Game Day Adelaide v Hawks on the fork - Adelaide Oval, 4:05pm Sat March 23

[Apsaalooke]

Did we win the flag those years?

No but we were 1-3 in 97 & 98.

 

[chazwazza]

Any win will do and no injuries.

Got that wrong.

 

[moogerfooger]

Early wins are paramount as they build momentum.

For us historically

When we lose Round 1 we have only gone on to make the finals 38% of the time, we've also only ever made the top 4 once after losing Round 1 (2005)

It doesn't help us either that we don't have a soft round 2 opponent to settle the ship, Sydney at the SCG is a brutal draw to have after a disappointing first round. If we lose that we have only ever made the finals once in our history after losing our first two games and have never made the top 4 from that position.

If we lose next week our past history says that we won't make the top 4 and will only be a slim outside chance to make the 8.

Absolutely - but I think in this case there are two potentially mitigating factors.

We've now lost 9 of our past 10 against the Hawks. They seriously have the wood on us.

Second, this club cannot handle hype or favoritism in any shape or form. That goes right back to 1991. The blowtorch will be on this week and rightly so.

If we're a good side and just had a bad day, we'll beat Sydney. They were awful at home last year - even we beat them. If we can't replicate that this week, then yeah - we're probably done. But we're not there yet.