2018 Fixture

[Jofo]

If we play them in Geelong it will be because we are no longer a big enough draw to demand the game gets played in Melbourne, much like what happened with the draw this year with their game with Richmond.

Geelong are a Geelong club, not a Melbourne club and unlike us and other Melbourne clubs they made the decision to invest heavily in the redevelopment of their stadium, with assistance particularly from the council. They were down the path of only playing interstate teams this way. They created this situation and generally now have the right to demand their games down this way.

We could have taken this path, but we chose to leave our home ground.

We might well end up playing Hawthorn or North in Tasmania as well if we can't draw crowds here anymore.

The solution? Start winning games and drawing big crowds again.

Have to disagree. We were the fourth highest drawing team in 2017! Only beaten by Collingwood, Essendon and Richmond. In the late 1990s Elliot planned a development including lights and an underground car park to be shared with Unimelb. A capacity of 40-50000 was mooted. Unfortunately for us there was a Mr Fitzpatrick leading a private equity group that was involved in the development of Colonial Stadium and they wanted tenants. Messers Kennett and Demetriou were also keen on Colonial Stadium. The former drawing closer to an election that he would eventually lose and he didn't want to upset his voters in Carlton. No help for us. Geelong has been gifted funding from the AFL and both Liberal and Labor state governments. They have a ground that is narrow and long which gives them a distinct playing advantage over teams that rarely play there. The AFL has helped them way too much.