2 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Eagles loss last round combined with Tigers win means no top 4 for them.

The plus is that 5 or 6 gets them their first final in Perth. Fourth would see them play all finals outside Perth.

I think they are content with going home to Perth for almost three weeks and then return to Brisbane or even better Adelaide for the second round of the finals as compared to five more weeks post end of the home and away in the Qld hub.

Their last game for the home and away season is on Thursday night which means they will comfortably make the two week WA quarantine. Of course their competitor is another matter

Are you suggesting WC will throw tomorrow nights game just so they finish outside the top 4?

Its that kind of year.

1 PORT ADELAIDE Played 15, 48 pts, 131.4% 

TO COME: Essendon Collingwood 

2 BRISBANE LIONS Played 15, 48 pts, 

TO COME Sydney Carlton 122.1%

3 GEELONG Played 15, 44 pts, 145.1%

TO COME Richmond Sydney

4 RICHMOND Played 15, 42 pts, 123.6%

TO COME Geelong Adelaide 

5 WEST COAST Played 15, 40 pts, 115.1%

TO COME St Kilda North Melbourne

6 COLLINGWOOD Played 15, 34 pts, 110.1%

TO COME Gold Coast Port Adelaide

7 ST KILDA Played 15, 36 pts, 113.9%

TO COME West Coast GWS Giants 

8 GWS GIANTS Played 15, 32 points, 101.2

TO COME Melbourne St Kilda

9 W. BULLDOGS Played 15, 32 points, 100.3%

TO COME Hawthorn Fremantle 

10 MELBOURNE Played 15, 28 points, 106.1

TO COME GWS Giants Essendon 

11 CARLTON Played 15, 28 points, 97.0%

TO COME Adelaide Brisbane Lions

12 ESSENDON Played 15, 26 points, 82.9%

TO COME Port Adelaide Melbourne

13 FREMANTLE Played 15, 24 points, 88.7%

TO COME North Melbourne Western Bulldogs 

14 GOLD COAST Played 15, 22 points, 96.7%

TO COME Collingwood Hawthorn 

15 SYDNEY Played 15, 20 points, 84.1%

TO COME Brisbane Lions  Geelong

16 HAWTHORN Played 15, 16 points, 80.7%

TO COME Western Bulldogs Gold Coast 

17 NORTH MELBOURNE Played 15, 12 points, 74.6%

TO COME Fremantle West Coast

18 ADELAIDE Played 15, 8 points, 62.7%

TO COME Carlton Richmond

15 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Are you suggesting WC will throw tomorrow nights game just so they finish outside the top 4?

Its that kind of year.

Looking at the alternatives of 5 weeks in the Qld hub vs a possibility of two must be tempting.

Sure it comes at the cost of a four game finals comp v a possible 3 with a double chance but given the fluctuations in Eagles performance when in a long term foreign hub...............

Is this possible?

What needs to happen?

Anyone??

The answer is yes.

Win both games and Dogs drop one.

Mathematical if we only win 1 it is technically possible but close enough to impossible to ignore. 
Realistically we must win both and have any one of the following happen:

WB lose one of their last two (Haw, Freo) and keep our ~6% lead
Coll lose both (Suns, Port) their draw makes percentage irrelevant
Stk lose both (WC, GWS) and we must make up ~8% 

I expect the maximum pain, so this will likely have us win both and then be forced to endure 2017 all over again watching us fall from inside the 8 to out after our last game. When either the Dogs or the Pies win the following 2 days

Edited September 10, 20205 yr by ArtificialWisdom

We have to win both games and by reasonable margins. Cannot see it happening. 

Dogs will win Both. We Blew it twice

Best bet is for the dogs to lose one and we win both. That should see us earn a flight across the Nullarbor for a date with WC. 

Interest and care factor zero. The on-going disappointments have done their damage. 

Mathematically yes. Sportbet price is $6. Not very appealing odds.

Edited September 10, 20205 yr by Better days ahead

20 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Dogs will win Both. We Blew it twice

Yeah we sure did, almost comical classic Melbourne when you think of it.  

I think we can rule out relying on Saints to lose both ,  WCE midfield is completely decimated tonight .

Dogs in good form but Freo in Cairns could be tricky. Let's hope they fly in 3 hours prior to the match lol. 

Besides, wet weather forecast in SE Qld,  I think we all know what that means. 

Do we want to? Too much heartbreak there.

By my count...

Saints have Eagles and GWS.

Bulldogs have Hawthorn and Fremantle.

GWS have Melbourne and Saints.

melbourne have GWS and Essendon.

 

We win both and Saints lose both, we're in.
We win both and Bulldogs lose one, we're in.

27 minutes ago, hemingway said:

Interest and care factor zero. The on-going disappointments have done their damage. 

You are far from alone Ernest, unless a few things happen in Oct- Nov. There are going to a lot less members come 2021. 

Sadly would not be amazed if we lost both. Would be equally unsurprised if we sneaked two wins and finished ninth. Either way the last two weeks have been profoundly sobering, deflating, disappointing and much more.

Technically possible, but it's doubtful considering our pathetic recent efforts against bottom clubs. We'd have to win both matches and rely on others losing. We had the chance to cement a finals spot and we blew it by repeatedly losing to bottom teams. 

We don't deserve to play finals, and even we miraculously make it we're not a contender and will likely get thumped by whoever finishes 5th (likely West Coast in Perth).

We need to focus on 2021 and turning overhauling our midfield, forward line, and game style.

Dogs have played several times in Cairns over the years just to add to the equation.

Can we..yes

Will we...no 

The question really is .. will we even win another game?

I suspect we'll lose to GWS.

If not the Dogs will do just enough. Bont kicked the winning goal against the Eagles that was touched on the line and came from a 7m kick. That's the kind of BS that's perfect to knock us off

We won't beat GWS anyway. Dogs will win both their games. No hope. Best we lose last 2 and then cull coaching staff.

Can't speak with any confidence about us winning both, but I think the Saints losing to both WCE and GWS is the most likely way through for us.

 

 

?

45 minutes ago, Hell Bent said:

Let's hope they fly in 3 hours prior to the match lol. 

Nope - HQ has already given them the OK to fly up the day before. What a surprise.

15 minutes ago, Lord Travis said:

...

We don't deserve to play finals...

A commonly stated opinion.  But does any team that finishes 8th "deserve" to play finals?  Unless the structure of the finals changes, the answer must be that they do deserve to play almost by definition. And if so, why not us?  All teams that come 8th must have stuffed up somewhere along the line.  

The Dogs beating West Coast was the major set back IMO. I was surprised Demonlanders didn't make a song and dance about it, and a couple were here were even happy they won.

Knowing us we'll beat GWS and then be down by 7 goals at qtr time against Essendon.