Serious? How on earth could you have had WC falling that far? They have a massive home ground advantage so even when they are a poor side they still finish mid table. At the start of the finals who did you think was going to beat them at home? Top 2 finish almost guarantees a GF spot for a WA or SA team.
As for the Pies well yes I did expect them to play finals as they have a strong midfield & as most should know by now I rate midfields as the most important ingredient required for success. I said 2 years ago that if they could get their midfield on the park for a season they could challenge top 4. When they were looking like possibly sacking Bucks 2016/17 I thought they were a plum job to take on as they had a solid base to build on. I didn’t think they would make the GF but there was no doubt in my mind they were playing better footy when we played them than Richmond were.
Will Hopper and Kelly even play ?
People are worried about our preparation, well GWS’s is probably worse.
I legit don’t know 2 guys on that HB line, and Heath Shaw needs a walking frame to play at his age.
I thought you said we would win ?
Though I have concerns with the fitness of a few of our key players, and acknowledge they will be below 100% in Rd.1, I think a lot of Blitzers are over rating what this GWS side is capable of.
I think they are a 6th-10th side for 2019.
We’re like an exceptionally well-honed katana. The question is… will we reap our foes with surgical precision, or will we flay about like a lightsaber in the hands of a sugar-rushed kid?
That is the question.
Not just hepps comments.
But i am waiting for if they lose rd one , for the same regurgitated propaganda of excuses like
" it takes time to gel together"
“We will learn from 5his and move on and get better”
Etc etc
I think a new one will be
" we learnt in the second half of last year when we bring pressure we can do anything, so we have to get back to that".
Ive also known ut, but its recently just twigged that everyone has patterns, circles that th3y continually go around it etc.
The efc has it as a whole, people on here feom both
Sides have them.
Once you see those patterns and identify them, it all becomes so much clearer, but also so much more mundane, as you can see how it’ll go, once what happens, happens.
We are playing away, against a side that should do well in 2019. No surprise we aren’t going in favourites.
The only real surprise for me is if we show signs of looking really good. It doesn’t feel like we are going to step into the season rust free. Hopefully though, our team defense is much improved, and we make it hard for them to score.
About the obvious drop in intensity around the ball compared to second half last year. Bad habits are back
About our ability to compete against the best midfields in the competition, particularly at centre clearances, without the ability to bring an extra number into the stoppage.
About the number of players who are underdone coming into the season
JLT / practice matches it may be but you play as you train.
I have a feeling we will be 1-4 or 2-3 again and climbing a mountain for the rest of the season
But JLT has highlighted that the easiest scoring opportunities will come at centre clearances going from an uncontested midfield into a 1:1 forward line
@Killer_Mike do you have scores from centre clearances stats and differential stats?
They are centre clearance stats. Stoppages we are just middle of table.
The AFL stat site doesn’t show scores from centre clearances but I would imagine we would be high in that also due to how efficient we are at scoring from I50’s.
