Collingwood looks the most shakey of last year's eight. If West Coast continue to have problems in their midfield, they can kiss the year goodbye and possibly drop out of the eight as well.
Before anyone flames me, the reasoning for Collingwood is that their forwards will suffer without Tarrant (he was lousy at kicking goals, but stretched opposition's defences) and less playing time for Buckley.
The WC midfield of Judd, Cousins, Kerr and Fletcher is one of the best we have seen. At the moment, Judd is the only stable one onfield and that will impact on the Eagles ability to cover for their backs and forwards.
you can't seriously be writing off west coast. even without a couple of their best midfielders they still easily have the best midfield. guys like hurn and priddis can cover for cousins and fletcher. they are still the flag favourites as far as i am concerned.
i agree with you about the pies, they will struggle this year. someone needs to tell them that they aren't going to finish in the top 4.
surely geelong, port, hawthorn and essendon have more room for improvement than the tigers. a team who suffers three 100 point losses in one year doesn't become a finals contender overnight.
if you stop richo, you stop richmond.