Looking ahead ... the Path to September

[leave it to deever 17,485]

The good news is in the last quarter we saw glimpses of Max and Jesse at their best. We will obviously need them to stand up and win some games for us. I hope Watts doesn't struggle to get back to his best and I also hope Jeffy can regain his brilliance that has been missing of late. It seems as if his time off interrupted his form as well. I'm surprised at how well we have done this year given our injuries. If we just slip out of the final 8 it wont be from lack of trying and we will be a lock for next year.

[Diamond_Jim 12,367]

11 minutes ago, leave it to deever said:

The good news is in the last quarter we saw glimpses of Max and Jesse at their best. We will obviously need them to stand up and win some games for us. I hope Watts doesn't struggle to get back to his best and I also hope Jeffy can regain his brilliance that has been missing of late. It seems as if his time off interrupted his form as well. I'm surprised at how well we have done this year given our injuries. If we just slip out of the final 8 it wont be from lack of trying and we will be a lock for next year.

One thing I learnt as a Demon supporter is that next year is a whole new ball game and going up in form is not guaranteed.

This is our year in the sense that the top teams are only marginally better than the middle ranked teams. History shows that this is the exception rather than the rule.

Go Dees

[leave it to deever 17,485]

3 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

One thing I learnt as a Demon supporter is that next year is a whole new ball game and going up in form is not guaranteed.

This is our year in the sense that the top teams are only marginally better than the middle ranked teams. History shows that this is the exception rather than the rule.

Go Dees

Agreed DJ but we are predominately a young side and as such we may find ourselves getting better and better if we can replace Vince and Jones. I hope we play finals this year more than anything. I guess I changed my expectations after the freo and hawks losses only to get excited again after the crows and eagles wins. In any event like last year this year has been a huge improvement. Last weekends game the Dees of old would have packed it in at half time. 

This year has been a shocker with injuries so I feel this needs to be accounted for and  I wont be shattered if we miss out despite already booking accommodation in Melb. for Sep.

[Ricky P 757]

I reckon if we win three from here we'll probably make it and if we win four we'll definitely make it. A win this week would be absolutely massive.

[Diamond_Jim 12,367]

5 minutes ago, Ricky P said:

I reckon if we win three from here we'll probably make it and if we win four we'll definitely make it. A win this week would be absolutely massive.

Spot on Ricky ... 12 and a good percentage will probably get the 8th place but two other teams also on 12 will miss out.

13 wins (four more needed) definitely sees us playing on that fresh September grass !

Moreover we will be going into the finals on a winning streak

[Ricky P 757]

1 minute ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Spot on Ricky ... 12 and a good percentage will probably get the 8th place but two other teams also on 12 will miss out.

13 wins (four more needed) definitely sees us playing on that fresh September grass !

Moreover we will be going into the finals on a winning streak

I'm bricking it at the thought of having to beat Collingwood in the last round to make it. Really want to have it done and dusted by then!

[Diamond_Jim 12,367]

12 minutes ago, Ricky P said:

I'm bricking it at the thought of having to beat Collingwood in the last round to make it. Really want to have it done and dusted by then!

Nah... that will be part of the joy and let's face it ... if we can't beat Collingwood (apparently Pendlebury is out for the rest of the season) with our full team we won't be going anywhere come finals time

[hells bells 2,023]

I note that North have lost 2 players for the rest of the year too.  Jacobs ans one other.

[Diamond_Jim 12,367]

44 minutes ago, hells bells said:

I note that North have lost 2 players for the rest of the year too.  Jacobs ans one other.

Saw that...

My main concern with North is the venue.

If we get caught on a windy wet day in Hobart it could be blind luck that determines the outcome. A little like those kicks off the ground in the wet that won Collingwood this weeks game against the Suns

[What 18,810]

The Dogs have lost Jake Stringer for the next 3-4 matches.  

They have a couple of fairly 'easy' games in that run though (GOld Coast at home,.Brisbane in Brisbane). 

Could of course lose both of them though.

[DubDee 24,455]

Question: why is there a floating round 23 when there is a bye the week after?

[Diamond_Jim 12,367]

25 minutes ago, DubDee said:

Question: why is there a floating round 23 when there is a bye the week after?

Good question

I suppose because they are talking of finals on Thursday, Friday etc they want to make sure that the teams likely to play on the Thursday are given the full advantage of the bye. For example if a team playing Thursday were to play its final home and away game on the road in Perth on Sunday afternoon and then end up playing a team that played at home on the Friday night it might not be considered fair.

Agree though.... once you have the bye the impact is substantially lessened.

 

[monoccular 17,338]

If we do get to finals after the annus horribilus we have had injury wise it will be quite an achievement.  

If we don't it will be a very firm foundation for a genuine challenge in the coming years.

Whatever, a very positive year.

Edited July 18, 2017 by monoccular

[monoccular 17,338]

1 hour ago, DubDee said:

Question: why is there a floating round 23 when there is a bye the week after?

 

41 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Good question

I suppose because they are talking of finals on Thursday, Friday etc they want to make sure that the teams likely to play on the Thursday are given the full advantage of the bye. For example if a team playing Thursday were to play its final home and away game on the road in Perth on Sunday afternoon and then end up playing a team that played at home on the Friday night it might not be considered fair.

Agree though.... once you have the bye the impact is substantially lessened.

 

Surely it just another knee jerk reaction by the jerks at AFL house. Like the third man up, deliberate OOB, rushed behind, elbows sometimes ok, sometimes not, head sacrosanct or not, jumper punch +/-, personal consenting adult activities, etc, etc

[Little Richard 6,216]

Obviously GWS and Port will be the biggest tests. I'm confident that we'll finally get the monkey off the back and hammer North though. St Kilda and Collingwood will be interesting, but I think we'll knock them both off. We should be too good for Brisbane at the MCG and Port are yet to beat anyone in the top 8, aside from Sydney at the beginning of the year. 

With a few players back in the next couple of weeks, I could actually see us winning 4-5 of the last 6. We just need to maintain our frantic attack and pressure.

[buck_nekkid 5,819]

1 minute ago, Luther said:

Obviously GWS and Port will be the biggest tests. I'm confident that we'll finally get the monkey off the back and hammer North though. St Kilda and Collingwood will be interesting, but I think we'll knock them both off. We should be too good for Brisbane at the MCG and Port are yet to beat anyone in the top 8, aside from Sydney at the beginning of the year. 

With a few players back in the next couple of weeks, I could actually see us winning 4-5 of the last 6. We just need to maintain our frantic attack and pressure.

Perhaps 'rediscover ' our frantic attack and pressure??

[pineapple dee 2,892]

On 11/07/2017 at 11:28 AM, pinkshark said:

that be a premiership side...

Be Ye a pirate , pink. ????? Arrrrrrrrrrrrgh !!!!!

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

I just did a ladder predictor, with us winning three more games I have us at eighth (assuming percentage doesn't change too much) and playing Geelong in the first final. If we do make finals the key is trying to avoid Sydney first up.

Incredibly, I have Essendon finishing fourth but my tipping is bad so don't take much notice of that.

[rpfc 28,052]

We are a show to be 10 and 7 this weekend, and have played some great footy this year.

Why can't some of you just enjoy it rather than excreting depression all over the site?

We have had some brave wins and we have had some excellent wins and right now two more wins than losses...

Your Demons have a few injuries but play an exciting brand of footy and are in 7th spot with 6 games to go!

Get around us!

[bandicoot 1,395]

1 hour ago, DubDee said:

Question: why is there a floating round 23 when there is a bye the week after?

They want to try get all the games that have an effect on top 8 to be played at the same time. Similar to what happens in the epl. 

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,389]

Is it just me but if we unfortunately miss the finals, would anyone else rather Essendon take our place rather than St Kilda?

We've had a nice rivalry with the Saints as to who reaches September first, and it would be nice to get there first.

 

[monoccular 17,338]

28 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Is it just me but if we unfortunately miss the finals, would anyone else rather Essendon take our place rather than St Kilda?

We've had a nice rivalry with the Saints as to who reaches September first, and it would be nice to get there first.

 

Neither thanks

How about Brisbane, as a wild card? ???  Gil? 

[DubDee 24,455]

3 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Good question

I suppose because they are talking of finals on Thursday, Friday etc they want to make sure that the teams likely to play on the Thursday are given the full advantage of the bye. For example if a team playing Thursday were to play its final home and away game on the road in Perth on Sunday afternoon and then end up playing a team that played at home on the Friday night it might not be considered fair.

Agree though.... once you have the bye the impact is substantially lessened.

 

Call me a cynic but I am beginning to think it might to be for the AFL to maximise ratings.  See who will be playing off for finals spots and put them in the high rating spots

I reckon we can expect a Sat night game

[praha 11,131]

2 hours ago, rpfc said:

We are a show to be 10 and 7 this weekend, and have played some great footy this year.

Why can't some of you just enjoy it rather than excreting depression all over the site?

We have had some brave wins and we have had some excellent wins and right now two more wins than losses...

Your Demons have a few injuries but play an exciting brand of footy and are in 7th spot with 6 games to go!

Get around us!

So much this. I'll be disappointed and admittedly probably a little suicidal if we miss finals but it's been a great albeit frustrating at times season. We've been right in it, and if we miss, while everyone will laugh down our "excuses", we can genuinely blame a number of variables for missing. It's one thing to have injuries, but to lose key personalle constantly, and then lose your entire spine from the half back to half forward makes things very tough. We have been absolutely murdered by injuries and yet still find ourselves thereabouts with teams with little to not injuries. Looking at Port's injury list compared to ours, it's infuriating...but it is what it is, to use an old Neeldism. We could be 10th with 3 rounds to go and still be an extremely good chance to make it. Some here say 12 wins won't be enough but the top 10 play each other quite a bit in the final 6 weeks so 12 wins should get it done you'd imagine. Some say our wins against WC and Adelaide made up for our losses to Freo and Hawks (or North) but I still feel those losses will come back to haunt us the most. Win those and we're locked for finals. We didn't though so we now find a good test of character for this team. This week isn't quite a "must win" but it's very important. We need to start performing on the MCG and winning our home games (I think we're like 3-6 in home games this year).

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,389]

The AGE has us finishing 8th with a 12-10 record and playing Richmond (5th) in week 1.

They've tipped us to only beat North, Brisbane and Collingwood but yet still make it.

 

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-rules-out-concurrent-games-for-live-teams-in-possible-round-23-finals-logjam-20170717-gxczlu.html