Clearly this is complete BS. Belly was easily better around the ground ( 7 marks , 3 contested 1 goal vs 0,0,0) and had 10 hitouts to advantage, compared with 11 for Naitanui. Naitanui got clearances, but utterly butchered the ball.
McGovern, 1 intercept mark.
Some thoughts on our chances of playing finals this year.
A 6-7 record is not heinous, and plenty of teams have qualified for finals from worse positions (including us at 6-8 last season, if memory serves). That said, it looks like being a âtoughâ year to qualify, owing to four teams looking very un-competitive this season. All of the Elo based models give us Buckleyâs chance, but such models are based on the idea that rapid changes in form are unlikely (theyâre unable to adjust for the âNeeld-factorâ). Out of curiosity, I decided to see how often 12/13 wins gets you into the finals since GC/GWS joined the comp. Results:
50% of the time there is a team on 12 wins that doesnât qualify
Only once (2012) would a team on 13 wins not have qualified (8th was on 14 wins, but they were two wins clear of 9th so I guess they could have lost one more and still qualified)
In short, 13 wins should get us there or weâd be very stiff indeed.
But are those bottom teams that bad? MatterOfStats makes a few points:
Brisbane Lions, in 17th, have kicked only about 1.5 goals per game fewer than Geelong, in 7th
The Western Bulldogs, in 14th, have registered more behinds than all but two of the teams in the 8
Teams currently in the 8 have, collectively, only a 10 and 7 record over the last three rounds""
@BringBackBoris you are bang on about ELO being a slow moving ship, I had quite a few arguments with Matt from the arc about this when Essendon was recovering - not adjusting for that change in personnel was a big negative in all their models. My model uses a 3 game ELO gradient as well which I built in for that reason - to pick up swings in form earlier than the standard ELO model.
I ran a few ladder simulators and had a missing on % with 13. Itâs going to be very very tough if not down right impossible. There are a few teams a above us with pretty easy runs home. By comparison we have norf, pies, Hawks, Richmond, Swans and port (a) . Weâre going to have to find at least 4 wins from that lot and get the business down against the handful of sides t who are below us. Compare that to Hawthornâs draw; gws, dogs, lions, blues, Freo, us, cats, saints, Swans.
It becomes harder and harder to increase percentage as the year goes by . We would need to win the 9 games by an average of 30 about points. To achieve that, we have to really really put away sides below us. Thats unlikely, because we have lost the predator instinct.
This year has really shown everyone, if the team is slightly off their game they can be beaten by someone else below them on the ladder. Look how many times it has happened this year already. We have to hope it happens to a few teams above us and we can keep on winning and improve our %.
However, worst comes to worst, and we miss out, we are setting ourselves us nicely for 2019.