b. Need to beat off our main rivals who are on the way up.
Geelong were the weakest side in the 4. They have a problem with an aging list, in the area of the top players in particular. Signs were there that they were on a downward trajectory late in 2014. It is just amazing that they have been in the top 4 since about 2006. It defies logic that a team can sustain that for 9 years . Surely they must fall away, like Collingwood have .
Essendon have to improve more than Port Adelaide and North Melbourne and maybe Richmond This is the main problem IMO.
Remote chances? That Hawthorn, Freo or Sydney will drop out, creating 2 places in the 4
According to the Age these are the Geelong players ages;
Corey Enright (34 in September)
Jimmy Bartel (32 in December)
Steve Johnson (32 in July)
James Kelly (32 in December)
Tom Lonergan (31 in May)
Andrew Mackie (31 in August)
Hamish McIntosh (31 in September)
Jared Rivers (31 in October)
Mathew Stokes (31 in November)
Harry Taylor (29 in June)
This is 9 of the best 18 players are over 30.
Be ready for a mass of retirements at Geelong come September. Maybe 6. It will rip the heart out of the once great Geelong unit.
Contrast with Essendon. 6 of the best 18 players over 30
Of these in 2016, I would expect 3 retirements
Freo is in a similar position to Geelong.
Port Adelaide appears to have the youngest list of the good teams and look like a serious threat in 2015
Can we make top 4 - i'm not sure we can, in particular if we start the season 0-2 and if we drop one against either scum, filth or saints as we usually drop some of those we should win.......we'll be 2-3 going to Perth to play Freo, then the top 8 will be a massive task let alone top 4.
Our draw opens up later though, I'd much rather come home strong than start well and fizzle.
Case in point, Sydney started 1-3 in 2014, finished #1 on the ladder.
We have exactly 3 games against finals side after the break, if we beat Norf who are within touching distance, we can come home 9-2 or 8-3. Should open 7-4 or so, I'm not at all worried about Sydney round 1 as they start poorly more often than not.
18 wins is very doable (Hawks twice, Port, Freo away), really should win at least 15.
b. Need to beat off our main rivals who are on the way up.
Geelong were the weakest side in the 4. They have a problem with an aging list, in the area of the top players in particular. Signs were there that they were on a downward trajectory late in 2014. It is just amazing that they have been in the top 4 since about 2006. It defies logic that a team can sustain that for 9 years . Surely they must fall away, like Collingwood have .
Essendon have to improve more than Port Adelaide and North Melbourne and maybe Richmond This is the main problem IMO.
Remote chances? That Hawthorn, Freo or Sydney will drop out, creating 2 places in the 4
I'm not too sure about that, looking at the other sides especially Sydney and Hawks and Cats, they don't really have any weaknesses in their lines. Even Freo don't have a dysfunctional FWD line like we do.
Last season we were a couple of key pieces out of the top 4. Hopefully Carlisle and Daniher (and Ambrose) can really develop as bona fide forwards this year.
Also, while we rate our own midfield on a good day - Jobe & Heppel are outstanding - Stanton/Zaka/Myers/Hocking/Howlett are capable of great games but don't really command the respect of a top 4 midfield. Take out Ryder and it remains to see if TBell can get back to his best. Cooney should be a good addition though and with Goddard, Licha & Chappy freed up we've definitely got the potential to push for top 4.
All sides will improve over the break and we aren't that far off if you go by results last year, but a few things still need to fall into place.
b. Need to beat off our main rivals who are on the way up.
Geelong were the weakest side in the 4. They have a problem with an aging list, in the area of the top players in particular. Signs were there that they were on a downward trajectory late in 2014. It is just amazing that they have been in the top 4 since about 2006. It defies logic that a team can sustain that for 9 years . Surely they must fall away, like Collingwood have .
Essendon have to improve more than Port Adelaide and North Melbourne and maybe Richmond This is the main problem IMO.
Remote chances? That Hawthorn, Freo or Sydney will drop out, creating 2 places in the 4
If we do as you suggest (bolded), I'm leaving...
Yeh. Not exactly the best choice of words particularly in a male dominated sport.
I'm not too sure about that, looking at the other sides especially Sydney and Hawks and Cats, they don't really have any weaknesses in their lines. Even Freo don't have a dysfunctional FWD line like we do.
Last season we were a couple of key pieces out of the top 4. Hopefully Carlisle and Daniher (and Ambrose) can really develop as bona fide forwards this year.
Also, while we rate our own midfield on a good day - Jobe & Heppel are outstanding - Stanton/Zaka/Myers/Hocking/Howlett are capable of great games but don't really command the respect of a top 4 midfield. Take out Ryder and it remains to see if TBell can get back to his best. Cooney should be a good addition though and with Goddard, Licha & Chappy freed up we've definitely got the potential to push for top 4.
All sides will improve over the break and we aren't that far off if you go by results last year, but a few things still need to fall into place.
If we win against Geelong, Hawthorn plus those cellar dwellers then we were top 4 last year. Losing to Geelong and Hawthorn actually negatively impacted on our season mentally. Beat them early then we probably go on and beat Dees and Saints and finish the year better. We also narrowly missed out on beating North in that final.
Need our best Key position players on the park most of the time.
It's our most glaring deficiency in respect to depth, and therefore our greatest destabilizer to the team that takes the ground when a couple injuries occur.
Keep Hooker/Hurls/Carslisle/Belly/an improved and stronger JD/even Giles on the park most of the season.
I'm not too sure about that, looking at the other sides especially Sydney and Hawks and Cats, they don't really have any weaknesses in their lines. Even Freo don't have a dysfunctional FWD line like we do.
Last season we were a couple of key pieces out of the top 4. Hopefully Carlisle and Daniher (and Ambrose) can really develop as bona fide forwards this year.
Also, while we rate our own midfield on a good day - Jobe & Heppel are outstanding - Stanton/Zaka/Myers/Hocking/Howlett are capable of great games but don't really command the respect of a top 4 midfield. Take out Ryder and it remains to see if TBell can get back to his best. Cooney should be a good addition though and with Goddard, Licha & Chappy freed up we've definitely got the potential to push for top 4.
All sides will improve over the break and we aren't that far off if you go by results last year, but a few things still need to fall into place.
Freo absolutely have an achilles. Take Ballantyne out they are absolutely battling forward of centre. Mayne is cooked, Pav is just going (not taking the contested marks he did), Apeness and Taberner etc are a year or three behind Joe.
Aside from that, Geelong were the weakest side in the top 6. Easily take North or Port over them, bar Selwood they've got very little in the middle. Stevie J & Stokes are wrong side of 30, 3 or 4 decent-but-not-great kids, Christensen gone. Finals showed they'd got through more on ■■■■ than class. I'd be slightly surprised if the Cats finish in the 8 next year.
Icey mentioned before about "if we'd won 4 of our close ones we could've been top 4" - well, if we had, IMHO we would've gone out in straight sets like Geelong. 2014 model Essendon just wasn't that good, if it was we would know all about it because we would've won 15 odd, and most of them convincingly.
I have Freo 6th-8th ish and Geelong 8th-10th ish.
What comes in is a tougher question IMHO. The addition of 4-5 good players could see any of about 5 sides improve enough to get the double chance - hopefully that's Cooney/Ashby/Fantasia/Gleeson/Giles...
Need our best Key position players on the park most of the time.
It's our most glaring deficiency in respect to depth, and therefore our greatest destabilizer to the team that takes the ground when a couple injuries occur.
Keep Hooker/Hurls/Carslisle/Belly/an improved and stronger JD/even Giles on the park most of the season.
Good times.
Tell me a side that has more than 6 talls that are afl standard??
Freo & Geelong = Don’t rate them. Out of the top 4. (Chris Scott’s a goose too)
Sydney & Hawks = Elite. Not going anywhere in a hurry.
Port & Essendon = To make top 4 2015
North = Fark North! Should slip. Too many passengers and a harder draw next year sees them fighting Bitchmond for 9th. B. Scott to get the ■■■■ end of season.
Bogeys = W.C.E & G.C.S, could be capable of finishing anywhere between 6 - 8th IMO.
I read on of the threads somewhere that if the assada case goes badly, we may miss the first month of football. Should this happen, I still think we’re capable of top 4 and we will send a BIG fark you to the rest of the competition.
Im confident the season fade outs are a thing of the past too. Lid off?
Need our best Key position players on the park most of the time.
It's our most glaring deficiency in respect to depth, and therefore our greatest destabilizer to the team that takes the ground when a couple injuries occur.
Keep Hooker/Hurls/Carslisle/Belly/an improved and stronger JD/even Giles on the park most of the season.
Good times.
Tell me a side that has more than 6 talls that are afl standard??
That's not what I'm saying.
It is such a strength of ours, that when diminished-that strength is severley diminished.