Bottom four next year?

[Zvim]

I actually think a lot of people are underselling North Melbourne in this thread.

I could see them being the "Brisbane" of 2009 (in terms in surprising people), if they get a good run with injuries (which they didn't this season).

If they can get a full season out of the likes of Wells, Ziebell, Ben Warren (who looked a good forward prospect in the 1st half of the season), and let Petrie settle as a FF (his best spot IMO), it wouldn't surprise me if they snuck into the top 8.

I think their list has more depth to it than say Richmond's for example (although I'm leaving myself open to attack by that statement).

We are also only one of two sides that beat St Kilda, and should have beaten them twice if not for getting 6 injured in the first game. What was evident towards the end was that we improved a fair bit once we got the structure right.

Our defence is very solid, even when Gibbo isn't there. I think we were 6th in the AFL for stopping inside 50s and we don't usually play extra men behind the ball. Jesse Smith will hopefully be ready to play again next year.

Once Simmo retired and we pissed off Rawlings and Power out of the midfield we didn't look too bad, mind you, this was a call I made in the first 3 rounds that needed to happen for us to go forwards.

Our defence is solid, we just couldn't afford to lose guys in the middle and up forward because we didn't have much depth there.

Club said Petrie will be left at FF, Hale will likely play most of next year as the #2 ruckman and will occasionally go forward but play mostly as a ruck off the bench. Goldstein will come in for injured guys or those not performing I would imagine.

Hopefully Tarrant and Warren avoid injuries next year. Campbell also missed a lot of the year with hamstring problems. Hansen might play forward as well, that would give us a much better forward line structure.

Swallow and Ziebell as our inside mids, Greenwood as our run with player and Wells, Harvey, Anthony as outside mids plus having Ross, Wright, Adams and Garlett in the mix is optimistic because they can all play, have shown a fair bit and have some talent. I assume we are going to pump our better picks into more midfielders as well. Pick up a Martin or Rohan looks on the cards, but wouldn't expect miracles from them in 2010.

I just feel more optimistic than last year because we stumbled around in the end of the year last year on the back of older players holding the side together, this year the kids held us together and we were getting better week after week.

 

[The Donners]

Exactly... this is the kind of thing I'm referring to when I talk about some of the determined militant stupidity that seems to flourish in the postings of certain opposition supporters about our club...

Get used to it, it'll last at least 2 more seasons until they actually start watching you play!

 

[vonn]

Watching Melbourne play bore me.

 

[lihei]

Richmond
St Kilda
Essendon
Carlton

 

[lihei]

Watching Melbourne play bore me.

..and you barrack for SYDNEY? WTF!!!!

 

[The Donners]

Bottom 4 in order of flags in the past 50 years...


Collingwood
St. Kilda
Western Bulldogs
Fremantle

 

[stickman11]

16th Richmond
15th North Melbourne
14th Sydney
13th Fremantle

 

[stickman11]

I am tipping that Carlton will shoot back down the ladder - pretending is much easier than doing. HaHAHaHaHAhahahahahahahahh

 

[stickman11]

Watching Melbourne play bore me.

This comming from a supporter who goes for the most boring team in the competition.

Your lot play the worst bran of football in the country. Totally shocking.

 

[CaptainChardonnay]

Bit hard to predict who'll end up bottom 4, especially in order. But as for the contenders;

Sydney - Will be in the bottom 8 but will be a bit better than most think. Will avoid bottom 4, but probably only on percentage.
Melbourne - Odds on for it. I reckon Watts may be the biggest let down in the history of the draft and they're still a fair way off being competitive.
Port Adelaide - It's just not looking good over there. Too many off field disputes, etc.
Freo - Like Sydney, Look OK at home but really struggle away. Draw will be a big factor.
Richmond - Can see them sliding a bit after losing so much experience.
North - It will take at least a season for the playing group to start having faith in new coach.
Essendon - A roughie but have every chance. Had a bit of early success this year and caught a few teams out but will probably be found out if they stick to the same game plan.

 

[Slax]

16th Port Adelaide - lock them in now, will be a debacle next year
15th Sydney - Will be giving away free tickets to get 20,000 to a game. Can't wait for West Sydney to send the league broke
14th North Melbourne - have to rebuild
13th Fremantle - if it wasn't for home ground advantage would be a bigger joke than Richmond. Come to think of it they already are.

Other contenders - Richmond (if they don't finish 9th), Melbourne (but I expect big improvements for such a young list)

 

[mjr_42]

13. One of Fremantle or Melbourne
14. North Melbourne
15. Port Adelaide
16. Richmond

The Tigers are in strife, unfortunately, after Wallace's largely unproductive reign. They will be better under Hardwick but won't show it in terms of wins and losses. It's a very difficult time to be rebuilding and I foresee a lot of pain in years to come.

Port Adelaide are a shambles at the moment. No unity, their best player just left and their premiership stars are on the way out. Boak and Hartlett are promising but who's going to kick the goals as Tredrea starts to struggle? The internal ructions are the biggest concern, though.

North Melbourne will find it tough, as their midfield class is either struggling to get on the park (Wells, Smith) or past their peak (Harvey). Ziebell is still a kid in AFL terms and Swallow although an admirable player, lacks genuine class. Lachie Hansen needs to be put in one spot to settle, as does Drew Petrie. Defence and forward looks OK for the Roos (provided Hale and Petrie fire in attack) but I think they will be found out for depth in the middle and the flanks.

I think either Freo or Melbourne will fill 13th place - I'm not sure which. It will be another up and down season for two teams at a similar stage of rebuilding. It will be interesting to see whether Freo's youngsters like Hill, Broughton and Suban suffer from second-year blues with greater opposition pressure.

Also, how will the Dees shape up now that there's no carrot for losing? It's time for Bailey and the players to show what they're made of. The development of Watts will be fascinating, as will the introduction of Scully, pick 2 (Trengove? Morabito?), Blease and Strauss.

 

[The Donners]

I'm amused at the number posters having Essendon in their bottom 4. Perhaps it's purely by habit or spite as they made an arse of your 2008 predictions.

 

[AG]

I'm amused at the number posters having Essendon in their bottom 4. Perhaps it's purely by habit or spite as they made an arse of your 2008 predictions.

Who cares? Every club can say why they wont be bottom 4 but it's just a prediction thread.

 

[Equus]

Port
Richmond
Melbourne
Kangaroos

 

[Xtreme]

Richmond
Fremantle
Melbourne

and either Carlton or St Kilda (wishful thinking)

 

[BEWARE THE DEMON]

I know everyone loves putting Melbourne down, but I reckon we can finsh between 8 and 12 next year. If we have a good run with injuries there is no reason why we can't finish higher up. If you have a good look at our list we have some decent young talent there. I predict we can play finals in 2 years and go for a premiership within 5 years.

My bottom four are in no order
Richmond
Port
Sydney
Fremantle

 

[The Big League]

Carlton will finish last.

 

[Madtiger2006]

Richmond - Can see them sliding a bit after losing so much experience.

We'll be better because of those players going.

 

[Madtiger2006]

15-North Melbourne-We comfortably outplayed them twice this year

Comfortably out played us once and should have lost the second time.
Dont see richmond being much better than north

13. Richmond
14. North
15. Melbourne
16. Freo

We should have not let you back the second time

 

[bzparkes]

I see us going a little higher than 14th, perhaps a 12th/13th but I completely agree with the description. Most of our supporters seem to think that we are going to rocket up the ladder next season, some even are talking finals but the reality is that will be between 12th-14th but playing a hell of a lot better brand of football.

We are going up, but it's a timely process and if any Melbourne supporter suggest finals go put your head through a wall but if a Melbourne supporter suggests we'll make finals if we have a "good injury run" then please go play in traffic.

Well AG, I'll also be very surprised if we were to finish bottom 4 next year with a less injury-prone squad.

Expecting us to be around 9th/10th, although I wouldn't rule out 8th with some luck going our way.

Some serious rubes revealing themselves with a bunch of the 'predictions' I'm seeing here...

So Dez, does W33 fall into the latter category?

 

[Wonaeamirri33]

Get used to it, it'll last at least 2 more seasons until they actually start watching you play!

Yeah I know what you mean... after having seen such a torrent of uninformed "expert" commentary about us around these parts lately, it's not something that surprises me too much I guess.

Although every so often, one of them outdoes themselves, with a particularly ludicrous claim about Watts - even more ludicrous than usual, that is - or an amusingly inane post about how an opposition supporter is "bored" by watching a team they've obviously never really watched in the first place, or a particularly ignorant one claiming that we didn't have many injuries to speak of this season...

 

[Wonaeamirri33]

So Dez, does W33 fall into the latter category?

Oh, I see what you did there...

Obviously Dez is often the "Yukio Mishima" in our ranks, so the developments in this thread from him are fairly predictable...

 

[bzparkes]

Oh, I see what you did there...

Obviously Dez is often the "Yukio Mishima" in our ranks, so the developments in this thread from him are fairly predictable...

Maybe he's just being honest in his predictions instead of pumping his team's tires just to watch them fail again.

I don't think Melbourne will be in the bottom 4 but clearly plenty of people do, which you seem to pass off as everyone trolling your team. Melbourne will improve next year, now that the spectre of high draft picks has been removed by the GC. I thoroughly doubt they'll rise any higher than 10th though, as I think they're following a similar path to WCE, just a year behind. Their next year will be like us this year.

 

[Wonaeamirri33]

Well yeah, I agree we'll most likely end up around there, either 9th or 10th. I don't reckon the chances of us making the finals are that high next year, but I definitely wouldn't rule it out.

Obvious factors made it difficult for us to follow the same trajectory as you guys last year, as far as the win/loss ratio goes, but I would expect us to make up a fair amount of ground this season.