You can tell we are improving because realistically we have played 5 poor games this year... 2 of them we won and 3 of them we just lost... yet we have not been out of any game...

Richmond: Good for 4 quarters... good everything... we won by heaps
Brisbane: Good for only the 2nd quarter... every other quarter we were average-bad... especially 3rd quarter... we won by 19
Essendon*: We played really poorly... only the first quarter we played better... we lost by 4
Sydney: A common theme here.... really good first quarter... really bad 3 qrts... we lost by 17
Western Bulldogs: Good for 4 quarters... good everything.... we won by heaps
Hawthorn: Good for patches in each quarters... terrific game... we didnt get beaten... we lost it of our own boot...
Fremantle: Poor in every quarter... worst we've played for a long while
Collingwood: Poor for 3 qrts... yet we still won by heaps...

The point i'm getting at... we've been poor for a major part of the year... but you know we are improving when we are playing poor but never been out of the game... had this been 2 years ago... unless we play 4 good quarters of footy... we are no chance... now... we basically need to play good for 2 and we've won the game...

I don't know if you want to see it as a positive or a negative... but once we get the maturity level growing... this team will be hard to beat...

Just some stats:

We have an average losing margin of 8 ranked 3rd after the two unbeaten teams
We have an average winning margin of 49 ranked 2nd after st kilda
We have won 19 quarters ranked 3rd after the two unbeaten teams
We have been in front 57% ranked 3rd after the two unbeaten teams
We have a total of 868 points in the "for" column ranked 3rd after the two unbeaten teams
We have a total of 704 points in the "against" column ranked 3rd after the two unbeaten teams
We have a total percentage of 123.3% ranked 3rd after the two unbeaten teams

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cruise (Kreuze) missile:
a very accurate flying bomb.
SOURCE: http://library.thinkquest.org/3785/glossary.html

Some good points made... We could ve easily (and should ve) had a couple more wins on the board had the team/Fev kicked straight. The fact that we've been competitive in ALL our games speaks volumes in terms of improvement from where we used to be as a team.

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James Hird and Essendon* FC - #FOREVERDRUGCHEATS

Thanks for those numbers Habib.

I think you are correct. We are improving.

Yeah sure there's a case for If only this and that, but that's going to happen even when we do mature. Nevertheless, we're heading in the right direction with our kids.

I would suggest we need a bit more consistently from our more experienced (older) players this year, and I am sure that when the older blokes are superceded by the kids, the kids will be even better than the older players in terms of output and intensity.

We have a good list...it's up to the off field personnel to expedite their development.

Well done.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

At the end of the season, percentage tells you more about how teams have played over the length of the season than wins and losses.

When we finished 11th a few years back, our percentage was pox.

Look at the bombers last few years, falling over the line in a few games but percentage shot.

On one hand, yes, getting yourselves over the line when not playing well is to be applauded. But it's not as good an indication of how the team is playing each week as percentage is. In my opinion.

If I had the time I'd do the percentage ladder for last season. But I'll let Jarusa do that. He's got the database.

But I'll write the query for him...

select vchTeamName, decPercentage from Ladder
where DATEPART(y, dtSeason) = 2008
order by decPercentage desc

nerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd

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Congratulations CK95

10 PRINT GIBBS
20 GOTO 10
RUN

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#DonTheStash

Good thread. I was actually going to post something similar.

We have actually won 21 quarters, not 19 as mentioned in the OP.

Statistics don't necessarily tell the whole story but they usually serve as a guide. If we can maintain the same pace in terms of 'quarters won' and 'time in front' over the remainder of the season then things will take care of themselves and there is no doubt that we will play finals.

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Formerly Blues-Back2003.

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*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.

People are expecting 15 goals wins instead of just 1 win.

You can tell we have improved this year because had we won one of those 3 close games we lost, we'd be third.

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

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...after the two unbeaten teams.

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I can tell we are improving becuase the days of giving up easily when beaten are Gone... No more 60+ losses....


we are fighting until the last kick , even on our terrible days.....But the road is a long long one... We are still struggling in some Aspects such as disposals, kicking for Goal, Forward pressure at times, and clangers!!!

15 IF CONTESTED POSSESSIONS="HIGH" THEN JUDD

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Formerly: Ackland the Wonderkid / Army the Wonderkid / quivering mess / molsey / Tony Lynn Fan Club

our expectations of this team have risen - that is they show in burst how good they are - watch the first 20 min of qtr 1 against the pies

our challenge is doing that for more than 20 min a game

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The glass is neither half full nor half empty. Rather the glass is twice as big than required.

Some really good points Habib and others...

I look at things a little more simply...

I think we're the "3 in 5 Blues" this year meaning we're probably good enough to win 3 out of every 5 games we play.

So theoretically, by Round 22 we should have won 12 or 13 games.

With a bit of luck going our way (we've had none so far) we may win a game or two more that we may not deserve to win (like other teams seem to do against us).

Speaking of luck, our turn has to come so who knows what we may be able to forge come the "business end" of the season.

I mentioned in a previous post that last year seemed to resemble 1992 for me so, that said, this year may be our 1993???

But I s'pose making the GF (and losing it) doesn't look likely at this stage of the season but I'm still not convinced about the Saints (c'mon, it's only a matter of time before they reveal their true selves), Dogs? Port? Brisbane? so who does that leave apart from Hawthorn to challange the Cats?

Us?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

* Remember.... the two best teams don't necessarily play off in the GF.

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Heartbeat is optional