Fixture Fixture 2022

[Jack Green]

That first part of the season up until we meet GWS is critical. All winnable games and if we come out like we did this year we could be done by round 10 again. We have to build momentum, Melbourne and Dogs were both fast out of the blocks and never really dropped away on the back of it. There is no excuse this year, we can make our own luck. At least we don't hit much in the way of dominant teams early on.

Yeah, we don't cop a Dogs or Dees, or Brisbane at the Gabba early in the season in the heat , Port in Adelaide [ who always flog us ] in the early rounds. A really bad caning can dent confidence and morale . We should at the very least be in all of our first 5 games. Need to start strong.

 

[Ads734]

If we’re a chance of finnishing top 4
We have to win 4 of our first 5 and 80 per cent of the games we play against teams we double up against.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Having now had a good look at the draw, even if it’s harder than most other team’s draws, there are still PLENTY of winnable games there, if we’re good enough.

There’s not necessarily a single game there that I look at and think “we’re just not going to win that”.

We actually had a far better record interstate this year than we did at Marvel, with only the one bad loss (by 54 points to Port, in Adelaide), with all our other interstate games being wins (GWS at Giants Stadium, Brisbane comfortably at Metricon, Gold Coast at Metricon, 58 point win over Freo in Tassie), or close losses (West Coast by 8 points in Perth, Sydney by 9 points at the SCG, Adelaide by 6 points- after being up 36-0), plus losing to Geelong in Geelong by 14 points, after leading 31-0, until Max (who was destroying them) got injured.

So depending on how we show up we shouldn’t necessarily be scared of any of our games, if our record interstate/in Geelong this year is anything to go by. Even the year before we won both our games in Adelaide and plenty of others in Qld.

We just need to play at the level we know we can play at more consistently and we’ll be in business.

 

[puppy_dog7]

Having now had a good look at the draw, even if it’s harder than most other team’s draws, there are still PLENTY of winnable games there, if we’re good enough.

There’s not necessarily a single game there that I look at and think “we’re just not going to win that”.

We actually had a far better record interstate this year than we did at Marvel, with only the one bad loss (by 54 points to Port, in Adelaide), with all our other interstate games being wins (GWS at Giants Stadium, Brisbane comfortably at Metricon, Gold Coast at Metricon, 58 point win over Freo in Tassie), or close losses (West Coast by 8 points in Perth, Sydney by 9 points at the SCG, Adelaide by 6 points- after being up 36-0), plus losing to Geelong in Geelong by 14 points, after leading 31-0, until Max (who was destroying them) got injured.

So depending on how we show up we shouldn’t necessarily be scared of any of our games, if our record interstate/in Geelong this year is anything to go by. Even the year before we won both our games in Adelaide and plenty of others in Qld.

Agree. If we learn how to play Marvel again we’ll be fine.
for whatever reason, we absolutely sucked at home this year.

 

[gringo2011]

There aren't many sides that look absolutely dominant either. Melbourne look like they should start favourites but they could do a Dogs post 2016. Dogs look good but not a heap better than us. Brisbane and Port are going to be strong still. Carlton should improve, Sydney improved already, GWS should improve, Freo etc. WCE, Cats, Tigers drop away. Collingwood and Essendon both unconvincing.

It could be a really good season to jump early so that you get some confidence up. I'm sure a few clubs will jump up to fill gaps but the is no reason that we couldn't be one.

 

[aussierulesrules]

There aren't many sides that look absolutely dominant either. Melbourne look like they should start favourites but they could do a Dogs post 2016. Dogs look good but not a heap better than us. Brisbane and Port are going to be strong still. Carlton should improve, Sydney improved already, GWS should improve, Freo etc. WCE, Cats, Tigers drop away. Collingwood and Essendon both unconvincing.

It could be a really good season to jump early so that you get some confidence up. I'm sure a few clubs will jump up to fill gaps but the is no reason that we couldn't be one.

How WB, Port and Geelong recover mentally from being demolished in their respective last finals will be interesting.

It helps that there isn’t a super-dominant interstate team who we have to play interstate. Not playing Port is Adelaide is helpful.

 

[plugger66]

Yup 14th hardest draw after missing the eight.
Double ups v Brisbane, Geelong and Sydney.
Of all the 8 teams with the most difficult draw, the Saints are the only team that didn't make the eight.

How can the AFL get away with this blatant bias against the Saints

Easy. We had a great fixture for a few years. The other option is the chip on the shoulder means you walk with a limp.

 

[Mowman]

Getting Sydney is nothing to stress about either, 1st game this year went down by 9 pts and beat them rnd 21

 

[George]

The main reason we win the premiership next year is because of the fixture.

 

[Saintos The ITK]

If a naive young lad from the bush like myself was to pop down for round 3 or 4 next year where would be the best part of town for me to stay?
I like old pubs and a bit of live pub music bit of shopping and only want to walk around.
Any suggestions?

 

[Diehard Saint]

There aren't many sides that look absolutely dominant either. Melbourne look like they should start favourites but they could do a Dogs post 2016. Dogs look good but not a heap better than us. Brisbane and Port are going to be strong still. Carlton should improve, Sydney improved already, GWS should improve, Freo etc. WCE, Cats, Tigers drop away. Collingwood and Essendon both unconvincing.

It could be a really good season to jump early so that you get some confidence up. I'm sure a few clubs will jump up to fill gaps but the is no reason that we couldn't be one.

If we can go into this season injury free as well it will be a huge help.

 

[aussierulesrules]

If we can go into this season injury free as well it will be a huge help.

We wouldn’t know ourselves if we went in full strength for a game.

That said, that’s the same for almost all other teams as well.

 

[bird_man]

If a naive young lad from the bush like myself was to pop down for round 3 or 4 next year where would be the best part of town for me to stay?
I like old pubs and a bit of live pub music bit of shopping and only want to walk around.
Any suggestions?

Most places you stay in the CBD is walking distance to everything you need.

Depends how much you want to spend on a Hotel but I just normally just jump on wotif.com a week or so before and find a Hotel in the CBD close distance to Etihad and then you won't have trouble finding pubs and places to shop.

 

[Saintos The ITK]

Most places you stay in the CBD is walking distance to everything you need.

Depends how much you want to spend on a Hotel but I just normally just jump on wotif.com a week or so before and find a Hotel in the CBD close distance to Etihad and then you won't have trouble finding pubs and places to shop.

Yep ok I was thinking something like that it just gets a bit confusing looking at the map and trying to pick a good spot.
Thanks

 

[pebblesofsand]

If a naive young lad from the bush like myself was to pop down for round 3 or 4 next year where would be the best part of town for me to stay?
I like old pubs and a bit of live pub music bit of shopping and only want to walk around.
Any suggestions?

Atlantis Hotel Spencer Street - nice pool - walking distance to "Docklands".

 

[Saintos The ITK]

Atlantis Hotel Spencer Street - nice pool - walking distance to "Docklands".

Thanks
Bookmarked

 

[lewdogs]

Yeah look the fixture isn't as bad as last year. There's definitely opportunities there. The biggest plus is an away game against Carlton at Marvel.

 

[Diehard Saint]

We wouldn’t know ourselves if we went in full strength for a game.

That said, that’s the same for almost all other teams as well.

True, but I think our season was pretty much derailed right from the start by injuries and Paddy’s absence last year. Not the only reason, but a large part of it I think.

 

[The Boar]

If you're good enough, the Fixture doesn't matter. You can finger point all you want but it comes down to our own preparedness.

Bring it on

On Pixel 4a using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Ricochet]

I don't think the fixture helps us of hinders us if we are planning well we could have 16 to 17 wins if we a playing bad it could be as little as 8 to 9 next year is totally up to the st Kilda footy club realistically I think it will be 11 to 12 wins which should mean finals.

 

[ScrappyDo]

If a naive young lad from the bush like myself was to pop down for round 3 or 4 next year where would be the best part of town for me to stay?
I like old pubs and a bit of live pub music bit of shopping and only want to walk around.
Any suggestions?

Collingwood, Fitzroy, Brunswick, Thornbury.
Check out the gig guids beforehand and just get an air b&b somewhere thereabouts. You can get to the footy plenty easy.

 

[hangdog]

If a naive young lad from the bush like myself was to pop down for round 3 or 4 next year where would be the best part of town for me to stay?
I like old pubs and a bit of live pub music bit of shopping and only want to walk around.
Any suggestions?

Geelong and train up. Geelong is actually pretty good if you don't talk to the locals about footy

 

[hangdog]

Pros ... Not a whole heap is great about this fixture for the Saints, but the first five opponents they face also didn’t make finals in 2021, so it’s something to build on early in the year before things get a fair bit tougher.

Cons ... For the second straight year the Saints get a much harder draw than their ladder position suggests they deserve ... two games against three teams that finished in the top six (Geelong, Brisbane and Sydney) plus two against Fremantle, meaning extra interstate trips.

Grade: D+

From Fox Footy

 

[gringo2011]

How WB, Port and Geelong recover mentally from being demolished in their respective last finals will be interesting.

It helps that there isn’t a super-dominant interstate team who we have to play interstate. Not playing Port is Adelaide is helpful.

Geelong look like there are crack finally forming. The Dog are still going to need to recover from partying again. You'd think they'd won the premiership the way they are going. They'll have to peel Libba off the ceiling again and Smith might need the Betty Ford centre.

I'd still rather play Port in Melbourne they get a neutral ground instead of a disadvantage. That said our best recent win against them was in Adelaide so go figure. Port have a few holes coming up though. Boak looks at the end and midfield depth needs to come from guys already at the club and their backline still look a bit short. If Alir doesn't fire there isn't much behind him.

 

[gringo2011]

If a naive young lad from the bush like myself was to pop down for round 3 or 4 next year where would be the best part of town for me to stay?
I like old pubs and a bit of live pub music bit of shopping and only want to walk around.
Any suggestions?

Inner North if you still want proper pubs with music in them. Otherwise try to find something around Richmond for old school pubs and maybe the Corner for music and still close to the footy but Fitzroy and Collingwood won't take long either.