What do folks think?

I'm conscious of Peter Jackson's comment in his DL podcast that teams rarely have a straight line improvement like we have.  So this year might be a year where we plateau.

For mine making it to a Prelim is a pass.  That means winning one or two finals depending on where we are at end of H & A games.

Desperately hope we make it to the Granny and win it.  But I won't be heartbroken if we don't and will be very forgiving of the team.

Edited March 21, 20196 yr by Lucifer's Hero

Top 4 and prelim = pass

I put Grand Final but that is based on straight line improvement. In fact in the ladder thread I have us 8th but we could still do some damage from there. I think we will be 3 and 3 from 6 games. That will leave only about 4 more losses for the year which will be hard. We seem to be starting off a bit flat and with a few injuries although at least at this stage they are not our numero unos.

Making the finals and winning a final would be a pass mark.  Gotta be realistic about footy,  we are now the hunted and as you said straight line improvement rarely happens.

It took Hardwick and Richmond until his 8th or 9th season as coach to win a flag, and Tiger fans were calling for his head many times along the way.

 

Edited March 21, 20196 yr by Petraccattack

Agree with you Trac. Finals is a pass mark, with doing something in them a credit, pf = distinction and GF/Premiers is a HD.

Might sound harsh but to me the pass mark is the Flag.

We have the list and and we have the coach. Chances like this do not come along too often.

If we don't win I'll be disappointed and looking for reasons. If those reasons are acceptable then it will be a pass. What would definitely be a failure is to have blowout losses in the final game like last year and like our two GF's in 1988 and 2000.

If I sound too harsh ..have a think about Richmond in 2018... I am sure many of their supporters considered the year a failure. Same with GWS. These chances are for the taking and it's about time we took that chance.

Edited March 21, 20196 yr by Diamond_Jim

Finals are a pass mark for me. 

I'm more bullish about 2020 when Lever has a full season and Oliver, Brayshaw, Harmes and Petracca all would have cracked 100 games and Weideman's finally come off a full season of AFL. Compare that to West Coast with their GF midfield of Redden (188) (Shuey 177), Yeo (105), Hutchings (95) and Sheed (78). They had a midfield that was clearly ready and good enough to win a flag.

We need to our address our small forward department. Is Spargo and an almost finished Garlett enough to go deep this year? Compare that to Collingwood and Richmond's dynamic small forwards.

Furthermore, I think we'll have a slow start to the season (2-4 after Anzac Eve) due to our injury hampered pre-season. We'll be playing catch up from round 6 but should be good enough to win 12-13 games and sneak into 7th-8th.

 

 

Edited March 21, 20196 yr by Bring-Back-Powell

Minor and major premiership, for/against points above 200% and 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the Brownlow and 22 in the All Australian final squad. 

Absolute minimum would be a top 6 finish and a home final. Not saying I would be happy with that...

When we make the Top 4 then you would want to make the Prelim and win to make  the GF . When you are in the GF you will want to win the Premiership nothing less,  FULL censored STOP.

I think we should be aiming for at least one better than last year - ie win a prelim final. Why should a pass mark be any less than this?

Preliminary Final = Pass

We must improve each year....

Surely a pass mark is finals but we're all aiming a bit higher than simply a "pass mark"?

1 hour ago, dl4e said:

I put Grand Final but that is based on straight line improvement. In fact in the ladder thread I have us 8th but we could still do some damage from there. I think we will be 3 and 3 from 6 games. That will leave only about 4 more losses for the year which will be hard. We seem to be starting off a bit flat and with a few injuries although at least at this stage they are not our numero unos.

I agree. From what I have seen of the team so far this year they appear to be quite uninspiring,. I know it is early in the season, but the zip from last year seems to have gone missing. 3 and 3 in the first six might be optimistic. 

Hope l am wrong, but l fear l am not. Usually l am optimistic this time of year....

Sorry, but can't settle for anything less than the flag. Time is running out for many of us. Have to finish high to avoid the cursed interstate finals. Win a home Prelim and then a Premiership Cup at the MCG, where MFC belongs.

Premiership... that is all

Prelim and win and to make Granny

Flag yes but hit to give self a chance and make the Big Dance!

Flag would be great and 50/50 if make GF

Tough draw, early injuries, that friggin suspension,and a 4 day break doesn't help.Need a bit of help from lady luck if we are going to play off in the granny.

Who do we play each side of that 4 day break??

2 hours ago, doc roet said:

Tough draw, early injuries, that friggin suspension,and a 4 day break doesn't help.Need a bit of help from lady luck if we are going to play off in the granny.

Who do we play each side of that 4 day break?? 

Just noticed Richmond coming off 4 day break too so probably fair.

Found it.

Play stkilda on the sat 20/4 then Richmond 4 days later on the following Wednesday. Big ask.

Edited March 21, 20196 yr by doc roet

Play and win at least one final is my pass mark. I think our best side playing its best football is good enough to finish top 4 and challenge for the premiership, but you only need 1 or 2 injuries to key players to take that away.