12-14 wins and a finals birth.

I agree with most. 12 - 14 wins and a finals berth is the minimum pass for 2017. And with so many clubs teetering on form and club health (Pies, Power, Tiges etc...) there is great scope for us to finish as high as 6th. 

Gawn is the key.  One of the young ruckmen has to step up and show some form to give Gawn a break for at least 2 games throughout the year. If he gets injured it definitely diminishes our finals prospects and I expect other clubs to target his influence during games. 

Another important factor is the development in key young players. If 3 of Weideman, Brayshaw, OMac, Hogan, Salem and Petracca make a huge leap in thier development then the sky is the limit on what we can achieve. 

Hogan to win the Coleman

Gawn to be top 3 in the Brownlow

Viney to hurt people and enjoy it

If the Coach is to be successful with his gameplan of more attack I want to see a % of at least 120 by Round 23

15 hours ago, Wiseblood said:

26 wins.  Easy.

I'm no mathematical genius WB, but given we finish top 4 then we only need to win 25 games.

Unless you're counting an end of season exhibition match, which I'm less fussed about winning.

Just now, small but forward said:

I'm no mathematical genius WB, but given we finish top 4 then we only need to win 25 games.

Unless you're counting an end of season exhibition match, which I'm less fussed about winning.

Aren't there 23 rounds?  Then we win the Qualifying Final, then the Prelim and then the flag, which is 26 games which = 26 wins.  Or are there only 22 rounds?

It's off season, I don't know what's going on.

1 minute ago, Wiseblood said:

Aren't there 23 rounds?  Then we win the Qualifying Final, then the Prelim and then the flag, which is 26 games which = 26 wins.  Or are there only 22 rounds?

It's off season, I don't know what's going on.

We can't win the bye, which is one of the 23 rounds ;-)

22 minutes ago, small but forward said:

We can't win the bye, which is one of the 23 rounds ;-)

You are a smarter man than I!  25 wins it is!

Finals 2017.

We have the talent, we have the leaders now, we've got one of the most fleshed out coaching staffs in the league. No excuses.

Expect our midfield to step up this year. With the addition of Lewis our midfield gets better. Our future core of Gawn, Viney, Tyson, Petracca, Brayshaw, Oliver can all improve further and gel together. I expect them to belt teams this year around the contest and spread better than last year. We should finished between 5th-8th depending on injuries. Missing the 8 would be a disaster.

Nothing kills achievement like the weight of expectation.

To win more than 50% of our games, zero losses of 70 points or more, and to see Genuine development in all of our young players. 

i'd love to make finals but i'd still see that as a bonus rather than an expectation, but we should be very close to the mark.

9th at worst, 5th at best (barring injuries to key players) :). Although seeing kevin sheedy's article on the AFL website saying he pretty much expects Essendon to make finals makes me realistic to the possibility of us not making it (i don't think it will be them, but it will be really even and do we have the maturity to win those close games)?

Very much excited for next year.

We will win at least one final, maybe more!

7 hours ago, Wiseblood said:

You are a smarter man than I!  25 wins it is!

If we have to do it like the doggies in 26, then I'll grudgingly take it...

I think we're potentially one of the top three teams in it along with GWS and Bulldogs. GWS and Dogs played the brand of football that everyone will want to copy, contested, ballistic and very capable of scoring quickly.

We gave glimpses of it in 2016 but also dropped off in intensity and were poor. Best example of this was against Adelaide at the G when we kicked 8 goals in the second quarter to lead and look good at half time then disappoint in the second half.

I don't think we can expect us to not disappoint at some stage next year, but I fully expect us to string together 5 or more on the trot and be talked right up by all the media. It's what we then do that will determine our season, up until now whenever there is expectation we have fallen over. Until we deliver we probably have to be sceptical.

Can we be more consistent week in week out like a good side? Can we handle the pressure of success?

Hmmmm. Not yet. 9th

49 minutes ago, deespicable me said:

I think we're potentially one of the top three teams in it along with GWS and Bulldogs. GWS and Dogs played the brand of football that everyone will want to copy, contested, ballistic and very capable of scoring quickly.

We gave glimpses of it in 2016 but also dropped off in intensity and were poor. Best example of this was against Adelaide at the G when we kicked 8 goals in the second quarter to lead and look good at half time then disappoint in the second half.

I don't think we can expect us to not disappoint at some stage next year, but I fully expect us to string together 5 or more on the trot and be talked right up by all the media. It's what we then do that will determine our season, up until now whenever there is expectation we have fallen over. Until we deliver we probably have to be sceptical.

Can we be more consistent week in week out like a good side? Can we handle the pressure of success?

Hmmmm. Not yet. 9th

I disagree (apart from the sentence in bold)! I expect us to win our five games on the trot early in the season, causing membership to surge to 50,000. The momentum will carry us through to the Preliminary (then it is up to everybody)!

Melbourne are consistently finalists at this time of year.

Then comes the harsh reality of round 1.

Yes finally, we do seem to have put together a decent looking team but recent [censored] weak efforts against Carlton, Essendon and StKilda still caste a dark shadow.

I'd love to attend a finals match with Melbourne in it but I'm not prepared to predict it at this time.

36 minutes ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

Melbourne are consistently finalists at this time of year.

Then comes the harsh reality of round 1.

Yes finally, we do seem to have put together a decent looking team but recent [censored] weak efforts against Carlton, Essendon and StKilda still caste a dark shadow.

I'd love to attend a finals match with Melbourne in it but I'm not prepared to predict it at this time.

Sports bet have us at $23, tenth place behind Essendon. Go Figure!

3 hours ago, jackaub said:

Sports bet have us at $23, tenth place behind Essendon. Go Figure!

The Essendon love in is interesting....... wonder if it is just the gambling industry keeping themselves safe from the sentimentality of Bomber supporters

Along with many others I would be extremely disappointed if we do not beat and finish above Essendon, North and St Kilda

Looking at the question from a slightly different angle, which teams are likely to finish ahead of us in 2017, and which teams might be expected to finish around the same mark?  Imo, it's a fair assumption that GWS, the Dogs and Swans will finish top three.  I then have the Dees as part of the next group (which also includes Adelaide and Geelong), who will be vying for the final spot in the top four.  

Given a decent run with injuries, I reckon we can be right in the mix for a top four finish in 2017, with 15 or 16 wins.

Of course I'm looking at this from the perspective of a 'dyed in the (red and blue) wool' Dees supporter, but that's entirely permissible at this time of the year!

 

I expect to be married to Francesca Cumani by the spring.

I will then travel the world drinking Champagne and talking crap.

Injuries are going to be key - we had the best run we've had in a while last year, we had the odd key player out for a couple of weeks here and there but really, all our guns were fit and available for most of the year.  Some of our promising youngsters (e.g. Brayshaw, Salem are two) that didn't have such a great run and they will play an important role this year in our improvement.    As others have said, if Gawn goes down, heaven help us!  Don't forget that what was most amazing about the Doggies flag was their ability to cover multiple injuries throughout the year.  By finals time they had 90% of their best team on the park and only had a couple of injuries to fringe players (Suckling, Jong) so availability at the right time of year is key.

Melksham, Hibberd and Lewis make us look so much better straight away.  But it's still a very competitive league, and a few of the easybeats of last year (e.g. Brisbane, Gold Coast) and the "easybeats" that we couldn't beat (Carlton, Essendon) should be stronger this year, meaning that there are very few gimmes.  I think given a reasonable run we could finish 7th or 8th but I can't see us finishing higher.  Less than 11 wins would be a disappointing year - more than 14 would be a fantastic year. 

1 hour ago, Biffen said:

I expect to be married to Francesca Cumani by the spring.

I will then travel the world drinking Champagne and talking crap.

Your aspirations are soooo mediocre Biffen!

12 hours ago, jackaub said:

Sports bet have us at $23, tenth place behind Essendon. Go Figure!

The "to make top 8 " odds have us ranking 8th we're paying 2.20 ahead of Essendon , Freo , Saints and Port at 2.50 

flag odds are a bit weird though

we're also slight favourites for round 1 v the saints ...?

 

 

 

10 hours ago, Delusional demon 82 said:

The "to make top 8 " odds have us ranking 8th we're paying 2.20 ahead of Essendon , Freo , Saints and Port at 2.50 

flag odds are a bit weird though

we're also slight favourites for round 1 v the saints ...?

 

 

 

Delusional please dont tell me we are favourites ever again.

So $23 is overs then?