Will we make finals?

[Dazb86]

I've just had a look at our fixture and it's not very pretty. If we go through the rest of the year without dropping a game to teams we 'should' beat we'll end up on 13 wins.

With the way we've been playing it would be hard to see us not dropping one or two games that we should be winning.

Hopefully we can start to hit form and hold it otherwise I feel like this will have been a wasted year.

Do you think we'll make finals or not?

 

[weltschmerz]

If we do we'll be limping in, and that's never been good for us.

 

[The Inbetweener]

Think we’ll fall a game short. As you’ve mentioned, it’s extremely likely we’ll drop at least one game to a team we are expected to beat.

Unless we can beat the Cats twice, Sydney in Sydney or Brisbane in Brisbane, it will be tough.

We are 1-3 in 50/50 games this year (swans, blues, tigers, port). That and dropping an easy game against Adelaide has us in a tough spot.

 

[ScragCity]

No such thing as a wasted year. The real finals will be the friends we made along the way.

 

[Testekill]

If we do then we limp into 8th as an also-ran, I can't see us making finals though. I'm expecting we miss finals by at least a game and percentage.

 

[doggies ftw]

So if we don’t make finals what do we do? That’s not really acceptable for our list right now to be honest, there needs to be a comprehensive review into our football department and strategies at the very least, and a short term plan in place for the next couple of seasons which if we don’t achieve then heads will need to roll

 

[Northernsoul74]

If we do then we limp into 8th as an also-ran, I can't see us making finals though. I'm expecting we miss finals by at least a game and percentage.

If we manage to limp into finals and finally have a relatively healthy list a few teams will be very wary of meeting us. It’s a big ask to make it though.

 

[Next Waiting]

If we do then we limp into 8th as an also-ran, I can't see us making finals though. I'm expecting we miss finals by at least a game and percentage.

I had us finishing 8th or possibly 6th yesterday. Probably tricky to do better than that and possible to do worse.

I'd be quite happy with 6th and a home game in the first week.....but then I'd want more

 

[Dogsman16]

We will make finals. Home elimination final.

If we can get our list back to a healthy shape with English, JJ, Hunter, Bruce, Weightman and Co all back and firing we are always a chance.

Bontempelli just reminding everyone that his first 8 or so games where nowhere near his best. He's showing glimpses of his best since he was managed.

 

[Norm De Guerre]

Yes.

 

[Maverick Dog]

With a full list or near full list this team should make a prelim at a minimum. Too much talent and if Bruce, English, JJ, Hunter and Weightman come back the team is stronger than our finals team last season.

With a better balanced defensive outfit that is far stronger in the air than last years and a better functioning forward line with Bruce back, our dominant midfield should overpower most teams even though our coaching is far inferior.

it will be interesting what the club does if we do not make it. I would expect significant change.

 

[Next Waiting]

Freo have got a very tuff run from here. Very vulnerable imo. Bombres probably the only game they'll definitely win. The rest are line balls or losses.

Cats.....could fall out of the 8 late in the season.

The door is ajar for us is we can get a bit of consistency and a few players back.

 

[Claythesmiths]

I think so, yes. There is only one team who is clearly better than us, and if they lose this year at all I'll be surprised. And then there's Brisbane who I think we could match up against quite well, but they've clearly had a better first ten rounds than us. If we were playing any of Fremantle, St. Kilda, Carlton, Geelong, Sydney or Richmond next week would we really feel that we're miles off them? I don't think so. We've played three of those teams, and realistically ought to have won all three, but kicked ourselves out of the games against Carlton and Richmond.

 

[Libbaaaa]

Yes, injures pending of course. In the next few weeks the Swans have Tigers at home and Dees away, while Freo have Dees away and Brissy at home. We have winnable games v. Eagles and Geelong.

I do not rate Freo or St.Kilda, and coming out of the byes both have tough games similar to us.

This time next week we should be in the 8 assuming the Swans take care of Richmond and we belt the Eagles.

 

[X_box_X]

Yes, injures pending of course. In the next few weeks the Swans have Tigers at home and Dees away, while Freo have Dees away and Brissy at home. We have winnable games v. Eagles and Geelong.

I do not rate Freo or St.Kilda, and coming out of the byes both have tough games similar to us.

This time next week we should be in the 8 assuming the Swans take care of Richmond and we belt the Eagles.

Lol Swans take care of Richmond. Sure buddy.

 

[gangsta deluxe]

There is so much more to play out.

Freo don’t seem near as intimidating as previously.

Of course we can, but something needs to click.

 

[hutchy31]

Well we know it won’t be straightforward, and as others have said will no doubt lose one or two we’re favoured in but maybe eke out a win in a couple where we’re underdogs.

Percentage is at least healthy for a team with the same wins and losses. So probably 13 wins does it.

Geelong in two weeks is massive. Assuming a win next week, 7-5 on a four game winning streak and coming into a bye, where we might be close to getting Bruce back, would be nice. 6-6 gives very little margin for error during that really tough stretch rd 16 onwards.

My guess is we finish with 11 or 12 wins in ninth.

Edit: If we did manage to squeak in, there is a decent chance we’d be 7th/8th but maybe playing saints/blues/cats in the EF in Melbourne. Then the SF could be one of those three as well, as presumably one of them finishes in the top four but gets beaten by Melbourne or probably Brisbane. Could get to a PF without leaving home. But we are quite a bit off the pace so I think this is a very unlikely scenario. More likely a finals miss or an exit in the first week, reload for next year with a hopefully fit list - and ideally a new KPD and/or ruck.

 

[Libbaaaa]

Lol Swans take care of Richmond. Sure buddy.

Hence why I said assuming buddyyyyy. No Tom Lynch, they’ll go in favourites.

 

[dogwatch]

we can win this year premership

 

[theAthenian]

if we win +70 point we are in the eight next round

we are as good as any

 

[Optimistic Dog]

I not sure where we are at.

Glass Half Empty

We have a tough draw and our form has been pretty average/ to poor this season and we will struggle to make the 8.

Glass Half Full

We have an injuries to key players and the only game we lost by more 26 points was the tigers, we kicked bad and had more scoring shots.

We get a lot of key players back soon and finally played a couple of promising players recently in Kharmis and West.

The Bont maybe getting over his injuries.

We are still the only team to kick 8 unanswered goals against the Dees. The dees would fear no one but I get the feeling an in form full strength dogs would be the team they least like to play.

 

[dogwatch]

I not sure where we are at.

Glass Half Empty

We have a tough draw and our form as been pretty average/ to poor this season and we will struggle to make the 8.

Glass Half Full

We have an injuries to key players and the only game we lost by more 26 points was the tigers, we kicked bad and more scoring shots.

We get a lot of key players back soon and finally played a couple of promising players recently in Kharmis and West.

The Bont maybe getting over his injuries.

We are still the only team to kick 8 unanswered goals against the Dees. The dees would fear no one but I get the feeling an in form full strength dogs would be the team they least like to play.

It's a no brainer:

Optimistic Dog => Glass Half Full

 

[Norm De Guerre]

These two are obvious the keys to getting our season rolling.

They will go some way toward solving one of our biggest Achilles heal. Being outmarked and dominated through the middle of the ground, by plodders like O'Brien from Adelaide. Let alone the Max Gawns of the competition. That they both hit the scoreboard will be an added bonus for our at times inefficient forward half. Having JJ, Weightman and Hunter up and about will be creme on the cake.

Easy peasy.

 

[TiAn_]

Looking at the ladder, current number of wins in the top 8 and the upcoming fixture, it might take 13 wins and a healthy percentage to make the 8 this year.

That means we would need to go 8-4 the rest of the way, while 1-2 of Cats, Swans and Tigers go 7-5 or worse and/or 1 of Saints and Dockers go 6-6 or worse, just to have the chance at getting in on percentage.

Looking at what's to come, we probably need to win the next 4 (in which there aren't any walkovers) to give ourselves room to go 4-4 the rest of the season where we have tough games against the Lions (away), Swans (away), Cats (away), and Melb (home), along with 50/50 games against Freo and Saints.

Upcoming games against the Swans, Saints, Cats (x2) and Dockers are all 8 point games for us.

 

[doggies ftw]

We seem to be finding some of our proper ‘bulldogs’ footy at least. Our midfield is getting back on top in a big way, GC are no easy beats inside and we dismantled them for large parts of the game on the weekend, defence is starting to gel a bit - forward line still a work in progress but some big improvements could be coming soon.

The balance in our midfield is the best it has looked, we’re making the right rotations and getting good results out of the guys resting forward in Baz, Dunks, Adzy & Bont. Libba and Macrae working back to their best, Baz & Adzy really settling into their roles on the outside now. It’s a good balance, throw in an actual ruckman and it tops things off.

Defence is starting to click offensively at least with Dale & Ed in amazing form. Still work to go defensively but I think the mix we’ve got are capable right now.

Forward line still needs work but McNeil is really coming into his own now in that role and West has fitted in seamlessly, get Cody back and the small line up of Cody, McNeil & West is probably the best we’ve put out in years - all 3 of them provide elite pressure and tackling, can all hit the scoreboard and aren’t a liability with ball in hand - and all have upside and improvement in them.

Buku needs some support and will find it much easier as the 3rd tall, Naughty, English & Buku would make us a 10000x better side with just the simple change of Tim for Cordy.

Williams to the wing has been a big positive for us, he’s exactly what we’ve lacked on that wing. Just need Hunter back for the other wing now and JJ to rotate through for some added pace.

We could be putting out a really really good side in a few weeks. Remains to be seen whether we make the right decisions and even if we do whether it’s already too late now