Ladder predictor

[GVGjr]

With the season just about to start what are your predictions for how the ladder might look at the end of the season?

My bottom 8 would be

18 - West Coast
17 - North Melbourne
16 - Hawthorn
15 - Richmond
14 - Essendon
13 - Geelong
12 - Gold Coast
11 - Fremantle

[ledge]

With the season just about to start what are your predictions for how the ladder might look at the end of the season?

My bottom 8 would be

18 - West Coast
17 - North Melbourne
16 - Hawthorn
15 - Richmond
14 - Essendon
13 - Geelong
12 - Gold Coast
11 - Fremantle

Funny you start with a bottom 8 and go from last down . I had to read it a few times to realise West Coast wasn?t 9t, I read on a phone and had enlarged it , the numbers to the left were missing .

[GVGjr]

This sort of fits into this thread.
I think I want to punch both Adam Cooney and Brenton Sanderson :)
By the way is all the Sydney love justified?

SEN's 2024 AFL season predictions

Garry Lyon

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: GWS
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Tom Green (GWS)
Coleman: Max King (STK)
Rising Star: George Wardlaw (NM)
Breakout player: Sam Darcy (WB)
Biggest improver: Adelaide
Biggest slider: Port Adelaide

Tim Watson

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: Sydney
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Marcus Bontempelli (WB)
Coleman: Nick Larkey (NM)
Rising Star: Sam Darcy (WB)
Breakout player: Liam Henry (STK)
Biggest improver: Adelaide
Biggest slider: Melbourne

Luke Hodge

Premiers: Sydney
Runners-up: Brisbane
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Marcus Bontempelli (WB)
Coleman: Nick Larkey (NM)
Rising Star: Harley Reid (WCE) or Ryley Sanders (WB)
Breakout player: N/A
Biggest improver: Sydney
Biggest slider: St Kilda

Dwayne Russell

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: Collingwood
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Nick Daicos (COL)
Coleman: Charlie Curnow (CAR)
Rising Star: Harley Reid (WCE)
Breakout player: Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (WB)
Biggest improver: Sydney
Biggest slider: GWS

Andy Maher

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: Collingwood
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Max Gawn (MEL)
Coleman: Nick Larkey (NM)
Rising Star: George Wardlaw (NM)
Breakout player: Jesse Motlop (CAR)
Biggest improver: GWS
Biggest slider: Sydney

Andrew Gaze

Premiers: Collingwood
Runners-up: Sydney
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Nick Daicos (COL)
Coleman: Mitch Lewis (HAW)
Rising Star: Nick Watson (HAW)
Breakout player: Josh Weddle (HAW)
Biggest improver: Hawthorn
Biggest slider: Carlton

Malcolm Blight

Premiers: Port Adelaide
Runners-up: Brisbane
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Lachie Neale (BRI) & Marcus Bontempelli (WB)
Coleman: Charlie Curnow (CAR)
Rising Star: Harley Reid (WCE)
Breakout player: Jason Horne-Francis (PA)
Biggest improver: Port Adelaide
Biggest slider: Collingwood (Premiers to third)

Mark Bickley

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: GWS
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Tom Green (GWS)
Coleman: Charlie Curnow (CAR)
Rising Star: Jed Walter (GCS)
Breakout player: Riley Thilthorpe (ADE)
Biggest improver: Gold Coast
Biggest slider: St Kilda

Paul Hasleby

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: Melbourne
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Sam Walsh (CAR)
Coleman: Nick Larkey (NM)
Rising Star: Colby McKercher (NM)
Breakout player: Jye Amiss (FRE)
Biggest improver: Adelaide
Biggest slider: St Kilda

Adam Cooney

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: Carlton
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Nick Daicos (COL)
Coleman: Nick Larkey (NM)
Rising Star: Colby McKercher (NM)
Breakout player: Jason Horne-Francis (PA)
Biggest improver: Essendon
Biggest slider: Melbourne

Campbell Brown

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: Melbourne
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Nick Daicos (COL)
Coleman: Oscar Allen (WCE)
Rising Star: Caleb Windsor (MEL)
Breakout player: Zac Fisher (NM)
Biggest improver: Adelaide
Biggest slider: Sydney

Josh Jenkins

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: Carlton
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Jordan Dawson (ADE)
Coleman: Mitch Lewis (HAW)
Rising Star: Daniel Curtin (ADE)
Breakout player: Mitch Owens (STK)
Biggest improver: Adelaide
Biggest slider: Melbourne

Brenton Sanderson

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: Carlton
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Nick Daicos (COL)
Coleman: Charlie Curnow (CAR)
Rising Star: George Wardlaw (NM)
Breakout player: Finn Callaghan (GWS)
Biggest improver: Adelaide
Biggest slider: Western Bulldogs

Liam Pickering

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: Collingwood
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Nick Daicos (COL)
Coleman: Jeremy Cameron (GEE)
Rising Star: Colby McKercher (NM)
Breakout player: Joel Amartey (SYD)
Biggest improver: Geelong
Biggest slider: St Kilda

Daniel Menzel

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: Collingwood
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Tom Green and Errol Gulden
Coleman: Nick Larkey
Rising Star: Ryley Sanders
Breakout player: Hayden Young
Biggest improver: Gold Coast
Biggest slider: Essendon

Scott Cummings

Premiers: Collingwood
Runners-up: Carlton
Wooden spoon: North Melbourne
Brownlow: Nick Daicos (COL)
Coleman: Oscar Allen (WCE)
Rising Star: Harley Reid (WCE)
Breakout player: Logan McDonald (SYD)
Biggest improver: Gold Coast
Biggest slider: St Kilda

[GVGjr]

Continued

Julian De Stoop

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: GWS
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Marcus Bontempelli (WBD)
Coleman: Jesse Hogan (GWS)
Rising Star: Ryley Sanders (WBD)
Breakout player: Sam Darcy (WBD)
Biggest improver: Western Bulldogs
Biggest slider: Port Adelaide

Gareth Hall

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: Collingwood
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Nick Daicos (COL)
Coleman: Joe Daniher (BRI)
Rising Star: George Wardlaw (NM)
Breakout player: Cam Rayner (BRI)
Biggest improver: Gold Coast
Biggest slider: Carlton

Cam Luke

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: Collingwood
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Tom Green (GWS)
Coleman: Charlie Curnow (CAR)
Rising Star: George Wardlaw (NM)
Breakout player: Jacob Van Rooyen (MEL)
Biggest improver: Sydney
Biggest slider: Port Adelaide

Tim Gossage

Premiers: Sydney
Runners-up: GWS
Wooden spoon: Richmond
Brownlow: Errol Gulden (SYD)
Coleman: Nick Larkey (NM)
Rising Star: Harley Reid (WCE)
Breakout player: Ed Allen (COL)
Biggest improver: Gold Coast
Biggest slider: Melbourne

Ashley Browne

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: Collingwood
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Errol Gulden (SYD)
Coleman: Nick Larkey (NM)
Rising Star: Ryley Sanders (WB)
Breakout player: Finn Callaghan (GWS)
Biggest improver: Fremantle
Biggest slider: Melbourne

David Wildy

Premiers: GWS
Runners-up: Brisbane
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Nick Daicos (COL)
Coleman: Charlie Curnow (CAR)
Rising Star: George Wardlaw (NM)
Breakout player: Jason Horne-Francis (PA)
Biggest improver: Adelaide
Biggest slider: St Kilda

Sam Hargreaves

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: Carlton
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Lachie Neale (BRI)
Coleman: Charlie Curnow (CAR)
Rising Star: Ryley Sanders (WB)
Breakout player: Tom De Koning (CAR)
Biggest improver: Geelong
Biggest slider: Port Adelaide

Brett Phillips

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: Carlton
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Zak Butters (PA)
Coleman: Nick Larkey (NM)
Rising Star: Harley Reid (WCE)
Breakout player: Jaspa Fletcher (BRI)
Biggest improver: Gold Coast
Biggest slider: Melbourne

John Donohoe

Premiers: Sydney
Runners-up: Port Adelaide
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Errol Gulden (SYD)
Coleman: Nick Larkey (NM)
Rising Star: Colby McKercher (NM)
Breakout player: Mattaes Phillipou (STK)
Biggest improver: Gold Coast
Biggest slider: Melbourne

Jordan Kounelis

Premiers: Collingwood
Runners-up: Port Adelaide
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Marcus Bontempelli (WBD)
Coleman: Charlie Curnow (CAR)
Rising Star: Colby McKercher (NM)
Breakout player: Ollie Hollands (CAR)
Biggest improver: Gold Coast
Biggest slider: Melbourne

Miles Pfitzner

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: Carlton
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Lachie Neale (BRI)
Coleman: Charlie Curnow (CAR)
Rising Star: Ryley Sanders (WB)
Breakout player: Tom De Koning (CAR)
Biggest improver: Geelong
Biggest slider: Port Adelaide

Cam Luke

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: Collingwood
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Tom Green (GWS)
Coleman Medal: Charlie Curnow (CAR)
Rising Star: George Wardlaw (NM)
Breakout player: Jacob Van Rooyen (MEL)
Biggest improver: Sydney
Biggest slider: Port Adelaide

Adam White

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: Melbourne
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Lachie Neale (BRI)
Coleman Medal: Charlie Curnow (CAR)
Rising Star: Sam Darcy (WB)
Breakout player: Angus Sheldrick (SYD)
Biggest improver: Fremantle
Biggest slider: St Kilda

SEN.com.au Predictions

Andrew Slevison

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: GWS
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Marcus Bontempelli (WB)
Coleman: Charlie Curnow (CAR)
Rising Star: Ryley Sanders (WB)
Breakout player: Jaspa Fletcher (BRI)
Biggest improver: Adelaide
Biggest slider: Port Adelaide (but they'll still make the 8)

Nic Negrepontis

Premiers: GWS
Runners-up: Melbourne
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Tom Green (GWS)
Coleman: Max King (STK)
Rising Star: George Wardlaw (NM)
Breakout player: Finn Callaghan (GWS)
Biggest improver: Geelong
Biggest slider: Port Adelaide

Terence Lattanzio

Premiers: Collingwood
Runners-up: Brisbane
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Nick Daicos (COL)
Coleman: Charlie Curnow (CAR)
Rising Star: Colby McKercher (NM)
Breakout player: Jye Amiss (FRE)
Biggest improver: Geelong
Biggest slider: Port Adelaide

Seb Mottram

Premiers: Sydney
Runners-up: Port Adelaide
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Christian Petracca (MEL)
Coleman: Mitch Lewis (HAW)
Rising Star: George Wardlaw (NM)
Breakout player: Braeden Campbell (SYD)
Biggest improver: Sydney
Biggest slider: Collingwood

Lachlan Geleit

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: Collingwood
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Nick Daicos (COL)
Coleman: Jeremy Cameron (GEE)
Rising Star: Colby McKercher (NM)
Breakout player: Finn Callaghan (GWS)
Biggest improver: Geelong
Biggest slider: Melbourne

Jack Makeham

Premiers: Collingwood
Runners-up: GWS
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Tom Green (GWS)
Coleman: Nick Larkey (NM)
Rising Star: Ryley Sanders (WBD)
Breakout player: Josh Gibcus (RIC)
Biggest improver: Gold Coast
Biggest slider: Port Adelaide

Hugh Fitzpatrick

Premiers: GWS
Runners-up: Brisbane
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Marcus Bontempelli (WBD)
Coleman: Max King (STK)
Rising Star: George Wardlaw (NM)
Breakout player: Lachie Sullivan (COL)
Biggest improver: Fremantle
Biggest slider: Port Adelaide

Zac Sharpe

Premiers: Brisbane
Runners-up: Sydney
Wooden spoon: West Coast
Brownlow: Clayton Oliver (MEL)
Coleman: Aaron Naughton (WBD)
Rising Star: Ryley Sanders (WBD)
Breakout player: Thomson Dow (RIC)
Biggest improver: Western Bulldogs
Biggest slider: GWS

[Grantysghost]

Ladder i'll go

Brisbane
Collingwood
Melbourne
GWS
Carlton
Adelaide
Sydney
Bulldogs
---------
Port Adelaide
Gold Coast
Geelong
St.Kilda
Fremantle
Richmond
Essendon
Hawthorn
North Melbourne
West Coast

[Dry Rot]

The Guardian has a go, with reasons

Part one - AFL 2024 predicted ladder part one: Bulldogs could win the flag? or get the spoon

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/mar/04/afl-2024-predicted-ladder-part-one-bulldogs-could-win-the-flag-or-get-the-spoon


18th ? West Coast
Jonathan Horn

?Higher floor, lower ceiling? is my sense heading into 2024, but it?s a particularly difficult season to assess. I reckon all but the bottom three listed teams could challenge for finals. I may well be miles off when it comes to Sydney and Adelaide, and the Western Bulldogs could be premiers or wooden spooners for all I know.

So here goes another hiding to nothing: Part one of Guardian Australia?s 2024 AFL ladder predictor.

?This will pass,? Adam Simpson said following yet another trouncing last year. He somehow kept his cool, his hair, and his job. Injuries, pandemics, strength and conditioning problems, less than committed players, poor list management and more injuries have all conspired against him. But in 2024 he has a crop of talented, big-bodied kids. The hype around Harley Reid, however, is completely insane, with more column inches devoted to him than to the Mayor of Perth.

2023 was an improvement for the Kangas. They lost 14 games by 45 points or more in 2022, which they reduced to six last year. That?s still dreadful, mind you. North lost nearly 1500 games of experience in the off-season and may be without Jy Simpkin for an extended period after Jimmy Webster?s savage hit at the weekend.

Alastair Clarkson will be buoyed by the 17 first round picks on his list, several of whom are exquisitely skilled and completely untapped. His problems will be down back. They?re going to have a lot of goals kicked on them. But it promises to be a wild ride for North fans.

16th ? Hawthorn

The Hawks beat some really good teams last year ? Collingwood, Brisbane, St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs. But like most young lists, they mixed their form. As a player, Sam Mitchell played a patient game. He waited, watched and pounced. He?s similar as a coach. Every one of his utterances can loosely be translated as ?I know what I?m doing.?

Mitchell has had some rotten luck over summer. They desperately needed another key defender and were delighted with James Blanck?s progress. But he tore his ACL minutes after Changkuoth Jiath broke down again. ?If there were five players I could least afford to lose, I just lost two of them,? the coach told Nathan Buckley.

15th ? Richmond

Richmond has been in gentle recession for several years now. There were some scrapbook memories last year - Trent Cotchin?s 300th, his valedictory game with Jack Riewoldt, the greatest hits parade against Geelong and the Hawthorn comeback. But it was a frustrating season. Tom Lynch and Josh Gibcus were hobbled and Damien Hardwick couldn?t get out of the place quickly enough.

The messaging now is more cautious, more realistic. ?Look we?re always going to be big and dangerous but this is no longer some last ditch Dimma throw at the stumps,? is the crux of it. The question marks heading into 2024 include Lynch?s right foot and the gap between their top and bottom six.

14th ? Essendon

A ?bunch of spuds? Hardwick called them. That?s harsh. Essendon?s young players show glimpses. They have good summers. They have good fortnights. But they haven?t yet proven themselves to be long haul footballers. They ran aground following the bye last year. They won three of their last ten. They fell apart against the generationally bad West Coast and North, and lost by a combined 33 goals in the final fortnight. The GWS game was a degustation. The Collingwood game was over in a matter of minutes.

The first two months of 2024 look particularly tough ? both Adelaide sides away, Sydney away and Collingwood at the MCG, as well as St Kilda and the Bulldogs at the Docklands.

13th ? Sydney

A difficult team to assess. There?s a lot of people spruiking the Swans, but I?m not convinced their recent form stacks up. They left too many games on the table last year, coughed up too many three-quarter time leads, and came up short against the very best. They were fortunate to get the four points against Adelaide and won the North Melbourne game courtesy of a clerical error. Their captain spent the best part of summer in a sling after some Mad Monday high jinks, and Luke Parker and Taylor Adams will both miss the opening month. For a team that struggled at the coalface last year, that will hurt.

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12th ? Gold Coast

For Hardwick, the Suns? list was the clincher. Sure there was the money, the long contract, the chance to get out of the Melbourne fishbowl and start afresh with a new suntan and a new club. But he loved the list. ?A great new bunch of toys,? he called them. There?s potential, but not a lot of evidence. Year after year, these players have turned up their toes when it matters. They let down their previous coach. They?ve never been a team you?d trust with your life, or even your money. They?ve never been a team willing to dig in and slog through winter. Hardwick?s style demands total buy-in and trust, two qualities that have so far eluded this group.

11th ? Adelaide

The Crows were the league?s highest scoring team in 2023. They won both Showdowns and twice ran the eventual premiers to the wire. They played some of their best football in the matches they lost. But they only won two of 10 on the road. In the end, despite the wretched decisions, the near misses, the big scores, and the jolly romps, they still weren?t good enough.

Adelaide are great to watch, and have high expectations. They?ll get a lot more marquee games than usual. But to me, they still look a bit light on down back and one-paced through the middle. I think Matthew Nicks is on the right track, and they?re definitely a team for the future, but I see them treading water this year.

10th ? Western Bulldogs

I think we miss the point with the Bulldogs. We expect too much of them. Maybe they expect too much of themselves. They?re a riddle, certainly, a tease, no doubt. But ultimately, in quarters, in games, in months, and in seasons, they loom and drop away. Just when you?ve given up on them, they drag you back in. When they?re really humming, when Bont and Libba have full control, they can tease you into thinking they?re the best team in the competition. But too often, they?re exposed by their bottom six, and stand revealed against the very best.

Ninth ? Geelong

Pretty much nothing went right for Geelong last year. They conceded two more goals a game than in 2022, which is very un-Chris Scott like. At various times, his entire starting back six were unavailable. The second Collingwood game summed up their season ? patches of brilliance, moments of madness and ultimately well short of the standard. Gary Rohan knocking out his teammate and their most important player pretty much summed it up. As always, you take the good with the bad with Gary, even when he?s knocking you unconscious.

I really like their young kids coming through however, and originally had them as my sneaky bolter for 2024. But I?ve been spooked by the injury to Cam Guthrie, sustained in the first eight seconds of the scratchiest of scratch matches.

[Dry Rot]

The Guardian part 2

Bizarrely high finish for Freo IMO

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/mar/05/afl-2024-predicted-ladder-part-two-collingwood-can-win-if-theyre-giant-killers

AFL 2024 predicted ladder part two: Collingwood can win… if they’re Giant killers


Eighth – Carlton
Jonathan Horn

“Robbie Williams just posted your column about Michael Voss with a poo emoji,” my partner told me last September. Excuse me? I really need a new line of work. Robbie hasn’t had a decent song since She’s the One but he had a point: Voss and his Blues made mugs of so many of us.

For about 20 minutes last September, the prospect of a Collingwood-Carlton grand final, and everything that entails for our society, was very much in play. The atmosphere resembled an early 80s fixture at Princes Park. But then the fever subsided, the red cordial ran out, and the Lions went to work. Carlton had the crowd, double the inside 50s and the smell of history about them. Brisbane had Keidean “Kiddy” Coleman, his gimlet eye, pencil moustache, cobalt blue boots and lethal left boot.

The Blues have to ride that wave again now. After a tough opening assignment against the Lions, their draw opens up for several months. But keeping Sam Walsh and Jacob Weitering on the park will be the key to their season.

No one left the MCG on grand final day with anything but admiration for the Lions. So many non-MCG tenants have turned up their toes at the big dance. A slip here, a questionable advantage call there, and it was snatched away from them.

Chris Fagan says the same things every September. We’ll get better each year. We’ll fix the problems. We’ll take “learnings”. We’ll fail our way to success. Every year, it feels like the rest of us say: this is their best chance. They’re always competitive. They’re always hard to toss at the Gabba. And they improve year on year. Five years in a row now, they’ve won more than 14 games. They’ve won 42 of their past 47 at the Gabba, and all 13 last year. I reckon they’re due for a slight correction, but they deserve another shot at it.

Sixth – Melbourne

Melbourne has had six months of what-ifs. What if Caleb Marchbank had filed his fingernails. What if they’d lowered their eyes against Collingwood. What if Angus Brayshaw hadn’t been knocked out cold. What if Clayton Oliver wasn’t in disarray. What if they’d kicked straight.

They let the Oliver story get out of control. Rather than take a hose to the fire, the strategy seemed to be to stand in front of it spraying the word “culture” dozens of times. In football, the word has been pulverised, made redundant. It’s the new “learnings”.

Goodwin calls them a blue-collar team. They defend from the high ground. They patrol and gobble. They contest like angry ants. But their connection with their forwards needs tidying up. There’s too many blasters in that midfield. Get that right and keep Gawn in one piece, and this remarkably consistent side can challenge again.

Fifth – Fremantle

In the summer of 2022-23, I had St Kilda as my bolter, and pencilled them in for the double chance. I then saw them in a practice match that was honestly the worst game of football I have watched. The Saints won, but I relegated them about eight ladder positions.

Which brings me to Fremantle, who I’ve been toying with all summer. They were dreadful in their practice match against Port Adelaide, with tedious, creeping ball movement and limited forward options. Christ, I thought, nothing has changed.

I’m holding firm, however, perhaps foolishly. The Dockers had four players in the Under 22 team of the year, the most of any club, including Luke Jackson and Jye Amiss, who both sat out the practice match. They were smashed around the ball too often last year, but have altered their midfield mix. The talent is there but they need to change the way they move the ball. If they can’t, Justin Longmuir will be the coach under the most pressure.

Fourth – St Kilda

Ross Lyon squeezed every drop of ability out of the Saints last year, but the elimination final was an abrupt end – and a reality check. It was sixth versus seventh but they were in different leagues. The Giants went into hyperdrive and St Kilda stood revealed.

The Saints are watertight down back, conceding less points than anyone last year, including the highly rated Melbourne and Collingwood backlines. But it’s a pretty plain, one-paced midfield and Lyon knows it. They were the 15th most potent team, which has been the story of his career.

Lyon didn’t have much to work with however, with Tim Membrey and Max King playing together just twice. Now those two are fit and healthy he has an abundance of speed and good ball users off half back. The second season is often a sweet spot for Lyon-coached teams, and he’ll be hoping this list can finally emerge from footy’s middle class.

Third – Port Adelaide

Whenever I look at Port Adelaide, I think of those pre-2022 Chris Scott teams that were always in the mix, but were never quite good enough, of seasons that showed immense promise, but went up in September smoke in about a quarter of an hour.

There’s sometimes this assumption that Port is an older team, and this is their last shot at a flag. But they were actually the youngest of the eight sides in the first round of finals and were beaten by two outstanding teams. They were ruined by injuries and backline woes, but it was the midfield that let them down.

Port have recruited well and seem to have a really good draw for the first couple of months. They’ll have a crack midfield, but their challenge will be to stop the leaking down back.

Second – Collingwood

In this competition, you’re always vulnerable. Geelong won two finals by a combined 23 goals and were miles off the pace the following year. And this Collingwood team still has holes and vulnerabilities.

There’s always hate for Collingwood. For all the loyalty and lunacy they inspire, there’s double that amount wishing them to fall in a heap. OK, well done, your coach is a gem, your team is great to watch, you got your flag, now go and be a cursed club again for a few more decades thanks very much.

The Magpies were never going to do a Hawthorn at the end of 2008 and waddle back to training. Nick Daicos doesn’t exactly present as the kind of young man to go on a summer bender and let himself go to suet. “Save room for more tattoos,” Craig McRae told his players at the best and fairest. One is never enough. They want more. It’s like a drug. The question remains – how long can they continue this highwire act?

Premiers – GWS

In 2023, Adam Kingsley took a few months to get his preferred style up and going, and to adapt to the stresses of the job. But the season is long, and it suited a list like theirs. They locked in their style. You could see them coming from the back of the field, picking off stragglers, one by one. By September, their nostrils were flared. They were exactly the sort of team you didn’t want to draw.

The Giants are still filthy they let the preliminary final slip. They sprayed a lot of kicks, missed some very gettable chances, were well beaten at stoppages and copped some interesting umpiring. Kingsley spent his first pre-season teaching the playing list and his assistants. This time around, they’ve backed their list in. They haven’t topped up. They’re confident and ready to take the next step and I’m inclined to agree.

[Grantysghost]

That is the worst ladder prediction I've ever seen! Saints top 4? Lions not top 4!

Is it a joke one?

[meenies]

Are we being too aspirational on here thinking we have a great chance of finals when so many media “experts” are tipping us to finish between 10th and 12th on the ladder?

[hujsh]

Are we being too aspirational on here thinking we have a great chance of finals when so many media “experts” are tipping us to finish between 10th and 12th on the ladder?

Frankly we watch our team more closely than the experts who admit to not watching every match (you'd think that'd be a minimum standard but oh well) and we know there's talent on the list BUT the experts are also right to be weary based on our finish to the 2023 season.

[bornadog]

Frankly we watch our team more closely than the experts who admit to not watching every match (you'd think that'd be a minimum standard but oh well) and we know there's talent on the list BUT the experts are also right to be weary based on our finish to the 2023 season.

When they throw in Keath to play round one, they are guessing

[azabob]

I know things are never as good as they seem or as bad as they seem but…

I can only see us winning five more games for the year - Hawks, Tigers, North (twice), Adelaide (Adelaide).

Losses are - Saints, Dockers (twice), GWS (twice), Swans (twice), Pies, Lions, Power, Carlton, Geelong, Melbourne.

[Grantysghost]

I know things are never as good as they seem or as bad as they seem but…

I can only see us winning five more games for the year - Hawks, Tigers, North (twice), Adelaide (Adelaide).

Losses are - Saints, Dockers (twice), GWS (twice), Swans (twice), Pies, Lions, Power, Carlton, Geelong, Melbourne.
https://i.postimg.cc/MZMWCG36/Screenshot-20240413-183116.png (https://postimg.cc/Dmhks7KH)

[bulldogsthru&thru]

https://i.postimg.cc/MZMWCG36/Screenshot-20240413-183116.png (https://postimg.cc/Dmhks7KH)

Trade isn't looking so good right now......