Look at where our wins have come... apart from the two stunning wins against Cats and Saints, we have been poor against the better sides and basically just beaten the worst sides.

Collingwood L L
Geelong W
St.Kilda W
Bulldogs L
Fremantle L
Carlton
Sydney L
Hawthorn L
North Melb L
Melbourne W
Adelaide W
Port Adelaide W
Essendon* L W
Brisbane L W
Richmond W W
West Coast W W

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It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it

our first 10 games we went 6 -4 everything seemed rosy , ooh top 4 chance , etc etc

our second 10 games we went 5 - 5 everything seemed baad , kill the coach, miss the finals etc etc

strange indeed

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*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.

why exclude those two wins and not two losses (e.g. Brisbane where we went in underdone with tall defenders and Essendon* who still had the wood over us mentally???


Aside from that we've beaten some mid-tiered teams and lost some we maybe shouldn't have.....which surprise surprise reflects where we are at the moment - i.e. a mid-tiered team hopefully on the rise.

We havent been involved in a close finish either - Smallest margin either way was 9 points against Freo but that was a result of us kicking the last three goals of the game

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

No wonder you stick to the recruitment and masterchef threads Gilly. Making far too much sense for the main board.

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STURDYISM!!

The annoying thing is that the boys looked a million bucks during the first part of the year, a time when there was endless hype about how tough a run it was. It even dominated talk in here, with very little emphasis placed on the time after. The boys come up against the best in the comp, more than holding their own with a focus and intensity not seen for a long time.

Fast forward to the second half of the year, playing a string of teams 'on par' with us, or fighting for the same finals spot. Poor starts, laziness and finger-pointing between teammates became regular occurrences. Each loss had the same characteristics. To me it was a sign of a group who (like us) put such a high emphasis on the tough start that they thought the rest would come easy if they got through it. THIS is what has made 2010 a frustrating year. The fact that the some of our worst games came against ALL of our potential 1st week finals opponents speaks volumes.

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WADA medical director Dr Alan Vernec describes Essendon* FC drug case as biggest scandal in team sport the world of sport has seen. #WC2WB

#GUILTY

We've either thumped or been thumped - I'd be really interested to see how we go in a close one. Probably the game against Port was the only game that was close for the majority of it until we kicked away in the last.

When you look at it overall we have won the games we should have ie all the bottom teams and beaten a few teams we probably shouldn't have, and lost to a few teams we probably shouldn't have - so we are pretty much on par for a team in 6th-8th.

But as Don said it's hard to see it that way after we started better than expected and then slumped. If we'd started off crap and improved then we wouldn't have been so disappointed with that bad stretch in June-July.

Be interesting to see how we go in the next few games...

It is not surprising to defeat the teams below you on the ladder and losing (most of the time) to teams above you on the ladder.

It is as ever was. Maybe it explains why ladders and final positions have some relevance.

That the strong get teams get stronger and the weak teams get weaker is not a surprise.

It is a environment full of parallels from nature. Just like in nature, pack leaders do not last forever.

What is the key is how it turns around.

As the ladder reflects, Carlton is an above average team. And like every above average team, it has won more games than it's lost. And like always in sport, it has beaten some teams above it and lost to some teams below it (just like Collingwood and Geelong).

Nothing strange in that. It's the same as every other year in the history of the AFL. Even in 1995, we lost to 2 teams below us that we should have beaten.

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Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience!!!

After Monday and Tuesday, even the calendar says W T F .........
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He brings up a good point, 9 of our 11 wins are against sides 10th and below.

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"We used to sit around and talk about how bad the game plan was." Anthony Koutoufides

Sydney are around the same spot as us on the ladder - most of their wins have also come against bottom teams.

Does that make the stat good then? We're lucky we've played the bottom two twice.

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"We used to sit around and talk about how bad the game plan was." Anthony Koutoufides

They are bottom sides now but almost every expert in the country had Essendon* Brisbane and Adelaide ahead of us at the start of the year . As disappointed at some feel with the way our season has gone if you following one of thos sides you would be slashing your wrists

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

Not disagreeing with you, but just saying it's easy for us to go "oh we've only beaten XYZ" when the teams around us have done pretty much the same. I think Sydney's two biggest scalps have been Freo and Hawthorn this year?

The other thing of interest is we have been well and truly hammered on numerous ocassions this year

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It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it

Collingwood and Geelong are the only top 8 teams that haven't been on the receiving end of at least one 10 goal flogging this season.

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"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa

In first half of the season da 3 amigos and setanta were on fire. Then teams figured out how to stop that, now Ratts has had to readjust the game plan in the 2nd half of the year

We inflicted Geelongs biggest defeat this year

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

and St Kilda's, no?

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Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience!!!

After Monday and Tuesday, even the calendar says W T F .........
Visit http://fromthemoshpit.com/

I bet on a horse once and the bastard came last. However, I consoled myself with the fact that it was only because all the other horses ran faster......

_________________
Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience!!!

After Monday and Tuesday, even the calendar says W T F .........
Visit http://fromthemoshpit.com/