Any footy blog worth their salt has a ladder prediction. See if the FanFooty projection matches yours.
1. Geelong. No surprises here. They will burst out of the blocks with fire in their nostrils to kick the wounded Hawks while they’re down in the grand final replay. They have two tougher games after that in Richmond and the Pies, but after that their draw leaves them a smooth run to lead the competition from go to whoa. It will feel rather hollow for Cat fans, who know after the events of September 2008 that it will all mean nothing if they can’t peak in the finals. From a fantasy perspective, I see no halt to the tsunami of points that their midfielders have been generating during their glory run.
2. Hawthorn. I am not all that confident about this pick as I don’t think the Hawks will be nearly as far ahead of the chasing pack as they were last year, due to what I expect to be a terrible opening six weeks of the season. Of their first six games I would only be sure of beating the Eagles, which could leave them at 1-5 by the beginning of May. Their draw opens up to a much more friendly set of fixtures after that, though, so I think coach Alistair Clarkson probably won’t mind starting as underdogs and coming home with a wet sail to allow Geelong to be the frontrunner again. There will be rich fantasy pickings in the mid-price and rookie improvers in the first part of the season, with proppy premiums like Luke Hodge and Lance Franklin being much better as upgrade targets for a solid second half run to the finals.
3. Richmond. According to the unwritten rule that every top 4 prediction must have a team from outside the top 8 the previous year, Richmond is my pick to be that team. Their problem has always been the bottom half of their best 22 dropping away rather sharply in skill and determination, but I think the improvement in players like Daniel Jackson and Matt White, along with more consistency from players like Richard Tambling and Jack Riewoldt topped off with Ben Cousins and maybe club-lifting cameos by Mark Coughlan and even Graham Polak, and the Tigers are looking to me like the best bets to survive the new cluster-focused AFL. Their first three games against Carlton, Geelong and the Bulldogs will go along way towards deciding their year, seeing as how they are such an emotional club, and I expect them to be 2-1 at least out of that sequence to give them the confidence that they can match it with the heavyweights.
4. Western Bulldogs. The Dogs outperformed themselves last year, and ran out of puff towards the end of the season. It is a very good sign for the club that they are practically injury free to start the 2009 campaign, nonetheless, and that combined with their now-traditional run of games at Docklands in the last half of the year will see them scrape into the top four.
5. Port Adelaide. It is hard to escape the conclusion that Port dogged it towards the end of last year, making them by far the most likely to be the bottom four side that lifts themselves into the eight, as one always does. The Power are much better than bottom four, with a midfield that should improve out of sight under the hardcore fitness regime of former Bulldog assistant coach Cameron Falloon. There are still question marks over their forward line, however, with much better years needed from Warren Tredrea and Brett Ebert if they are to get anywhere near top four.
6. Collingwood. I expect Mick Malthouse to get sacked mid-year as the first coaching casualty of Clarko’s cluster. Collingwood FC is a resilient club, however, and they’ll bounce back with a new gameplan, maybe even under Nathan Buckley. As one of the few sides that has the cattle to stop Geelong, NAB Cup grand final notwithstanding, they have the ability to make the eight… they just need a coach who can allow them to play a winning style of footy.
7. Carlton. Look scarily like the Eagles of the mid-oughties in structural terms with a scintillating midfield and a flawed forward line, though it’s a year too early for them to really challenge. It’s definitely not good news that Brendan Fevola is injured early, as their attack is painfully dependent on him. The major reason that I have Carlton behind Richmond in this ladder is that top four sides are built on defence, and I rate Richmond’s tall defenders ahead of Carlton’s. You only have to look at how many shootouts the Blues were drawn into last season to see that they can’t play a lockdown style with their current personnel. The addition of Chris Johnson may help in some respects but they need some more hard-nosed defenders prepared to sacrifice their own games… is it too late to clone Jarrad Waite?
8. North Melbourne. I bag Dean Laidley a lot on this site, but you have to respect the Junkyard Dog’s ability to keep his underpowered list competitive every week. To me, this side is all about Drew Petrie and the small forwards Lindsay Thomas and Matt Campbell. If the latter pair can fire with midfield supply from Petrie dominating in the ruck and around the ground, the Roos can win games. It’s going to be a scrap for this last finals place and if they do get there and have to play Port, I pity their supporters, but they deserve my vote.
9. St Kilda. When fit and firing, the Saints have enough class to beat the lesser sides, but continue to struggle with many of the top eight. Unfortunately for Saint fans, the list is currently wracked with injury, especially in the key positions. Their spine of Max Hudghton, Matt Maguire, Nick Riewoldt and Justin Koschitzke have all been struggling with injuries of varying severity, with both backmen out for the start of the season. Their reliance on Rooey and Kosi to produce is going to be even more pronounced this year with no Charlie Gardiner, and seemingly no ready made replacement at the underappreciated third tall forward position. They really should be at least 3-1 after a first month of Sydney at home, Adelaide away and then both WA teams at home, but I suspect with their injury list and Riewoldt a traditionally slow starter, they will be staring down the barrel come the month of May.
10. Adelaide. This looks like a team in transition to me. A Neil Craig side is never going to bottom out, but with Simon Goodwin, Andrew McLeod and Tyson Edwards being sidelined in favour of younger players like Chris Knights, Nathan Van Berlo and Brent Reilly, there’s a dip in the Crow’s future before they can reach for the heights of the top four again. The biggest problem is the forward line, as it was last year, with Brett Burton out for the first half, Jason Porplyzia injured, Nick Gill underdone, and Craig having to rely on an extremely iffy trio of Trent Hentschel, Kurt Tippett and Taylor Walker to kick his goals. That he has been trialing Jared Petrenko as a small forward shows how desperate Craig has become. Coming off a year where they had a very soft draw to start with in 2008, they will tread water this year at best, as other teams go past them.
11. Brisbane. Speaking of teams in transition, the Lions are going to play a lot differently to the way they did last year, at least to start with. Michael Voss has got the squad plying a much more possession-style gameplan with a lot of touches going through the hands of halfback players along with more than a little flooding. What we haven’t seen from the Lions is how this plays out when they have both Jonathan Brown and Daniel Bradshaw standing inside forward 50. Say what you like about the Leigh Matthews gameplan, he at least knew what his list’s strengths were, and that began and ended with getting the ball as many times to Brownshaw as humanly possible. Will Voss’s plan of kick-to-kick between halfback lines (or handball-to-handball) nullify this strong point of Brisbane’s structure, or will the increased scoring efficiency of their forward line become more important as the inside 50s dry up? This remains to be seen in a fair dinkum match. I suspect that the Lions might lose a fair few matches by big margins this year when their nascent structure gets blown apart, similar to the 2003-era Hawks when they suddenly switched gameplans and had to rebuild the way they played footy.
12. West Coast. I hope for Eagles fans’ sakes that Dean Cox plays all year with that broken cheekbone, because without him they are spoon material. Last year was their bottoming out, and they will win a few more games this year purely due to the Subiaco home ground factor. They still have a lot of work to do to get anywhere near the top 8, though. Putting 22 games into Mitchell Brown will be a start, as will full seasons for Chris Masten and Brad Ebert.
13. Essendon. Sadly, the injury curse hasn’t lifted in 2009, with Andrew Welsh already gone for the year, Scott Lucas looking wobblier than a cockie in King St on a Thursday night, and Scott Gumbleton whose lower back is apparently made out of softer plasticine than the rest of him. Brent Prismall won’t appear until midyear, Jobe Watson is still a limited footballer, Patrick Ryder gets beaten too often and it’s Dustin Fletcher‘s last year. I can only see one game they would be confident of winning in the first 11 – Freo at home in round 2 – so to my mind they’ll have to pull another unlikely mid-season run of wins to avoid the bottom four again this season.
14. Sydney. Yes, this is the year they finally fall in a heap. It has been a long time coming. With injuries, retirements and age catching up with the Swans all at once, this is the season Paul Roos has been dreading. Their list is looking more bare than a fake Pauline Hanson double page spread. They’re one more Barry Hall brain explosion away from contending for the spoon. Shouldn’t be long now! At least they won’t be able to whinge about never having any high draft picks. Oh wait, but Gold Coast FC gets to pick 12 kids out of the draft pool this year! Aww.
15. Fremantle. You can’t expect anything from the Dockers this year. The cleanout of their list will inevitably lead to more and more losses. Instead of being competitive for most games as they were in 2008, they will lose a lot more games in blowout results this year. At least Mark Harvey won’t have to worry about criticisms of his team giving up three-quarter-time leads, as most games will be over by then.
16. Melbourne. Still a rabble, I’m afraid. They will need the priority pick. Their backline shows promise but their forward spine of Michael Newton and Brad Miller is not going to put the fear of God into any AFL team. Their only hope is if Brock McLean has a great year, also-rans like Nathan Jones drag themselves out of mediocrity and their few good players like Brad Green are used by coach Dean Bailey in attacking positions rather than filling holes in the defensive half. Bailey is not an AFL-level coach, unfortunately, and he may have the decision taken out of his hands anyway if the Demons midfield continue getting slaughtered like they did last season.
How about you lot, what are your ladder predictions? Give me your top 8, at least, in the comments.
SpikeSetsFire
March 22, 2009 at 6:35 pm
That’s pretty much how I see it too, except swap St. Kilda for North Melbourne for the Top 8. And I hope you are right about Brisbane/Fremantle/Sydney. They are terrific odds for the Spoon. Now if only Melbourne can string 5 wins together to make it happen. They may beat Freo, Sydney, Brisbane, West Coast, and hopefully Essendon or North Melbourne. Wishful thinking. >_>
the dud
March 22, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Top 8
Geelong
Hawthorn
Collingwood
Port Adelaide
Richmond
W Bulldogs
Carlton
St Kilda
And J Selwood for Brownlow
Chris
March 22, 2009 at 6:47 pm
Can’t say I agree with that.
Geelong
Hawthorn
Bulldogs
Collingwood
Port Adelaide
Carlton
St.Kilda
Brisbane
Richmond
North
Adelaide
Essendon
Fremantle
West Coast
Sydney
Melbourne
I can’t see any any bottom 8 team making the top 4 this year. I also think Brisbane will be the surprise packet and will just edge out Richmond.
Other Dan
March 22, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Here goes;
1. Geelong – They were 16 points clear of the pack last year, I don’t see that changing. They may have lost the final, but over 22 rounds they will still finish top.
2. Port Adelaide – They ‘tanked’ it big time last year. A formidable midfield and relatively injury free side.
3. St. Kilda – The age of their list suggests that now is the time.
4. Hawthorn – I agree Monty, tough opening for the Premiers and every team will raise their game against them.
5. Bulldogs – Over performed last year, but definitely a top 8 side.
6. Richmond – An improved side on last year will avoid the dreaded 9th place.
7. Collingwood – But not high enough to save Malthouse.
8. Carlton – My team. Apparently we’re coming. Except we don’t exactly have a forward-line. Will just scrape 8th.
Spooners – Melbourne.
GoodesStuff
March 22, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Geelong
Hawthorn
Collingwood
Western Bulldogs
Carlton
Richmond
St.Kilda
Port Adelaide
ETOH
March 22, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Richomond 3 lol, Doggies will drop out of 8
Chad
March 22, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Port for top 4 Richmond for 9th.
m0nty
March 22, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Gee Chad, how did I know you were going to tip Port for top 4… 😛
love4thegame
March 22, 2009 at 7:04 pm
geelong
hawks
carlton
pies
port
bulldogs
richmond
st kilda
Chad
March 22, 2009 at 7:05 pm
u seriously think the tigers will get top 4? who would have thought u would have the hawks in top 2 😉 as you said, they could very well be 0-4
Liam
March 22, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Cats
Port
Hawks
Pies
Tigers
North
Dogs
Blues
Dees 4 spoon
Fatty
March 22, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Richmond won’t finish third. They still kick to the other mob far too often.
1. Geelong
2. Port
3. Hawthorn
4. Collingwood
5. Western Bulldogs
6. Adelaide
7. North
8. Richmond
Fatty
michael
March 22, 2009 at 7:14 pm
sydney wont make the eight.
carlton and richmond in the eight but not top 4 imo
geelong
hawthorn
collingwood
bulldogs
carlton
port
richmond
st kilda
also who is a better cash cow rookie. sidebottom or robinson. i think sidebottom cuold get better scores but hes 20k more expensive. thoughts?
gooms
March 22, 2009 at 7:30 pm
fremantle will not finish 15th, although being written off by the eastern states is hardly new. that said, they wont make the 8. carlton richmond much better chances to finish top 4 than port/bulldogs and i dont rate st kilda as a chance to make the 8.
geelong
hawthorn
carlton
collingwood
Richmond
Port Adelaide
Bulldogs
Brisbane
Jdog
March 22, 2009 at 7:36 pm
1.Geelong
2.Hawthorn
3.Collingwood
4.Carlton
5.Port
6.Bulldogs
7.Richmond
8.Saints
9.Kangeroos
10.Brisbane
11.Freo
12.Sydney
13.Adelaide
14.West Coast
15.Melbourne
16.Essendon
weathergur
March 22, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Fair assessment, bearing in mind that over the last 15 years a team that has finished in the bottom 8 the previous year has made the top 4 the following year. Amazing statistic. Reckon Richmond & Carlton are the front runners here.
Guru
hibbo
March 22, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Ladder will go like this:
Geelong
Hawks
Pies
Saints
Bulldogs
Power
Kangaroos
Carlton
Richmond
Crows
Brisbane
Sydney
Fremantle
Essedon
WCE
Melbourne
Pies, Sanits and Bulldogs will be fighting for a top 4 spot and i think dogs might miss out but could go either way. Kangaroos, Carlton, Brisbane, Richmond, Crows, and Sydney will be fighting for the 7-8 spots but i think NM and Blues will get there.
Brad
March 22, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Hello everyone,
I posted this on the round 1 lockout thread but that has died.
I feel i need to post it somewhere active for everyone to read and make of it what they will.
If this happens to anyone on Thursday afternoon i am sure you will be devastated after putting in so much hard work and research over the past 12 weeks or so:
“Has anyone else experienced any problem with the super coach site?
I just went in to make some alterations to my side to find that i had apparently selected 33 of 30 players, McIntosh and Skipworth were listed in every line of my team and i was missing some key players in my line up.
I tried to clear the side and start again, i know my side better than my wifes birthday, only to be told that i had to pick a full squad of 30 players and only had 50K in the bank. I have advised s/c support but i am very very concerned that this will happen to someone during the maelstrom period and they will not earn any points for round 1 because of this glitch, i have been lucky enough to have caught it in time, i hope, but be careful guys, be confident in your choices by Thursday and try not to make any changes when the site is in meltdown Thursday afternoon or you will REGRET it big time!!!!”
The Chief
March 22, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Crap Call on Adelaide Monty. They are much better than you make then out to be and will finish top 8.
josh
March 22, 2009 at 8:46 pm
yer um monty mate i have just lost lots of respect for you….richmond will finish ninth again this year . not third!
1 geelong
2 hakws
3 saints
4 carlton
5 collingwood
6 dogs
7 port
8 freo
9 richmond
josh
March 22, 2009 at 9:01 pm
@BRAD thats what you get for doing supercoach
wardy
March 22, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Monty you have no idea. I’m a hawks man and we will touch up geelong this friday night, have faith.
Geelong
Hawks
Pies
Dogs
Rich
Carlton
Port
Saints
That’s how it will be…Go hawks
pascoe
March 22, 2009 at 9:50 pm
melbourne won’t win spoon, eagles will
XztatiK
March 22, 2009 at 10:02 pm
1. GEE
2. HAW
3. COL
4. WBD
5. CAR
6. ADE
7. STK
8. RIC
9. BRL
10. PTA
11. KAN
12. WCE
13. ESS
14. SYD
15. FRE
16. MEL
gothepower
March 22, 2009 at 10:04 pm
I’d have the ladder as
1. Geelong
2. Hawthorn
3. Bulldogs
4. Collingwood
5. Port Adelaide
6. Richmond
7. St. Kilda
8. Carlton
9. Adelaide
10. North
11. Brisbane
12. Sydney
13. Essendon
14. West Coast
15. Freo
16. Melbourne
Bob
March 22, 2009 at 11:29 pm
as if sydney wont make the top 8, they always do going for 7 yrs straight of making finals
just watch them, every1 always doubt their ability
ryz
March 22, 2009 at 11:38 pm
dont rate the roos, hawks i still think will struggle wardy (im a hawk too, but unless roughnut goes flippin spastic, we might get torched convincingly by their mids), think adelaide will be alright this year, and i feel like people rate the dons too low.
i rate port. but no higher than 6th MAYBE pushing 5th. richmond 9th, sainters to be in there, dogs to make top 4 easily too i would say.
cannot WAITTTTT
pascoe
March 23, 2009 at 7:13 am
1. cats
2. hawks
3. pies
4. dogs
5. blues
6. port
7. adelaide
8. richmond
9. saints
10. roos
11. lions
12. sydney
13. bombers
14. dockers
15. Dees
16. WCE
With the Gold coast taking the priority picks teams will be reluctant to tank and therefore i believe that melbourne has a better side than WCE.
cowsnutz
March 23, 2009 at 8:50 am
Adelaide will make finals, Carlton to miss. Agree with the rest.
Clint-84
March 23, 2009 at 10:21 am
Geelong
Hawthorn
Collingwood
Saints
Bulldogs
Richmond
Carlton
Adelaide
Port
Roos
Brisbane
Sydney
Essendon
Freo
West Coast
Melbourne
Chad
March 23, 2009 at 10:26 am
btw monty, the link for Port adelaide goes to the bulldogs page.
Chad
March 23, 2009 at 10:31 am
I love carlton’s membership push. “They know we’re coming”. Anyone with that amount of top draft picks will be coming. Thanks for pointing out the obvious 🙂 any other perls of wisdom carlton?
GuruGus
March 23, 2009 at 11:39 am
1. Geelong
2. Collingwood
3. Hawthorn
4. Port Adelaide
5. Bulldogs
6. Carlton
7. Brisbane
8th Adelaide or Richmond
Spoon Melbourne
Disco (UK)
March 23, 2009 at 12:19 pm
how possibly can malthouse get the sack and the pies finish 6th in the same season!?!? they would have to be 13th by round 15 before that happens!!!
If the Kangas make the finals this year then they will win a premiership within 7 years time (if/when the Cats/Hawks drop off). They won’t play finals without any forward line.
I can’t recall Adelaide ever having a forward line, Modra aside!!
The Lions are best equiped for the cluster – just kick torp’s over the cluster, JB will mark everything! If not, they have plenty of blokes to rove that contest. Bang, goal.
Essendon smell of shit. They deserve to after some club official muppet appeared on Footy Classified and claimed they be top 8 this year and top 4 the next. Fuck off and die from a paper cut you pen pushing idiot. The Dons will tread water for years until the dead wood is gone and they get a gun midfielder and a decent forward!! Their coach is a boring anal dickhead from a losing-culture footy club who will be sacked before they go anywhere. Get over yourselves and drop the ego by tanking and get a gun midfielder.
Gumby plasticine, LOL! Pauline Hanson LMAO!
This could be the death of Sydney footy. Surely this is not the time for another sydney team. The financial climate must have hindered the A-League and NRL progress enough for the AFL to not panic as much.
Fair go on Bailey, Clarkson is a Port Power expat, surely their former club is a breeding ground for coaches since 04. Are you shooting for Gary Lyon 2010?
In any order – Hawks, Port, Cats, Tigers, Saints, Pies, Dogs, Bris. Fev will do a knee, season over blues. Fuck the arrogant carlton maggots. Anyone who talks the ever improving hawks down will get slaughtered.
Brad – Thanks bro. People should pick their structure on the website now and do the finishing touches (rookies) during the maelstrom. Any planning (trial and error guessing) during the maelstrom should be done in Excel/plan team and not on their flakey website.
We should form an official protest against the maelstrom next season. Get the betters on board as well.
jeremy
March 23, 2009 at 12:40 pm
There is no way Richmond will make top 4, yet alone 3rd. Monty are you smoking something, if any team out of the 8 will be in the top 4, it might be Port. This is probably completely wrong, but Richmond won’t make top 4.
GEE
HAW
COLL
WB
ST.K
CAR
PA
RIC
NM
BRI
ADE
SYD
ESS
FRE
WC
MEL
hairy
March 23, 2009 at 12:54 pm
you are all idiots if you think freo will finish at the bottom of the ladder. they will be at the top of the bottom 8 or in the top 8. they will win 10 games this year. you all are under estimating their captain and his ability to win games.
cabbages
March 23, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Interesting ladder monty. The only comment I have is in relation to your claim that the Saints struggle against the top 8 sides. Last year, St Kilda beat:
Hawthorn once
Adelaide
Sydney once
North Melbourne
Collingwood once
So the only top 8 teams the saints didn’t beat were Geelong and Bulldogs. As a saints supporter, I certainly agree that against the very top sides we don’t measure up, but I still think that fourth was probably a fair reflection of our ranking against the other teams.
Nate
March 23, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Andrew Welsh gone for the year? Stop making up blatant BS Monty. The prognosis was a 4 month injury and he’s missed a month already. He’ll be back mid-season.
Drew
March 23, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Good call about the ‘Tanking’ issue pascoe.
I believe the Tigers can make the 8 this year (only play 3 of 2008 finalists twice – Kang, WB, & Syd) North & Syd to drop out, Rich and Carl in
Same pair of bookends at top and bottom.
Keza41
March 23, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Richmond will be ninth again!
Carlton will scrape into the top 4 IMO.
Trento
March 23, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Melbourne
Cartlon
West Coast
Hawthorn
Fitzroy
Roos
GC 17
Freo
Spooners = Geelong
Kennyrocks
March 23, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Looks alright to me monty, but Richmond 3rd? Yeah I’m not buying that one! I do think people are underestimating my crows a little. Thats fine, we do better when they don’t rate us, we’ve been predicted to miss the eight for most of the last 5 years by most of the “experts” anyway haha. I’m not deluded enough to think we’re a premiership threat but we’ll sneak into the eight, tough draw this year is a hurdle though.
Steve
March 23, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Geelong
Collingwood
Hawthorn
Richmond
Port
Bulldogs
Carlton
Crows/Saints
Spoon: Swans (last year I said Freo and don’t deny it everyone thought they’d be top 8…obviously I thought then and still think Dees will get spoon but I like to be a little outrageous.)
John
March 24, 2009 at 1:34 am
steve mate, swans will not get the wooden spoon, great team that will always perform
y does every1 always right off the swans when they make the finals every yr…..odd!
TOP8 – cats, hawks, dogs, pies, saints, swans, crows, tigers
steve
March 24, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Richmond will not finish 3rd. You are idiodic monty.
=\
HARLEY TURKINGTOWN
March 24, 2009 at 6:05 pm
why does everyone think that sydney will finish out side the 8
they have many guns in their team
thye have made the finals for 5 or 6 years straight
they didnt have the best year last year
and they still finished 5th
eveeryone always writes them off
but they sydney ALWAYS prove everyone wrong
The Fone
March 24, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Cabbages –
â€I still think that fourth was probably a fair reflection of our ranking against the other teams.†you have to be joking!?
Who could have predicted the results that happened in Round 22:
1. Adelaide beat Dogs after they came off a loss and Dogs had a massive win!
2. Sydney got a crazy percentage booster against the Lions who had great form
3. North Melbourne were absolutely pumped by Port Adelaide???? What the…
4. Collingwood tanked a game against Freo in order to play Sydney at home… (that worked)
5. Saints trounced the Bombers by 108pts, who laid down to save themselves for 09′ pfft!
Consequently: Saints then jumped to 4th by the skin of their teeth with the 9th ranked forward line and the 6th ranked defense?
Aside from all that, here’s my ladder prediction for ’09:
Geelong – potentially go undefeated in 09 (88% win ratio since 06)
Hawthorn – great unit but not as much depth as the Cats
Collingwood – time for the kids to step up, consistency the only issue
Western Bulldogs – don’t know where they get all that firepower but it works
Richmond – from 16th – 9th, Tigers are on the move
Carlton – I hate to say it but the blues will be pushing for a flag soon
North Melbourne – Have a habit of getting the job done but lose too many “easy†games
St. Kilda – Such a great list, but they fail to work as a team week in, week out.
Adelaide – Lack of depth and no forward line will hurt them… again…
Sydney – I’m sick of their game style, always in finals. Barry Hall can’t save you.
Fremantle – Lost 8 games by less than 10pts, should improve but away record?
Brisbane – Brown/Bradshaw won’t be as prolific, weak backline.
Port Adelaide – only won 3 of 12 home games last year… going no-where
Essendon – Play fast and sometimes exciting footy… just not for 4 quarters, or even 3.
West Coast – Don’t mind the midfield but forward line and defense… errrhhhhh!
Melbourne – Really hope they do better, but 1/4 of good footy a week won’t cut it.
The Fone
March 24, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Just a random stat:
Whilst filling out my tipping for a comp (where you enter all your picks for the season prior to round one)… i noticed that the last 4 games between Brisbane and Port Adelaide, the away team has won… odd.
Anyway, hope you all have a good night.
Schmitt1
March 24, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Well, this is slightly altered as there was a heavy bias in my original prediction…though is a rough guild on what I think will happen.
1. Geelong–they will be consistant again in 09, big chance with the flag, but could be their last or second last for the flag tilt.
2. Hawthorn–expect this team up their, though could suffer.
3. Richmond–Big improvers last year, and the last two times Richmond made the finals, they made the top 4…could history happen again?
4. Western Bulldogs–The doggies will be up there again, but only if their youngsters are able to be very consistant.
5 Carlton–You can’t have the tigers in the top 8 without the other improving side in Carlton. Yet is is evident that this side can do it.
6. Collingwood–This is an important year as I see the pies at a cross-road. It is a team that can go either way in the next few years.
7. North Melbourne–The shinboner spirit will keep the roos in the finals.
8. Adelaide–The only interstate team that I can see making the finals. A chance at the flag…maybe not.
9. St Kilda–Will just miss out on the chance of finals this year.
10. Sydney–will not make the finals. How far they’ll drop is yet to be seen.
11. Port Adelaide–Will improve from last year, but won’t make the finals.
12. Essendon–Will have a steady year.
13. Melbourne–I actually think Melbourne will rebound from last season and win some games, maybe some upsets.
14. Brisbane–recent history suggests new coach doesn’t mean finals, and just new to the helm, I’m not sure how much voss can do to the lions side in 09
15. Fremantle
16. West Coast–These two teams can go either way. Though one thing for certain, no success to the teams of the west.
Steve
March 24, 2009 at 10:06 pm
had a look at port’s soft looking draw in terms of playing many expected non-finalists twice. i edit my tips to have port at 4 and richmond at 5