Road to the finals (the last 12 games)

[Adzman 2,154]

If we are going to make finals then we simply must find a way of stringing multiple wins in a row and going in as favourites and winning as favourites.

The schedule isn't strong enough to keep us out of the 8, it will come down to whether the group can find the intensity to play well back to back to back for the rest of 2017.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Adzman

[At Least I Saw a Flag 5,222]

1 hour ago, Skuit said:

Universities now have to operate as pseudo-corporate entities in the liberal-economic market - hence, they become naming sponsors of football-ovals in regions far removed from their primary campus . . . ?

In galaxies far away?

[Skuit 10,031]

9 minutes ago, Danelska said:

What do you mean by this @Skuit?

Mostly I meant having the confidence to rest key players both senior and junior at certain times. I thought our core drivers in the Adelaide win looked very tired vs. North and I was worried going into GC after their bye. Petracca seems spent and is possibly carrying a niggle. Oliver is being managed through ToG%. Hunt is out of sorts after/since the knock. People seem convinced Watts has the flu. But Goodwin's probably not at the stage where he can rest players after a win such as Adelaide (from a morale/development point of view), and our bye was also just around the corner. We're a young team whether our fans want to accept it or not, and our senior leaders aren't the Energiser Bunny types. We have a punishing schedule coming up, travel and short breaks, and if we're to make any real assault on the finals, we will need to manage the players. Geelong, Hawthorn, Freo - all these teams in recent years have done so as an ingredient of their success in getting to the grand final.

[Skuit 10,031]

5 minutes ago, bingers said:

In galaxies far away?

Canberra certainly seems another planet to me.

[Dr. Gonzo 24,190]

Competitions so even that it's pretty pointless looking further than a week ahead. None of those games scare me all of them are eminently winnable but we could also lose any one of them too (though losing to the Lions would be a massive kick in the nads)

All in all its entirely in our hands 

 

[Diamond_Jim 12,546]

6 minutes ago, Skuit said:

Mostly I meant having the confidence to rest key players both senior and junior at certain times. I thought our core drivers in the Adelaide win looked very tired vs. North and I was worried going into GC after their bye. Petracca seems spent and is possibly carrying a niggle. Oliver is being managed through ToG%. Hunt is out of sorts after/since the knock. People seem convinced Watts has the flu. But Goodwin's probably not at the stage where he can rest players after a win such as Adelaide (from a morale/development point of view), and our bye was also just around the corner. We're a young team whether our fans want to accept it or not, and our senior leaders aren't the Energiser Bunny types. We have a punishing schedule coming up, travel and short breaks, and if we're to make any real assault on the finals, we will need to manage the players. Geelong, Hawthorn, Freo - all these teams in recent years have done so as an ingredient of their success in getting to the grand final.

We are not a young team .... we are almost the same average age as all the other teams

Our problem is that a number of our better players are young..... testimony to our woeful performance over so many years

[Biffen 12,940]

2 hours ago, Return to Glory said:

Optimistically, we can get 7, possibly 8 wins in the run home. That's us playing finals. Rounds 13, 14, 17 and 20 look very hard. But we can jag at least one of these

And we need to beat Norf, we just need to. Not just because of the points but because I hate that non entity of a club. Watched one of there players stand over Vince when he was  doubled up on the ground and scream in his ear. It was just shite and symbolic of how that tin can club has bullied us. That needs to end. 

Start building the melee kitty I say.

[praha 11,236]

IMO we're the fourth-best side in the comp, performance wise, behind Adelaide, GWS and Bulldogs (who are actually having a very similar season to us). We're one game off fourth. I still don't rate Geelong, beyond Selwood and Dangerfield they have a sizeable gap of talent. Adelaide can plug some holes and they had a bad fortnight but you can't write them off, and they're probably the best-performing interstate side on the MCG.

Richmond are pushovers, the Perth teams won't last into the season, and the gap between Port's best and worst is probably the largest in the league (yes, greater than ours). Their percentage however keeps them are likely finalists.

We're 5-5 without KP players. IMO, Freo and Richmond will drop out of the current top 8. Possibly WC as well. From last year, North, Sydney, Hawthorn are out. Port will take one spot. That leaves 2 additional spots. I know we lost to them but in the long run we're better than both Perth teams and Richmond.

We'll play finals.

[Skuit 10,031]

2 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

We are not a young team .... we are almost the same average age as all the other teams

Our problem is that a number of our better players are young..... testimony to our woeful performance over so many years

Yes. That is exactly what I mean when I say we're a young team. Everyone deep down understands it and it's less-winded than having to qualify it every time. A huge number of our most important players are kids. The three players I mentioned as looking tired/out of sorts in Petracca. Oliver and Hunt have all played under 30 games of AFL football. If they were all out of the team in the lead-up to a final, we would be wildly concerned about our chances.

[chookrat 4,247]

3 hours ago, brendan said:

Round 12 vs Collingwood (MCG)---win

Round 13 vs Western Bulldogs (Etihad)---loss

Round 14 vs West Coast (Domain Stadium - Perth)------loss

Round 15 vs Sydney (MCG)----win

Round 16 vs Carlton (MCG)-----win

Round 17 vs Adelaide (TIO - Darwin)---win

Round 18 vs Port Adelaide (MCG)----win

Round 19 vs North Melbourne (Hobart)---win

Round 20 vs GWS (UNSW - Sydney)---loss

Round 21 vs St.Kilda (MCG)-----win

Round 22 vs Brisbane (MCG)----win

Round 23 vs Collingwood (MCG)-----win

 

think im being optimistic but I would say we will drop a game against a team we should win and we will jag a win against a bulldogs or eagles in Perth, some very interesting games the Friday night game against the swans sticks out as a massive game for us on the big stage 

I reckon we will lose to Carlton, Brisbane and Sydney but beat everyone else. It is the Melbourne way.

[beelzebub 23,313]

2 hours ago, Danelska said:

What do you mean by this @Skuit?

Changing to plan B....or C when needed...not 30 mins late. Against some opponents you might get away with it. As we get closer to September we probably wont be the only improvers.

Blink at the wrong moment, you're done.

The Box will need to act as ( or even before) the match requires.

There's a lot of sliding doors in footy.

Don't wont to be uttering ' missed by that much' !!

[McQueen 17,864]

This bye break is so crucial to our second half of the season. We've had a lot of passengers over the last few weeks and you can see that for many of them, it's been a physical struggle more than a mental one. Petracca is one, Watts another and no doubt the midfield brigade is ultra sore given how hard they attack the contested ball. 

With the players getting a rest and a chance to rejuvenate and the coaches getting an extra week to analyse our performances this far, I believe we're ready to approach the back half with vigour and confidence.

[Sir Why You Little 36,983]

6 hours ago, Return to Glory said:

 

we need to beat Norf, we just need to. Not just because of the points but because I hate that non entity of a club. Watched one of there players stand over Vince when he was  doubled up on the ground and scream in his ear. It was just shite and symbolic of how that tin can club has bullied us. That needs to end. 

Amen to that Brother...

[bringbackthebiff 654]

I've heard something like this after most of our games this year "if we play like that we will be smashed by the good teams". Out of interest, for the 2017 season, who are these mythical teams? 

Edited May 28, 2017 by bringbackthebiff

[mrtwister 652]

It's pretty simple from here on. 

'Manage' our important players for the interstate/away games and win all our mcg games. Sneak into the eight with a plethora of well rested players and do a Bulldogs. 

 

[bringbackthebiff 654]

23 minutes ago, mrtwister said:

It's pretty simple from here on. 

'Manage' our important players for the interstate/away games and win all our mcg games. Sneak into the eight with a plethora of well rested players and do a Bulldogs. 

 

I really like that - making the top 8 would be awesome. 

However there are other alternatives. One of them is to also sneak a few interstate/away games and make the top 4. After this round we are potentially 2 games from second. 

[Biffen 12,940]

6 minutes ago, bringbackthebiff said:

I really like that - making the top 8 would be awesome. 

However there are other alternatives. One of them is to also sneak a few interstate/away games and make the top 4. After this round we are potentially 2 games from second. 

Egads man,are you quite mad?

 

[bringbackthebiff 654]

Yep ?

[Gator 17,281]

We're one win from 4th place due to our percentage.

We should be top 4 right now.  We would be top 4 if it wasn't for injury.

Maybe it hasn't been a bad thing to help players to not get ahead of themselves.

The harder they have to graft will hopefully hold them in good stead.

[Hellaintabadplacetobe 4,294]

Reckon there are 3 of the current top 8 spots up for grabs, all of Richmond, Freo and WC are very shaky and not deserving of finalists. Tiges might slip in but I can`t see either WA teams making. WC can`t win in Melbourne and are now losing them at home. 

Get Max and Jesse back and ww can steam into the eight.

[John Crow Batty 8,861]

11 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Competitions so even that it's pretty pointless looking further than a week ahead. None of those games scare me all of them are eminently winnable but we could also lose any one of them too (though losing to the Lions would be a massive kick in the nads)

All in all its entirely in our hands 

 

One thing I predict even though it's been a very even season, the post bye season will start to sort out the real contenders from the pretenders. I think we are in a good position and this is our best opportunity to have a decent crack in a decade. 

Edited May 28, 2017 by america de cali

[Moonshadow 17,675]

At the beginning of the year I thought our finals chances rested on beating the teams we should beat and winning games decided by a kick rather than losing them. That's what good finals teams do. 

The losses to Dockers, Hawks and Tigers have hurt. I truly hope we can rectify this after the bye.

[bandicoot 1,395]

17 hours ago, jumbo returns said:

Wow....tough run home!

Only 5 of the last 12 games are against sides in the 8... could be much harder 

[puntkick 325]

After 10 rounds considering our outs I think we're optimistically bound for finals with a real chance.

Whilst no mathematician I see our average winning margin of 35 points and our average losing margin of 12 points as encouraging.

With " half an ounce of luck " for a change and a little luck for our " Whole " team the skies the limit.

However some paid or unpaid GURU needs to turn up before QB to kickstart our first quarters !

.

 

[bandicoot 1,395]

5 hours ago, ProDee said:

We're one win from 4th place due to our percentage.

We should be top 4 right now.  We would be top 4 if it wasn't for injury.

Maybe it hasn't been a bad thing to help players to not get ahead of themselves.

The harder they have to graft will hopefully hold them in good stead.

 Have us winning every game if Gawn and hogan were playing.