Who are West Coast, Sydney, Adelaide and Essendon kidding?

[Pilchard_Adams]

I think performance can also be masked by the draw. Say for example if Crows finish top.
Do they play GWS, GC, Port and Bris x 2?
I think Geelong play each x 1
That is a likely extra 4 wins + %. Massive advantage
(If I am wrong with that draw correct me).

If Geelong has a draw like that we would be guaranteed top 4, without question.


Something very srange at AFL HQ in this regard.

By the end of the season it will be the teams that have the most 'practice' matches that finish top. Unfortunately in the finals there aren't any 'practice matches'.

The Port games DO NOT COUNT. There will always be 2 Adelaide vs Port games per season as it is the traditional rivalry of the state. It doesnt matter if Port have won 5 spoons in a row or 5 flags in a row, these 2 teams always play hard. A large amount of the showdowns are won by the underdog.

Port vs any number of other teams may be viewed as an easy win. Showdowns are never easy wins. Personally I would rather play Sydney, North, Carlton, Essendon, WC than Port

 

[Pilchard_Adams]

No joke. Because the experience is concentrated in a group of triple premiership players, not an even spread. If the Crows have few players with 150-200+games and Geelong have, say 7-8 (I dunno) with10 having 70 games experience between them, then that is a very lopsided distribution of games.

Don't know how you could overlook that.

Adelaide had 6 players with around 70 games experience between them.

Who were the 10 players out of curiosity? Gilles, Guthrie, Motlop, Smedts, Stringer, Christensen add up to around 62 games. So are you full of crap?

 

[Pilchard_Adams]

Oh how wrong you are my friend. In 1997, not 1998, the crows won 4 finals to claim the premiership.

We beat West Coast at home, Geelong at home, Bulldogs away and then saints in the GF.

Get your facts straight

So Adelaide had to play an extra game in 1997 because under todays system the first win would have equalled a week off and a place straight into the prelims. Funny how people quickly point out how Adelaide got lucky in 98, yes dont acknowledge they were ripped off in 97

 

[BLPC08]

Pains me to say it, but there is hell-of-a-lot of truth in everything the OP has written. Adelaide and Sydney are massive pretenders and wouldn't beat a Collingwood little league team. Both teams are mental short people and a massive waste of time when it comes to finals.

West Coast can beat the best on their day - but they won't win a Flag at the MCG.

Having said that, you've massively overrated my mob - we're struggling a lot more than you'd think and won't make the top 4 IMO. Far to many battlers in the team to threaten the pies and the eagles.

 

[CROWS08]

We are 11 rounds in and WCE entered the bye on top, with there extended injury list. The Crows entered the bye in 3rd or 4th with a first year coach and a list still largely the same that finished 14 last season. The Crows beat Sydney in Sydney, Carlton in Melbourne, Geelong in Adelaide and Freo in Perth.
How can any of these 2 teams not be considered a top 4 chance after entering the bye with an 8-2 record and we all know that you have as good a chance as any if you finish top 4.

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

WOOWWWWEEEEEEE Big call there mate. Will look forward to seeing egg on your face

Out of interest, when was the last time you beat the Cats? GF?

Correct.

If Hawthorn beat Geelong later this year, pencil in the flag. That will be a HUGE monkey off their backs and will bring back the swagger and the "we-cannot-be-beaten" arrogance that they had in 2008.

Big IF I know buts its a big ****ing monkey.

 

[Jcpdragonx]

Sydney - Top 4 maximum, no chance of going past there. They don't deserve top 4 either and I don't think they will reach it anyway.
Essendon - Still a fair way off but is a threat to all teams.
West Coast - If it wasn't for injuries they would be clear flag favorites with Collingwood.
Adelaide - None of us a getting ahead of ourselves, making finals is an astonishing achievement in itself given how pathetic we have been of the past 2 years.

 

[Heir_Apparent]

jokers? they are just trolling us all and we can has flag now please?

 

[Tazmania]

West Coast can beat the best on their day - but they won't win a Flag at the MCG.

Sorry now I'm really confused. Where were they playing when they won it the last three times?

 

[pavilion103]

Sorry now I'm really confused. Where were they playing when they won it the last three times?

lol this logic is stupid. How many players from the 92 and 94 team still play? Just because a club won flags at the MCG doens't mean any players that play for that club can. 2006 has more credibility but then I'd say Judd and Cousins were two handy ins.

 

[pavilion103]

Adelaide had 6 players with around 70 games experience between them.

Who were the 10 players out of curiosity? Gilles, Guthrie, Motlop, Smedts, Stringer, Christensen add up to around 62 games. So are you full of crap?

Maybe that was against GWS or I heard wrong. I think there were a couple of other 1 or 2 game players?

 

[pavilion103]

So Adelaide had to play an extra game in 1997 because under todays system the first win would have equalled a week off and a place straight into the prelims. Funny how people quickly point out how Adelaide got lucky in 98, yes dont acknowledge they were ripped off in 97

You would have played the first placed Saints in Melbourne though, not WC(?) at home. A much more difficult (but not impossible) game.

To show you how ridiculous that finals system was Geelong finished 2nd. Lost to North first week and had to travel to Adelaide. Reasons like this is why it was changed to give the top 4 a bigger advantage.

 

[pavilion103]

Sydney - Top 4 maximum, no chance of going past there. They don't deserve top 4 either and I don't think they will reach it anyway.
Essendon - Still a fair way off but is a threat to all teams.
West Coast - If it wasn't for injuries they would be clear flag favorites with Collingwood.
Adelaide - None of us a getting ahead of ourselves, making finals is an astonishing achievement in itself given how pathetic we have been of the past 2 years.

Not with the draw available to the Crows. (although the Kangas have seemed to butcher their almost dream run lol).

 

[moses]

You would have played the first placed Saints in Melbourne though, not WC(?) at home. A much more difficult (but not impossible) game.

To show you how ridiculous that finals system was Geelong finished 2nd. Lost to North first week and had to travel to Adelaide. Reasons like this is why it was changed to give the top 4 a bigger advantage.

Clearly not impossible as we beat them in the Grand Final, which we were given no chance in. What is with the 97-98 Premiership bashing in this thread.

 

[pavilion103]

Clearly not impossible as we beat them in the Grand Final, which we were given no chance in. What is with the 97-98 Premiership bashing in this thread.

yeh that is why I said not impossible.
I don't know what is with 97 and 98 bashing. It is irrelevant to this thread.

 

[Arwib]

Bookmark it folks, there's the first "Sydney's ceiling is the top 4" post, as opposed to "will miss the finals" or "bottom half of the 8 fodder". We're moving up in the world!

 

[summers12]

At the end of the day every team who doesnt win the premiership is a pretender. Why does everyone choose to shit on Adelaide for an easy draw? We are not 8-2 because of an easy draw. Sure we may have the luxury towards the end of the year of playing some struggling teams twice but all judgement should be reserved for another 6 weeks after we have played St Kilda, Essendon and West Coast. Only then should Adelaide be judged as pretenders.

 

[Slattery_20]

Correct.

If Hawthorn beat Geelong later this year, pencil in the flag. That will be a HUGE monkey off their backs and will bring back the swagger and the "we-cannot-be-beaten" arrogance that they had in 2008.

Big IF I know buts its a big ******* monkey.

Collingwood are still the better side.
No two ways about it. They've improved since ~round 5, and they've still got a few good players that will come back in.

 

[MC_9]

Trust me I know better than to write Geelong off. A team that was currently sitting 7th I probably wouldn't have even mentioned, but we're yet to see anything really close to the form we saw last year and until we see it I can't put them in the top 2.

Yeah thats far enough. I will personally consider Geelong to be a threat regardless of form right up until they are eliminated, simply because its Geelong. I do think that they will go up a level once in the finals. The problem will be how they position themselves going into the finals, and how far back they have to come from.

 

[pavilion103]

At the end of the day every team who doesnt win the premiership is a pretender. Why does everyone choose to shit on Adelaide for an easy draw? We are not 8-2 because of an easy draw. Sure we may have the luxury towards the end of the year of playing some struggling teams twice but all judgement should be reserved for another 6 weeks after we have played St Kilda, Essendon and West Coast. Only then should Adelaide be judged as pretenders.

It's the other way around. Any team will be classed as pretenders UNTIL they prove they are not,not the other way around.

 

[swingdog]

lol this logic is stupid. How many players from the 92 and 94 team still play? Just because a club won flags at the MCG doens't mean any players that play for that club can. 2006 has more credibility but then I'd say Judd and Cousins were two handy ins.

It is stupid when applied to the form this year - it's more that this always gets trotted out by Victorian media in the "West Coast can't win on the road" line and so it gets bundled into a lazy argument, and that's what the former poster was replying to.

It's been in there with the "Eagles don't play Etihad" well when the truth is we play it as well as anyone, it's more about the opponent.

On the more general front, I've always said 2013 is our year in the first window.

 

[cinderella man]

Sydney - Top 4 maximum, no chance of going past there. They don't deserve top 4 either and I don't think they will reach it anyway.
Essendon - Still a fair way off but is a threat to all teams.
West Coast - If it wasn't for injuries they would be clear flag favorites with Collingwood.
Adelaide - None of us a getting ahead of ourselves, making finals is an astonishing achievement in itself given how pathetic we have been of the past 2 years.

Mate give us a spell. Why dont Sydney deserve to make top 4 if they do make it ? Fwiw i dont think they will but if they do, they will make it on their merits considering their 2 most important players in Mumford and Goodes will have both missed a quarter of the season.If they do miss at least there will be no misconceptions of how good they really were in 2012, unlike Adelaide who will be served up a top 4 spot based on one of the most lopsided softest draws in the history of the competiton.As far as it being an astonishing effort for them to make finals,as i said give us a spell because your embarrassing yourself with that tripe.

 

[Syd]

Trolls.

Don't feed them.

 

[Oneiros]

lol this logic is stupid. How many players from the 92 and 94 team still play? Just because a club won flags at the MCG doens't mean any players that play for that club can. 2006 has more credibility but then I'd say Judd and Cousins were two handy ins.

Wut, no.
Terrible logic pavilion - the idea that an interstate team can't win it at the 'G has been disproved multiple times now, both against other interstate teams and against Victorian opposition. It's not like the Eagles 92' and '94 teams had some magic MCG Suppression Forcefield implanted in their arse cheeks. You people massively overstate the effect of the MCG being in Victoria on GF day. I think its because you assume there will be a home crowd advantage whilst forgetting that on That Day the corporates have taken over. There will be more neutrals than Collingwood supporters and if there is one thing BF has taught us its that there is nothing Victorian footy supporters hate more than all their old VFL rivals.

 

[pavilion103]

Wut, no.
Terrible logic pavilion - the idea that an interstate team can't win it at the 'G has been disproved multiple times now, both against other interstate teams and against Victorian opposition. It's not like the Eagles 92' and '94 teams had some magic MCG Suppression Forcefield implanted in their arse cheeks. You people massively overstate the effect of the MCG being in Victoria on GF day. I think its because you assume there will be a home crowd advantage whilst forgetting that on That Day the corporates have taken over. There will be more neutrals than Collingwood supporters and if there is one thing BF has taught us its that there is nothing Victorian footy supporters hate more than all their old VFL rivals.

No problems with very good interstate teams winning at the G. I'm just doubting if this CURRENT Eagles TEAM can do it in the finals. Maybe next year my opinion could change if they win a couple there. Nothing against interstate teams winning at the G, rather the current teams and where they are at.