Fixture Melbourne requested to play the Bulldogs in Round 1. Is this a good or bad idea?

[Tiger_Of_Old]

Will never happen.(Pies & Bombers have done a great job with it)
Anzac day would've been the perfect day for the GF re match.

 

[Osho]

It's a good to have the 2 grandfinalists back to face each other round1. 2 best teams kick off the season.

I think it is good for the Dogs also to jump back on the horse at the first opportunity. It could work well for them and their season.

 

[maskmcgee]

Should be the premier vs. the side which lost their prelim to the runner up.

 

[Fat Tony!]

The two top Victorian sides should open the season at the MCG every year. Richmond and Carlton can play the Friday night.

 

[The 747]

Makes sense for a few reasons:

• Rematch for the Melbourne/Dogs fans in Melbourne at the first opportunity
• Potentially builds a box office rivalry for the next few years as both teams should be thereabouts
• Melbourne are the premiers, so if that is what they want sure

Would be even better if it opened the season instead of the annual dreck that is Richmond v Carlton.

 

[Dazb86]

Round 1 is notoriously dodgy. Not a bad time to play the best side

 

[RandB]

It's a little bit unimaginative and predictable but if that is what the club wants then fair enough. Whoever wins will have a nice little springboard into the season.

 

[Bluelegs]

People are overthinking this. We played the Dogs twice in 1v2 clashes last year and once in a GF and no one from Victorian except Hayden Burbank and Garry Lyon got to watch any of these games. It’s just about redeeming that by recreating the experience with a Victorian crowd in the very first possible instance. Instead of having a very good R1 experience or a very good GF rematch experience you out them together and make it as special as possible.

Was a crying shame that we went back into lockdown right before both our games against each other when at those stages both sides were clearly the best two teams in it.

 

[L_W_P]

I think perhaps because the Grand Final was in Perth, and the Dees want to celebrate properly in front of their previous long suffering fans by unveiling their flag in front of their vanquished opponents.

I am happy for it to happen under those circumstances

I agree with the people who say the GF rematch should be later on.

I think the perfect game for Melbourne would be vs Essendon on Friday night at the 'G.

Hype up Neale Daniher being there to press the button/cut the cord that unfurls the flag and I think you would get a mountain of Essendon fans there to give him a standing ovation as well.

Not to mention Essendon are a team on the rise with some great players coming through. They could absolutely make a contest of it and would be every chance of pulling out a win.

 

[CarnTheScray]

I agree with the people who say the GF rematch should be later on.

I think the perfect game for Melbourne would be vs Essendon on Friday night at the 'G.

Hype up Neale Daniher being there to press the button/cut the cord that unfurls the flag and I think you would get a mountain of Essendon fans there to give him a standing ovation as well.

Not to mention Essendon are a team on the rise with some great players coming through. They could absolutely make a contest of it and would be every chance of pulling out a win.

Aww, I thought it was so they could stick it up Essendon

 

[PerfectFooty]

I get that this year we played the dogs twice without crowds which would have been very well attended games (outside of the grand final of course). It's very tempting to start the season to face off with a crowd back in victoria after the grand final in perth.

I think that the AFL should wait though, I think as shown by times this year in vic, people have been hesitant to go to the footy and very understandable. With the threat of covid and the way it;s changed seating i think people will need to adjust go going back to the footy again, even if it goes back to precovid rules.

With that said i think it's better to wait off on a rematch so it's a better spectacle when people are able to confidently go to the footy again

 

[Toump Ass]

Dees were "kissed on the d" in the 2021 fixture, only playing crap teams for the first 9 weeks which let us bank wins and build momentum, belief and confidence that ultimately was a great foundation to finishing the year in the Top 4. So I'm very grateful we get to play a crap team to start our premiership defence, which will hopefully allow us to again build belief and confidence for the year, which of course would be especially helpful after a shorter pre-season that was spent drinking champagne and bathwater while picking fights in discotheques all over Western Australia.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Dees were "kissed on the d" in the 2021 fixture, only playing crap teams for the first 9 weeks which let us bank wins and build momentum, belief and confidence that ultimately was a great foundation to finishing the year in the Top 4. So I'm very grateful we get to play a crap team to start our premiership defence, which will hopefully allow us to again build belief and confidence for the year, which of course would be especially helpful after a shorter pre-season that was spent drinking champagne and bathwater while picking fights in discotheques all over Western Australia.

Especially given our midfield started the season pretty poorly this year, it’s nice to play one of the softest centre bounce teams in the comp to start with. Even though our forward line is s**t at least we know we can score easily from centre clearance in R1

 

[The Passenger]

Between rounds 4 and 6 is ideal for the GF rematch IMO. The quality of matches is always a bit iffy in the first few rounds.

Give them a few weeks to build up a head of steam. But don't wait to long as one of the teams could be rapidly falling out of contention. Even at 2-3 (and I imagine the vast majority of GF teams start the next season 2-3 or better) a reigning premier or grand finalist is still going to be a draw card team.

Would have it near - but no on - ANZAC and Easter weekends. Between season opening weekend, Easter, ANZAC day and GF rematch that's some good blockbusters games and weekends to get the blood pumping through the first 6 or so rounds.

I've quite liked the Richmond-Carlton season opener, but must admit personally getting a bit fatigued with it as it hasn't produced much in terms of memories. Season opener between two of the four preliminary finalists is a good idea I've seen bandied about, although obviously as above not the GF rematch. Starting to feel it might be time for a tinker on this one.