I'm not one to normally dwell on things and say if only this or that happened? You can't change the past, but if you look at a few results we've had this year you realise that we're not far away at all from being a very good side and could of quite easily been embeded in the 8 this season well ahead of schedual.

First let's imagine Petterd had of held onto that mark in round 2 against Collingwood and won us the game after the siren.

Secondly if those two goals that were ruled points against the Bulldogs had of been given goals.

Thirdly if Green's last shot on goal against Collingwood on QB had of gone through instead of just missing!

And finally we could of reversed our two ordinary performances against North Melbourne & West Coast (games we were actually expected to win!)

We'd be 11-6 and in 5th position only % off 4th. Staggering when you think of where we were just 12 months ago.

What's done is done and it doesn't actually bother me that we're where we are as I know how good we can become. But is is comforting to know that we're not far off at all from already beign a finals chance. This shows it's based off what's happened in the actual matches and isn't just a pipe dream.

All we need to do now is learn how to win those close games and the ones we're expected to win and then things will be looking mighty good indeed!

Edited July 27, 201014 yr by Tall Defence

It's all moot, but you're forgetting the narrow loss to Freo when we missed two late set shots.

It is because we are a very young inexperienced team that we lost those close matches which you've highlighted. No shoulda, woulda, coulda stuff. It was our lack of experience that cost us those games and handling the pressure of those situations. But at the same time, it also staggers me to believe how close we have come in all these matches. Sure, we have put in some pretty ordinary efforts, and have been very ordinary in various patches, but we have also seen how good we can be. The Swans game was unbelievable (literally........ i struggled to believe that it was the MFC handing out that smacking).

Who knows, with another couple of years experience, maybe we win those close games and get into the top 4 (top 2 is where you control your destiny though).

my mate and i were having exact same conversation. he said you(the club) would be happy with anything from 8-12 next year. i said if we dont make finals the year must be considered a failure.

and then you add in if they had of kicked those goals instead of points we would be blah blah blah

We have rarely been subdued for four quarters this season.

Consistency is the Holy Grail of the young team. Sometimes it is closer or further away than it appears.

A combination of match fitness, belief in the game plan, self belief and trust in thier team-mates.

When 22 footballers run on to the ground with these factors covered success will be upon us I feel.

I think I have descended far too far into character.

I'm not one to normally dwell on things and say if only this or that happened? You can't change the past, but if you look at a few results we've had this year you realise that we're not far away at all from being a very good side and could of quite easily been embeded in the 8 this season well ahead of schedual.

First let's imagine Petterd had of held onto that mark in round 2 against Collingwood and won us the game after the siren.

Secondly if those two goals that were ruled points against the Bulldogs had of been given goals.

Thirdly if Green's last shot on goal against Collingwood on QB had of gone through instead of just missing!

And finally we could of reversed our two ordinary performances against North Melbourne & West Coast (games we were actually expected to win!)

We'd be 11-6 and in 5th position only % off 4th. Staggering when you think of where we were just 12 months ago.

What's done is done and it doesn't actually bother me that we're where we are as I know how good we can become. But is is comforting to know that we're not far off at all from already beign a finals chance. This shows it's based off what's happened in the actual matches and isn't just a pipe dream.

All we need to do now is learn how to win those close games and the ones we're expected to win and then things will be looking mighty good indeed!

You can't throw in the North and West Coast games. We were comprehensively outplayed on the field and in the box. And neither game was even close.

I said at the time, if we miss out on the finals by one game after that Bulldogs umpiring debacle that I'll blow something up. I better buy some balloons or risk going to prison.

Our percentage of 94 indicates where I think we should be. If you look at that I think it would be fair to say we deserve to be 8-9 not 6.5-10. You have to remember we beat Port by a point, so that counters one of the close losses.

The 2 games against the Pies they presented to us by them being pretty poor in round 2 (and we were damn good) and their kicking for goal and moving the ball poorly on QB'day. Winning those 2 would have us 8-9 and really where I think we should be.

We were always going to drop a few easy ones (not sure it had to be WC in Melbourne though!).

It's also nice to have Collingwood and Hawthorn as the only top 8 sides we play twice (although add in Adelaide to that and it makes 3 of 7 which is fair to the bottom side). People probably didn't predict Port and Brisbane dropping so low either.

Original poster is correct though. "If Only" shows how close we are.

The good thing is that it doesn't really matter this year, but they learn so much from those games for next year, and which then comes in useful for the 2012 premiership year when last weekend's effort becomes the norm.

We still have a long way to go. Get Real. The MFC still cannot win or even get close in games played away from the MCG.

I am hoping the last 2 games start to seriously address this problem we have had since John Northey Coached us.

Our record away from the MCG since the mid 90's is just deplorable if you look at it closely.

We are where we should be.

We weren't good enough in those other games so that is that.

It is heartening that we got close but i still think that we are a little way off being a finals team. We are way too inconsistent with our effort and mental application, we struggle at Etihad and our travel record is abysmal.

We are moving in the right direction but people just need to be patient. We will be good at times. We will be bad. Nature of the beast for this year and next i believe.

We won't get as easy a draw next year as we start to improve (something i believe the Bombers suffered a bit with after making the finals last year) and teams will be more of a wake up to us.

7-8 wins this year. 10-12 next year.

Forward progress is what i crave and the real stuff begins from 2012 onwards.