Some big changes in my opinion: -

1 Geelong

2 Hawthorn

3 Adelaide

4 St Kilda

5 Brisbane

6 Carlton

7 Collingwood

8 Kangaroos

----------------------

9 Richmond

10 Port Adelaide

11 W_Bulldogs

12 West Coast

13 Fremantle

14 Sydney

15 Essendon

16 Melbourne 4 wins - priority picks 1 & 2

Fair dinkum? Well we have pick 1, I'm sure that will happen

That's forward thinking..........

The reason I put it like that, (I'd be inclined to grab Watts or Rich or even Natinui this year, backed up by quality mids), is because my earlier thinking about this draft, was for us to draft 2 to 3 power forwards early this draft, combined with 1 or 2 mids.

I had thoughts of us being up the ladder around 11th or 12th next year, but thats both wishfull thinking & would harm our list developement to build a real team of quality for a tilt @ a flagin about 4 - 5 years.

The reason I put it like that, (I'd be inclined to grab Watts or Rich or even Natinui this year, backed up by quality mids), is because my earlier thinking about this draft, was for us to draft 2 to 3 power forwards early this draft, combined with 1 or 2 mids.

With Pick 1 we will get Watts, 17 and 19 might be required to obtain pace mids or perhaps a Ruckman now as Warnock has nominated Carlton his preferred choice of club.

I had thoughts of us being up the ladder around 11th or 12th next year, but thats both wishfull thinking & would harm our list developement to build a real team of quality for a tilt @ a flagin about 4 - 5 years.

You are quite right it is wishful thinking for our list to achieve 12th or better next year - Believe me, I don't like saying this but we fave to face reality. It will take more than 4 years to be considered anywhere near a tilt at a flag IMO. To build a team of quality as you say will take a while, and as it stands it was a real coup in Carlton getting Judd last year - it's as if it attracts more quality - much like a flock of seagulls, and Pratt has the bag of Hot Chips.

The top 4 pick themselves.

Geelong

Hawthorn

Collingwood - it kills me to say that :angry:

Bulldogs

The rest of the top 8 are kidding themselves to think they've got a chance. Richmond 9th on percentage, and the rest can book September holidays

With Pick 1 we will get Watts, 17 and 19 might be required to obtain pace mids or perhaps a Ruckman now as Warnock has nominated Carlton his preferred choice of club.

You are quite right it is wishful thinking for our list to achieve 12th or better next year - Believe me, I don't like saying this but we fave to face reality. It will take more than 4 years to be considered anywhere near a tilt at a flag IMO. To build a team of quality as you say will take a while, and as it stands it was a real coup in Carlton getting Judd last year - it's as if it attracts more quality - much like a flock of seagulls, and Pratt has the bag of Hot Chips.

I believe we have a good nucleus of young talented footballers who we can build onto. We've recruited well since 2003, as I've said many times, Mclean, Sylvia, Bartram, Jones, Petterd, Warnock, Garland, Martin, Morton, Grimes, Valenti, Frawley, Bate, & others.

What we now have to do is to recruit to turn that nucleus into a good structure, via the drafting of key personell, the tall Power Forwards we're all screaming for, plus some speed, but most of all, class.

Next year will be similar to this one, but we should show more promise and at least look like a team and hopefully not get flogged as much.

I cant help but feel that there wil lbe far more upside next year, if not any greater results to some degree.

We went in last year with players less than ideal in preparation and lineup

consider how we began:

Daniel Bell.... jury out

Cameron Bruce.. supposedly good form.. I stil question his effectiveness wtih disposal ( any )

Simon Buckley.... promising ..but costly at times

Nathan Carroll... do I waste words .unliley to play for Dees in 09

Aaron Davey.. injury prone..yet to replay his best

Brad Green.. Good solid year

Paul A. Johnson... getting better

Nathan Jones.. Good efforts..bit one dimensional with suspect vision

James McDonald..stirling player.. starting to wane

Brock McLean..not best start..then injury

Brad Miller..surprise packet of year

Brent Moloney... the saga continues

David Neitz.. a flase start ..unfortunately it all ended.

Michael Newton..07 promising.. 08 ..wtf .. who knows for 09 !!

Russell Robertson.. slow and lumbering to begin.. fell to wayside..literally

Paul Wheatley.. fairly consistent..

Jeff White..ineffective.. past time..and now on to sunnier pastures

Adem Yze.. didnt add much to teh picture.. times up #13

Ricky Petterd... again lost to injury..limited impact..

Isaac Weetra.. thanks for coming..

Colin Garland..improver

Cale Morton..steady..needs to eat

those in bold wont or unlikely to play in 09

those in italics unsure of impact or gametime for 09

Thast how we started..and then for a while it got worse !! Holes in the damn wal lwere filled whilst other cracks split wide open

Players missing in action for the most .. the likes of Rivers , Robbo Macca..Beamer etc etc. . meant we had little to really play with..and no time to catch breath.

We tripped at the first hurdle and never really recovered in 08..

We ought to start with more certainty and traverse next season with far more consistency. We WILL improve. maybe only 5-8 wins..and we wil be a competive team..just not polished or poised as wel las some !!

I think we will improve on this season. No higher than 13th but we will win more games than this year. Those who say we are losing a lot of experience need to realise that these older players contributed absolutely nothing to our 2008 season. Another preseason for our youngsters, hopefully a smaller injury list should hopefully see us be more competitive in 2009, becuase we were only competitve for small parts of 2008. Please either make the 8 (unlikely), or otherwise make sure we dont win more than 4 games.

I would love to be proven wrong but I reckon we have 12 more months of pain ahead of us. Sadly, I have an awful feeling we will finish no higher than 16th(4 wins would be nice!)

But this is all just part and parcel of being the team otherwise known as the yo-yo`s ie, up, down, up , down, up, down etc, etc. Then all of a sudden, we made the finals 3 years in a row (up, up, up ). Then it all went pair shaped(down, down, 2009). In yo yo speak this is called ``walking the dog`` if I remember correctly the last time I picked up a yo-yo 30 odd years ago! So , things are just about back on track with 2010 looking like an up year. What happens after that remains to be seen although I have a feeling the up, down cycle will be lost for sometime. And it would not surprise me at all if we win a flag in 2014, 50 years after our last one. I just hope I am still around in 2064 for the one after that!

I didn't think it would get any worse than this year.

we are going to bottom out for a couple of years, we will be rewarded for it with early draft picks before GCFC get them all