I know we are only 5 rounds in and the last 2 wins have come against sides who are down & out but we still won them. Having a look at the ladder I honestly feel that only us & Adelaide are the 2 sides outside the 8 that can make it. Port Adelaide, Richmond & Collingwood are cooked. I reckon Gold Coast will drop out for Adelaide.. Leaving a spot for us to take.. Maybe GWS ? The exciting thing is we are in the conversation. Really think us and & Adelaide are the only 2 out of it who can make it 

Long way to go yet, and injuries will play a part as they always do. Fingers crossed, luck is on our side in this regard, and we can maintain this level of effort each week for the rest of the year. I think you're right though, with a little bit of luck we could sneak into the bottom half of the 8 this season. Not sure which team out of the current top 8 we replace though, how I would love it to be West Coast. That would be so sweet.

Essendon game will cost us finals IMO.

Looking at the draw I think we have 8 games that we are very unlikely to win unless miracles happen. We must win all the "easy" games as well as win twice in NT to have any chance of finals. 

Not holding my breath. Even an 11-wins season is a huge tick for us and gives us a platform for next season. 

17 hours ago, JV7 said:

I know we are only 5 rounds in and the last 2 wins have come against sides who are down & out but we still won them. Having a look at the ladder I honestly feel that only us & Adelaide are the 2 sides outside the 8 that can make it. Port Adelaide, Richmond & Collingwood are cooked. I reckon Gold Coast will drop out for Adelaide.. Leaving a spot for us to take.. Maybe GWS ? The exciting thing is we are in the conversation. Really think us and & Adelaide are the only 2 out of it who can make it 

TAB don't think it is silly either - they halved the quote into $4.50 to make the 8 (was at $9 before this week). Considering we were largely unnoticed throughout the NAB campaign and after, this win has clearly got people talking. We are a legitimate finals contender IMO. Our list is in better shape than Port's the year they risen from the ashes. Gawn is a massive point of difference for us, he gives our mids first use, and providing we make use of Gawn, it is like having a head start on other teams.

3 hours ago, KingDingAling said:

TAB don't think it is silly either - they halved the quote into $4.50 to make the 8 (was at $9 before this week). Considering we were largely unnoticed throughout the NAB campaign and after, this win has clearly got people talking. We are a legitimate finals contender IMO. Our list is in better shape than Port's the year they risen from the ashes. Gawn is a massive point of difference for us, he gives our mids first use, and providing we make use of Gawn, it is like having a head start on other teams.

Our biggest problem going forward is weekly team selection: who do we drop from yesterday to debut Petracca and bring back the (rested) Oliver, two very useful beasts to propel us into the Eight?

Look at our back end draw and come back to me...

9th-12th is realistic. We would need to start beating your hawthorn's and Sydney's of the competition if we are to make the 8.

Next season we could be there.

This year is already proving to be extremely even. There will be a log jam from about 5th to 16th where any number of teams can make the top eight. It will probably come down to a game or two and percentage.

17 hours ago, CBDees said:

Our biggest problem going forward is weekly team selection: who do we drop from yesterday to debut Petracca and bring back the (rested) Oliver, two very useful beasts to propel us into the Eight?

That is a good problem to have. I think Oliver will come in for Brayshaw, and mainly due to Brayshaw still looking (to my eye) a little underdone.

5 minutes ago, KingDingAling said:

That is a good problem to have. I think Oliver will come in for Brayshaw, and mainly due to Brayshaw still looking (to my eye) a little underdone.

Brayshaw just doesn't look right at the moment.

It's a very long season, we have a very tough draw, and there are 6-7 teams vying for a spot in the 5th-8th range. It was never silly, but we need to string together 4-5 wins in a row at some point to be a certainty. 

I can see us missing out on percentage. The Essendon loss is really going to come back to haunt us. That should have been an 8-10 goal win.

I think the top 4 will be Bulldogs, North, Hawthorn and Sydney.

Then in the 5th-12th range you have the following teams fighting for a spot.

Geelong

Giants

Suns

Eagles

Crows

Melbourne

You know that Richmond is going to bounce back. Port can't be completely written off but I think they're done.

It's a super competitive competition now, very even. On any give day any team can knock off any other team, and you're going to see some really surprising upsets. We need to bring a competitive edge every week. 

Making the finals and playing well in that final would be absolutely immense for the club. It's going to be tough. It's as big a challenge as ever.

If we can consistently perform like the past three weeks we are an excellent chance for a finals appearance. We nearly beat North and got the points over a generally impressive GWS so far. We have to atone for the Bombers loss with a genuine big scalp. Some other team has to take the place of sides like Freo and the Tigers that appear to have dropped off the perch. 

We need to beat every team currently below us on the ladder (8) and snatch one or so from above (9). Split some of those and it's the 10-12 mark a lot of us thought going into 2016. Round 23 could be interesting at the Cattery. Thinking too far ahead? Yup.

I think we are one more trade period off finals.

We need some final touches to our list to help with depth for the long season and then finals.

One thing is certain. We are going to stick it up all the commentators who said we wouldnt really move up the ladder this year.

Keep a lid on it.

6 hours ago, Jaded said:

Essendon game will cost us finals IMO.

 

Nah it wont cos we will win a game or two we are not expected to win to make up for that loss

We haven't beaten the saints in a decade. 

It is a prerequisite for playing finals in 2016 from what I can see from our fixture. 

It also happens to be - the next game...

At Etihad...

That lid that is flying off right now might be hammered back on as soon as next week.

28 minutes ago, WAClark said:

Keep a lid on it.

Richmond removed the Lids on our behalf.

One week at a time

Has everyone forgotten that last year we got more wins against the top half of the ladder than the bottom half? If we start winning the games we 'should' win, then we are right in this.

Right now we are banking wins over the other teams which, in theory, might be competing for that spot sneaking into the 8. Beating GWS could clearly count for quite a bit at the pointy end. And as much as it is fun writing off Collingwood and Richmond, they are capable of turning it around and these last two wins could both turn out to be the proverbial '8 point games'.

And let's be honest, destiny demands that Gawn and Goldstein match up again this year, and that can only happen in a final. So, football divinity insists we make the 8.

 

Beaten 2 out of 3 bottom 6 teams.

Won 1 out of 2 likely top 6 teams.

Haven't played anyone in the middle yet.

Nor have we won interstate and so on. 

Huge game this week. Beat the Saints and we can make a case for being in the top 5 Victorian teams ahead of Saints, Tigers, Pies, Blues, Dons and behind North, Geel, Hawthorn and Dogs. 

Lose to the Saints and we won't have put a gap on the bottom Victorian sides yet, let alone worked out how we are going to win enough of our interstate trips. 

PJ said at the 2015 AGM 

"Finals are the aim for 2016"

We are on track for that so far

We supporters must demand the Football Dept do the job that the CEO has put in place...

Last night all goes back to PJ..He is the man who put all this in place. 

Finals are a reality not a dream IF the team keeps playing with the same intensity and belief in each other. 

All i have wanted over the last 10 years is to watch my Demons play like they did last night. FOR EACH OTHER. The Tigers were on last night. They gave it everything. 

We just did it better...

As a few have said already one week at a time. The saints next week is the type of game we need to win to make finals & start to be taken seriously as a finals contender. We then have the Gold Coast which is much like the Saints game. The encouraging thing is that at the moment our clearance based game should hold us in good stead against most teams. Where we may fall down is the turnovers. Against the better teams turnovers may cost us games, so it's something we need to improve on. The base is there in terms of clearances & inside 50's & so far we are the most accurate team in front of goal this year. 

The negative is if you have a look at the top 8 at the moment it is hard to see those sides slipping down the ladder based on current form. Gold Coast & GWS are the likely two that may struggle to keep up the pace with their young lists, but they are still both very talented sides.

I think the 8 is almost set now with only GC and Crows swapping spots. The Dees will be contending for 9-10 spots. 

8-9 wins from 17 games will see us just outside the 8.

For us to win 10+ games will require the team to have a winning mindset and a strong belief. Minimum injuries to key players and the added X factor of petracca and trengove.