There is no way we would have a final at etihad, no matter who we are playing this season.
But perhaps talk about finals if we actually beat dogs and blues.
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and the Suns and Freoā¦ Chances are if we are still in the hunt come Round 23, weāre going to have to beat Freo to lock away a spot.
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Itās a shame. I have the feeling this is the start of a great era in the history of this club.
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Isnāt Etihad guaranteed a final each year?
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nope. thereās a contract clause whereby if they donāt get a final, they get an extra āblockbusterā game the following year. This is a significant contributing factor in us playing Hawthorn at Etihad for so many years.
This was certainly the case under the old stadium contract, not sure if itās changed since the AFL took ownership.
The next week they played well against the Doggies. The following week, they struggled to beat Port at Simmonds and got over the line by 2 points. Remember the play on call to Dixon?!
.
Not hating, just think we havenāt smashed any team because our best is so breathtakingly good as made out by a few on the train.
Fwiw I think we could very well win every game leading into the 8. I believe we can go 4/5 leading in.
But I donāt think we will have āitā if we canāt match it this week or against the crows.
Our midfield still IMO is not really finals worthy. Itās taken one of the best seasons I have ever seen in a chb from M Hurley and our best forward line setup since 2001 too win 9 of 17.
There is a bit of a state of hubris if general thought we can win the granny over Sydney/Adelaide/GWS. Perhaps even Geelong when they are up on our current form.
61 points over Wet toast isnāt a smashing? 70 points over Port isnāt a smashing? 61 points over St Kilda isnāt a smashing?
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I donāt agree. It was definitely completely useless at the start of the year, but it has improved as the year has progressed. Itās probably not premiership worthy, but I think it has proved itself finals worthy.
When I think of Myers, Watson, Heppell, I consider them all to have been poor at the start of the year, but getting better as the year progresses. They are all still having the occasional off game, but consistency will be the last thing to return.
Last weekend, for example, I thought it was our defence that was pretty much flogged.
But we have smashed teams so if you actually play fair and tell the truth then we have something to discuss.
As for winning a granny. Who said that we have to win the granny to be considered a good side? We are at the start of our journey to the top. Our core group are young and very talented and with lots of growth yet. We still need to add depth but with gradual improvement I think this side has a flag in it.
You may not be able to see that but Iām surprised that you canāt at least recognize that this is the best group of kids we have had at the club in over a decade.
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You mightāve missed his point. Weāve smashed teams, but it was more on the back of them squibbing it than us being so utterly irresistible. Thereās an element of truth to that, particularly in the case of West Coast and Port, who were absolutely ā ā ā ā poor woeful. They were soft as butter. Saints maybe less so but they were definitely flat.
Undeniably, we are lethal if sides donāt bring big pressure. But weāve yet to really put a side away thatās come hard at us.
So do the Doggies, who were a huge pressure and contest side last year, bring that immense pressure this week and if they do can we overcome it?
No other teams supporters would find excuses as to why their team won that doesnāt go with how well our team played to stop the other team for playing well.
I imagine Brisbaneās fans sat there and said, āwe only won because Essington modeā.
Horses crock.
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Only Adelaide and Port have more50+ point wins than us (Sydney are also level)
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No, itās called objectivity. Something thatās in short supply around here.
Iām not saying we didnāt play well. Iām saying we were allowed to play a certain way. IMO our best performances were against GWS and Sydney. Because we were competitive and in a winnable positions against highly fancied opponents who for the vast majority of the game denied us the game style where we are most damaging. In both those games we were made to work a lot harder than West Coast or Port or even Geelong for 3qts.
One this we should know about our team is no win is guaranteed. We could easily win this week then lose to the blues.
Just out of curiosity. Do you look at Adelaide who have the greatest percentage and ask yourself whether the big wins they have had hold any merit?
I still reckon theyāre very getable. Melbourne piled 11 goals on them in a row at the Adelaide ovalā¦ Theyāre good, but getable I reckon. Im very impressed with their win against Geelong. Their pressure was huge and Geelong have a great record against them because theyāve put muscled them in the contest. Adelaide beat Geelong at itās own game IMO. Thatās their best win. Better than any of the drubbings theyāve dished out on weaklings.
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Maybe we just made them look bad?
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looks like I will be in sydney on 16-17th September.
If we make finals and progress to the second week there is a good chance we might play either GWS or Sydney if they lose week 1.
I think where you and others are selling us short is that our gameplan and strengths are unique compared to the topflight teams.
Our ball movement and breakaway speed is to much for some clubs to handle and thatās why we have made them look disinterested. You only have to look Geelongs, WC, Ports, Sydneys and others lineups to see that they donāt have players with speed of movement like we do across the whole ground.
Something that just doesnāt get mentioned enough around here is our ability to rotate players through multiple positions on the ground and different times of the match.
Using the Geelong game as an example. It was Fantasia that went into the midfield in the last quarter that won the game for us. Their are plenty of other examples of it happening that TV watchers or people not as aware of AFL tactics can pick up on. Joe is another that has changed the direction of a game when he has played ruck.
We are an extremely well drilled team that is only just starting to see the benefits of our hard work and we are still yet to scratch the surface of what we can do.
I can understand why you may want to bring objectivity to the argument because itās safe to do so and we have had false dawns in the past, but I see it far different and I believe we are seeing the makings of an incredible side. Inconsistency has hurt us s o far this year but I believe we have had very good reasons for that. the remainder of this year I see as further opportunity for learning and development and next year these wins that we have seen this year will start to become the norm.
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