Where are we at?

[Cobbler]

I can't believe we're 5th!

Teams are falling down and in an incredibly even comp where do people have us at?

I mean finals with this lot would be an epic turnaround. Top 4? I mean can we genuinely dream??

I guess percentage is always a good sign of how teams perform. We've won all our close ones and even the 2 larger wins required us to over run teams from 5 goals down on our home deck.

Impressive to beat Tigers and Dees at MCG.

Our midfield depth and flexibility would have to be near the competitions best.

I always thought we were a 7th to 14th side, but should we be aiming higher?

We also have a bit of depth we can call upon, but are getting through games relatively unscathed.

Where do people have us at?

From here it would almost be disappointing to miss finals.

 

[Cobbler]

Also will Lyon hold his nerve with regards to playing youth.

A huge chance to drop Ibbo and bring in another youngster.

Danyl Pearce should hold his spot.

Will be interesting to see if Lyon is seduced by ladder position etc.

 

[jedi mind tricks]

If Fyfe gets back to his best we'll be stronger.

 

[Ripper]

Huge game next week, that will tell us heaps I reckon.

 

[Cobbler]

Huge game next week, that will tell us heaps I reckon.

Are you saying it's kind of a litmus test?

 

[Ripper]

Are you saying it's kind of a litmus test?

Haha , sort of , prolly our biggest challenge so far .

 

[FUS_RO_DAH]

I'm conflicted. I'm thrilled how much we've improved with the younger group and watching games hasn't been this fun since 2013.

But.

We're rebuilding. Whats our aim? To load up for a flag tilt, go all out or keep playing the kids? The list is still short of a quality developing KPF, and you don't get those unless you have a top 10 draft pick.
I'm conflicted.
Halp.

 

[Cobbler]

If Fyfe gets back to his best we'll be stronger.

He doesn't need to get back to his best IMO. We just need that collective improvement in McCarthy, Kersten, Crozier, Grey, Taberner. For me, this is what will define where we finish.

I think our midfield is top 4 in the competition easily and our defense is adequate.

The amount that can run through there:
Neale, Fyfe, Mundy, Walters, Blakely, Hill.S, Hill.B, Weller, Langdon is impressive.

Maybe Ballas can impact the scoring board more than Grey, but I love what Grey brings. I like what Taberner gives us.

We do need to start seeing some bags of 4 from McCarthy or Kersten if we're going to make the most of our midfield dominance.

 

[Cobbler]

Haha , sort of , prolly our biggest challenge so far .

Nice knowing we've only lost to teams above us on the ladder.

Geelong and Port when they were up and about and we had no idea what we were doing. WCE on the rebound and out of the blocks.

I was genuinely preparing myself for a Tigers onslaught at the MCG.

Still heaps of question marks, but when our midfield turns it on they are relentless.

 

[wild side]

Adelaide will pump us!!

 

[TheMcManusNose]

****ed if I know.

We're not 5th on the ladder good. Put Port, the Dogs and Sydney comfortably ahead of us with the potential for one or two of the others to skip past.

I think there's a bit lacking both in personnel and in refining how we play. The forward line is still has structural issues. We go missing for entire quarters. The player mix down back is still not right (and probably won't be for a while until we get more games into various players) and some of the kids really still lack consistency game to game (which is fine). Fyfe is clearly a bit off. We just seem to have the testicular fortitude to pull off wins we perhaps shouldn't be. Could easily be 4-5 off the back of a couple of different bounces of the ball.

I dunno what you do about it, we should absolutely still be rebuilding but you can't go and Melbourne yourself. As long as we stick to favouring youth over experience we should be okay. I guess you take the experience and belief that it instils in the younger players, as well as looking more attractive for Fyfe to stay.

I still don't think we play finals, ~10th seems about right for where we are at right now.

 

[FreoMonocle]

I think we can have a bet each way. No massive changes to the team, we are blooding plenty of youngsters as it is - but still have a crack at it. You only need to be in the finals and there is a chance - we have some time to improve between now and then.

The midfield won't be tinkered with much anyway, it's a ruckmans difference between what we have now and our team for the next few years. Hmm... A little bit of mundy and danyle, to be retiring I guess.

We keep the backline as is - sure, bring in the better player if/when we have them but keep it relatively steady for now. But the reason to keep the backline stable is because our forward line is still shambolic with lot's of change. Let them gel first and we can start to work on our project players in the backline.

Still developing players but still able to go for a gf chance.

 

[FreoRicci]

Look to be back to the top, it would be great to get experience in finals along the way. Can't be a bad thing if yes we do make it. It'll show all the young players what it's made of and what needs to be worked on.
Made the finals in 2010, great first up game against Hawthorn- young guns firing. Then obviously thrashed next game. The beauty of it is now that Ross has been there and knows what's to expect.
Still a inexperienced forward line with a midfield of mixed ages. Need to sort out defense - Ibbotson isn't the player he was so it's now to bring in Luke Ryan or Collins and build on that. Johnno isn't young either. So Logue will be fast tracked there you would think.

It's an exciting year, let's keep building on it, keep playing the kids.
Dawson, Griffin, Sheridan, Suban and perhaps Ibbo aren't going to get many if any games. Ross knows that, hopefully.

Edit : GWS made the prelim with a relatively young inexperienced list who haven't been there before. They were building differently to us, but having tasted that so close, yet so far, it's definitely going to push them on to make the GF. Nothing like playing finals and knowing you can improve.

 

[Spoken4]

****** if I know.

We're not 5th on the ladder good. Put Port, the Dogs and Sydney comfortably ahead of us with the potential for one or two of the others to skip past.

Umm, Sydney have won 3 games and have been utterly rubbish for most of the year. Only beaten one decent side in St Kilda who are a young side. They ain't ahead of us.

 

[Ripper]

Still heaps of question marks, but when our midfield turns it on they are relentless.

That's the key I think and our best chance of besting the Crows if they turn up for most of the game.

 

[Carnthedockers]

Just the thought of throwing Harley in this team makes me salivate to the max. I said at the start of the year we could make top 6. I got laughed at by everybody (not on this forum). We are the most consistent team in the comp atm. Im so excited with what I see, not only are we good defensively, but we can attack with gusto. Ill say it again, this list can take us to a flag within the next few years. We are a destination club now.

 

[Spoken4]

Adelaide will pump us!!

Same side that lost to North 3 weeks ago and Melbourne 2 weeks ago?

 

[Spoken4]

Also will Lyon hold his nerve with regards to playing youth.

A huge chance to drop Ibbo and bring in another youngster.

Danyl Pearce should hold his spot.

Will be interesting to see if Lyon is seduced by ladder position etc.

Play your way into and out of the team. Seems we are now doing this, week in and week out.

Logue was needing some time in the WAFL so Sutcliffe comes back in after consistently good WAFL form. Balic goes out for personal reasons saw Pearce come who was best for Peel the prior week. Tucker has been average and makes way for SHill.

 

[Cobbler]

Look to be back to the top, it would be great to get experience in finals along the way. Can't be a bad thing if yes we do make it. It'll show all the young players what it's made of and what needs to be worked on.
Made the finals in 2010, great first up game against Hawthorn- young guns firing. Then obviously thrashed next game. The beauty of it is now that Ross has been there and knows what's to expect.
Still a inexperienced forward line with a midfield of mixed ages. Need to sort out defense - Ibbotson isn't the player he was so it's now to bring in Luke Ryan or Collins and build on that. Johnno isn't young either. So Logue will be fast tracked there you would think.

It's an exciting year, let's keep building on it, keep playing the kids.
Dawson, Griffin, Sheridan, Suban and perhaps Ibbo aren't going to get many if any games. Ross knows that, hopefully.

Play your way into and out of the team. Seems we are now doing this, week in and week out.

Logue was needing some time in the WAFL so Sutcliffe comes back in after consistently good WAFL form. Balic goes out for personal reasons saw Pearce come who was best for Peel the prior week. Tucker has been average and makes way for SHill.

So Ryan for Ibbo then? surely.

I hope they don't drop Taberner, but he could make way at Adelaide where it becomes dewy.

 

[jakethesnake24]

Don't get too excited boys it's a long season

 

[FreoRicci]

So Ryan for Ibbo then? surely.

I hope they don't drop Taberner, but he could make way at Adelaide where it becomes dewy.

Would rage if they did. Sure he has one bad game, but Ibbo has had 7, Langdon hasn't been great neither have Spurr. Would destroy Tabs' confidence. He's only 23 ffs, exactly what we can build upon.

 

[Spoken4]

So Ryan for Ibbo then? surely.

I hope they don't drop Taberner, but he could make way at Adelaide where it becomes dewy.

Would love to see Ryan or Cox in for Igbo. I'm liking Tabs, McCarthy and Kersten in the forward line.

 

[Docker79]

Great to get the close wins but it could have easily gone the other way...proud of our boys to fight back though especially with our wins at the G which would help instill a lot of confidence in the playing group

Kids are being played and are developing well. New recruits settling in and as they continue to play more games together will gel even more.

Opposition goals from our turnovers and the slow starts are still my biggest concern as against top tier opposition we'll get exposed and the margin might be too far back to recover from. Our second halves have clearly been way better than our first halves so as Ross and many have mentioned, we need consistency across 4 qtrs.

Overall though coming off the back of our disasterous 2016, couldn't be happier with our progress.

I have us pegged for 13-14 wins. Think we'll need 14 to get in the top 8 and finals given that our % is 5th lowest in the league.

 

[im_a_lazy_sod]

Knocking on the door of top 4 in a very, very even season

Top 4 obvious a possibility - but so is anywhere from about 5th-12th

We need to fix our first quarters up though. Lost the derby because we got blown away q1. The other two losses were when we actually were playing like garbage. Derby is the only outlier - but was a good loss to have. We have gone from strength to strength from then on

We are a slim chance v Adelaide - we held our own there okay last year from memory. Hope it's not another miserable, wet night - if it is I doubt we'd see Tabs/CamMac/Kersten all in the team. Although I'm surprised they all got on the scoresheet today. CroZ and Walters thrived in the conditions

 

[TheMcManusNose]

Umm, Sydney have won 3 games and have been utterly rubbish for most of the year. Only beaten one decent side in St Kilda who are a young side. They ain't ahead of us.

I would absolutely rate them above us. Rating them on their early season form is the same as watching the Geelong and Port games and thinking 'Freo are ****ed, won't win another game this year'.

Feel free to put your finger over that particular team name if the thought offends you such.