What about Hooker kicking goals from 55m out? A couple of years ago he struggled to kick 40m. I have been really surprised by some of his long range goals. Sure he has missed some sitters but so has Joe. As to not consistently being in the game that can happen with any forward. Often as a forward you are relying on good delivery and midfield.
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I think Hooksy’s still finding touch.
Like almost all of the 34, has tailed off again as the year’s worn on.
2nd in the AFL for contested marks, will finish with 40 or maybe even 45 goals, and almost always on the best defender: and still with plenty of improvement to come. That’s exciting.
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This is a great byline for BlitzHarmony. Thanks.
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We are 2 wins off being a top 4 team this year with one of the most potent forward line in the game. considering some of our really bad losses like Sydney and Brisbane, that is astonishing and really should make them burn for next year.
The next trade period will be the most important one for the last 10 + years.
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I might be on my own here, but I just don’t consider the Sydney game ‘a bad loss.’
A lot of things went wrong in five minutes, and they just happened to be the last five minutes, but overall I think we played incredibly well in that game.
Brisbane, Carlton, Melbourne. They’re…they’re bad losses.
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While this is true there are also a lot of teams in the same boat
Not that have come from being as bad as we were in 2015 and 2016.
Ridley is going to be very good for us, composed and a beautiful, maybe not a lock in the best 22 next year, but he will be in 2019.
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Did anyone else get the feeling that though we were a little outplayed the ball tended to fall there way during the night?
More so than superior positioning. Just legit a bit of bad luck?
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Sydney game we were only in it for about 15 minutes. Which happened to be the first half of the last quarter. We would’ve pinched it if we’d held on.
Freo, Carlton and Brisbane. 3 sides we should beat every time.
Melbourne aren’t in “shameful loss” territory any more.
Melbourne and the saints have both dropped games they’d think they should have won. More so the dees.
They Threw away game winning positions against the tigers, Freo, Hawthorn, and Geelong and lost to norf narrowly twice.
Saints would want the port game back.
Both were ■■■■■ in 15/16
Yeah. There was a spell there when I think Laverde, Stewart and Green all copped 90 degree bounces as they were running onto crumbs
We were beaten, but I don’t think we were as bad as the margin suggests.
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They were 10/12 win sides last year and we won 3?
Same same!
In Melbourne’s case I’m talking about the game and how we played, not quite so much as the standard of the opposition.
Although they were smashed by injury for that game, so…maybe a bit the standard of the opposition.
What am I trying to say?
Yeah, Melbourne are a decent team.
Nah, that was definitely a shameful loss. Worst we’ve played all year. Worst we’ve lined up all year.
Just all of the dumb in one place.
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2015 us, melbourne and the saints were 13th, 14th, 15th (7, 6, 6 wins). We obviously took a little detour in 2016 for reasons beyond football, now the teams are 9th, 10th and 11th. We might not be in the exact same boat, but I think we’re sailing the same model.
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I feel pretty comfortable saying we would have won 10 last year with a full side.
Yes except they’ve rebounded with (largely) kids. We have Jobe back. Yay.
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Would have. could have. Should have. Guesses.
There’s 9 guys from last night who started (for us) in 2016 or 2017 so who’s to say they get the same opportunities with a full list?
I’m excited. We’ve got potentially a great forwardline, a serviceable back half, it’s the midfield that needs work - but come round 1 next year it will be quite different. In will be a much younger group, with more pace and defensive awareness. They’ll have to prove themselves, but they look promising in prospect. Be handy if we could snare a top name midfielder, which should be a priority, but I think we’re going in the right direction.
Things can change quickly. Coming into the season Adelaide wasn’t seen as one of the major contenders. Richmond had been a joke for years. As much as it is about the talent on the field it is about the system they bring to the game. That’s why Collingwood perpetually underachieve, and it’s why Adelaide and Richmond had leapt up the ladder.
We’ve been hamstrung to a degree by the need to play the returning players, and by conservative selection policies. It will be different next season, and with a year behind the combined team the system that Worsfold is trying to implement will become second nature. I expect we’ll make the eight this year, and may even win a final. Next year I expect us to be better.
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Not so much with the forward structure we have tho.