No point making the 8 just to be humitiated by 10 goals in the first week of finals....

No point making the 8 just to be humitiated by 10 goals in the first week of finals....

Yes we have had enough 10+ goal losses this year.

I have been meaning to check how many we had in 2008 and 2009.

My gut tells me less than this year which is amazing if true.

How is life in WA it would be easier to hide over there than here i guess!

we wont finish any higher that 9th...and nor do we deserve to

Finals talk is a little premature.

So if by some fluke we win the next 4, and I know it seems near imposible at present, would you suggest we provide the 5th placed team with a walkover due to your opinion that we don't deserve our spot?

Finals talk wont be premature if we are previewing the Port Adelaide game on the back of 3 straight wins. If we lose on Sunday, then finals talk will turn its attention to season 2012.

Did you sing the national anthem when Bradbury won gold? I'm doubtful you did.

hell Billy...lets suggest we'll go 5 for 5 while you at it

At best we'l lscrape 3 wins and Im not so sure against Richmond just at the moment. Theyre getting besaten but they dont give in.

I thought Bradburys effort was marvellous.. Just shows to go what you CAN acheive when you NEVER give in.

Dont ever questionmy loyalty to this country you fwit

No point making the 8 just to be humitiated by 10 goals in the first week of finals....

I dont think we will get over 2 of the last three games.

Forget the West Coast game , I am hoping the loss is less than 6 goals.

I'm sick of this "we don't deserve it" rubbish. How I see it, no team deserves 8th spot for the way they have been throughout the whole season. A side sneaking in to the 8 happens virtually every year, it's just the nature of having half the teams making the finals.

I agree with what you're saying here - i.e. if we qualify by and within the rules of the competition for the finals, then we implicitly deserve to be there. "Deserves" to me is just another word for "qualifies" in this instance. I don't see how we could deserve to be there any less than every other also-ran that finishes 8th every other year since this format has existed.

Love the Bradbury analogy too btw.

I also agree with Billy and Nash in terms of "deserve" however I frame my position differently.

Whilst I enjoy the finals, and the outside chance of ultimate glory that it spreads to the lesser teams (and the longer spectacle), under the new system it's hard to argue how any team outside of the top for "deserves" to play finals. Traditionally, they have each just made up the numbers.

I'd say that the Bombers are a more worthy team to hold a finals spot than we are.

Should we win the next four and make the finals, we'd have 1 win, 1 draw and 8 losses against top 8 sides. The Bombers would have 4 wins, 1 draw and 6 losses.

Our 8 losses have come at an average of 71.25 points.

Essendon's 6 have come at an average of 41.33.

In summary, I'm torn. Probably on terminiology more than anything.

Whether we deserve it or not it would be good if we got in if only for the extra $$$ and finals experience .

Unless Viney is a real supercoach , cant see it .

We win the next 4 games & make the Finals...Great. Who cares whether other Teams deserve it more!!

This is the root of our whole club infrastructure....we do not aim high enough.

Realistically we are a major outside chance, but please if we do make it, DO NOT tell me that Essendon deserved it more than us!!!

I remember the first Quarter of the 2000 GF. Essendon deserve to suffer pain at best.B)

No team that finishes 8th will ever win a flag .

But hey ,better than ninth .

hell Billy...lets suggest we'll go 5 for 5 while you at it

At best we'l lscrape 3 wins and Im not so sure against Richmond just at the moment. Theyre getting besaten but they dont give in.

I thought Bradburys effort was marvellous.. Just shows to go what you CAN acheive when you NEVER give in.

Dont ever questionmy loyalty to this country you fwit

B59 - we don't need to win the next 5 to make the finals.

There is every possiblity that we may only win 2, or 1, or whatever. The point is, at the end of the season, if we are 8th with more premiership points than the 9th team, or should we have a greater percentage, then we deserve to be playing finals - surely even you are smart enough to understand that.

And that Bradbury scenario could be very similar. We are at the back end, going through our paces. If we keep our feet and those in front of us continue to fall over, then we could get the the finishing line first (or in this case, 8th). For us to be in that situation, the equation is simple - we MUST win ALL remaining 4 games. If we do that, I don't think you could call that giving in.

This entire thread could easily be shut down by Sunday night if we don't beat the Eagles.

At what stage did I question your loyalty to this country? I asked if you sang our anthem when a bloke won a gold medal - far from questioning your loyalty to the Country...fwit.

But we beat Essendon! Crazy isn't?

And we drew with Sydney

What's this bullsh!t about "deserving" to play finals? The top 8 sides play finals. Doesn't matter who well you played, who you beat, when you beat them and whether it will be good for the development of your list to have some finals experience!

It's such a weird attitude to footy to not want your side to come 8th, preferring 9th or 10th. You've either got no experience being part of a football team or haven't been associated with a successful one.

So if by some fluke we win the next 4, and I know it seems near imposible at present, would you suggest we provide the 5th placed team with a walkover due to your opinion that we don't deserve our spot?

Finals talk wont be premature if we are previewing the Port Adelaide game on the back of 3 straight wins. If we lose on Sunday, then finals talk will turn its attention to season 2012.

Did you sing the national anthem when Bradbury won gold? I'm doubtful you did.

To be clear - I cant see how we can make it.

BUT if we did win 4 games, we would most likely face WC in round one of finals. The exact team we would need to beat this week to make it.

I would be very happy to make it in, but in my wildest dreams can not see it happening.

If we smashed West Coast this week and thumped the Tigers, Suns and Port with a dazzling brand of footy then everyone on here would be pi**ing in Viney's pocket and spruiking about how it's all finally clicked.

As other Posters have suggested, who gives a toss how we get there. It'll all add to the teams learnings and hopefully fast-track their performance.

I doubt we'll make the finals too but hey let's get behind the team for the remaining games!

Chin up you lot.

I agree with the above - stuff whether you 'deserve' it - if you more points and more wins, then you deserve it more than the muppet teams below you (taking into account, of course, our very light draw).

In retrospect our 2011 draw was less light than first expected, i.e. we play(ed) all of the top 5 teams twice (except Geelong)... sure we also play most of the bottom 5 twice too...

Anyone noticed how people within the club are suddenly mentioning the F word now?

Jack Watts spoke to the media today of the club's intent to make the finals. I think Todd Viney made a comment about it a week or two ago.

Yet during the Bailey era, the F word was a taboo topic. Should one read much into this?

Maybe as members, supporters, followers we are placing to much on the club..We won 7 games last year-already won 71/2 games.If indeed we can Win 3 more games-I think we will have done a great job..However, we will really need to recruit vigourously just to maintain our acheivements next year.

A flux capacitor...

Gold!

West Coast game is our first sudden death final. Every game from now on is sudden death, and we then leave it in the hands of the footy Gods.

Anyone noticed how people within the club are suddenly mentioning the F word now?

Jack Watts spoke to the media today of the club's intent to make the finals. I think Todd Viney made a comment about it a week or two ago.

Yet during the Bailey era, the F word was a taboo topic. Should one read much into this?

I've noticed that too, perhaps the players and the coaches have made a commitment to each other to try to get the club to greater heights.

And... as the bombers put the finishing touches on a victory over the doggies, we say goodbye to our finals chances in 2011.

It's all about next year now, unofficially and officially.

And... as the bombers put the finishing touches on a victory over the doggies, we say goodbye to our finals chances in 2011.

It's all about next year now, unofficially and officially.

We need a Tigers upset tomorrow. Not out of the question. There has been no upsets yet this round, so hopefully we see a couple tomorrow.

We play gold coast twice this year so if we end up on 10.5 wins, that's really only 8.5 in my book. The nature of our losses too have been bad and do not deserve to play finals