So it is looking like we are going to be fighting for a place in the bottom half of the 8. We simply aren't up to the standard of the top sides so top 4 seems very unrealistic.

So we are basically fighting it out with teams around us ... and interestingly we have all of these teams in the next 8 weeks, so the next 8 weeks will make or break our season...

WB week 11
Syd week 13
Ess week 15
GC week 16
Freo week 18

Wins against top teams like Melb and Coll would be a bonus but I don't think we have much chance of winning such games.

Strap yourselves in folks, those 5 games above are coming up and are all important.

Look at our list and it's age profile and we are in the window. If we stay relatively injury free and don't make finals with a minimum win one this year is a failure

Carlton have 4.5 wins on board

Green we should win adds 5 wins, to give us 9.5 wins

Yellow teams fighting for Finals spot. Must win 5 out of 5 of those. That's tough.

Therefore must beat Dees or Pies at least once each of the 4 games. (not scenario again)

Bulldogs
Colonwood
Sydney
Dees
Effendope
GCS
Hawks
Freo
Port
WCE
Colonwood
Saints
Dees
GCS
GWS

Based on current form, it looks really tough to make the 8, but its highly possible.
Starts this week. Have to dig deep and remember the pain of round 22 and 23, and why we ended in that spot.

IMO, Cerra is the only player who has improved this year. possibly Newman (till Cameron got hold of him out the back)

Reckon I'd have the GC game in Qld in yellow and Freo in yellow too.
Maybe I got less confidence than you do.

We have GWS in Melb as our last game, guess that's better than playing Coll at the G like last year

Wonder if our half win will come in handy at the death

God how depressing , how far have we fallen, that we hope to squeeze into the 8

Look, I have a feeling the blistering start last year (right up until the first C'wood match) got everyone overrating our list.

Our list is middle-of-table.

We have some stars at the top end, but we fall away very quickly. A better system, improved structure and a few more "ins" will improve us marginally.

But any talk of "top 4" was premature and plain wrong. We're a mid-table list.

Fallen? To sneak into the 8 we need to rise

Look, I have a feeling the blistering start last year (right up until the first C'wood match) got everyone overrating our list.

Our list is middle-of-table.

We have some stars at the top end, but we fall away very quickly. A better system, improved structure and a few more "ins" will improve us marginally.

But any talk of "top 4" was premature and plain wrong. We're a mid-table list.

I think we got "unlucky" with when we played Richmond (at their strongest) and Norf (Good Friday game, still riding the new coach dead cat bounce).

But we got lucky with when we played Geelong (premiership hangover) and probably WC (everyone injured).

It's why I'm loath to do the ladder predictor.

Look at our list and it's age profile and we are in the window. If we stay relatively injury free and don't make finals with a minimum win one this year is a failure

Fallen? To sneak into the 8 we need to rise

All bar two games we have fielded a younger and less experienced team this year than our opposition
the games we didn't was WC and Crows games even then we were only plus 6.2 games and plus 3.7 games

the side we put out on friday night had an average of 24.4 games less experience than the Lions and if Zorko and Rich had of played it would have been worse

We have 4 players with more than 150 games - ED Cripps Saad and now Doc
Brisbane had 7 - Collingwood played 8 - Geelong 9 Melbourne 8
We had 7 players with less than 50 games under their belt on Friday night

Now when it comes to knocking our team - I am the chief Knocker of the world but we do not have the age and experience profile to match it with the best at the moment

Disagree.
I think we have an excellent list.
Every team has a bunch of journeymen.
The problem is the game plan doesn’t enable them to play a role. Look at the Saints - a bunch of no names and average players until this year when suddenly these same players know their role and are prepared to play them.
The least of our problems is our list - I reckon most coaches would kill for our list. The problem is how we are using them.
No team will have 25 superstars. Every team has C graders.
PS. No one had Geelong finishing in the top 4 at this time last year. I’m not saying we are at that level - we’re not. BUT, they changed their game plan and started winning. Maybe we can too.


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