News 2021 Fixture Thread

Virgin Dog

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Oct 29, 2017
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Can't see us beating Collingwood?
Not on recent form. They've had our measure since 2017, and it's difficult to know how much the loss of Treloar, Phillips, Stephenson, etc. will actually affect them. I'm not overly confident, but I do feel we go in with a much better chance on 2021 than we have the last couple of years
 
Nov 29, 2018
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Not on recent form. They've had our measure since 2017, and it's difficult to know how much the loss of Treloar, Phillips, Stephenson, etc. will actually affect them. I'm not overly confident, but I do feel we go in with a much better chance on 2021 than we have the last couple of years

The main worry I have is the past few years our early games have been filled with weird experimentation. Some of it works (Naughton forward, Gowers debut) but a lot of it doesn't (Young forward, Wood forward, Trengove forward/2nd ruck). Plus it takes us a few rounds to drop some of the out of form players like Dale this year. I fee like we seem to hit our stride much more in the second half of the year, if we were playing Collingwood then I'd be a lot more confident.
 

Bulldogs Legend

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Aug 18, 2015
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Double Ups:
  • North Melbourne
  • West Coast Eagles
  • Gold Coast Suns
  • Port Adelaide
  • Melbourne

Highlights would be the double up on North (should win both), getting Brisbane at Mars, Carlton at home, and in the final stretch of the season we get to have our annual Essendon slaughter and a good test against Port in the final round.

Lowlights are Geelong at GMHBA (auto loss), Tigers at MCG and starting the season against the Pies at the MCG. Can't see us winning any of those.
I can
 
Jun 19, 2016
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The main worry I have is the past few years our early games have been filled with weird experimentation. Some of it works (Naughton forward, Gowers debut) but a lot of it doesn't (Young forward, Wood forward, Trengove forward/2nd ruck). Plus it takes us a few rounds to drop some of the out of form players like Dale this year. I fee like we seem to hit our stride much more in the second half of the year, if we were playing Collingwood then I'd be a lot more confident.
This. It seems to take us about 6 weeks to work out our structure and invariably revert back to what works. Pre season injuries have an impact but we do seem to come out of preseason with something very untried.
 
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If we are 50/50 at the halfway mark we should come home with a run, second half of the year on paper looks good.

The usual Geelong in Geelong and two trips to WA.

Nice double up against North though.
 
Hmmm, the pessimist in me sees these results:

CWD - MCG - L
WC - MRVL - L
NM - MRVL - W
BRIS - MARS - L
GC - MRVL - L
GWS - MO - L
RICH - MCG - L
CAR - MRVL - L
PA - AO - L
StK - MRVL - L
MEL - MRVL - W
FRE - OS - W
BYE - DRAW
GEE - GMHBA - L
WC - OS - L
NM - MRVL - W
SYD - MRVL - W
GC - MS - L
ADE - MARS - W
MEL - MCG - W
ESS - MRVL - W
HAW - UTAS - W
PA - MRVL - L

That's a 9-13 season (but quite frankly the absolute minimum we should accept), so wins have to come from 50/50 games, of which I see 8 in the L column and 1 in the W column.

Forgive me for thinking this draw hasn't done us any favours, but you also have to be good enough, can't rely on it to do the hard work for us. Start the season in good form and top 4 is well and truly possible, start badly like we have the last couple of years and we'll be in BIG trouble and chasing our tail fruitlessly in the back half of the season.
 

Boristown

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May 24, 2015
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Hmmm, the pessimist in me sees these results:

CWD - MCG - L
WC - MRVL - L
NM - MRVL - W
BRIS - MARS - L
GC - MRVL - L
GWS - MO - L
RICH - MCG - L
CAR - MRVL - L
PA - AO - L
StK - MRVL - L
MEL - MRVL - W
FRE - OS - W
BYE - DRAW
GEE - GMHBA - L
WC - OS - L
NM - MRVL - W
SYD - MRVL - W
GC - MS - L
ADE - MARS - W
MEL - MCG - W
ESS - MRVL - W
HAW - UTAS - W
PA - MRVL - L

That's a 9-13 season (but quite frankly the absolute minimum we should accept), so wins have to come from 50/50 games, of which I see 8 in the L column and 1 in the W column.

Forgive me for thinking this draw hasn't done us any favours, but you also have to be good enough, can't rely on it to do the hard work for us. Start the season in good form and top 4 is well and truly possible, start badly like we have the last couple of years and we'll be in BIG trouble and chasing our tail fruitlessly in the back half of the season.

A 1-9 start? I give that absolutely no chance of happening.
 
A 1-9 start? I give that absolutely no chance of happening.

True, and I'm sure we'll win some of them, but I'll be damned if I can pick which ones, and our recent form against all just doesn't fill me with any confidence.

Collingwood smashed us round 1 last year, WC have such a good midfield and forward line compared to our backline that they'll probably dominate us. Brisbane are a damn good footy side and we haven't exactly excelled in our results at MARS thus far, GC are a very quickly improving side and beat us early in the year in 2019 and we scraped home against an injury-hit side of theirs last year. GWS are weakened, yes, but don't discount the grudge, and the home ground. Tigers at the G and PA in Adelaide are basically given losses, leaving massive bogey sides in Carlton and St Kilda, who have both humiliated us in recent seasons.

I can find very compelling reasons for that 1-9 start.

The next 2 W's against Melbourne and Freo aren't exactly givens either.....
 

Scott Tracy

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First time in years I remember hosting Port at Marvel. Could see us easily getting them there.
 
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Hmmm, the pessimist in me sees these results:

CWD - MCG - L
WC - MRVL - L
NM - MRVL - W
BRIS - MARS - L
GC - MRVL - L
GWS - MO - L
RICH - MCG - L
CAR - MRVL - L
PA - AO - L
StK - MRVL - L
MEL - MRVL - W
FRE - OS - W
BYE - DRAW
GEE - GMHBA - L
WC - OS - L
NM - MRVL - W
SYD - MRVL - W
GC - MS - L
ADE - MARS - W
MEL - MCG - W
ESS - MRVL - W
HAW - UTAS - W
PA - MRVL - L

That's a 9-13 season (but quite frankly the absolute minimum we should accept), so wins have to come from 50/50 games, of which I see 8 in the L column and 1 in the W column.

Forgive me for thinking this draw hasn't done us any favours, but you also have to be good enough, can't rely on it to do the hard work for us. Start the season in good form and top 4 is well and truly possible, start badly like we have the last couple of years and we'll be in BIG trouble and chasing our tail fruitlessly in the back half of the season.

73A13104-A3F6-4BCF-819A-B8943EFFE54D.gif
 
Mar 15, 2012
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Hmmm, the pessimist in me sees these results:

CWD - MCG - L
WC - MRVL - L
NM - MRVL - W
BRIS - MARS - L
GC - MRVL - L
GWS - MO - L
RICH - MCG - L
CAR - MRVL - L
PA - AO - L
StK - MRVL - L
MEL - MRVL - W
FRE - OS - W
BYE - DRAW
GEE - GMHBA - L
WC - OS - L
NM - MRVL - W
SYD - MRVL - W
GC - MS - L
ADE - MARS - W
MEL - MCG - W
ESS - MRVL - W
HAW - UTAS - W
PA - MRVL - L

That's a 9-13 season (but quite frankly the absolute minimum we should accept), so wins have to come from 50/50 games, of which I see 8 in the L column and 1 in the W column.

Forgive me for thinking this draw hasn't done us any favours, but you also have to be good enough, can't rely on it to do the hard work for us. Start the season in good form and top 4 is well and truly possible, start badly like we have the last couple of years and we'll be in BIG trouble and chasing our tail fruitlessly in the back half of the season.
 
...

I can find very compelling reasons for that 1-9 start.

The next 2 W's against Melbourne and Freo aren't exactly givens either.....
In a good comp with effective equalisation no game would be a given. It's not a bad thing.
 

Boristown

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May 24, 2015
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True, and I'm sure we'll win some of them, but I'll be damned if I can pick which ones, and our recent form against all just doesn't fill me with any confidence.

Collingwood smashed us round 1 last year, WC have such a good midfield and forward line compared to our backline that they'll probably dominate us. Brisbane are a damn good footy side and we haven't exactly excelled in our results at MARS thus far, GC are a very quickly improving side and beat us early in the year in 2019 and we scraped home against an injury-hit side of theirs last year. GWS are weakened, yes, but don't discount the grudge, and the home ground. Tigers at the G and PA in Adelaide are basically given losses, leaving massive bogey sides in Carlton and St Kilda, who have both humiliated us in recent seasons.

I can find very compelling reasons for that 1-9 start.

The next 2 W's against Melbourne and Freo aren't exactly givens either.....

Collingwood - 50/50
WC - 50/50 at Marvel (didn't Dogs beat them in 2020)
Brisbane - 50/50 (didn't Dogs easily beat them in Ballarat already)
GC - at least 60/40 Dogs way
GWS - 50/50
Tigers & Port - yeah, pencil them in as losses but wouldn't be shocked to see Dogs win one
Carlton & Saints - genuine 50/50s IMO.

A lot of 50/50 games at this point (pending injuries, breaks between rounds etc)...if Dogs win half of them, beat Roos like they should and steal a game against Tigers/Port, should be at least 5-6ish wins after 10 rounds which is what I'd expect.
 
Sep 7, 2015
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CWD - MCG - L
WC - MRVL - W
NM - MRVL - W
BRIS - MARS - W
GC - MRVL - W
GWS - MO - W
RICH - MCG - L
CAR - MRVL - W
PA - AO - L
StK - MRVL - L
MEL - MRVL - W
FRE - OS - L
BYE - DRAW
GEE - GMHBA - L
WC - OS - L
NM - MRVL - W
SYD - MRVL - W
GC - MS - W
ADE - MARS - W
MEL - MCG - W
ESS - MRVL - W
HAW - UTAS - W
PA - MRVL - W

15 W 7 L

Does 15 wins make top four most years?
 
Mar 15, 2012
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CWD - MCG - L
WC - MRVL - W
NM - MRVL - W
BRIS - MARS - W
GC - MRVL - W
GWS - MO - W
RICH - MCG - L
CAR - MRVL - W
PA - AO - L
StK - MRVL - L
MEL - MRVL - W
FRE - OS - L
BYE - DRAW
GEE - GMHBA - L
WC - OS - L
NM - MRVL - W
SYD - MRVL - W
GC - MS - W
ADE - MARS - W
MEL - MCG - W
ESS - MRVL - W
HAW - UTAS - W
PA - MRVL - W

15 W 7 L

Does 15 wins make top four most years?
Usually between 14-16 wins is required, depending on the season. 15 plus % has been enough for 4 of the 8 seasons where we've had an 18 team comp, but it changes a lot.

We finished 7th (and a game behind 6th) in 2016 with 15 wins, whilst in 2017 15 wins was enough for the minor premier.
 
Collingwood - 50/50
WC - 50/50 at Marvel (didn't Dogs beat them in 2020)
Brisbane - 50/50 (didn't Dogs easily beat them in Ballarat already)
GC - at least 60/40 Dogs way
GWS - 50/50
Tigers & Port - yeah, pencil them in as losses but wouldn't be shocked to see Dogs win one
Carlton & Saints - genuine 50/50s IMO.

A lot of 50/50 games at this point (pending injuries, breaks between rounds etc)...if Dogs win half of them, beat Roos like they should and steal a game against Tigers/Port, should be at least 5-6ish wins after 10 rounds which is what I'd expect.
This is the way I see most of them too, but the ultimate pessimist in me sees them as losses. Hey, I'm a Dogs supporter... :)

We did beat Brisbane in Ballarat in 2019 by 16, poor games from Charlie Cameron and Harris Andrews the helpers from memory. Bris are a step above that in my opinion now, and I'd be surprised to knock them off this time.
 
It’s been a long time since the clubs had three home and away mcg games.

Trying to work out who has a tough fixture right now is pointless.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
First time since 2010, or in other words, it's the first time since before GC and GWS came into the competition and theoretically made it slightly less likely.
 

Philthy1

Club Legend
Sep 17, 2017
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If we start 1 & 9 with the midfield we have the entire club should just give up.
We start 1 & 9 and I will consider emulating that Richmond supporter all those years ago (maybe in the 90s?) who tore up his membership card and threw it over the fence at the MCG. It made headlines at the time.

But, I wouldn't do that...
 

Philthy1

Club Legend
Sep 17, 2017
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Hmmm, the pessimist in me sees these results:

CWD - MCG - L
WC - MRVL - L
NM - MRVL - W
BRIS - MARS - L
GC - MRVL - L
GWS - MO - L
RICH - MCG - L
CAR - MRVL - L
PA - AO - L
StK - MRVL - L
MEL - MRVL - W
FRE - OS - W
BYE - DRAW
GEE - GMHBA - L
WC - OS - L
NM - MRVL - W
SYD - MRVL - W
GC - MS - L
ADE - MARS - W
MEL - MCG - W
ESS - MRVL - W
HAW - UTAS - W
PA - MRVL - L

That's a 9-13 season (but quite frankly the absolute minimum we should accept), so wins have to come from 50/50 games, of which I see 8 in the L column and 1 in the W column.

Forgive me for thinking this draw hasn't done us any favours, but you also have to be good enough, can't rely on it to do the hard work for us. Start the season in good form and top 4 is well and truly possible, start badly like we have the last couple of years and we'll be in BIG trouble and chasing our tail fruitlessly in the back half of the season.
Hoges, I am a lifelong Dogs supporter and know all too well that performance has an inverse relationship to expectation at the club. But even that assessment is a bit beyond me.
 
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