5 days to go!! anyone care to offer their predictions for round 1?

i had a look at the teams from round 2 last year against GWS for a bit of context/comparison. Dees scored the first 4 goals before bending over and conceding 9 goals to nil in the 3rd term. I actually have some confidence now that we will be able to weather a storm a lot better this time around. 

Interestingly, Giants will be without McCarthy (scored 3 goals that day), Cameron and Treloar.  these are 3 very significant outs. 2 main fwd targets and arguable their best midfielder.

Dees missing Cross, Jamar, Dawes, Howe and Newton. With all due respect, we will not miss any of these greatly. in fact their replacements will improve us.  Importantly, Salem, Viney, Brayshaw, Tyson etc being a year older, fitter, more confident will be significant.

Last week, I was thinking a 3 goal loss but I think we can do it.  GWS are very good and could well win a flag in the next few years but I think if we limit their run ons and play hard footy we can win.

Prediction - Dees by 2 points

N Jones and M Gawn the difference

Dubdee to get drunk post match.

feel free to add your predictions/analysis/thoughts

Dees by seven goals to finish 2nd on the Ladder after Round One. The following week we will be top of the AFL Ladder with a healthy percentage after beating Essendon by a lazy ten majors.

Dees by 24pts. 

Hogan with 4. Gawn 7 marks and 437 hit outs. Oliver 27 possies.

Demonland goes into meltdown and crashes. There are riots in the streets.

Oliver to get first rising star nomination of the year. No pressure!

11 minutes ago, Moonshadow said:

Dees by 24pts. 

Hogan with 4. Gawn 7 marks and 437 hit outs. Oliver 27 possies.

Demonland goes into meltdown and crashes. There are riots in the streets.

Don't think Melbourne supporters would riot and GWS supporters would be lucky to fill a phone box. Must be all the other people in the football world who do not want to see a resurgent MFC.

13 minutes ago, Moonshadow said:

Dees by 24pts. 

Hogan with 4. Gawn 7 marks and 437 hit outs. Oliver 27 possies.

Demonland goes into meltdown and crashes. There are riots in the streets.

 

Light on the hit out figure. ;-)

 

Melbourne by 10 points

30 minutes ago, Moonshadow said:

Dees by 24pts. 

Hogan with 4. Gawn 7 marks and 437 hit outs. Oliver 27 possies.

Demonland goes into meltdown and crashes. There are riots in the streets.

Please don't put Gawn and any number close to 426 in the same sentence

Very big match for both sides.

Should be a terrific game of footy.  Us by a couple of goals.

Without Cameron, Treloar and McCarthy, (three players who typically play well against us) I think we have a slight edge on the Giants. Considering Shaw's run and carry off half back is very important for GWS, I would tell Kent to go and stick to him like glue (I think he did a similar job against Malceski last year in round 1). 

Dees by 13 points, Gawn to get the three Brownlow votes and Hogan to kick four goals.

1 hour ago, DubDee said:

Dees missing Cross, Jamar, Dawes, Howe and Newton. With all due respect, we will not miss any of these greatly. in fact their replacements will improve us.  Importantly, Salem, Viney, Brayshaw, Tyson etc being a year older, fitter, more confident will be significant.

Last week, I was thinking a 3 goal loss but I think we can do it.  GWS are very good and could well win a flag in the next few years but I think if we limit their run ons and play hard footy we can win.

Whilst I think the Dees can win this week, not sure if the argument of our players being older, fitter should be that significant given that the exact same thing would apply to their players... 

I think our players are confident going into round 1 which is significant, but again GWS would go in full of confidence also.

Dees by 23

Round 1 - A solid, competitive win where we reassert our defensive rigor.

Round 2 - A wild ride where we go all out attack, confident we can crush them in any shootout.

Round 3 - A reality check where we almost blow it from lack of concentration in the 3rd, but claw our way back for a hard fought win with many lessons learned.

 

That'll do me for the start of the season.

Mumford, Ward, Shiel, Greene, Griffen, Whitfield, Scully, Kelly, Coniglio

Gawn, N.Jones, Tyson, Viney, Vince, Brayshaw, Vandenberg, Oliver, Bugg

Their midfield is a bit better and bats a bit deeper than ours currently.

3 quarter time and the Giants have cut back the Demons lead to 8 points... Every eye is on Max Gawn bent over sucking in the big ones. Jonesy Bernie and Brayshaw all talking quietly to him. Roos is calm and smiling, Goodwin wanting to say something but looks imploringly at Roos. Roos nods and Oliver who had only played 20 minutes so far is starting in the middle. Crowd is quiet.

Richmond station master is aware its 3 quarter time and wonders where the normal crowd is...

32 minutes ago, Ouch! said:

Whilst I think the Dees can win this week, not sure if the argument of our players being older, fitter should be that significant given that the exact same thing would apply to their players... 

I think our players are confident going into round 1 which is significant, but again GWS would go in full of confidence also.

Dees by 23

agree.  guess I was more referring to the fact that these guys were either injured or carrying injuries most of last year and didnt play much together when all firing

Cant wait to see Gus playing again - think ive forgotten how good he is.

7 minutes ago, Fifty-5 said:

Mumford, Ward, Shiel, Greene, Griffen, Whitfield, Scully, Kelly, Coniglio

Gawn, N.Jones, Tyson, Viney, Vince, Brayshaw, Vandenberg, Oliver, Bugg

Their midfield is a bit better and bats a bit deeper than ours currently.

would be very surprised if there isnt a lot of biff and the odd melee on saturday considering this lot (especially considering the bolded names)

us by four points, Hogan to kick a tough goal from a bad angle in the last minutes,  Watts BOG

15 minutes ago, Fifty-5 said:

Mumford, Ward, Shiel, Greene, Griffen, Whitfield, Scully, Kelly, Coniglio

Gawn, N.Jones, Tyson, Viney, Vince, Brayshaw, Vandenberg, Oliver, Bugg

Their midfield is a bit better and bats a bit deeper than ours currently.

It depends, apart from Ward, i don't think many of those blokes can match some of our blokes for contested ball consistently, but on the outside they'd kill us, we saw this in round 2 last year, when it was a contested game we got right on top, when they got their running game going they destroyed us.

1 hour ago, Peter Griffen said:

It depends, apart from Ward, i don't think many of those blokes can match some of our blokes for contested ball consistently, but on the outside they'd kill us, we saw this in round 2 last year, when it was a contested game we got right on top, when they got their running game going they destroyed us.

I agree.  We should have the edge around the contest and they're better runners.

it's a toss up either way for me.

1 hour ago, Peter Griffen said:

It depends, apart from Ward, i don't think many of those blokes can match some of our blokes for contested ball consistently, but on the outside they'd kill us, we saw this in round 2 last year, when it was a contested game we got right on top, when they got their running game going they destroyed us.

I just like the fact that our forward half this year, looks to present more of a threat than their respective forward, especially with Cameron out.

TIGERS v Carlton

MELBOURNE v Giants

SUNS v Essendon 

Swans v COLLINGWOOD

North v Crows (Waiting to see teams)

DOGS v Freo

PORT v Saints

EAGLES v Lions

Cats v HAWKS

 

3 hours ago, CBDees said:

Dees by seven goals to finish 2nd on the Ladder after Round One. The following week we will be top of the AFL Ladder with a healthy percentage after beating Essendon by a lazy ten majors.

If we beat GWS by 7 goals, we'll beat Essendon by 20.

3 hours ago, CBDees said:

Dees by seven goals to finish 2nd on the Ladder after Round One. The following week we will be top of the AFL Ladder with a healthy percentage after beating Essendon by a lazy ten majors.

2 hours ago, Moonshadow said:

Dees by 24pts. 

Hogan with 4. Gawn 7 marks and 437 hit outs. Oliver 27 possies.

Demonland goes into meltdown and crashes. There are riots in the streets.

thats after the Essendon game...

Looking forward to the Gawn vs Mumford match up. Mumford's ankle has clearly been a concern over the pre-season. If he's somewhat still restricted by it, Gawn will definitely have an advantage. 

8 minutes ago, CBDees said:

I just like the fact that our forward half this year, looks to present more of a threat than their respective forward, especially with Cameron out.

I agree.  I think their midfield is slightly better than ours but with

Garlett, Pederson, Watts,

Vandeberg, Hogan Kent  

I reckon we have the advantage