Soooo… assuming the rules are the same as last year, and that we don’t suddenly collapse… the ladder is a bit bizarre right now, with fourth through ninth all on seven wins: we lead on 134%, Footscray at the bottom of the bunch on 101%. However, despite our forward line issues and the injury news today, it would be an extreme surprise to see us drop out.
Basic rules:
play 13 AFL games or 0 VFL games, you’re out
if you play an AFL game after July 1, you must have played 6 VFL games to remain eligible
18 players are now eligible (but some are out due to injury):
Long
Draper
Mynott
NewLAV — shoulder surgery, done for year?
OldLAV
McNeice — likely available week 1
Francis
Ridley
Mutch
Merrett
Loony — pending status of calf injury vs Port Powerless
Houlahan
B. Zerk-Thatcher
Hartley
Clarke
Green
Stewart
Redman — eligible but unlikely due to injury
Looks like Green and Laverde are almost certainties to qualify.
Colyer would be a chance, as a dropping from the AFL side is warranted, and likely with the imminent return of Raz and Zaka.
Stewart and Brown are interesting.
Having them both available in the VFL Finals would give that team a huge chance of defeating anyone.
From the info provided above, it looks like we could easily manipulate eligibility to have them both qualify, but with the seniors still a chance, the most likely scenario is that neither will.
Given both Brown and Stewart have now played patches of footy in the VFL (but at seperate times), which of the 2 would you prefer to be going into the Finals with, if you had to choose 1 ?
While not actually confirmed, you can pretty safely assume that Parish and Brown will also be out come next week, and also that Stewart will qualify next week.
At which point the only question left is whether we play finals, and whether Joe D makes a surprise appearance.
