2016 Prediction after trade and drafts (and WADA)

[Fossie 32]

As much as Murphy deserves one, Matt Suckling doesn't deserve four, well at least not in a row

What the hell? He deserves as many as he wants, as long as they are with us!

 

[go you pups]

Not another heartbreaking prelim. I couldn't take it.

We can't contend until we break this hoodoo

Would need incredible output from the bigger guys imo

 

[Woofing]

Top 4 would be great. Winning a final would be a realistic next step. Could do a port adelaide and struggle after a break out year. So for me top 8 and win a final would be a big step.

 

[Pugz89]

We can't contend until we break this hoodoo

Would need incredible output from the bigger guys imo

I might be the only who believes this but i don't give the hoodoo much thought.

New president, new CEO, practically a new list, a new coach and needless to say we actually have key position players this time around.

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

Plus it is number 8 a lucky Chinese number

 

[Yojimbo]

I don't think the drafts will effect our finishing position to any
great degree as it will be very dependent on how much we
have to vary our game style from last year. We will need a
similar lift from the mid tier players which is a chance to
a degree, but they were very good last year.

 

[razrblayd]

I don't think the drafts will effect our finishing position to any
great degree as it will be very dependent on how much we
have to vary our game style from last year. We will need a
similar lift from the mid tier players which is a chance to
a degree, but they were very good last year.

I reckon we will improve slightly from this year but there will be other teams that will improve significantly as we did this year. That's why I reckon we will finish roughly where we did this year. But don't get me wrong, this is an improvement considering the draw. Just please please please no blowouts

 

[Pugz89]

I reckon we will improve slightly from this year but there will be other teams that will improve significantly as we did this year. That's why I reckon we will finish roughly where we did this year. But don't get me wrong, this is an improvement considering the draw. Just please please please no blowouts

There was no real blowouts this year, except when we got injuries during the game. Hawks early when we lost Wallis and Morris by half time and going in without Bont and Boyd. Bevo seems to have a way of stemming the flow when it's going against us.

 

[razrblayd]

There was no real blowouts this year, except when we got injuries during the game. Hawks early when we lost Wallis and Morris by half time and going in without Bont and Boyd. Bevo seems to have a way of stemming the flow when it's going against us.

the west coast game wasn't too flash either

 

[NthBondiDoggies]

My heart tells me to set the bar lower so I don't get my hopes up too far and get hurt again (only happened 46 consecutive times to me but no pattern I can see!!) but logical and my positive side (hate miserable sooks) tells me we should get better.

Negatives: not much in terms of losses (Grant had some good games but was not a huge influence) In terms of slow downs we must expect a lower output from Boyd, Morris and Bob - when they didn't play we were a fair bit less effective.

Positives: Libba is a huge addition. Stevens is a very solid top level player and is super fit. Suckling and Adcock will really offset the slowdown of our fossils (who still will be fantastic but need to be managed - and these guys creat an awesome ability to do this).

The core of our strength still has considerable growth from already good players - Scary that Bonti, Stringer, Macrae, Hunter and JJ have growth. And Clay if he can recover. Roughead is due for a settled year and if he can play ruck all year could be anything.

Mid group will improve the most: Hamling, Roberts, Redpath and lJ. Prudden also looked decent.

One or two of the young pups will come good : Boyd, Zordy, Webb, Daniel, McLean, Dale, Hamilton,

Only Wood, Dickson, Wallis, Picken, Crameri and Dalhaus are locks and still have many years at their peak.

Other Draftees - we really shouldn't expect anything from them - though Adams looks like he could start early. Others are long term in a good way.

Must (prior to usual injury impact (only the Smiths as majors) this is the best we have gone into a year for a long time.

 

[giblj]

I'm interested to see how the reduction in interchanges and scrapping of the sub rule will effect us, you'd assume it would negatively effect young sides such as ourselves.

I like that we've brought in a couple of guys that will bridge the experience gap between our small handful of old heads and our bevy of young pups, NthBondiDoggies line about them offsetting the slowdown of the fossils is a good one.

If Libba is anywhere near his best first year back he'll be an amazing addition, plus all our kids will have another year of development behind them.

I expect us to be around a similar mark again, and if absolutely everything goes right maybe we can push for top four.

 

[Pugz89]

I'm interested to see how the reduction in interchanges and scrapping of the sub rule will effect us, you'd assume it would negatively effect young sides such as ourselves.

I like that we've brought in a couple of guys that will bridge the experience gap between our small handful of old heads and our bevy of young pups, NthBondiDoggies line about them offsetting the slowdown of the fossils is a good one.

If Libba is anywhere near his best first year back he'll be an amazing addition, plus all our kids will have another year of development behind them.

I expect us to be around a similar mark again, and if absolutely everything goes right maybe we can push for top four.

Disagree. Didn't check every week but alot of the weeks i did check, we only used 100-105 rotations in games this year. Suspect Beveridge was doing that intentionally, as an eye to easing us into next year with the revised restrictions. Also probably contributed to the turnover of guys we had each week, keeping them fresh. Quite a few of our squad are young, 22 and under, but remember that a 22yr old is going into the 4th preseason, so should really be nearly hitting their peak in terms of fitness. Also given our versatility with players able to play different roles, our mids will rest in the fwd line at times, Bont has already said he'll float down fwd more often next year because of the change. Don't see it being a massive problem tbh.

 

[razrblayd]

Disagree. Didn't check every week but alot of the weeks i did check, we only used 100-105 rotations in games this year. Suspect Beveridge was doing that intentionally, as an eye to easing us into next year with the revised restrictions. Also probably contributed to the turnover of guys we had each week, keeping them fresh. Quite a few of our squad are young, 22 and under, but remember that a 22yr old is going into the 4th preseason, so should really be nearly hitting their peak in terms of fitness. Also given our versatility with players able to play different roles, our mids will rest in the fwd line at times, Bont has already said he'll float down fwd more often next year because of the change. Don't see it being a massive problem tbh.

yeah agreed, I wonder how many marks inside 50 Wallis took this year. Jong took a few nice marks as well.

 

[Doggy Dan]

yeah agreed, I wonder how many marks inside 50 Wallis took this year. Jong took a few nice marks as well.

Remember that one the maggots didn't pay for Jong? Was it Richmond round 2?

 

[CaptainMurphy]

Remember that one the maggots didn't pay for Jong? Was it Richmond round 2?

Yep, it was.

 

[razrblayd]

I reckon Bontempelli will kick a few this year as a resting mid. gonna put me nads on the line and call it at 24

 

[Floridog]

The tougher schedule might actually be a good thing for us as we had a tendency to play up, or down, to level of our opponents last year. I expect our youngsters (i.e. most of the team) to continue to improve over all. The rate of improvement will not be as high as they get closer to their potential, but I think we'll still see improvement. The team now has a season under it's belt learning and getting comfortable with Beveridge's system which they seem to have fully embraced, so I expect we will build on that as well. I do expect this team will be pushing for top four. My main concern at this point is that I didn't feel we had enough of a "when you've got them down - kick 'em" attitude last season. This has the potential to knock us down the ladder a notch or two on percentage. Also, I think you need a fair bit of that attitude if you want to win flags (plural!).

 

[RedWhite&Blue]

I don't think there will be any Port-like drop off which is widely tipped. I don't understand that thinking.
Tom Boyd can only get better and this will make life easier for Stringer which is scary. Bontempelli is so professional that I have no doubt he will go to another level.
I'm predicting our back line to start to emerge as a real force, not just a great rebounding half back line but one that can rebound effectively as well as shutdown.
I'd be expecting to finish 5-8 and win one final and give the next one a real shake.
Can't wait!

 

[Mutt]

I want to see a bit of pre-season form before predicting the season ahead of us.

If the players and club think that improvement will just naturally happen, then we are all in for a disappointment. Hard work and a commitment to be the best you can be will bring further improvement....anything less and we will do a Port Adelaide and slip back into mediocrity.

 

[Mattdougie]

I expect us to plateau and finish 7th-9th

I think most teams will spend a lot more time on us and we are still very young.

I don't believe this is a bad thing as I see it helping us move forward in 2017 and the main positive will be list cloggers will be gone at the end of 2016 to make room for a ruckman and perhaps key back in free agency

 

[Mofra]

I reckon Bontempelli will kick a few this year as a resting mid. gonna put me nads on the line and call it at 24

I expect Bonti will spend a lot of time up forward early given his interrupted pre-season.

 

[Maverick Dog]

The offseason has improved our list but not significantly for 2016. I see only Adams and Suckling having an impact this season. The bigger improvement will come with the development of the younger players and more time concentrating on the game plan and most importantly kicking skills which cost us, especially in the final.

Looking at some of the snippets at training it appears there is a lot of emphasis in kicking skills on the non preferred which is great. If we can again improve our forward 50 entries we will improve if not we stagnate around 7 - 10. Our drafting in the past 2 years will help with the above. If we improve the above and Libba comes back strong and Adams can fill a key back need or chf need we could jump into the top 4, especially if Bont and Stringer approve again and Boyd can contribute as a key forward and relief ruck.

 

[CaptainMurphy]

If we can settle and make finals again I'll be happy. Surprised a few teams last year, we won't get the same opportunity to do that this year. Tougher draw also. But helping us will be improvement in most of our players due to our young list, and a bit more key position depth and competition.

I'll be happy with finals. Would hope to win one this time though.

 

[Speedymeloni]

I can see us having a better run home next year. With better fitness and less complacency we should be less likely to drop the games we are strong favourites in. I'm just hoping Bevo has spoken to the group about how far we came this year and used his passion for the club to reopen the pain and anger of the finals loss to make them burn inside. To bring some killer instinct to the group.

 

[LittleG]

After the recent injury to Fyfe and the long term ease of re-injury, it does open up a top 4 spot.
Looking at teams that finished above us, there are those that we beat during regular season, that look vulnerable: Sydney, Richmond, North*, Crows*. Add to them Freo, I can see an opening for us in the top 4.
Hawks, could also fall due to age and Frawley not being that good.
WC for me are the team that we need to get past to win the flag. Whether it is this year or next, they have a great home field advantage that will probably get them a home preliminary final, which with the umpiring over there being farcical, doubt they will lose it.
Of the teams from outside the eight, Geelong have poor depth but a great 22. Port still have a coach with 1 game plan. Pies, will be around in 2017 in a much bigger way.
I personally have written off the chances of the rest at making the eight.
GWS have in theory a great team of almost entirely first round picks but their structure and desire to put in the hard yards, looks lacking.
My prediction:
A controversial loss to WC, in either the GF or PF in Perth.