In 2008 Brisbane finished 9th, Carlton 10th and Ess 11th. Last year in the same order but Bris was 6th, Carlton 7th, Ess 8th (only 10 wins ) All teams have relatively new coaches in their first stint at the main job with only the albino having had a more traditional path coming from the Bendigo Bombers with quite a few years as an apprentice. He even coached in South Australia I believe?

This Year we have surpassed both of these teams who were tracking very similar up until this year!
Thanks to Voss and his recruiting we clearly have a more talented list than Brisbane and i believe our list is also better than Essendons although they have some good KP prospects.
Do you think our positions would have been different if we swapped coaches at the start of the season and what does season 2011 hold for these 3 teams?

I personally cannot see Bris improving next year and i think Ess is where it should be without recruiting any quality midfielders, and we have done well to make the 8 (i hope) and with an extra year in Hendo, Kruzer back and Waite back after full year playing and our young kids to further improve I believe we can progress further in 2011 and hopefully push for a top 4?

Essendon*'s performance is still being protected somewhat by the presence of Dustin Fletcher. Once he goes, they'll find it even harder to win games.

Yeah Essendon* will be in real trouble when they wont have someone to pick up the 3rd forward.

I actually think the Lions will be one of the biggest improvers of the year...which isnt that hard seeing as they're 15th. For most of the year Brown and Fev have either played injured or missed games because of injury...i still think if they are both up and running and injury free Bris can make the top 8 next year. Their backline has also had a lot of injuries.
Midfield not good enough but still a team pushing for the 8.


Essendon* are definetely screwed although Melksham and Colyer could be alright...thing is they seem to have a whole team of similar running players...Stanton, Winderlich, Melksham, Colyer? Houli, Zaharakis, Reimers? Jobe Watson needs more support the poor guy.

And yeah when Fletcher retires they will again drop as their defence will have to cover one of the best defenders in the league (you have to admit he has been a star over the years).

We will improve the most though and overall have a better prospect than these 2 teams

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Carlton Premiers '10

Brisbane may hope for improvement with Brown and Fev being fit, but they are going to lose Black and Power in the next couple of years, and that quality can't be replaced.

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“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.

Seeing as Brisbane will finish between 14th-16th this year they will definitely improve next year with a fit Brown and Fev (assuming Fev stays). They were decimated by injuries this year which exposed their lack of depth and a run of heavy losses takes its toll on the confidence of a team (as we are well aware) so if they stay healthy next year they'll do OK. They were pretty good at the start of the year and they also did manage to beat the Filth.
Their ageing list and poor recruiting means they probably only have 2 more good years ahead of them and will bottom out when Brown, Black, Fev etc all retire. It will be very interesting actually to see what decisions Voss makes regarding trading and drafting though and if he coaches past next year.