And further away from it than 8 other teams
We finished 4th 
itās an amazing year so far thatās for sure.
Mid season; 6 & 6, in the 8, and with convincing wins against some top sides, and improvement still to come in terms of a team gelling evidently there.
If you were offered this at the start of the season youād grab it with both hands.
If you wanted more you were almost certainly delusional ( but happily so - Go Bombers)
If youāre suddenly gripped by panic that weāll fall in a heap canāt help you, but perhaps it is time to put away the scarring of the last few years.
Where weāll end up this year is also dependant on other teams, and thatās pretty interesting, especially for the pessimists.
Are there 8 teams that will clearly force us out of the eight?
Are there even half a dozen?
Weagles & Port - flat track bullies - no real flag threat.
Geelong- still a bit flaky and lacking depth - one Selwood, Danger or Hawkins away from losing convincingly
Richmond and Melbourne - Iād argue weāve already seen their best - though Gawn might stabilise Melbournes tendency to be really patchy within games - usually at least one poor quarter.
GWS - their injuries arenāt going away and theyāre not as all conquering as expected - do they have a Plan B for when the pressures on?
Doggies- I think weāre seeing the limitations of Beveridges " everyoneās interchangeable - letās all be manic" game plan - theyāve been sussed out.
Colliwobbles, The Filth, and St Kilda - puhlease- dud dud dud
The Swine are building somewhat.
Adelaide are solid.
So on balance mid year itās ours for the taking- I reckon sixth is about right from here, and a pass mark, and win the first final.
After that hereās hoping.
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A question.
If we had beaten Carlton and Melbourne but lost to West Coast and Port, would you feel more or less positive about our season?
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Definitely less positive for me. Now we know that our good is very good. We just have to keep away from the badā¦because the bad is ugly.
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Absolutely less positive.
Our early season form we had numerous issues dealing with. Team gelling. Returning players getting used to playing/training again and struggling to get up week to week. Short breaks making that worse.
Carlton centre square combo of Kreuzer / Cripps / Gibbs / Murphy been working together for a long time and got on top. Docherty / Simpson as have done on a number on a lot of teams cut off so many of our fwd forays.
Blues played the wet weather footy (which closes class gap on many teams) better than us and had a team who was used to working together (particularly midfield/HBF) better than us
The Dees game was always going to be dicey. They had an extra days break in what was a very short time frame as is. we didnāt capitalize on our chances (JD likely fatigued hence kicking off) then the extra rest day combined with Jobe, Hep and co battling late in game and Belly not anywhere near match fit saw us lose it as they ran over us.
If we played either team now weād win IMO.
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Absolutely less positive.
In pro sport (or anything for that matter) you never win all the time. And I would much rather lose to also ran teams than to genuine contenders. Much better to get to the pointy end of a season knowing you have beaten the teams you will be playing in the finals than some team who finished 15th. If you are going to have bad days/drop games, do it against sides that donāt matter.
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I reject the premise.
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In terms of team psyche better to know you can beat top teams. In terms of securing a spot in the 8 beating teams below you is a must.
If you do both. You are Adelaide 2017
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Agree, but are we calling the Dees an āalso-ranā?
I reckon Port are also rans. Havenāt beaten anyone in the top 10. Massive downhill skiers.
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I think melbourne would be a good chance to beat WCE and Port in Melbourne. So not sure it would change much for me?
More the nature of the wins that impressed anyway - pretty much clinical, siren to siren
Great question.
I think if that had happened weād be known as flat track bullies with our only good win coming against Geelong.
I was so dirty after loss against Carlton and thought that it ultimately would cost us a spot in the finals. Hopefully it isnāt the case.
Obviously better to beat teams above you when you can. However, last year aside, itās an area weāve done ok in.
Losing to losers has been a problem for us, so in a strange way, itās the improvement we need more.
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I call BSā¦ Iāve done the extensive research and found that all our wins last year were against teams that finished above us on the ladder.
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You raise a good point.
Equally, in 2000, we were flat track bullies because we only beat teams below us and not a single team above us.
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Only teams below us all season. Ultimate down hill skiers.
Flat track bullies, in the Port & Weagles sense, implies they thrash weaker teams at home, no chance against good teams away, and will probably drop games away to bottom sides.
Not a reference to teams above or below them (See Australian cricket side of late for full definition)
Back to the other sides though, many of them play each other over the next 5 or so rounds, so again itās not looking like a year where 7 sides have a clear lock on the eight in terms of form and class while 3 or 4 slog it out for eighth
You would really only say Adelaide and GWS are certs.
The others are all a week to week, and confidence proposition.
Yes Geelong are probables, and itās unlikely both the Weagles/Port will crash and burn given their home games. Though I wouldnāt put it past one of them to dive off a cliff.
The next five weeks will be interesting for them, Melbourne & Richmond
We are every chance to actually be solidly in the eight on our recent form and capacity for improvement, rather than battling for the final spot or two entering the last 4 rounds.