At the start of the season there was no way Geelong, Richmond, Bulldogs missed the 8 and not a chance in hell St Kilda or GWS would make it. But football is a funny game. A lot will depend on the draw, injuries, and teams choking, obviously, but there is no reason we aren’t at least genuinely in the conversation.Honestly, which teams do you think will drop out of top 8 next year? I can see only possibly Saints. Then you got teams like Freo, WB, Crows together with us with ambitions to play finals. Even Richmond, Essendon, Cats will believe they can make it.
It also does not look like we will bring any players to help us immediately. It's all on Hardwick and internal growth while we have to learn a new system.
I don’t know how much was on Dew’s gameplan, but I do know that moving the ball almost exclusively through Casboult contests at half forward maxed out at 10 wins and change was needed.
This year showed that the difference between good and bad coaching is worth at least a couple of extra wins on its own. It’s up to Dimma and co. To find what works for our list.