Brad will try and play bog average middle agers in a doomed attempt to make finals this year.
May they not.
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Top 4 I’m guessing. But I’ll settle for top 6.
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Mid table. Cant see us going backwards given the returning players who perennially keep us mid table anyway. Only way I see us being bottom 4 again is if we down tools on Brad.
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Bottom four and another top 5 pick
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Unfortunately I think you’re spot on. The most significant of the problems you mentioned is the coach. Replace our dull, plodding, tactically appalling coach with someone young, enthusiastic and intelligent, and the performance of our not very good bunch of players would improve dramatically from shocking to not too bad.
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We had one with Rutten not much changed. Our problems go beyond then just replacing the senior coach
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The ins are a considerable improvement over the outs.
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I’ll be very shocked if we finish outside of the bottom 4.
Forwardline outside of Caddy and Kako is utterly diabolical.
Midfield will resort back to Parish and Merrett in no time.
Backs will be an injury fest.
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Probably win 5 games?
That is actual list management. We moved on players last year that would have had years longer on the list previously. Draper is the only one we might have kept but given his price and injury concerns it’s not the worst thing to have lost him.
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Well he is currently centre half bench for the gorillaz. TBH I don’t care where we end up on the splatter ladder. Play good footy. And toss BDB, Hinkley would help.
10-12 is THE very definition of high expectations.
No chance imo.
Certainly keeping Setterfield and bringing in Fiorini implies he plans to prioritise older players.
I think injuries will be key. A decent injury run avoiding key players and I see us finishing 9th to 13th. A typical injury run on top of Martin, the ruck situation, and I can see us finishing bottom 5.
Fiorini will be a handy pick up he will fill the void left by Martin on the wing.
Setterfield I agree
An odd view. Langford and Wright are currently easily ahead of Caddy based on output, rather than potential.
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What’s wrong with having Parish and Merret in the middle? This takes pressure off Caldwell and Durham carrying the midfield.
The new Anzac Day guernsey is a good one. I hope we win in it.
It will be an interesting year at the very least
If all goes well we could sneak into the top 10, on the flip side of he have a similar run with injuries as last year we could be bottom 2
I’m not as doom and gloom as some on here though and think we will get close to top 10 and give us supporters some hope
Backline talls are great on paper - with Rids/McKay/Reid - they just need to stay on the park.. Redman and McGrath are experienced campaigners and Roberts looks the goods
Starting mids in Durham, Caldwell & Merrett more than decent + Parish/Sharp and a few others can provide support. solid wingers in Fiorini and Duursma - Martin a big loss though
2MP and Blaki will have to carry the ruck for a month or so until Bryan returns we need him back ASAP
Forward line is a mystery- Caddy and Kako should improve and Langford is reliable and classy but they are going to need help
We really need a couple of May/Huss/Robey or Perkins to have big years.
Then there’s McMahon/Edwards & Jones who I suspect are VFL players but who knows one of them might surprise
I’m hopeful this year we will see some green shoots and promise for the future
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I like your reviews mate, but i stopped reading here. Actually i lie, i saw the 10-12 prediction, which would get laughed out of most pubs. We are weaker than last season list wise, but i’ll give my view
Re our backline - it does not read good on paper, and that is what made me stop. Reid, Mckay & Ridley are nothing to build around. Mckay was a mistake, a low possesion, injury prone, bad disposal dinasaur.
Ridley and Reid cannot be relied upon. Are those 3 going to put together 20 odd games? Absolutely not. Who is the go to after that - Gerryn, or Hayes coming off an ACL? Throw another injury stick on cox down there? We are so thin on reliable, GOOD key defenders it isn’t funny
Mcgrath - yep. Good lockdown defender
Redman - ugh. Same old, barring a miracle
Roberts - promising, attacking HB
Everyone else down there has no experience, and whilst they may be promising, eg Farrow, Johnson, Nguyen - and i cant even think of another competent key defender….we are going to get scores kicked against us. We do not have the depth, or talent to stop teams destroying us. Key defenders are my biggest worry.
Midfield is our strongest point. Easily, IF they stay fit.
Rucks are diabolical.
Forward line young, its caddy, who is a gun, then relying on the same old 2MP and langford who have gotten us nowhere.
No decent, proven small pressuring forwards bar kako and the best teams have 3-4 quality small forwards who can either hit the scoreboard, or pressure like maniacs. HUSS could help, but you cannot pin hopes on him.
Perkins and gresham are deadset average. Guelfi could play a role but he is as reliable as Ridley/Parish/Reid. We’d all be amazed if we got 14+ games out of him.
We are bottom 4. We could be about 12th if everything went right, but we simply do not have the depth to achieve that
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I don’t think the team is that dire
Fiona from bomber banter who’s been to just about every training session thinks other wise.
She claims Redman has been outstanding all pre season with his leadership and attitude
I think we are going to see Redman from a few years ago when he had that really good season
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