The outside contenders

[quinny88]

My prediction is this thread will turn in to tbag saying everyone hates SA...

Called it.

Hahaha  ;D he called it very early too.

[tbagrocks]

I believe my call was that your precious Victorians will struggle to match the hype under the heavy weight of long running pressure and be over taken by those outside of your precious and unrealistic state ;)  Nothing about SA hate at all ???

[quinny88]

I believe my call was that your precious Victorians will struggle to match the hype under the heavy weight of long running pressure and be over taken by those outside of your precious and unrealistic state ;)  Nothing about SA hate at all ???

In case you haven't noticed tbag just about everyone has Sydney and Freo finishing top 3. Victorians included

[Noz]

It will be interesting to see how West Coast bounce back from that embarrassment of a season. If they can regain their form the can deffinetly bounce back to top 5 contenders.

Anyways my top 8 would have to be

1. Sydney
2. Freo
3. Hawthorn
4. Collingwood
5. Geelong
6. Any club apart from Greater Western Sydney and St Kilda
7. Any club apart from Greater Western Sydney and St Kilda
8. Any club apart from Greater Western Sydney and St Kilda

[tbagrocks]

I believe my call was that your precious Victorians will struggle to match the hype under the heavy weight of long running pressure and be over taken by those outside of your precious and unrealistic state ;)  Nothing about SA hate at all ???

In case you haven't noticed tbag just about everyone has Sydney and Freo finishing top 3. Victorians included

Still not what I said, refer to original post, then realize I may be referring to three certain underachieving Victorians being overrun by certain underrated teams further west ;)

[quinny88]

West coast definitely a massive chance. There are a lot of teams that will expect to play finals again.
The reason I rate Richmond ahead of most is purely for the fact that they only missed top 4 by half a game last year and have now been given a really good fixture. Doesn't garuntee anything but I'd be extremely disappointed and shocked if we didn't make the 8

[Vinny]

Mine would probably be:

1. Hawks
2. Sydney
3. Freo
4. Cats
5. Tiges
6. Blues or Essendon
7. Essendon or Blues or Pies.
8. WCE, North or Pies.

Yes but I think the battle for 6,7,8 is between the Blues, Bombers, Pies & Roos and maybe Port, WCE or GC if they are lucky.

[quinny88]

I believe my call was that your precious Victorians will struggle to match the hype under the heavy weight of long running pressure and be over taken by those outside of your precious and unrealistic state ;)  Nothing about SA hate at all ???

In case you haven't noticed tbag just about everyone has Sydney and Freo finishing top 3. Victorians included

Still not what I said, refer to original post, then realize I may be referring to three certain underachieving Victorians being overrun by certain underrated teams further west ;)

Who are your 2 teams you voted for out of interest?

[Noz]

The last time Hawthorn won a grand final it finished 9th the following year. Could it happen again

[quinny88]

The last time Hawthorn won a grand final it finished 9th the following year. Could it happen again

They were a really young side then and that GF was a massive boil over. Think they celebrated a bit to hard. They are too professional for that now days. They will be in the mix again for the flag. If anyone is going to drop it will surely be Geelong. They have managed to top up their list so well but still losing so many premiership players over the past 3 years has to hurt them eventually

[tbagrocks]

No real surprises Quinny, Adelaide and Essendon, the Bombers we know can match anyone and should be focused now that the drama is gone. Of course I say the crows and we did miss the GF by a kick a year ago, then we added Crouch, Grigg, Laird, Brown and now Betts and Pods, yes we do believe we will be right in the mix, call us crazy we don't care :P

The big thing for the Tigers is now they are expected to make it, so they will have the most pressure of any team imo, but as I said Carlton also will not want to miss the 8. With the two Adelaide teams all but written off, I can see them out doing some of the more fancied Melbourne teams! Make of that what you will

I'm not saying those fancied teams are no good or they can't make the top 4, I'm saying that some of these teams have been starved of success for so long, now that they have good teams and are highly fancied, all the pressure to perform will be there! So let's wait and see, if they drop a silly game or two, the media will be all over them!

As always, wright off the crows at your peril ;D

[quinny88]

No real surprises Quinny, Adelaide and Essendon, the Bombers we know can match anyone and should be focused now that the drama is gone. Of course I say the crows and we did miss the GF by a kick a year ago, then we added Crouch, Grigg, Laird, Brown and now Betts and Pods, yes we do believe we will be right in the mix, call us crazy we don't care :P

The big thing for the Tigers is now they are expected to make it, so they will have the most pressure of any team imo, but as I said Carlton also will not want to miss the 8. With the two Adelaide teams all but written off, I can see them out doing some of the more fancied Melbourne teams! Make of that what you will

I'm not saying those fancied teams are no good or they can't make the top 4, I'm saying that some of these teams have been starved of success for so long, now that they have good teams and are highly fancied, all the pressure to perform will be there! So let's wait and see, if they drop a silly game or two, the media will be all over them!

As always, wright off the crows at your peril ;D

Few points to make!
Essendon I agree with, as I've said, there best is top 4 material but the ASADA stuff is far from over and I think there forward line is going to struggle having lost gumby and crameri in the off season. They are a big unknown.
Adelaide did make the prelim recently but since then lost Tippet, who I know you like to dismiss as a replaceable player but he was a major part in the structure of your forward line and team.
You are making out as if teams are so pressured by outside media. There is no more pressure on Richmond in Melbourne than there is on Adelaide or Port from the SA media. If players are going to let that get to them then they shouldn't be playing at AFL level

[Jukes]

Bombers and pies

Easy choices.

[Ringo]

Loving the discussion and while I agree Richmond have recruited well as I posted earlier concerned with their rookie drafting this year with no youngsters drafted only recycled players. Still interested to hear your opinion what will happen at end of year with these mature aged rookies. Only Miles will be under 24 at season end.

And I re-iterate not a general attack on Richmond as I believe you will finish 5th but just a concern as to your future in 4/5 years.

[Ricochet]

If they get a premiership in those 5 years I don't think they will be too worried  ;)

And I don't think it will have an affect. There is always next years draft which is suppose to be quite strong, especially compared to this years, and their list isn't that old