eveyone on this forum seems extrememly optimistic regarding the form of our team .. even if we do manage to deafeat gellong at skilled it is by no means a reflection of the season ahead, look at cartlon the last 2 years .. white (31) and neitz (33) are getting old and realistically unreliable to carry out a full successful premiership season .. it is a new era of the club .. no TJ, byron, daniher, jbrown (and bizzel) ..

dont get me wrong i love the club , but memberships (17,800) have dropped significantly than this time last year (23,000) which reflects the growing impatience of our supporters .. last year melbounre went into the season a premiership favourite , geting thumped by st kilda losing 6 players and any season glory with it ..

i hope to god the injuries hold out this year .. last year we were the second-most injury riddled team (behind adelaide who mind you pulled a remarkable effort) and by the end of a season struggled to fill a descent AFL team , including a near death experience of pettard ..

Some players who missed games due to injury ..

Neitzs

Moloney

bruce

robbo

bruce (current hammy)

moloney

mclean

dunn

whelan

sylvia

pettard

Davey and Jones had an exceptional debut year in 06 , but lost form in 07 , not once in 06 did i see jones pull a nicholson (needless turnover) although having as much heart as godfrey. what will zomer , cheney , weetra , morton , messen , mcnamara, martin , maric and grimes bring to the club? fuked if i know

i think this is not the smartest thread going around JG...first of all, jones only played a handful of games in 06 and then was given a bigger role in 07 coming 2nd in our best and fairest, 3rd in the rising star and pulling 5 brownlow medal points...no one on this forum is denying that neitz and white are old...you spell geelong incorectly...most people on this forum are not saying that if we beat geelong we will win the Premiership but it is a food oppurtunity to try baileys new game plan and trial some of our young blood whilst resting some of the older players...near the end of the season we pulled out two solid wins against the bulldogs and carlton twice, including a gutsy effort against collingwood...

but apart from that, i completely agree with you

Davey had an exceptional debut year in 06 , but lost form in 07 ,

Dude, you were doing so well until you wrote the above

The more I think about it, the more pessimistic I am about this season. We've got a hell of a lot of players on the injury list at the moment. Yes I know most of them are being rested, but too many blokes like Rivers, Moloney, Bartram and Whelan's problems have carried over into this pre-season. The only way I could see us winning games this year was with a fit and healthy squad on the back of strong pre-season. Already Bruce and McLean have got themselves in the wars.

On the flip-side, I'm excited about the unknown. I'm excited about the new coach. I'm excited that he'll be implementing a brand new game-style, hence the exams. I'm excited that he might instil a 'never say die attitude' where we win the close games, or we convert 40 point 3 qtr time leads into 60 point wins, or we travel insterstate and represent the club with pride for once. I'm also excited by the fact that every man and his dog has us installed for bottom 4 'certs'!

I'm excited about this season, but I'm concerned how another bottom 4 finish may impact on the club.

You have three choices a the start of the season, you can be optimistic, pessimistic or realistic.

My Optimistic side is that with the injuries of 2007 and all these players fit we can finish top 6, a new coach our young players will continue to improve. Our best 22 on the park is capable of beating any team in the AFL.

Pessimistic side is questioning if those players that missed most of last season will be fit, Sylvia, Moloney Rivers is still on reduced OP managed programs, Mclean and Bruce injured at the moment, haven't heard much Matty Whealan, our older players won't get any better and can our younger players improve to the standard required. New game plan, coaching staff off field instability we may be lookingat bottom 4

Realistic, who knows with our record over the past 10 years and even our consistancy from quarter to quarter no supporter knows what we will get.

For me though I will go into the season optimistic and just hope that our club can perform. Put it this way we couldn't play any worse than we did in 2007.

I reckon it's pretty simple... There are ALWAYS one or two (sometimes three or four) teams that are LEAGUES ahead of the opposition. They have a good list, settled coach and footy department and they're mature. Geelong were this, West Coast and Sydney peaked at the same time, and if you look through the history books, it always seems to go this way. You get a team, or sometimes two that are the REAL ones fighting it out to win the flag.

There's always a mediocre team on the way up (Port '07) or down (W.C. '07) that has an EXCEPTIONAL season and somehow cracks the top-4, and every so often the GF. Roos last year are another example, we nearly did it the year before... and in 2000 we nearly went all the way, but were a long way behind the eventual premiers on the day.

Then on the other end of the spectrum, there's always one ppor team team has to put up with the worst. Not only are they crap, but they have an ugly year with injuries. Among them there's usually a side or two that are a LONG way off the pace... Richmond are a clear example, and the Blues obviously have been crap for years.

Apart from these two groups, there is the other mediocre ones in between...

Now...

My point is this... Injuries will have a say in how we go this year, and will probably determine whether or not we are successful in any immediate way. I think at our absolute BEST, we are a mediocre team that could do what the Roos or Port did last year. We could smash teams with enough luck, and could go a long LONG way. But I just can't see us winning a flag. Bad injury run? ANd it's 14t again I fear, though I don't think we'll get the spoon. We actually do have a really good list I reckon...

So that's a long email for little substance, you may say. But I think ultimately it's how every team will be defined. Geelong, should it have a crisis of KP injuries, or midfield loss... they could tumble to the bottom half of the 8... in other words... mediocrity.

A team like, say, Freo could get it together with injuries like they did a couple of seasons ago and do what Geelong did last year... make a GF. I just reckon that with the right injury run, the 8 is out of reach for NO-ONE. The top 4? Maybe that's out of reach for the Blues and Tigers... But it's within reach for everyone else...

Dear Mr Gutnick,

Injuries killed us last year

We have a new coach with a new game plan and experience from arguably the most successful club in the past 5 years(win/loss ratio)

Injury free we will perform better than 2006 after all our kids then have played 50+ games.

This is the year the Mcleans,Sylvias,Jones' should show their class

The unknown will be the Newton's,Pettards and the Bartrums

According to statistics we are equal number 1 in forwards

Of course we have new recruits who are an unknown factor

My prediction is top 8 injury free and if the kids fire up top 4

Don't use the "f" word and by round 3 we will get a bessa idea

I'm with you Cesc, last year we were a premiership favourite...and now its the spoon?

Lets not get too manic depressive, we can be a dangerous side this year, and I think overall we can look forward to a more positive season than 07