Draw 2015

[McKay]

Next year defnitely has to have a match on Queens birthday after the success of the Easter Monday game this season.

 

[Timmah]

Ideal Round 1 IMO:

Thursday 8:00pm (7:00pm QLD time)
Broncos v Cowboys @ Suncorp. Return of Bennett, Thurston v Barba, promote the hell out of it. Kicks off a big weekend at Suncorp with Reds playing Sat & Roar playing Sun.

Friday 8:00pm
Rabbitohs v Roosters @ ANZ. Last two NRL premiers clash, traditional rivals, boom.

Saturday 4:00pm
Dragons v Raiders @ Kogarah. Hoodoo is over, let them play somewhere other than Canberra

Saturday 7:00pm
Eels v Knights @ Pirtek - no WSW in town this weekend.

Sunday 2:00pm (4:00pm NZ time)
Warriors v Titans @ Mt Smart - Take advantage of the cooler climate and later kickoff for the 2pm slot early in the season.

Sunday 4:00pm
Bulldogs v Tigers @ ANZ - big blockbuster - Taylor's first game in charge, GF runners up

Sunday 7:00pm
Manly v Sharks @ Brookvale - easiest time of the week to drive to Brookie. Both sides effectively rebuilding from various trials and tribulations.

Monday 7:00pm
Storm v Panthers @ AAMI. Take advantage of clear air with no AFL til April - give Storm early home games. Can't be played Sat night due to A-League.


Rest of season:
Good Friday GF re-match Dogs v Souths - should aim to break the 51k set in 2013.
Easter Monday - Eels v Tigers a must at 4pm, ANZ.
Queen's Birthday - provided it doesn't fall before Origin, Dogs v Eels should be a new tradition here. 4pm kickoff.
More teams playing at Central Coast Stadium (only 3 games last season).
Limit marquee clashes on weekends prior to Origin. Dogs/Eels, Dogs/Manly & Dogs/Roosters attendance suffered for this reason last season.

 

[Packy]

I don't really care about the draw but FMD I would love to see Friday night games start at 7:30 or even 7pm to be honest.

 

[Canard]

Ideal Round 1 IMO:

Thursday 8:00pm (7:00pm QLD time)
Broncos v Cowboys @ Suncorp. Return of Bennett, Thurston v Barba, promote the hell out of it. Kicks off a big weekend at Suncorp with Reds playing Sat & Roar playing Sun.

Good for TV, shit for crowds.

That would knock around 20K off the crowd they could get playing Fri night unfortunately.

+ Thurston v Barba? What an odd pairing to choose, surely Thurston V Hunt.

 

[some11]

I don't really care about the draw but FMD I would love to see Friday night games start at 7:30 or even 7pm to be honest.

THIS.

7:30 "kickoff" now means 7:55 at the earliest, if you really must pack in as many betting ads as possible go ahead and put on a 30 minute block at 7pm and cut all pre-game bullshit.

 

[docbrown]

Ideal Round 1 IMO:

Some smart suggestions. In full agreement with Broncos on Thursday, Rabbitohs on Friday, Dogs vs Tigers Sunday, Warriors on Sunday etc will say though it would be better though if MRS is unavailable on the Saturday then it's better on the Sunday, even if that's the Sunday night match.

There's not much advantage in the AFL free weekend and then playing there on the Monday.

Queen's Birthday - provided it doesn't fall before Origin, Dogs v Eels should be a new tradition here.

Well going back a few years ago I did suggest Eels play either Tigers or Dragons at Stadium Oz as a counterpoint to the Good Friday match so I'm pleased it did so well.

You'd hope that they schedule Origin correctly around the Queen's birthday so that they can have both. I will say Dogs vs Eels should be a 40-50k event on its own. It's not like Eels vs Tigers was that big a rivalry before the Easter game.

The main reason why I suggest switching it to Eels vs Dragons is because you can set up a system so that each Big 5 team + Roosters plays in 2 big holiday matches i.e.

Roosters vs Dragons @ SFS - Anzac
Roosters vs Tigers @ SFS - Easter Sunday
Rabbitohs vs Bulldogs @ Stadium Oz - Good Friday
Rabbitohs vs Eels @ Stadium Oz - Queen's Birthday Sunday
Tigers vs Bulldogs @ Stadium Oz - Queen's Birthday Monday
Eels vs Dragons @ Stadium Oz @ Stadium Oz - Easter Monday

Each one's at a shared stadium so the hosting can alternate easily.

And that still leaves big 5 matches like:
Rabbitohs vs Dragons
Rabbitohs vs Tigers
Rabbitohs vs Roosters
Bulldogs vs Dragons
Bulldogs vs Eels (rivalry round)
Eels vs Tigers
Dragons vs Tigers

Plus repeats of both + other rivalry matches for the rest of the season.

 

[Nice Beaver]

Good for TV, shit for crowds.

That would knock around 20K off the crowd they could get playing Fri night unfortunately.

+ Thurston v Barba? What an odd pairing to choose, surely Thurston V Hunt.

Rubbish. No way it would knock 20k off attendance.

 

[maple_69]

Piss off with all this Penrith on Monday crap. We copped so many more than anyone last year, along with terrible home fixtures and terrible weather (no one's fault). Our club put a shit load of work into membership and turning around one of the competitions most important areas and they backed it up on the field. Theyve earned the right to some big games.

 

[Card Shark]

69, I'm hearing ya mate but it won't happen.

Ch Nein has their favourites & that's all there is to it .

Think yourself lucky you have Guss on your side, he did get you a few FTA games this year.

 

[Canard]

Rubbish. No way it would knock 20k off attendance.

I would eliminate shitloads of travelling NQ fans. I reckon 20K at least, maybe more.

Thursday nights are shit for crowds unfortunately, Souffs only got 14K against the Broncos in Sydney last year.

And the Rabbits Roosters game with all the hype of SBW only 35K the year before.

Play those games on Fri and they get another 10 to 15K more at least.

If its no big deal then why aren't fans suggesting Roosters/Rabbits on Thu night?

 

[docbrown]

And the Rabbits Roosters game with all the hype of SBW only 35K the year before.

Play those games on Fri and they get another 10 to 15K more at least.

If its no big deal then why aren't fans suggesting Roosters/Rabbits on Thu night?

Because the premiers vs the minor premiers in a rivalry match deserves to (and rightly should) get the bigger crowd in the bigger stadium on the Friday.

If the Broncos don't want to use up the Cowboys match on the Thursday (& believe me Channel 9 would be apprehensive about opening with Broncos vs Cowboys as a standalone) wait 1-2 weeks then play it on the Friday.

If the argument is then well why should the Broncos play on Thursday at all, it's up there with why should teams play on Mondays at all? It's just the reality. Broncos get a pretty good run compared to other teams, one Thursday won't kill them.

 

[Canard]

If the argument is then well why should the Broncos play on Thursday at all, it's up there with why should teams play on Mondays at all? It's just the reality. Broncos get a pretty good run compared to other teams, one Thursday won't kill them.

Dont give a shit about the Broncos and when the play.

As you said playing a marquee game on Thu devalues its, so I think the next best scenario is to forward it to another round.

Its a shame as Broncos v Cowboys in Rd 1 was the biggest game in QLD outside of Origin and a real event, playing it on Thu night or in a later round diminishes that event significantly however.

It is interesting however that Lang Park isn't booked out on the Fri night by other codes, like it has been in past years.

 

[docbrown]

As you said playing a marquee game on Thu devalues its, so I think the next best scenario is to forward it to another round.

Its a shame as Broncos v Cowboys in Rd 1 was the biggest game in QLD outside of Origin and a real event, playing it on Thu night or in a later round diminishes that event significantly however.

Well that's also why I said it should be Broncos vs a team other than Cowboys if its the Thursday.

I mean somebody has to play on the Thursday and the reality is 9 are going to book the Broncos for either Thursday or Friday. If Broncos get Friday then Roosters vs Rabbitohs gets bumped to Thursday and that crowd suffers. With the right promotion at Stadium Oz that game can get a bigger crowd on the Friday then the Broncos can.

But if Broncos can't come close to selling out the Cowboys match in Round 2 or 3 then that's a poor reflection on their organisation.

Clubs should be getting fans to go matches in Round 1 simply because they've had a few months without footy and it's the opener.

 

[kdalymc]

I'd rather go back to the "tradition" of Broncos v Cowboys in Round 1, so the code starts the season with a bang, rather than last years soft opening. But as it's the Cowboys 20th season, I wonder if they will request to play the Bulldogs at home in Round 1 to commemorate the 1995 Round 1 game? (Similarly with the Warriors and Broncos?)

It's the cowboys (n warriors) 21st season...

 

[Canard]

It's the cowboys (n warriors) 21st season...

Yeh I know but its the 20th anniversary or whatever they want to call it.

 

[roofromoz]

Looking forward to another easy draw. The question is, what 2 teams that finished top 8 this year will be bottom 4 next year and Penrith play twice?

 

[franklin2323]

Looking forward to another easy draw. The question is, what 2 teams that finished top 8 this year will be bottom 4 next year and Penrith play twice?

Manly will be 1. After the clear out

 

[kdalymc]

Yeh I know but its the 20th anniversary or whatever they want to call it.

21st season, 20th anniversary
Teams milk one or the other, or both

 

[Raiderdave]

Anyone heard anything more re this?
It was December 4 when it was released last year

Things we do know
Season will start on Thursday March 5th in Sydney with the Cricket World cup still a few weeks away from concluding.
& id bet pounds to pennies itll involve Souths
Its the Roosters turn to host the game so it may very well be at Allianz too
Friday will almost certainly be the Broncos & Cowboys at Suncorp

Other games that could be part of round 1 in a big start to the season
SAT 5.30
NZ V Storm
SAT 7.30
Panthers v Bulldogs
SAT 8.30
Titans v Manly
SUN 4.00 (ch9)
Dragons v Tigers ANZ
SUN 6.30
Knights V Parramatta
MON 7.00
Raiders v Sharks

 

[oikee]

AFL has f**kin highjacked Anzac day next year.
5 games, yes 5 games on the Anzac Saturday.

They even have one in f**kin NZ. ? Someone should f**kin complain, like i am doing.

If the NRL had any f**kin brains whatsoever, they would play two or three test matches on Anzac day and shut the day so NZ and Australia, PNG and Fiji Tonga and Samoa can all play on that one day.
It will then make a mockery of the AFL bullshite club games trying to highjack Australia's rememberence day, with our countries not clubs involved.