15 minutes ago, Demonland said:

I think you should be more worried about playing Port in Port. Very real chance of this happening. 

Why can’t we win the next 2 games? St Kilda nearly beat Geelong. It’s not impossible. 

9 hours ago, Nicko said:

A bit of history when we’ve finished top 4….

we’ve finished 1st 9 times for 8 flags and 1 runner up 

we’ve finished 2nd 4 times for 2 flags

we’ve finished 3rd 8 times for 1 flag and 1 runner up

we’ve finished 4th 8 times for 2 runners up

(…our other flag came when we finished in 6th position at the end of the home and away season)

Well, we need to win these last two H and A games!!!

Did the ladder predictor and whether the result between ourselves and Geelong and Power v Bulldogs goes either way I get we’ll play the Dogs in the first final. 

13 minutes ago, McQueen said:

Did the ladder predictor and whether the result between ourselves and Geelong and Power v Bulldogs goes either way I get we’ll play the Dogs in the first final. 

That sucks, as I don't rate our ability to win ground balls in our backline, and I hate that we play the same losing clearance game vs the Dogs who base their whole game on winning clearances.

If we do play them, I hope we're more honest in the clearance game and just try to win it, and I hope our defenders play with the expectation that the ball will more often than not come to ground in the backline and so they need to be ready with the tackle, and have someone ready to stop the scrubbing kicks off the ground.

Unless we lose to Adelaide tomorrow, today's results have basically meant there won't be repeat games from Round 23 into the 1st week of the finals. Presuming we win against Adelaide tomorrow:

• If we beat Geelong: (a) we finish 1st and play either the Bulldogs or Lions if Port beat the Bulldogs; or (b) we finish 1st and play Port if the Bulldogs beat Port.
• If we lose to Geelong: (a) we finish 2nd if the Bulldogs beat Port, and we play the Bulldogs; or (b) we finish 3rd if Port beat the Bulldogs, and we play Port in Adelaide.

46 minutes ago, Demonland said:

I think you should be more worried about playing Port in Port. Very real chance of this happening. 

I would prefer to play port over there than geelong.

1 minute ago, dl4e said:

I would prefer to play port over there than geelong.

Impossible to play Geelong in the 1st week of the finals if we win tomorrow... see my post above.

Our destiny is in our hands . If we play to our capabilities & the opposition does the same ..we win. Quite simple really …

7 minutes ago, Northern Summer said:

Unless we lose to Adelaide tomorrow, today's results have basically meant there won't be repeat games from Round 23 into the 1st week of the finals. Presuming we win against Adelaide tomorrow:

• If we beat Geelong: (a) we finish 1st and play either the Bulldogs or Lions if Port beat the Bulldogs; or (b) we finish 1st and play Port if the Bulldogs beat Port.
• If we lose to Geelong: (a) we finish 2nd if the Bulldogs beat Port, and we play the Bulldogs; or (b) we finish 3rd if Port beat the Bulldogs, and we play Port in Adelaide.

thanks... my mind has turned to mush as usual at this time of the season

and of course we could lose to Adelaide !! But never fear I'm not worried !!

7 minutes ago, Northern Summer said:

Impossible to play Geelong in the 1st week of the finals if we win tomorrow... see my post above.

Right so we better beat Adelaide.

My preference for qual final opponent has changed from Port to the Doggies

If we don’t win tomorrow I will… definitely not be surprised. 

1 hour ago, Northern Summer said:

Unless we lose to Adelaide tomorrow, today's results have basically meant there won't be repeat games from Round 23 into the 1st week of the finals. Presuming we win against Adelaide tomorrow:

• If we beat Geelong: (a) we finish 1st and play either the Bulldogs or Lions if Port beat the Bulldogs; or (b) we finish 1st and play Port if the Bulldogs beat Port.
• If we lose to Geelong: (a) we finish 2nd if the Bulldogs beat Port, and we play the Bulldogs; or (b) we finish 3rd if Port beat the Bulldogs, and we play Port in Adelaide.

Well analysed.

Just to round it off, if we lose to Adelaide tomorrow, then:

1. If we beat Geelong: (a) we finish 1st and play Port if the Dogs beat Port; or (b) we finish 2nd and play Geelong if Port beats the Dogs
2. If we lose to Geelong: (a) we finish 4th and play Geelong if the Dogs beat Port; or (b) we finish 3rd and play Port if Port beats the Dogs

This means that, before tomorrow's game, we can finish anywhere from 1st to 4th, we can host any of the Dogs, Brisbane, Port and Geelong in the first final, and we can still be away to the Dogs, Geelong or Port in the first final.

Keeping in mind that the final will likely not be in Melbourne I don’t care too much who we play or where. We dominated Port over there a few weeks ago. 

keep our head down. Keep winning and stay united. And keep everyone fit

3 minutes ago, DubDee said:

Keeping in mind that the final will likely not be in Melbourne I don’t care too much who we play or where. We dominated Port over there a few weeks ago. 

keep our head down. Keep winning and stay united. And keep everyone fit

Even if so, the worst possible result for us is an away game against Port, which is probably the only option where we will find ourselves in "hostile" territory.

4 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

Even if so, the worst possible result for us is an away game against Port, which is probably the only option where we will find ourselves in "hostile" territory.

I don’t know. The Cats worry me. 
given Port’s record against good sides I’d be comfortable with a final against Port

Port are not that good and cant see them beating the Dogs next week. I would not worry about them.

1 hour ago, Jibroni said:

Port are not that good and cant see them beating the Dogs next week. I would not worry about them.

Agreed. Dogs won’t lose 3 in a row 

Edited August 14, 20214 yr by DubDee

12 minutes ago, Jibroni said:

Port are not that good and cant see them beating the Dogs next week. I would not worry about them.

I'm not so sure about Port losing to the Dogs. The Dogs forward line is dysfunctional now without Bruce. Their midfield has fallen off a cliff since they beat us. I actually reckon they'll slip to 5th.

3 minutes ago, Northern Summer said:

I'm not so sure about Port losing to the Dogs. The Dogs forward line is dysfunctional now without Bruce. Their midfield has fallen off a cliff since they beat us. I actually reckon they'll slip to 5th.

It's all part of the Dogs' plan to win one from their golden sector of the ladder - outside the top 4. Couldn't possibly happen twice right?

3 minutes ago, Chook said:

It's all part of the Dogs' plan to win one from their golden sector of the ladder - outside the top 4. Couldn't possibly happen twice right?

No, because the pre-finals bye isn't happening - let's face it, they wouldn't have won in 2016 if not for that.

Mind you, their golden run with the umpires will no doubt continue and will help them...

Edited August 14, 20214 yr by Northern Summer

It would be so MFCSS to lose to Adelaide then take out Geelong

Will the afl fixture our  rnd 23 game vs geelong and port vs doggies at the same time like they do in last round in epl?

 

4 hours ago, McQueen said:

Did the ladder predictor and whether the result between ourselves and Geelong and Power v Bulldogs goes either way I get we’ll play the Dogs in the first final. 

I don’t think so… assuming we win tomorrow, if we beat the cats and dogs win, then we play Port in the first final as they finish 4th and we finish 1st.

If we lose to cats and dogs win, we play the dogs in the first final.

If we beat cats and port win and lions win, we play the lions in the first final.

There are plenty of instances where we won’t play the dogs.

Edited August 14, 20214 yr by hardtack

4 hours ago, Chook said:

That sucks, as I don't rate our ability to win ground balls in our backline, and I hate that we play the same losing clearance game vs the Dogs who base their whole game on winning clearances.

If we do play them, I hope we're more honest in the clearance game and just try to win it, and I hope our defenders play with the expectation that the ball will more often than not come to ground in the backline and so they need to be ready with the tackle, and have someone ready to stop the scrubbing kicks off the ground.

I reckon this is one of the aces we have up our sleeve Chook come finals time, we have not revealed this side of our game to anyone.