Toast Reasons for Optimism

[DocT]

If we boil reasons for optimism down to one simple question:
Are we 2 goals a game better in 2025 compared to 2024?
Bolton + a better midfield + a better attack has to mean the answer is yes.
An extra 2 goals a game changes 2024's 12.5 wins to 18 wins.
It also puts us up there with Sydney as the most potent scoring side in the league.

 

[theGav56]

He may end up unlocking Walters - who might find himself free more often

Will be interesting to see who makes it into our best forward set up. If Walters is part of it, that'd be wonderful.

 

[theGav56]

If we boil reasons for optimism down to one simple question:
Are we 2 goals a game better in 2025 compared to 2024?
Bolton + a better midfield + a better attack has to mean the answer is yes.
An extra 2 goals a game changes 2024's 12.5 wins to 18 wins.
It also puts us up there with Sydney as the most potent scoring side in the league.

I'm sold.

My personal question marks are all about strategy and how the coach uses the weapons at his disposal. That spans the entire season, selection, as well as game day.

 

[Purple Jesus]

If we boil reasons for optimism down to one simple question:
Are we 2 goals a game better in 2025 compared to 2024?
Bolton + a better midfield + a better attack has to mean the answer is yes.
An extra 2 goals a game changes 2024's 12.5 wins to 18 wins.
It also puts us up there with Sydney as the most potent scoring side in the league.

Lid’s off again

 

[Quay Club]

If we boil reasons for optimism down to one simple question:
Are we 2 goals a game better in 2025 compared to 2024?
Bolton + a better midfield + a better attack has to mean the answer is yes.
An extra 2 goals a game changes 2024's 12.5 wins to 18 wins.
It also puts us up there with Sydney as the most potent scoring side in the league.

Bolton definitely makes us more potent in the forward line.

Hopefully we can develop a game plan to give us enough quality forward entries to capitalise on it.

There will also be incremental improvement from Treacy, Amiss, Sturt and Jackson.

Good times ahead!

 

[Sully90]

Lid’s off again

It was never back on.

 

[oldgoat]

If we boil reasons for optimism down to one simple question:
Are we 2 goals a game better in 2025 compared to 2024?
Bolton + a better midfield + a better attack has to mean the answer is yes.
An extra 2 goals a game changes 2024's 12.5 wins to 18 wins.
It also puts us up there with Sydney as the most potent scoring side in the league.

SORTED!

 

[poshman]

He may end up unlocking Walters - who might find himself free more often

He should have an impact on Switta and Freddy as well. Though the biggest impact will be the other forward small won’t he the best defender. I hope that means some more freedom for Sonny.

 

[Arcassius]

He should have an impact on Switta and Freddy as well. Though the biggest impact will be the other forward small won’t he the best defender. I hope that means some more freedom for Sonny.

True. With Walters, he's crafty but losing athleticism. Having a less capable small defender on him will be good for him

 

[theGav56]

Bolton definitely makes us more potent in the forward line.

Bolton makes each and every one of our forwards more potent I reckon.

 

[Vimal Anand]

AFL 2025: How open is each club’s premiership window?

Is the window wide open, slightly ajar, or firmly locked? We give our verdict for each of the 18 clubs.

www.zerohanger.com

On SM-S918B using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Hamann188]

AFL 2025: How open is each club’s premiership window?

Is the window wide open, slightly ajar, or firmly locked? We give our verdict for each of the 18 clubs.

www.zerohanger.com

On SM-S918B using BigFooty.com mobile app

Why is our window only considered "opening"?

I may have my purple coloured glasses on, but I think it has been "opening" since 2017/2018.

I'd think our window is "wide open" or am I taking the grading system too literally?

 

[Piggy Smalls]

Why is our window only considered "opening"?

I may have my purple coloured glasses on, but I think it has been "opening" since 2017/2018.

I'd think our window is "wide open" or am I taking the grading system too literally?

I'd agree with 'opening' as we haven't even made finals the last two seasons.

We lost a lot of experience at the end of 2022 but have replaced with young long-term prospects.

If we're not classed as 'wide-open' from 2026-2030 there will have been some sort of disaster and this place will be devoid of hope for the rest of eternity.

No pressure boys.

 

[Dockeroo]

Why is our window only considered "opening"?

I may have my purple coloured glasses on, but I think it has been "opening" since 2017/2018.

I'd think our window is "wide open" or am I taking the grading system too literally?

David Mundy made a good point in the purple reign pod yesterday.

Almost every team in the AFL thinks they are “just one more year” away from contention. Few of them actually are. There can only be one winner at the end of each season.

I think we have been a classic example since 2017 of mostly being “a year away”.

For example this season, I’d argue that fans of all the following clubs could find an argument to suggest they are contenders in the next year or so.

Fremantle
Carlton
Bulldogs
Collingwood
St Kilda
Adelaide
Gold coast
Hawthorn
Melbourne
Essendon

Heck - even west coast will be thinking if they can jag Warner next October and add him to Reid in the midfield from 2026, they’ll be back in contention. They would probably be wrong but try telling their fans that.

Optimistic north fans will even be thinking they can do a hawthorn 2024 and catapult up the ladder (it’s probably time they showed something in fairness).

Then there’s the perennial contenders
Brisbane
Sydney
GWS
geelong
Port

That’s 17 out of 18 clubs with hope of some kind.
Richmond are the only 100% no-hopers I reckon for the next year or so.

 

[Hamann188]

David Mundy made a good point in the purple reign pod yesterday.

Almost every team in the AFL thinks they are “just one more year” away from contention. Few of them actually are. There can only be one winner at the end of each season.

I think we have been a classic example since 2017 of mostly being “a year away”.

For example this season, I’d argue that fans of all the following clubs could find an argument to suggest they are contenders in the next year or so.

Fremantle
Carlton
Bulldogs
Collingwood
St Kilda
Adelaide
Gold coast
Hawthorn
Melbourne
Essendon

Heck - even west coast will be thinking if they can jag Warner next October and add him to Reid in the midfield from 2026, they’ll be back in contention. They would probably be wrong but try telling their fans that.

Optimistic north fans will even be thinking they can do a hawthorn 2024 and catapult up the ladder (it’s probably time they showed something in fairness).

Then there’s the perennial contenders
Brisbane
Sydney
GWS
geelong
Port

That’s 17 out of 18 clubs with hope of some kind.
Richmond are the only 100% no-hopers I reckon for the next year or so.

I would have thought our list alone would put us into the wide open category.

It would be hard to argue even that the list is unproven, they've shown what they are capable of. Consistency would be the only question mark.

But based on potential, surely our window is "wide open" and isn't that whole list based pretty much on potential.

I don't know, feels like a weird thing to be discussing. Clearly it's been a long off season if I'm getting my back up over a rating for the upcoming season. Can't wait for the season proper so we can talk about some actual concrete issues.

 

[Piggy Smalls]

I would have thought our list alone would put us into the wide open category.

It would be hard to argue even that the list is unproven, they've shown what they are capable of. Consistency would be the only question mark.

But based on potential, surely our window is "wide open" and isn't that whole list based pretty much on potential.

I don't know, feels like a weird thing to be discussing. Clearly it's been a long off season if I'm getting my back up over a rating for the upcoming season. Can't wait for the season proper so we can talk about some actual concrete issues.

I think it would surprise most people if we actually won the whole thing this year. If we make finals and progress as a team, we'll go into 2026 as genuine top 3 or 4 premiership contenders, at which point our window would be wide open.

That's just my thoughts on a very subjective use of language though.

 

[Arcassius]

Consistency (and our forward line) have been the things holding us back from contention

There's a good chance that adding Bolton (and the maturing of treacy and amiss) will address the forward line. Consistency will likely occur on its own as the team gets more time together

But there's no way our window was open the last few years. If we had won it, it would have been from good luck than the team being optimal (age, experience, ability) for a push

I'd say opening is about right

Sent from my SM-A156E using Tapatalk

 

[Hamann188]

Again, and I really am being pedantic now, I think we all know our flag window hasn't been "open" since 2015.

But I would argue that the window has been gradually "opening" since 2017 and if it's still "opening" it can't have much further to go, close enough as to make no difference between "opening" and "wide open".

But it's starting to sound like I'm arguing over semantics. God I'm such a grammar nazi. It's a sickness.

 

[Purple Suit]

Again, and I really am being pedantic now, I think we all know our flag window hasn't been "open" since 2015.

But I would argue that the window has been gradually "opening" since 2017 and if it's still "opening" it can't have much further to go, close enough as to make no difference between "opening" and "wide open".

But it's starting to sound like I'm arguing over semantics. God I'm such a grammar nazi. It's a sickness.

I think it's a metaphorical window where you need to be able to get a premiership cup through the hole. It can be opening and have a crack in it but you're not a contender or even jagging a flag so it's not open yet.

2025 and ours is just open, I think the term they use as "opening" just means we've still go more to go as our youth is stacked.

 

[Hamann188]

I think it's a metaphorical window where you need to be able to get a premiership cup through the hole. It can be opening and have a crack in it but you're not a contender or even jagging a flag so it's not open yet.

2025 and ours is just open, I think the term they use as "opening" just means we've still go more to go as our youth is stacked.

Yeah I know.

I think I was more upset about the looseness of the metaphor rather than the actual grading.

I know that we still have a bit of a way to go, but then again, so do Carlton and they were graded as Wide Open.

I think a few posters above have alluded to the fact that maybe there should have been an "open" grade between "opening" and "wide open".

We'd be right in the meat of that one.

 

[GingerDocker]

Yeah I know.

I think I was more upset about the looseness of the metaphor rather than the actual grading.

I know that we still have a bit of a way to go, but then again, so do Carlton and they were graded as Wide Open.

I think a few posters above have alluded to the fact that maybe there should have been an "open" grade between "opening" and "wide open".

We'd be right in the meat of that one.

Carlton's window is definitely open, it's just a shame that there's a security screen attached.

 

[Hamann188]

Carlton's window is definitely open, it's just a shame that there's a security screen attached.

Pretty sure it's deadlocked as well.

 

[Purple Suit]

Yeah I know.

I think I was more upset about the looseness of the metaphor rather than the actual grading.

I know that we still have a bit of a way to go, but then again, so do Carlton and they were graded as Wide Open.

I think a few posters above have alluded to the fact that maybe there should have been an "open" grade between "opening" and "wide open".

We'd be right in the meat of that one.

I agree that Carlton are the ones that are the most suspect and they got worse over the offseason losing 2 best 22 players. They then used their picks for a high 1st rounder who won't impact for 3-4 years while the rest of their stars go past 30.

Cripps was carrying them last season and it still wasn't enough.

 

[Purple Jesus]

I agree that Carlton are the ones that are the most suspect and they got worse over the offseason losing 2 best 22 players. They then used their picks for a high 1st rounder who won't impact for 3-4 years while the rest of their stars go past 30.

Cripps was carrying them last season and it still wasn't enough.

Good.

 

[theGav56]

I would have thought our list alone would put us into the wide open category.

It would be hard to argue even that the list is unproven, they've shown what they are capable of. Consistency would be the only question mark.

But based on potential, surely our window is "wide open" and isn't that whole list based pretty much on potential.

I don't know, feels like a weird thing to be discussing. Clearly it's been a long off season if I'm getting my back up over a rating for the upcoming season. Can't wait for the season proper so we can talk about some actual concrete issues.

With our forward line last season I think our top expectations would have been finals.

Another season into the Js plus Sturt, plus Bolton and I think that top range ups to premier.