1 hour ago, Cassiew said:

I’d rather do a Richmond (win a flag and have a good season after to reward new signed up members) than do a Footscray (don’t even make the finals after winning one.)

Cass you raise a very good point and very relevant to the MFC.

However, if you look at the numbers the Tigers did much of their hard work on a membership front long before they landed a premiership. 

Premierships are won over, many, many years of hard consistent work and you have to "tick so many boxes" to make it happen. 

Only time will tell if we can also "tick so many boxes" to make it happen. 

Also Richmond haven't had their chance yet to do a Footscray. I don't think they will miss finals this year but I didn't think the Bulldogs would either at the start of 2017. 

 Meh. It’s footy. Anything can happen and predictions are useless. Forget what has happened in the past or what other teams have done/are doing.  Just support our blokes, keep fingers crossed that we stay relatively injury free and with our progressive natural improvement we will be there in September. 2018 Premiers? Probably unlikely but the next 5 years or so will be great fun for Dee supporters regardless.

I see us as a top 6 side this year. A good run with injuries and with some much needed momentum, and we’re even better than that.

The ANZAC Day eve game against Richmond this year is going to be a belter.

It’s not inconceivable to think we might get a crowd of 90,000 plus.

 

 

1 hour ago, Ron Burgundy said:

I see us as a top 6 side this year. A good run with injuries and with some much needed momentum, and we’re even better than that.

We could finish as high as 3rd or as low as 14th, it is going to be an incredibly even season.

I don't like being compared to Richmond on anything.

I know a mad Richmond fan who didn't even watch his team's practice match, a capital crime for him in seasons past. Says he'll wait until Round 1 to get back into footy. Spoilt [censored]

I never plan on vomiting on myself or microwaving my membership, no matter how successful it may make me. 

Dignity is irreplaceable.

I would say with their bright young side they’ll do fine this year

On 26/02/2018 at 11:56 AM, Demonland said:

I like that this view is so diametrically opposed to the view of Robbo last week. I think I'm sitting cautiously somewhere in the middle. I believe we can be a top 4 side but Round 23 still haunts me and I have severe trust issues as a result.

We need to win the Freo, North, Hawthorn & Rd 23 games that we dropped last year to be a serious contender for anything.

This has been an issue for the past 2-3 years. Unless we grow up as a team and consistently win the games we should, we'll never be more than a run-with as we were during the Daniher years. Opposition fans didn't respect us from 2004-2006 because we were pushovers and often lost to the likes of Carlton and dropped games against interstate clubs at the MCG when they couldn't otherwise win there. We'd go on losing streaks and eventually find a way to play finals. A bit like North of the past couple of years before 2017, although the irony is they always beat us, a team they should have and did always beat comfortably.

I don't trust this team yet.

13 minutes ago, praha said:

This has been an issue for the past 2-3 years. Unless we grow up as a team and consistently win the games we should, we'll never be more than a run-with as we were during the Daniher years. Opposition fans didn't respect us from 2004-2006 because we were pushovers and often lost to the likes of Carlton and dropped games against interstate clubs at the MCG when they couldn't otherwise win there. We'd go on losing streaks and eventually find a way to play finals. A bit like North of the past couple of years before 2017, although the irony is they always beat us, a team they should have and did always beat comfortably.

I don't trust this team yet.

Between 2004 to 2006 we hardly lost at the MCG to anyone, and almost never to interstate teams, we could not win at docklands ever in those years.

Edited February 27, 20187 yr by don't make me angry

On 26/02/2018 at 1:22 PM, The Chazz said:

I think the problem was that everyone thought the Bulldogs flag was such a fluke, that there was no way it'd happen again.  Then bugger me, Richmond came out and fluke a flag the very next year.  All of a sudden it's a possibility that any time that finished 5-18th the year before could come in and get their fluke too.  The media now know this and run with it to fill papers, so that they can then fill more papers later in the year when that team fails.

North will make finals this year and probably win the flag. Who says ???? Brad "chuckles" Scott, that's who . Good enough for you ??

6 hours ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

I never plan on vomiting on myself or microwaving my membership, no matter how successful it may make me. 

Dignity is irreplaceable.

Would you consider spitting on the coach?

5 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

Would you consider spitting on the coach?

That "supporter" is gone now - Tigers kicked him out. I've never met an AFL coach I would not speak highly about - toughest gig in football. So many boxes that need to be ticked - so many boxes out of their control. Then so much of your reputation is in the hands of the media - its almost become a sport in itself "death by media".  So many numpties read the media and have no understanding what any AFL coach faces. 

Its almost coming to the stage where an AFL coach needs an AFL media / journalist degree before they start their tenure. 

Edited February 27, 20187 yr by DaveyDee

Last year we lost both our captains, our AA  and backup ruckman (at one stage Jack Watts was our ruckman) main KPF, Brayshaw, Kent, and Salem didn’t progress as expected with their injury issues, plus the suspensions we had, never mind the winnable games we threw away. Despite this we were 0.5% off a finals berth. All things being equal if we can get even one more game out of Hogan next year we make the 8 and when that happens all bets are off. It’s time to believe.

Doing a Richmond= no injuries and getting off at the mrp/tribunal.

Given our records for both it's not likely to happen. We filled a hospital with key players last season, and any time our guys got near some trouble they paid the price with a suspension.

Richmond got lucky, and if we are to pinch a flag then we need some luck to go our way.

How about we settle down. Lets focus on just making the Finals first then they can focus on trying to win it if they make it.

If Richmond did a Melbourne last year and had our injury list to key players then not only do they not win the flag they probably don’t make the 8, we lost gawn, hogan, jones and viney 4 of our best players for big chunks what if Richmond lost reiwoldt, Martin rance and cotchin for similar time, no chance they play finals, all things being equal I believe we could have pushed for top 4 last year 

13 hours ago, pineapple dee said:

North will make finals this year and probably win the flag. Who says ???? Brad "chuckles" Scott, that's who . Good enough for you ??

What's your problem?

While I could've worded my post a bit better, my point was in response to why the media run these sorts of articles.  It's to fill the 5th-18th teams supporters with hope before the season starts, mainly because a lot of those supporters will dare to dream, especially given the last two premiers.

Does that mean I think North, Brisbane, Carlton have any chance of winning the flag?  Absolutely not.  But there are many of their nuffies out there that probably do, and if there is an article written about it, they will read it.

Now, go away and annoy someone else please.

8 hours ago, Goffer said:

Last year we lost both our captains, our AA  and backup ruckman (at one stage Jack Watts was our ruckman) main KPF, Brayshaw, Kent, and Salem didn’t progress as expected with their injury issues, plus the suspensions we had, never mind the winnable games we threw away. Despite this we were 0.5% off a finals berth. All things being equal if we can get even one more game out of Hogan next year we make the 8 and when that happens all bets are off. It’s time to believe.

We really did get slaughtered by injury. Would have made the finals easily if we just had slightly more luck.

I don't think we can do a Richmond - purely because I don't think we've got a one dimensional game plan. The last 2 flags have been won by the team with the best game plan come Sept, rather than the best team. The Doggies had that back line pressure then wave type running from half back and then the Tigs had that maniacal forward pressure. I just think that Sydney and Adelaide (who I thought were the best teams of '16 & '17 - my opinion) just thought they could play there own games without regard to the doggies and tigs game plan. 

I'd prefer to have a team capable of matching up against anything the opposition throw at us, similar to the great Hawks teams, and I see Goody building something like that, rather than just relying on one game plan. 

Edited February 27, 20187 yr by Red and Blue realist
spelling

The Bulldogs flag win was an absolute fluke. How they went from finishing 7th and ending the season with a loss to a 3-18 side to winning a flag defies a logic.

The Richmond flag win was anything but a fluke. They dominated all 3 of their finals, and I cannot remember a premiership side who has won all their finals by 3 qtr time. Not to mention they also won 9 of their last 10 games including finals.

 

Edited February 27, 20187 yr by Bring-Back-Powell

6 minutes ago, Petraccattack said:

We really did get slaughtered by injury. Would have made the finals easily if we just had slightly more luck.

Wasn't injury, wasn't luck.

In spite of all those setbacks we were already in the 8.

Our destiny was in our own hands and we let it slip through to the floor, tripped over it, and broke our necks on it.

25 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

The Bulldogs flag win was an absolute fluke. How they went from finishing 7th and ending the season with a loss to a 3-18 side to winning a flag defies a logic.

The Richmond flag win was anything but a fluke. They dominated all 3 of their finals, and I cannot remember a premiership side who has won all their finals by 3 qtr time. Not to mention they also won 9 of their last 10 games including finals.

 

I don't think any flag could be considered a fluke, but they all involve a lot of luck. The dogs were incredibly fortunate to have that week off pre-finals, meant a couple of key players got fit and probably allowed the eagles to drink their own bathwater and think they'd beat them easy. The Hawks were coming to the end of their dynasty and looked tired, the game against GWS (sensational game) could have gone either way but the giants looked tired by the end. In the grand final I took it that Sydney paid no respect to their game plan and just thought they could play on their terms.

The Tigs got on a great run of form, had no injuries at all, then had a game plan that most didn't think would stack up in finals, but obviously it did incredibly well.

I'd prefer that we became a great football team with good tactics, rather than have great tactics and hope a good football team can carry them out. 

41 minutes ago, Mazer Rackham said:

Wasn't injury, wasn't luck.

In spite of all those setbacks we were already in the 8.

Our destiny was in our own hands and we let it slip through to the floor, tripped over it, and broke our necks on it.

You are so right!

So tired of pathetic excuses sure we had injuries etc we were a youngish side

No excuses for the lack of heart and desire at the season end

We should have played a final and will miss that experience going forward this year