With a new coach:
Judd:
Stevens back:
Improvement in all our kids
and now, "THAT DRAW",

we will be playing finals football again in 2008 in my opinion.

Provided injuries are not a concern, I tend to agree.

Finally, a postive thread!!!

I am starting to get sick of the "Kouta blasts Pagan" thread. Same arguments over and over.

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"If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself" - Henry Ford

Personally I expect a finish in the 10-12 bracket, with finals in 09. But hey, they're more than welcome to prove me wrong, and even if they finish 8th and get hammered in the first week, it'll be invaluable experience and fuel for the following year. So if we can make the finals, the development will speed up incredibly.

I expect that
a) Finish just outside the 8, and make the 8 in 09

or

b) Finish in the bottom end of the 8 in 08, with top 4 a possibility in 09

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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

Really depends on ruck and defense.

We need Hampson and Aisake to have an influence soon, and we need Setanta to start playing excellent footy as a defender.

After looking at our fabulous draw, i think we are greater than an even chance to make the finals providing Judd, Stevo and Fev can stay healthy.

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There is no footy god

Mmm...given we have neither, that may be a problem.
Look we are not top rung...yet, and the middle 5-12 will depend on injuries etc. We could end up anywhere in that bracket.

Add injuries to a developing side and we could end up lower..but let's hope it's an honourable 12-15th not becuase we continuously get flogged!

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“Every single element of the Club has to be the best in the league, meticulously and methodically, and only by doing this will we be elite and challenge for number 17.”
Greg Lee

There are still some glaring deficiencies in our team that will be exposed by the top sides. Defence and ruck being the main two areas. Both of these areas really depend on the new breed standing up, as many of the Woods kids did this year. We now have a strong midfield and potent forward line, so that will wins us games.

Hopefully we can learn how to win again and really get some spirit going.

IMO, realistically 10 - 12th.

if teams are as even as they were last season..(besides Geelong)...we might go close to 8th...

10 -12th......no CHF, no established ruckman, and a backline that is very young and lacking size. Apart from Fev we dont have a settled goal to goal line and you add an inexperienced coach and I think playing finals is going to be a tough ask even with Judd, Stevens etc...

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"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

With few injuries, we will sneak into 4th spot.

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|♥♥♥♥♥♥| http://www.blueseum.org |♥♥♥♥♥♥|

If Ratten can sort out the backline in one summer we're every chance but it will be a hell of a task after Pagan developed one regular defender (Thornton) in 5 years.

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

Although I still expect our backline to be statistically one of the worst (at least) in the league, I do feel that Ratts' gameplan will certainly benefit them more than DP's and we'll see some good development from blokes like Anderson, Jamison and Bower. Just imagine how demoralising it must've been for them to see the frequency with which opposition midfielders get to run towards them with 0 pressure from our mids. I expect Ratts to promote more accountability from our mids and a plan of attack that won't leave all our players in one half of the ground like this year.

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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

I think so.............

We effectivly have 2 new superstar recruits in Judd & Stevens (who we badly missed)!

I noticed a much better team in the 2nd half of the year (post-pagan) and one that will only go up next season.

I don't see a finish of 6th-8th out of the question. But if we were to finish 8-10th i still be pretty bloody happy, considering the crap we have been through!

Wins...........i just want wins..........

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

Could of told you we would make the finals pre-Judd. We have a full back in Jamo to take us there!!

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Mjonc signing off at 8888

Agree on all your points.

If we finish outside the 8 then that will be a massive improvement especially given the holes we have in our team i.e. no standout CHF, backline is young etc

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Writer for SuperCoach Paige www.scpaige.com.au
Twitter - @johnfeeney24

FINALS08

Get on the moth--fu----- bandwagon!


...one more thing, if anyone has even the slightest hope that we will make the finals next year - BUY A MEMBERSHIP! - because I want every single last person on this forum at that first final, to see first hand the RESURRECTION OF THE MIGHTY BLUES!

reckon we should consider tanking

If that means booking the month off work to spend in Melbourne, I won't mind at all!

Sounds like a plan!

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[Sam Jacobs] looks like a 7' Lance Whitnall, and [Mitch Robinson] looks like a 4' Lance Whitnall
(The SEN team during the Carlton v Cats 2009 pre-season match)

What's all this fuss about a CHF?

Name me four sides that have two power forwards playing FF and CHF respectively.

It seems to me that era of football has passed. You want a really big guy, a sorta big and quick guy, a really quick guy, and the rest kinda depends on the team IMO.

Geelong have Mooney, Ottens and Nablett, but is Mooney really a CHF?

Brisbane this year had Brown and... no one really stands out.

St Kilda had Gehrig and Riewoldt

Freo had Pavlich and Tarrant (he doesn't really count though, does he?

Hawthorn have Buddy, Roughead, and then Williams when fit, sometimes Croad, Boyle, etc.

We have Fev, Fish, Waite + Harts - in terms of big guys in the forward line, I think we're fine. Waite isn't a gorilla but he moves like a gazelle.

all-aboard!!

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