games. Collingwood has 4. Carlton has 4. Richmond has 5 (two of which they are playing interstate)

We have 14 games on free-to-air which is less than Carlton and Collingwood, which is also fair. They made the finals last year we didn't, and are seen as a higher-rating TV prospect. Richmond have only 10 free-to-air games.

As for the Richmond comparison. They travel 6 tims including selling two home games. They also have FOUR consecutive rounds (round 10, 11,12 13) where they don't play in Melbourne. and as I stated five home games versus non-Vic teams.

There is nothing wrong with any financial aspect of our fixture.

First 5 weeks will be horror start that will probably mean that again we are surrounded in negativity.

So? Rounds 6-13 looks fairly comfortable on paper. You can look at any 5 week period of any season and some 5 week periods will be hard and some easier. You are also making an assumption that the teams Essendon plays in the first 5 weeks will be good teams again. No one knows. There are always wild fluctuations year to year. The Bulldogs could be a bottom 6 team, who knows?

We play the most teams after a bye out of anyone.. ie rested, niggling injuries gone etc etc

No we don't. Geelong play 4 such games.

We play three. If we make the finals, we have the advantage of a having a bye in the last round, which is a good thing (1993.)

We play interstate more times that any other "big 4" club

We play 5 times. Last year we played 3, so that is 8 over 2 years. Five is fair considering there is an extra interstate team in 2011, and also the low number of trips we had in 2010.

Also, Carlton and Collingwood travel 4 times. That's only one less than us. Why is that even worth caring about? Richmond travel 6 times. 4-5, same diff.

We have only 1 home game on a Friday night

So?

Are you worried about TV advertising dollars or something? We play 14 free-to-air games.

If Essendon performs better, we will get more prime time games in 2012 no doubt. Just like we did in 2010 after we made the finals in 2009. We had a glut of prime time games in 2010.

We have the most Sunday games of any Vic club

So? Its funny how people complain about Sunday twlight (we have 3 of those games.) They are Foxtel's highest rating game EVERY week. Now, if we had Foxtel 2:10 Saturday games instead you'd probably complain about that too, even though the twilight games give far more TV exposure.

We play the most # of top 8 teams from 2010 twice

Thing like this are only bad if the 2010 top-8 is the same as the 2011 top-8.

Of the 6 teams we play twice we play two bad teams twice (WCE, Rich), one good team twice (Coll) and three teams who could go either way (Carl, Dogs, Syd.)

I suspect Carlton will hold ground, Sydney will rise and the Dogs fall, but who knows?

And to top it off we have the bye in the final round

If we don't make the finals, this is a bad thing beause it means we only get the "advantage" of having an extra week's break over our opponents once.

But if we make the finals, which is every club's aim, it is an exceedingly good thing. To me it is THE perfect time to have a bye if you are a finals team.

 

[pazza]

What took you so long Dan?

 

[Dan26]

What took you so long Dan?

I just don't see what the big deal is.

We have 8 MCG games, 9 Dome games and 5 interstate, which is basically the same every year.

The years we have travelled 4 times, it has been 8-10-4, or 9-9-4. And last year where we only travelld three times, it was 9-10-3.

In 2011 it is 8-9-5.

Our draw is basically the same more or less every year. The only difference is that we have less prime time games, by virtue of our shitness. But that doesn't affect crowds at the gate if the club starts to perform again.

Sunday afternoon or Saturday afternoon games get as big attednances as comparable night games. The only difference night games have is a bigger TV audience.

 

[DaSawx]

Be interesting if we have a 1 game lead at 8th spot after Round 23 but with an average percentage.

 

[TheGodDelusion]

Just on the bye, in 1993 we played 8 (I think) teams coming off a break, far more than anyone else. Didn't hurt us then.

 

[Jesse Custer]

It ain't 1993. The team doesn't have the same potential as that team did.

 

[TheGodDelusion]

It ain't 1993. The team doesn't have the same potential as that team did.

Byes only matter if you're crap?

 

[stay true]

Good teams have good draws, bad teams have bad draws.

This.

No point getting caught up in how good or bad our draw is. If we're good enough to make finals, we'll make finals.