dw we’ll be in lockdown so you can enjoy it from the couch
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Agree with the few who mentioned it in thread, but judging the difficulty of the draw is really a crap shoot. There are always teams going up and down the ladder each year, making the supposed difficulty a moot point.
I am more than happy playing finalists in the first 3 games, as it gives the side a true indication of their standing early in the season. In a sense, get battle hardened early. Having them all in Melbourne is a bonus as well.
Geelong and Brisbane in Melbourne, I would even suggest we may start favorites. Round 3, top of table clash perhaps. Who knows. Lot to play out yet before the season gets underway
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TBH that ain’t exactly correct. We are an AFL draw card like it or not…some fans are thinking it’s adding up to extreme bullshit.
For instance why does Tigers play Carlton every year & get to pencil in a win? Why can’t we play Carlton at start of year, yet we play Anzac Day, Dreamtime & Farmers Round against the same old clubs.
If we are an AFL draw card have us play a draw card team @ start of season, then we too can dream about pencilling in a win.
Whatevs. Play tough games and prove our worth.
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Well, have a bet on WCE sitting on top of the ladder after round 1 then.
The reason we can’t pencil in a win is because we haven’t been very good. Though we should have won last year against Hawthorn and we did win the year before against Freo. Tigers have only been able to pencil in a win recently because they have been so good, we could have been playing Carlton round 1 and lost every time.
We are not at the stage that we can pencil in a win against anyone.
Our draw isn’t bad, if we fail to meet our own expectations it won’t be because we got a bad draw.
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Our draw is good one in terms of travel and ‘prime time’ exposure… but hard if teams play at similar levels to last season.
But I think if you want to make it to the top… then you have to beat the top. The more chances we have to play good football against the top teams… the more chances we have to improve, learn and grow.
Our first month is going to be brutal on the field… we go up against the best of 2021 but what a great time to get them… they are coming off short pre-seasons, teams are still sorting out structures… our young kids will be pumped up and flying… Imagine if we come out and win 2-3 of them… sets up a great run through the middle of the season. Conversely… if we come out and lose a couple… then the media jumps off the bandwagon… but we still have 18 weeks to turn it around.
Either way… if we want to be a top 4 team then we should be able to handle any draw… can not wait for the season. Can’t believe it is still 3 months away
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You don’t win flags having an easy draw, you might make a token final appearance but you won’t win it.
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Aspirations from dissapointed players are all well and good
But the reality is the kpf’s who will be most likely to get games are are either:
Young and developing: Jones (20yrs old - 16 games) & Baldwin (19 / 0 games)
Stop gap - Francis (24 / approx 10 games playing fwd in career) - 2 goals only in 5 games end of 2021
The club itself (think may have been Rutten) indicated whilst had a positive season may go backwards ladder position wise in 2022 and it will largely to do with the reality of our where our kpf’s are at.
That’s not to say everyone isn’t going to be trying to better this years performance.
—-
Anyway back to the fixture
I say bring on the harder draw and super excited to see if we can knock over some of those top teams in first 3 rounds. And looking forward to going to plenty of games at start of season.
Those blockbuster games are very soon going to become 3 bankable wins for us.
We’re going to shoot up past Geelong and the Tigers in the next couple. Already past the pies.
If our side goes 3-0 on this draw people will be banging on about us being march premiers.
Even if all three games are in Melbourne.
Can you cite where that was said?
Yeah it’s a repeated POV on Blitz, but I can’t recall anyone from the Club saying that.
They might have, but my BS filter re Blitz opinions becoming facts is being put into overdrive post season, what with all the “facts” about who Dodoro drafts, what positions players played last year, and other such rewriting of history.
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yeah, I don’t recall that at all. what a message that would be prior to pre season
I can recall Rutten talking about progression not always being linear, but that we will be working hard on our progression regardless of win/loss etc
But at the same time he has always spoken of not putting limits on our seasons
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As per what @Odoyle said
IIRC it was something along the lines of “even if we dropped down ladder a bit still on right track”
I’ll try and find the interview video
….
Pretty sure it will be in relation to the interview that drew this article, which is tempering expectations
It was a confident and positive message imo. Basically stating that the club is still invested in doing the work needed.
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I think the fixture isn’t too bad taking into consideration all the permutations, like us only having to travel 5 times instead of 6, 8 games straight in Melb. I am happy with 8 games at the MCG, would like this to keep increasing over the coming years. Tough start, but if we are to go places we have to beat these teams and will only help for the years ahead, also think we may be even odds with Cats and slight favs against Brissy at home. Anyways just looking forward to getting back to the footy, bring it on!
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Yeah, progression not always linear. Get that. Still a bit different from saying we may go backwards- we may improve but stay eighth for example- but absolutely nothing that makes that claim about our KPFs.
That’s a portion of repeat posters opinions. Nothing to do with the coaching staff or club.
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No the specifics on kpf’s is from me
Albeit he does mention that Hooker & Ambrose both of who were playing as fwds are gone and we will get younger
Only need to look at the kpf options with their experience/maturity of all the top 13 sides on ladder who would be expected to be in finals consideration & we are very young/inexperienced in comparison.
Sack everyone. Frauds.
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