The impending questions from the AFL fixture release and the three clubs who most need a good start

When you get hold of the AFL fixture at 1pm, what’s the first thing you’re looking for?

Do you go straight to the double up games?

Are you counting the number of interstate trips?

Is your first game at home or on the road?

Can you get off to a winning start?

Now that we’ve got our answer on Thursday night footy I’m super keen to see the reduction in double up games… the afternoons and nights when games cannabalise each other - the cardinal sin of fixturing.

Will the flow of a routine Sunday be stretched so we can watch games in their entirety?

To that end I’m most curious to see the rollout of Sunday night games.

I suspect what happens this afternoon is a lot of forecasting about how each team starts.

At the end of Gather Round every team will have played five games.

Safe harbour is 3 and 2… can your team get there?

The capacity to get out of the gates will matter more to some circumstances than others.

Hawthorn went 0-5 this year… so anything is an improvement.

We know the Hawks have Sydney in Sydney, Essendon and Carlton at the MCG, Easter Monday against Geelong and Port in Adelaide in their opening handful.

We’ll get an early marker whether Sam Mitchell’s men are going to reside in or around the top four.

Both teams in South Australia need winning starts with the coaches bound to be under instant scrutiny if they are the wrong side of the ledger.

Fremantle are in a similar scenario having already declared now is winning time – they’ll take their first step down the highway against Geelong.

Carlton will want the reassurance of a positive start.

The Blues avoided Opening Round… will start against Richmond, play Hawthorn and Collingwood on Thursday nights and get the luxury of West Coast in Adelaide.

A flying start wasn’t the problem this season… the unraveling came late.

The Gold Coast Suns are rebranding adding to the sense this has to be the year.

North Melbourne are likely to be of greatest threat while fresh.

And when might Andrew McQualter get his first win? His Eagles will start at home in the West against the Suns, so he could barely have asked for a better chance to strike first-up.

But for mine the three teams who most need the positive start are Melbourne, the Western Bulldogs and Collingwood.

The Magpies early fixture franks them as the biggest drawcard in footy and it pits them against a succession six finalists.

Collingwood will ensure a sellout for the Giants in Opening Round, host Port Adelaide, drive the Bulldogs to a record home attendance to celebrate 100 years in the competition, hypercharge Thursday night against Carlton, hold down Friday night of Gather Round against Sydney, play the feature Easter Thursday at the Gabba and then Anzac Day against the Bombers.

Collingwood will be atop the attendance ladder at that stage but where will they be after those seven games? If they’re near the top of the actual ladder after that start there’s a fair chance they’ll be our premiership favourite.

For the tumult surrounding Melbourne there is no balm like winning – the difference between 3-2 safely away and 1-4 with the walls closing in…

We know the Demons have North Melbourne at Marvel and Gold Coast at the MCG early and Essendon at Gather Round.

You know as well as I do the alternative storylines.

And the Bulldogs have got to fly the lids… especially if Luke Beveridge is taken into the last year of his contract.

The Dogs might start with North, then the showpiece night against Collingwood, then Carlton, Fremantle in the west and the curiosity of Brisbane at Norwood Oval.

3-2 is safe harbour… can you get there?

There’ll be a lot of forecasting come 1pm as to whether your team can get there by the end of Gather Round.

What’s the first thing you’re looking for when the AFL Fixture drops?