2016 Top 8 Predictions

[Barry_Badrinath]

Hawthorn
Sydney
Freo
Richmond
North
West Coast
Bulldogs
GWS

LOL at Port in the top 4. Don't you people learn?

In 2013 everyone thought Port was a lock for bottom 4. They finished 5th.
In 2014 everyone thought they'd slide out of the 8. They finished 3rd.
In 2015 everyone thought they were a top 4 lock, and a serious contender. They finished 9th.

Nobody has any ****ing idea what's going on when it comes to Port. Odds are you don't either.

 

[Altum Volantes]

Better yet, what did West Coast do in the 2014 off season to become so dominant in 2015?

Hit the trade table hard, added some middle of the road cast offs from middle of the road clubs and hung onto a few aging stars for yet another year to see if they finally pay off.

 

[Mogwai]

Having a solid chuckle with Richmond in top 4 - will barely crack the 8 imo

 

[Chewy316]

1. West Coast
2. Hawthorn
3. Port Adelaide
4. Richmond
5. Western Bulldogs
6. North Melbourne
7. Fremantle
8. Geelong

 

[demondavey]

Melbourne
Carlton
Brisbane
Gold Coast
Collingwood
St Kilda
Geelong
University
---------------------

 

[Rotayjay]

West Coast
Richmond?
Hawthorn
Sydney
Western Bulldogs
Fremantle
Port Adelaide
GWS

Can't deny, the Crows will probably miss out. The load of talent heaped on GWS will come good, but not that good. Port will likely rise, but those predicting they'll clean up and make the top 4 are dreaming. Not confident about my top 4 - I think West Coast will be top-2 and Hawthorn will make the top 4, but I really didn't know who else is worthy to put in. Fremantle to do a St Kilda 2011. The Bulldogs might do a Port 2015, but you can't make those sort of calls this early.

 

[Toffee Lion]

Lot of people jumping on GWS, I think they'll miss the eight again next year.

And whilst I hate saying it, Collingwood will be there abouts for 6-8.

Adelaide will be the interesting, can the Dogs back it up or do a Port? Speaking of Port, will they bounce back?

Not even past trade week, incredibly hard to predict what will happen.

Also never discount a bottom 4-6 side taking a big step like the Eagles and Port did in previous years, maybe Saints? Lions if we remain healthy could push for 8th if we start the season well (Wishful thinking though) .

 

[fishardansin]

In 2013 everyone thought Port was a lock for bottom 4. They finished 5th.
In 2014 everyone thought they'd slide out of the 8. They finished 3rd.
In 2015 everyone thought they were a top 4 lock, and a serious contender. They finished 9th.

Nobody has any ******* idea what's going on when it comes to Port. Odds are you don't either.

I thought they were a 6th to 12th team this year.

 

[100action]

1. West Coast
2. Hawthorn
3. Fremantle
4. Richmond
5. Sydney
6. Port Adelaide (still rate their list)
7. GWS
8. Geelong (if they get Dangerfield and Henderson whilst not losing any best 22 players).

 

[DrEvil_]

How are Richmond all of a sudden going to finish in the top 4 when they never do anything in the trade period?

Yarran.

 

[Tas]

Have they released the 2016 draw yet?

 

[Toump Ass]

ITT: Everyone underrates their own team.

All else being equal the Dogs can only improve with the addition of Liberatore and another pre-season into Boyd (assuming he doesn't turn into an epic fail).

Is GWS really going to leapfrog GC into the eight? They couldn't get over Melbourne this year, GC will have Abletto back, and both teams are looking like losing A grade talent: Dixon, Treloar, Cameron, Bennel...

Port surely have too much talent to miss the eight again.

As for Richmond making Top 4... after Godknows how many years under Hardwick they still lose to bottom 4 teams every season :/

UGH

 

[PAFCsince1870]

Have they released the 2016 draw yet?

Great point

At least two teams were handed a spot in the finals this year based on the fixture alone.

 

[Andre]

Have they released the 2016 draw yet?

Underrated post. The draw makes a big difference. Sides finishing top 6 have it harder than middle 6 and in turn harder than bottom 6. Add in the luck of do you hit the sides moving up or down from the previous year. I'm not tipping where Port will finish in 2016, but in 2015 our first six games where against sides finishing in the top 8. No other side copped anything like that. And we didn't get an easy 'beat up a bottom 8 side at home game' until St. Kilda in round 18.

We playing exactly the same as 2015, with a more equitable draw and we'll have 2-3 more wins. That's disregarding players now know it won't just happen and Dixon up forward to fix up Schulz as our only quality KPF.

The only lock I'd have for the 8 at this stage are Hawks and West Coast. Hawks as just too experienced to go 1/2 to outside the eight. And West Coast as they'll get players back from injury and only improve via that. The rest I'll await the draw and end of trade period.

 

[Quinz]

Great point

At least two teams were handed a spot in the finals this year based on the fixture alone.

Which two (or more) would you say? And which two (or more) missed out because of their hard draw?

Genuine question.

 

[Lsta062]

As opposed to the official one?

Yep

My official one will be after the trade period

 

[Citizen Kain]

Ill do a draft, on November 1 after the fixture release and trade period (1st list lodgement) i'll revisit this, so at the moment i have.

1. Hawthorn
2. West Coast
3. Sydney
4. Richmond
5. Fremantle
6. Western Bulldogs
7. Collingwood
8. GWS
------------------------------

clearly it's too hard to tell at the moment

 

[Exe Gesis]

St Kilda will be minor premiers....you heard it here first.

 

[PAFCsince1870]

Which two (or more) would you say? And which two (or more) missed out because of their hard draw?

Genuine question.

Surely it's obvious which two teams in the top 8 had the easiest draw? Unsurprisingly neither made the prelims.

It's not a slight on those teams, you can only beat who you play. It's just the end result of the AFL's laughable fixture.

Point is it's very difficult to predict the top 8 until the draw is released if this years fixture (dividing the ladder into groups of six) is the precedent moving forward.

 

[kingswood71]

1. Hawthorn.
2. Richmond.
3. Adelaide.
4. Fremantle.
5. West Coast.
6. Port.
7. North Melbourne.
8. Sydney

 

[azzacat]

Right now it looks like we are going are going to fall next year because we lost Dangerfield, but then add Aish, Redden, Menzel, Murdoch, Talia and possibly Bennel and we are in contention for a premiership.

Too early to make a prediction.

You're absolutely dreaming if you think we're going to trade all of P9, Menzel, Murdoch for Dangerfield

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Have they released the 2016 draw yet?

Has trade week finished?

With some of the names being up for grabs, there could be some critical recruits that influence a sides output.

 

[HTPunter]

In 2013 everyone thought Port was a lock for bottom 4. They finished 5th.
In 2014 everyone thought they'd slide out of the 8. They finished 3rd.
In 2015 everyone thought they were a top 4 lock, and a serious contender. They finished 9th.

Nobody has any ******* idea what's going on when it comes to Port. Odds are you don't either.

Plus we are about 11 and a half months away from the predictions being realised, anyone saying "lol" to anyones prediction is taking a bit of fun far too seriously, and is obviously very egotistical because they think they know what will happen 12 months from now.

Having said that, I'll have a crack for fun.
1 - West Coast - get their key defenders back, Yeo into the midfield, Sinclair to improve further

2 - GWS - Mumford to have a big season, Cameron Coleman Medallist and Shiel will go close to a Brownlow. Have a lot more faith in the Giants than I do Gold Coast

3 - Hawthorn - will slip back a bit in terms of overall performance but they are still too good to drop a lot of games. Lake out may hurt, but expect them to surprise this trade period

4 - Sydney - if Buddy is ok off-field, they can make top 4 off his back..plus the midfield goes alright (Kennedy, Parker, Hannebery, Mitchell, Jack, McVeigh)

5 - Richmond - and will win a final this time. Well-placed now to make their move

6 - Fremantle - got a great midfield still, will need to find a way to kick goals though as they definitely struggled more in the 2nd half of the season

7 - North - still have a lot of experience, our tall forwards + Goldstein are a handful for most sides, and we will get some sodas at Etihad. Our midfield and pressure game has stepped up a notch too in the last 6 weeks bar v the Dogs

8 - Western Bulldogs - think they'll improve without actually improving their ladder position much. Can't see them jumping to top 4 just yet, but they were too good this year to fall out

9 - Geelong
10 - Collingwood
11 - Gold Coast
12 - St Kilda
13 - Adelaide
14 - Brisbane
15 - Port Adelaide
16 - Melbourne
17 - Essendon
18 - Carlton

It's all a crap shoot though so who knows. If no one can predict it a week out from the start of the season (and they didn't), then no one can predict it 6 months from the start of the season

 

[HTPunter]

Surely it's obvious which two teams in the top 8 had the easiest draw? Unsurprisingly neither made the prelims.

It's not a slight on those teams, you can only beat who you play. It's just the end result of the AFL's laughable fixture.

Point is it's very difficult to predict the top 8 until the draw is released if this years fixture (dividing the ladder into groups of six) is the precedent moving forward.

And even then it's still extremely difficult

 

[TheAnt]

As for Richmond making Top 4... after Godknows how many years under Hardwick they still lose to bottom 4 teams every season :/
UGH

The only teams Richmond lost to in the bottom 10 was 10th placed Geelong and 13th placed Melbourne.