10 is the magic number

Ill be disappointed with 9 wins.  And yes I know these numbers are arbitrary.

1 hour ago, Redleg said:

How does that happen when we finish 13th?

Especially when Hawthorn have the third hardest draw. So our draw is marginally easier than Hawthorn's. An absolute joke!

56 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

He's a saints man. So he's also coming at us with a perspective that he's own struggling side beat us twice last year. 

Jetta is a beauty. But injury derailed him a bit last year so it's patchy form last year and 2014 and that's all we have to go off. His impact on games is also limited somewhat as he doesn't have huge involvement away from the ball coming to him and his opponent.

I'm with you on Tyson, but I also think he's been building through the preseason after missing a lot last year. I'm hoping he and Viney can stand up and with Jones control games and let Vince go to half back. I rate Tyson and Viney about equally at this stage. Both very good but needing to keep improving their weaknesses and bringing their best. It's not easy to make the step up from promising young player to consistent performer with a well rounded game.

I reckon Tyson and Viney will make A grade sooner than later. The more support they get from the rest of the midfield brigade, the better they'll be. Share the load and everyone will be better for it. Tyson was certainly carrying a niggle. He needs to learn to take the first option and he'll be a damaging goal-kicking mid.

1 hour ago, PaulRB said:

Given that we finished 13th last year, have just won 3 NAB cup games, had a solid preseason, improved game style etc... how does the Guardian crew justify having us finishing the same (13th) or worse?

At least the Fox Footy Crew have us winning more this year than last... I think they're under estimating because they don't want to write off teams above us who would have to fall for us to rise, namely Tigers, North, Port, and Giants. 

What else would you expect from the Guardian? Garbage journalism usually.

12 hours ago, PaulRB said:

Given that we finished 13th last year, have just won 3 NAB cup games, had a solid preseason, improved game style etc... how does the Guardian crew justify having us finishing the same (13th) or worse?

At least the Fox Footy Crew have us winning more this year than last... I think they're under estimating because they don't want to write off teams above us who would have to fall for us to rise, namely Tigers, North, Port, and Giants. 

Quite agree. And I have posted accordingly on the Guardian site.

1 hour ago, AdamFarr said:

 

I reckon Tyson and Viney will make A grade sooner than later. The more support they get from the rest of the midfield brigade, the better they'll be. Share the load and everyone will be better for it. Tyson was certainly carrying a niggle. He needs to learn to take the first option and he'll be a damaging goal-kicking mid.

The Tyson niggle(s) is hard to quantify but it definitely seemed like he was suffering from something. Regardless, he shone at a time when the club didn't have all that much more on offer and he hasn't yet given a solid indication that he'll learn to take the first option. Throw vdBurg, Oliver, Brayshaw and an improving Viney on top and the load-sharing might not see him necessarily come out on top of that pecking order as a bona fide A-grader as once promised.

Yeah they have rated the list and the draw. The fact ours is 4th hardest and Hawks is 6th, west coasts 10th shows how stuffed the fixture is.

Our list is rated 13th iirc, but Kingy said that's because they are all so you with a smile. 

With him talking about Goodwin and Roos, his point was, if it ain't broke, don't change it, if in a month it's not working as well then revert back but Roos on the bench helping Goodwin (who is calling the game day shots) and talking to the players as they come off is working, during the week they work together on what they want to achieve.

I agree with him, it's working well for now, let's leave it and see how it goes.

First half of season we should have 8 wins so GWS,ESS,COL,RICH,SK,GC,BL,CW and losses to NM,WB,PA,HAW.

we may surprise Port Adelaide and I am hoping this is our year to beat North but maybe not.

So we are 8 wins and around 105%

Second half of the season I see wins against ADL,SK,GC and Carlton and losses to SWANS,FREO,WC,HAW,PA,GEEL

Gives us 12 wins with possible wins against Port Adelaide

Not too shabby IMO.

We must get good wins in the first half of the season or we will finish 13th or 14th and waste another year.

Strength of schedule is something that can only be viewed in hindsight. We may appear to have the 4th hardest draw now based on last years placings but by the end of this year things could be a lot different, especially if the Saints, Pies and Suns have poor years which I'm half expecting them to.

Pies will be good this year. I don't understand why people don't rate them. 

The Pies are looking pretty decent.

 

20 minutes ago, Ron Burgundy said:

The Pies are looking pretty decent.

 

Pies are always over sold in the media hard to tell until the real stuff commences

3 hours ago, Gorgoroth said:

Yeah they have rated the list and the draw. The fact ours is 4th hardest and Hawks is 6th, west coasts 10th shows how stuffed the fixture is.

Our list is rated 13th iirc, but Kingy said that's because they are all so you with a smile. 

With him talking about Goodwin and Roos, his point was, if it ain't broke, don't change it, if in a month it's not working as well then revert back but Roos on the bench helping Goodwin (who is calling the game day shots) and talking to the players as they come off is working, during the week they work together on what they want to achieve.

I agree with him, it's working well for now, let's leave it and see how it goes.

 

Just listened to Roos of SEN this morning - it doesn't sounds like that'll be happening. His words were - "it'll be back to business as usual now".

Pies & gws still have vulnerabilities for mine but both on the up, north, tigers, port & geelong are all overrated going into this season imo.

We just need to focus on ourselves; get that right the rest takes care of itself, let the others fall where they may!!

4 minutes ago, thevil1 said:

Pies & gws still have vulnerabilities for mine but both on the up, north, tigers, port & geelong are all overrated going into this season imo.

We just need to focus on ourselves; get that right the rest takes care of itself, let the others fall where they may!!

The Swans are very gettable this season.

No ruck strength and a weak past it's use by date backline. A lot of pressure will be on their mids and Buddy to pull wins and I wouldn't want to much pressure on Bud if I was them.

Get a good share of the ball forward and they are done.

11 hours ago, hardtack said:

This must come as a major disappointment for those who have been crying out about half of those cited above hating the Dees and never having a good thing to say about the club.

I don't understand this post.

Obviously it is a fact that they have a history of 'hating the Dees and never having a good thing to say about the club'

So why would it be a disappointment to anyone to see a change from that?

Who exactly is this post attacking, and why?

22 minutes ago, thevil1 said:

Pies & gws still have vulnerabilities for mine but both on the up, north, tigers, port & geelong are all overrated going into this season imo.

We just need to focus on ourselves; get that right the rest takes care of itself, let the others fall where they may!!

I have some sort of blind spot with North. Every year I think they are overrated and then every year they surprise me. Nothing has changed this year for me, I reckon they are heading for the cliff. 

The front part of the Tigers bandwagon is already over the cliff. Dimma to be sacked mid season 

I know we will beat Richmond and in with more of a shot against North

24 minutes ago, fndee said:

I have some sort of blind spot with North. Every year I think they are overrated and then every year they surprise me. Nothing has changed this year for me, I reckon they are heading for the cliff. 

The front part of the Tigers bandwagon is already over the cliff. Dimma to be sacked mid season 

I know we will beat Richmond and in with more of a shot against North

I share your blind spot regarding North. I look at their team and I think we could beat them if they were wearing any other team's colours. But for some reason the fact that they're North always seems to come up trumps. We are their bunnies and I have no idea why.

This article made me laugh - we are in the leftovers playing for pride but GC aren't.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-16/what-do-the-afls-leftovers-have-to-play-for-in-2016/7247728?section=sport

1 hour ago, fndee said:

I have some sort of blind spot with North. Every year I think they are overrated and then every year they surprise me. Nothing has changed this year for me, I reckon they are heading for the cliff. 

The front part of the Tigers bandwagon is already over the cliff. Dimma to be sacked mid season 

I know we will beat Richmond and in with more of a shot against North

Richmond are a tough one. They have so many really good players and a few handy ones and then not a lot else. If they sort out a proper game plan and back in some new faces to replace the list cloggers they'll have a very good team. If not they'll be up and down again, hopefully we catch them on a down day again.

North are heading for a cliff for sure. But if Waite, Petrie, Harvey, Wells, Dal Santo, Thompson, Firrito etc keep playing well then they've got enough good players in their prime (Goldstein, Cunnington, Ziebell etc) to stay a good side. They play to their strengths as well. Dropping a man behind the ball, contesting hard, kicking long down the line to talls and using a bit of creativity from Harvey, Higgins etc to then create goals. I'm getting this strange respect for the way they are going against the grain and topping up and backing themselves. Conventional wisdom says it just won't work but 2 prelims sound good to me!

1 hour ago, DeeSpencer said:

Richmond are a tough one. They have so many really good players and a few handy ones and then not a lot else. If they sort out a proper game plan and back in some new faces to replace the list cloggers they'll have a very good team.

That's a damning assertion given the club has just given a contract extension to a coach who has already been at the club 6 years. At what point is it reasonable to expect that Hardwick will sort a proper game plan? I can't see Richmond improving this year.

5 minutes ago, Goodvibes said:

That's a damning assertion given the club has just given a contract extension to a coach who has already been at the club 6 years. At what point is it reasonable to expect that Hardwick will sort a proper game plan? I can't see Richmond improving this year.

It is. But they haven't been too far off the mark. I think he has until 2017 for a top 4 finish otherwise he won't see that 2018 year. The extension was for stability for this year and next. 

I like to think Richmond will do a 2007 Demons and fall off the ladder. But that's wishful thinking rather than cold hard analysis. Nevertheless, I don't think Hardwick can coach a flag without a serious injection of talent. Nor do I highly rate the Tigers' game style. A few key injuries and the Tigers may go into freefall. Hardwick's resigning for 2 years was interesting. 

1 hour ago, Clintosaurus said:

This article made me laugh - we are in the leftovers playing for pride but GC aren't.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-16/what-do-the-afls-leftovers-have-to-play-for-in-2016/7247728?section=sport

 

Quote

 

With this in mind, the challenge for Roos is to win football games against teams worse than Melbourne and better than Melbourne.

It sounds stupid...

 

Yes. Yes it does.

This Dean Bilton is an absolute pleb. Nothing piece.

1 hour ago, DeeSpencer said:

Richmond are a tough one. They have so many really good players and a few handy ones and then not a lot else. If they sort out a proper game plan and back in some new faces to replace the list cloggers they'll have a very good team. If not they'll be up and down again, hopefully we catch them on a down day again.

 

29 minutes ago, Goodvibes said:

That's a damning assertion given the club has just given a contract extension to a coach who has already been at the club 6 years. At what point is it reasonable to expect that Hardwick will sort a proper game plan? I can't see Richmond improving this year.

 

22 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

It is. But they haven't been too far off the mark. I think he has until 2017 for a top 4 finish otherwise he won't see that 2018 year. The extension was for stability for this year and next. 

I think Richmond will regret being manipulated/pushed into giving Hardwick a contract extension and wouldn't be surprised to see pressure rising on them to sack him by the end of this season, contract or not.

I don't think he is a good AFL level coach by a long way and possibly the worst match day coach in the game.

I think he can build good player relationships but is blinded by loyalty to them, it's the only reason I can see that he hasn't made changes to his list after continued poor finals performances.

We will be moving up now whilst the Tiges move back in the pack and it wouldn't surprise me to see us pass them this season.

They have no midfield depth and of their guns in this area, Kotchin doesn't hurt, Martin is a better forward and Delidio a better floater which is also what Ellis is.

They have one quality key forward and one quality key back...they lose either of those and it's season over.