2020 AFL fixture released

[Billy ray]

We ask every year to keep our QLD/TAS games to an absolute minimum (as we already travel a crazy amount) and most of the time we only get one, maybe two. Now we have three this coming season. Very disappointing. One or two key injuries this year and we'll free fall I think. Geelong have our first round pick.

Good you guys are coming up to play us tho. Will be 4th time in our ten years

 

[kaiserchief13]

No. 1 West Coast flag = 1 flag for a VIC team

Not according to the 'fix'ture, unless it is, truly , fixed

 

[dean33]

Geelong finish 1st get 9th hardest draw. Tigers win the flag get 7th hardest draw. WC dont make the top 4, get the hardest draw.

AFL obviously want to keep the premiership in Victoria.

Even worse is the fact Richmond don’t even play a team that finished higher on the ladder than them!
Bloody vicco bias!!

 

[The wily weagle]

It's ridiculous that West Coast are forced to play a game in Tasmania most seasons, yet Richmond and Collingwood have never played had a game there

 

[GroggSquad]

It's ridiculous that West Coast are forced to play a game in Tasmania most seasons, yet Richmond and Collingwood have never played had a game there

I agree West Coast shouldn’t get a yearly fixture in Tas, but Richmond has played North (several times I think?) in Hobart and have even played Geelong in Geelong this decade.

Collingwood & Essendon have never played a game in Tassie and haven’t played in Geelong since the early 90s. If it’s good enough for Richmond, surely it shouldn’t be off limits to anyone...

 

[Martin#4]

It's ridiculous that West Coast are forced to play a game in Tasmania most seasons, yet Richmond and Collingwood have never played had a game there

We have played there several times, as well as down at Geelong.

Cross that off your list, move down to the next item to have a sook about.

 

[Senor M]

It's ridiculous that West Coast are forced to play a game in Tasmania most seasons, yet Richmond and Collingwood have never played had a game there

Does Google not exist in Western Australia??

Richmond have played in Tasmania— more than once.

 

[SeaEagle]

Even worse is the fact Richmond don’t even play a team that finished higher on the ladder than them!
Bloody vicco bias!!

8 games in Tasmania.
50 minute flight for Victorian clubs.
Only the Dees out of the Vic clubs go there.
No interstate club should have to travel further than they already do and shouldn’t go to Tasmania when it’s so close for Victorian clubs. But somehow all the other games involve both of the West Australian, South Australian and Queensland clubs.
Vicco bias at its Bloody best mate!!!

 

[FreeTK]

I agree West Coast shouldn’t get a yearly fixture in Tas, but Richmond has played North (several times I think?) in Hobart and have even played Geelong in Geelong this decade.

Collingwood & Essendon have never played a game in Tassie and haven’t played in Geelong since the early 90s. If it’s good enough for Richmond, surely it shouldn’t be off limits to anyone...

You haven't done either of those things since you returned to the big time with your 2017 flag.

It's not the fans or the any particular clubs fault, but simply there is a tension between the AFL's two primary goals of a) making as much money as possible and b) expanding the game to smaller less traditional markets.

I think what many posters are getting at is the AFL use the MCG's capacity and big Vic clubs as revenue raisers. This means that big Victorian clubs are often exempt from having to go to places like GMHBA and Tasmania as it would me the AFL takes a revenue hit. It means that non-Victorian clubs are having to pick up the slack with the whole going to regional centres which compounds already higher travel loads over the course of the season.

This is compounded when you have a situation like right now where Collingwood, Richmond and West Coast are the three big clubs vying for a flag, and only one is having to do all the extra yards.

There is truth to that and I think it would be simpler if fans of big Victorian clubs, such as pies and tigers simply acknowledged it.

 

[Tarkyn_24]

It's ridiculous that West Coast are forced to play a game in Tasmania most seasons, yet Richmond and Collingwood have never played had a game there

Oh yeah that’s right, you guys seem to think you have a god given right to dictate where you play away games.

 

[FreeTK]

Oh yeah that’s right, you guys seem to think you have a god given right to dictate where you play away games.

Psychological projection: a defence mechanism in which the human ego defends itself against unconscious impulses or qualities (both positive and negative) by denying their existence in themselves while attributing them to others.

 

[Tarkyn_24]

Psychological projection: a defence mechanism in which the human ego defends itself against unconscious impulses or qualities (both positive and negative) by denying their existence in themselves while attributing them to others.

That’s cute. Now cue the threads screaming that you and other interstates haven’t played at the MCG for x years.

 

[FreeTK]

That’s cute. Now cue the threads screaming that you and other interstates haven’t played at the MCG for x years.

Actually, we have been asking and getting 3 games a year there for a while. 4 in 2018 when you factor in the Grand Final.

Also- please feel free to quote any post of mine you find of me screaming about Vic Bias or anything similar to back up your accusation. I'll wait....

 

[Tarkyn_24]

Actually, we have been asking and getting 3 games a year there for a while. 4 in 2018 when you factor in the Grand Final.

Also- please feel free to quote any post of mine you find of me screaming about Vic Bias or anything similar to back up your accusation. I'll wait....

I wasn’t even replying to you in the first instance unless you were logged in as your alias? But there’s an abundance of posts on the main board contributed to by predominantly West Coast and Adelaide supporters on the very topic I mentioned.

 

[FreeTK]

I wasn’t even replying to you in the first instance unless you were logged in as your alias? But there’s an abundance of posts on the main board contributed to by predominantly West Coast and Adelaide supporters on the very topic I mentioned.

Well it is a public forum and it is ok to contribute.

And you did use the word 'you' in a quote response to me . So it is logical that 'I' would interpret that 'you' were referring to 'me'.

Understand?

 

[blue harvest]

We ask every year to keep our QLD/TAS games to an absolute minimum (as we already travel a crazy amount) and most of the time we only get one, maybe two. Now we have three this coming season. Very disappointing. One or two key injuries this year and we'll free fall I think. Geelong have our first round pick.

Launceston is something like 10 minutes further than Melbourne on a plane and you make that back with a quicker bus trip into town. Not sure why people keep claiming it is some huge travel burden.

 

[Martin#4]

Oh yeah that’s right, you guys seem to think you have a god given right to dictate where you play away games.

You could give the Eagles 22 home games a year and they’d still find something to whinge about.

Opposition teams becoming too familiar with Optus Stadium, diminishing our home ground advantage.

 

[Tarkyn_24]

Well it is a public forum and it is ok to contribute.

And you did use the word 'you' in a quote response to me . So it is logical that 'I' would interpret that 'you' were referring to 'me'.

Understand?

Yeah I obviously credited you (yes that’s you personally in this instance) with being more intelligent than you perhaps are. It’s pretty clear contextually that “you” in that post referred to the football club you follow, unless you somehow thought I actually give a **** how often you personally had played at the MCG recently. Not to mention that I’ve also mentioned interstates (sic - autocorrected from interstaters) in that same post.

Sorry to have confused your precious little head. Now let’s both drop the condescending nitpicking and get back to the topic at hand?

 

[JohnnyFontane90]

CHAMPION DATA’S RANKING OF THE 2020 DRAW (HARDEST TO EASIEST)

1. West Coast Eagles
2. Hawthorn
3. Gold Coast Suns
4. Essendon
5. GWS Giants
6. Carlton
7. Richmond
8. North Melbourne
9. Geelong Cats
10. St Kilda
11. Collingwood
12. Western Bulldogs
13. Brisbane Lions
14. Port Adelaide
15. Adelaide Crows
16. Melbourne
17. Sydney Swans
18. Fremantle

That would anger me if I put the slightest value on champion datas ability to accurately quantify the game.

 

[Tarkyn_24]

You could give the Eagles 22 home games a year and they’d still find something to whinge about.

Opposition teams becoming too familiar with Optus Stadium, diminishing our home ground advantage.

Not to mention the lack of MCG experience. Staggering.

 

[FreeTK]

Yeah I obviously credited you (yes that’s you personally in this instance) with being more intelligent than you perhaps are. It’s pretty clear contextually that “you” in that post referred to the football club you follow, unless you somehow thought I actually give a fu** how often you personally had played at the MCG recently. Not to mention that I’ve also mentioned interstates (sic - autocorrected from interstaters) in that same post.

Sorry to have confused your precious little head. Now let’s both drop the condescending nitpicking and get back to the topic at hand?

I already gave my opinion a few posts up. You chose not to engage with it.

 

[Tarkyn_24]

I already gave my opinion a few posts up. You chose not to engage with it.

Yep and yet I still somehow didn’t manage to avoid your tedium. Bugger.

 

[JohnnyFontane90]

I thought the AFL would go hard on Brisbane with a tougher draw after having an absolute piss easy draw last year.

GC - twice (will finish last)
Kangaroos - twice (likely bottom 6)
Hawthorn - twice (likely bottom 10)
Geelong - twice (medium/hard)
Collingwood - twice (hard)


They have arguably the 2 best teams in the comp (Richmond and West Coast) both at home and don’t play them away.

They only have to play in WA once, Tasmania once and Marvel twice.

6 of their final 7 games are either in NSW or Qld having to only travel more than about 500km once which is against Carlton.

It's just a lucky quirk that brisbane's 'rival' is gold coast so they play them twice no matter what.

The preservation of rivalry games at the expense of fixture 'fairness' is a good thing i think.

However i'd love for the AFL to explain why sydney, fremantle and port play gold coast twice but carlton plays them once although they all finished above carlton. At the same time the AFL deemed carlton too inept for any friday night games yet decided to give 3 to melbourne who finished below carlton.

 

[FreeTK]

Yep and yet I still somehow didn’t manage to avoid your tedium. Bugger.

Here I was thinking that you had no response to any of the points I raised so decided to just live in the gutter instead.

That would anger me if I put the slightest value on champion datas ability to accurately quantify the game.

I really don't understand people saying we have the hardest fixture. We play 3 top 4 teams from 2019 at Optus, and double up against two of them at the MCG which we play pretty well now.

I would have though that Richmond, Collingwood and lesser extent Geelong would have felt worse about their West Coast double up than we do.

 

[nobbyiscool]

I haven't analysed the draw with respect to strength of opposition or anything. But from the perspective of a self interested Melbourne-based Eagles fan, god this sucks. The shitty 3.20pm Sunday timeslots, the Geelong game on a Friday night, coughing up an away game vs a Melbourne-based opponent to Launceston.

This is total crap.