2015 AFL fixture announced

If Murphy or Gibbs go down Jack I would rather replace them with 10 gamers than Robinson or Lucas. Also remember Will Langford was a 1 gamer before this year and look what he did at Hawthorn. It isn't the number of games necessarily but the number of years in the system, the body size, the aerobic fitness - Whiley, Buckley, Docherty, Bell and Graham all have years in and have built a body able to compete (or at least will have after another pre-season) - Cripps will have a second pre-season to hone is big frame. They might be short on game time but they aren't first year players.

If murphy or Gibbs go down then we are basically replacing them with 10 gamers . Not saying that they are not good but this is not what a top 4 side does. If we are not trying to be atop 4 side after recruiting daisy and mick then we may as well kept ratten

I am not doubting we need depth Jack but those to are very deep. Lucas would be behind Simpson, Docherty, Walker, Everitt, Yarran, Buckley, Thomas Touhy and Sheehan. Robinson would be behind Bell, Cripps, Whiley, Graham, Ellard and Possibly Johnson. They aren't just out of the best 22, they may not even be in the best 30.

Yeah I don't think they are particuarily best 22 players but all top 4 teams have depth and they be handy squad players. I am particuarily disappointed to see lucas go he may do well else where

25k to break even at Docklands? We wish. For the smaller clubs, the break even is about 30-34k depending on the mix of low-end/premium seating for the match.

There's a reason for it - the Royal Easter Show will be occuping the ground. And after the Show's finished, after the horses have chopped up the surface and the cows have eaten the grass, it takes a few weeks to make it playable again. Overall the Giants get a good financial deal from the Showgrounds. Where clubs at Docklands need about 25,000 to break even on game day, the Giants breakeven threshold is only about 7,000. But it does mean there'll be a period around Easter every year when the ground is unavailable. In 2014 the Giants were able to have a couple of games before the Show. But with the season starting so late next year, that's not an option this time round.

Port's draw, if you go by each team's form from last season, is still on the easier side compared to the rest of the top 6, although North has the easiest of those sides. The Hawks' have shown to be the hardest in what I've done so far, while the Swans have the second hardest.

Here we go again, how does the AFL expect to get people to GWS games when their first scheduled game at their "real" home ground is not until Round 6. Are these guys real???

Any word if Hawthorn play home games at Etihad Stadium?

Well on the AFL website they have Port with the hardest draw by a long way.

And as a hawks fan, you are entitled to see the mighty hawks play your most hated foe twice at the MCG. 17 rounds to play everyone once,(home and away reversed the next year) and there is still another 5 rounds to double up on the rivalries. As a hawks fan who lives in Brisbane, I would like to see the hawks smash the lions once every 2 years. Is that really to much to ask for .....

Jack - I really couldn't see Robinson and Lucas adding much, when you consider the likes of Buckley, Walker, Everitt and Thomas were out of the side for a lot of the latter part of the year I can't see how Robinson and Lucas get much of a look in. Throw in more games from Cripps (possibly Graham), the addition of Whiley and hopefully an injury free season from Bell and those 2 look a long way down the pecking order. Jaksch, Jones and Watson will fight it out for the third tall spot ot replace Waite, Henderson fit and firing from round 1 will make a big difference to the forward line as well.

Agreed. Hird has coached against us three times, for three massive losses. Two more thrashings are on the cards if he's there.

My apology. I see you meant that the overall Swans v Freo fixturing is anomalous (which it is). I thought you were objecting to travelling to Perth if there was not a return fixture in Sydney

As a Hawks fan, we play our most hated foe, Essendon twice at the MCG, so i am over the moon

As a Brisbane boy who loves watching the hawks, it is with great dismay that I see the hawkers aren't coming to Brisbane at all this year. Again. Not even to play the Suns. They haven't played the Lions at the Gabba in 8 seasons. (I have lost count but I'm sure thats about right). I am asking a genuine question here - "Is doing a draw that involves say hawthorn playing one team (like the lions) once a year at home, then playing away the next year really that hard to do? And if it is as easy as my my non mathematical / analytical mind is telling me, why don't they do it? 8 yrs, is too long. I haven't seen half the team play in person. :'(

Reckon we are Lacking a bit of depth this year macca. Good to get jones for Waite tutt for garlett and the youngster from gws. Would of been good to hold lucas and Robinson for a bit of depth. That being said first 5 matches are very winnable although richmond will be hard

Since 2000, the following years Freo has played Sydney in Sydney without a return match in Perth: 2001, 2002, 2005-8, 2011-14 (2013 preliminary final doesn't count). Ten out of fourteen years between 2001 and 2014 Freo hasn't had a home game against Sydney.

Now I don't know what's going on You change the rules so everyone can watch and don't get upset... So there's 2 teams in sa, wa, qld n nsw But there's no point in putting a game any where other then the mcg on a friday night Cos throwing another game on friday night in another state would just let the world know that theres is another team other then collingwood Hahaha What a joke

According to Rohan Connelly's useful analysis in the Age, Sydney has by far the softest draw of this year's top four. He has Hawthorn with the toughest draw for the third year in a row - which is as it should be.