Realistically, How Many Can We Win

[bornadog]

1 Geelong Home Win
2 Adelaide Home Win
3 St. Kilda Away Loss
4 Richmond Away Win
5 Hawthorn Away Win
6 West Coast Away Loss
7 Melbourne Home Win
8 Collingwood Home Win
9 Sydney Home Loss
10 Carlton Away Win
11 Brisbane Lions Away Win
12 Fremantle Home Loss
13 Kangaroos Away Win
14 Port Adelaide Home Win
15 Essendon Away Win
16 Geelong Away Win
17 West Coast Home Win
18 St. Kilda Home Loss
19 Melbourne Away Win
20 Adelaide Away Loss
21 Hawthorn Home Win
22 Kangaroos Home Win

Total Wins 16

Mind you I think we can win all of them. The loss to Saints in round 3 only there because realistically we are not going to win everything.

What do you think?

[southerncross]

13 games but it all depends on the first 2 games.

[W W Biscuit]

It's a good draw for us this year: once again, two games at the Dome vs Geelong, plus two Dome games versus Melbourne (who really didn't play well there last season). We have only three interstate games in the cauldron of our opponents home territory - the remainder being at neutral venues.

Many a foolish and academic argument has begun with the phrase 'on paper.' Nevertheless, I will commit myself: On paper, I believe that we will win 16 games. In comparison to your summary bornadog, I think that we will win one of the matches versus St. Kilda, and can feel an upset looming in either match against the Hawks (a team with a massive X factor). I'd hope to conquer Freo in Darwin (half a season of good footy doesn't convince me), and think that we'd be lucky to defeat Geelong twice. All in all, a pretty fair summary of what we ought to achieve bornadog, given the current status of our list development.

[southerncross]

It's a good draw for us this year: once again, two games at the Dome vs Geelong, plus two Dome games versus Melbourne (who really didn't play well there last season). We have only three interstate games in the cauldron of our opponents home territory - the remainder being at neutral venues.

Many a foolish and academic argument has begun with the phrase 'on paper.' Nevertheless, I will commit myself: On paper, I believe that we will win 16 games. In comparison to your summary bornadog, I think that we will win one of the matches versus St. Kilda, and can feel an upset looming in either match against the Hawks (a team with a massive X factor). I'd hope to conquer Freo in Darwin (half a season of good footy doesn't convince me), and think that we'd be lucky to defeat Geelong twice. All in all, a pretty fair summary of what we ought to achieve bornadog, given the current status of our list development.

16 wins from the H&A season would be an outstanding result. I hope you are right.

[dog town]

I would be extremely dissapointed if we lost to Stkilda both times. I think we will beat them in round 3.

[Mofra]

I would be extremely dissapointed if we lost to Stkilda both times. I think we will beat them in round 3.

THis year I think we will beat them at least once - we will need both Harris & Cam Wight to be in decent touch, last few matches we have been one tall defender short (pardon the pun) and is a Doogs, Wight, Darcy at CHB (has been floated by Eade) or even a Williams late in the season can proivide a match up we will be much better prepared to take them on.

FWIW I don't think we will beat the Roos twice, even if they do finish on the bottom. The underdog always wins our clashes - didn't we beat them twice in our spoon year?

[alwaysadog]

16 wins from the H&A season would be an outstanding result. I hope you are right.

16 wins would equal the most wins ever in a season by us.

[bornadog]

16 wins would equal the most wins ever in a season by us.


Also very do able

[alwaysadog]

Also very do able

Might seem so from here, we haven't lost a game yet and neither has anybody else. I'm not saying we can't do it will take an enormous effort and a lot of good luck.

Only in 1985 and 1992 have we managed 16 wins, even 1998, that glorious home and away season only got 15 wins.

[Go_Dogs]

I feel that we will probably win 1 or 2 more H&A games than we did last year - due to us improving slightly more than some of the other teams who improve, and also gaining an advantage on a few teams who may not improve and will fall back a bit.

I'd say that we should be aiming to make the 8 initially, but something like 15 wins is not totally unrealistic. Have to wait and see...

[LostDoggy]

I agree but not in that order. We will have to beat Sydney and St Kilda at least once if we are really going to have a tilt at the flag.

1 Geelong Home Win
2 Adelaide Home Win
3 St. Kilda Away Loss
4 Richmond Away Win
5 Hawthorn Away Win
6 West Coast Away Loss
7 Melbourne Home Win
8 Collingwood Home Win
9 Sydney Home Win
10 Carlton Away Win
11 Brisbane Lions Away Win
12 Fremantle Home Loss
13 Kangaroos Away Win
14 Port Adelaide Home Win
15 Essendon Away Win
16 Geelong Away Loss
17 West Coast Home Win
18 St. Kilda Home Win
19 Melbourne Away Win
20 Adelaide Away Loss
21 Hawthorn Home Loss
22 Kangaroos Home Win

Total Wins 16

[bornadog]

1 Geelong Home Win
2 Adelaide Home Win
3 St. Kilda Away Loss
4 Richmond Away Win
5 Hawthorn Away Win
6 West Coast Away Loss
7 Melbourne Home Win
8 Collingwood Home Win
9 Sydney Home Loss
10 Carlton Away Win
11 Brisbane Lions Away Win
12 Fremantle Home Loss
13 Kangaroos Away Win
14 Port Adelaide Home Win
15 Essendon Away Win
16 Geelong Away Win
17 West Coast Home Win
18 St. Kilda Home Loss
19 Melbourne Away Win
20 Adelaide Away Loss
21 Hawthorn Home Win
22 Kangaroos Home Win

Total Wins 16

Mind you I think we can win all of them. The loss to Saints in round 3 only there because realistically we are not going to win everything.

What do you think?

Prediction was 4 wins 2 losses,

Actual 3,3 the Adelaide game, I expected us to win.

[LostDoggy]

This is my take on where we are at present.

The Good
Harris - Has been sensational since his return from suspension. He is really thinking about his game and is eliminating silly errors.
McMahon - Easily in career best form and like Harris he has reduced errors that otherwise detract from him game. His run and drive from defence has been a huge positive.
Cross - Has continued to improve each year and really should be regarded as an elite player.
Johnson, West and Boyd have also shone.

The Bad
Our ruck division has really struggled and this has impacted our performance. Minson has been in poor to average form and just doesn't seem to be making any progress. Street is still struggling with injury and form and Skipper isn't showing anything significant with the Bees.

The Ugly
The performance of some of our new and returning players really hasn't made the impact that we all hoped for.
Akermanis has been down on form, McDougalla non factor and Darcy just doesn't look at home in the key forward post. Bob Murphy was showing a bit but his injury will be a difficult one for him to recover from.

Griffen and Cooney are also well down on expectations.

We are also not getting enough of our players getting games with Werribee and I think some of our guys are slipping. If guys like Gavin Hughes cannot get a regular senior gig at Werribee then the fact is that we just aren't developing players like we should.

Prediction
12 to 13 wins. On paper we are doing OK but really we are struggling to kick decent scores and are often fading in the 4th quarter. The team balance doesn't look right and we just don't have enough key talls making an impact. We will play some very good football

Is this a fair and reasonable assessment?

[bornadog]

This is my take on where we are at present.

Is this a fair and reasonable assessment?

Mostly agree with your assessment, except I thought Darcy was making progress till yesterday. I thought he looked ok at forward against Hawthorn and could have slotted five except for his inaccurracy.

Basically you have summed up well.

[bornadog]

1 Geelong Home Win
2 Adelaide Home Win
3 St. Kilda Away Loss
4 Richmond Away Win
5 Hawthorn Away Win
6 West Coast Away Loss
7 Melbourne Home Win
8 Collingwood Home Win
9 Sydney Home Loss
10 Carlton Away Win
11 Brisbane Lions Away Win
12 Fremantle Home Loss
13 Kangaroos Away Win
14 Port Adelaide Home Win
15 Essendon Away Win
16 Geelong Away Win
17 West Coast Home Win
18 St. Kilda Home Loss
19 Melbourne Away Win
20 Adelaide Away Loss
21 Hawthorn Home Win
22 Kangaroos Home Win

Total Wins 16



Prediction still one down, a chance to put us back on track for 16 wins this week.

[bornadog]

1 Geelong Home Win
2 Adelaide Home Win
3 St. Kilda Away Loss
4 Richmond Away Win
5 Hawthorn Away Win
6 West Coast Away Loss
7 Melbourne Home Win
8 Collingwood Home Win
9 Sydney Home Loss
10 Carlton Away Win
11 Brisbane Lions Away Win
12 Fremantle Home Loss
13 Kangaroos Away Win
14 Port Adelaide Home Win
15 Essendon Away Win
16 Geelong Away Win
17 West Coast Home Win
18 St. Kilda Home Loss
19 Melbourne Away Win
20 Adelaide Away Loss
21 Hawthorn Home Win
22 Kangaroos Home Win

Total Wins 16 Prediction from round one.


Still one down, should beat Carlton this week.

[Dry Rot]

Still one down, should beat Carlton this week.

Interesting how things change over a season - the Roos look more formidable and Freo not so strong at the moment.

[bornadog]

1 Geelong Home Win - Correct
2 Adelaide Home Win - no
3 St. Kilda Away Loss -Correct
4 Richmond Away Win - Correct
5 Hawthorn Away Win - Correct
6 West Coast Away Loss - Correct
7 Melbourne Home Win - Correct
8 Collingwood Home Win - Correct
9 Sydney Home Loss - Correct
10 Carlton Away Win - No
11 Brisbane Lions Away Win - Correct
12 Fremantle Home Loss - No
13 Kangaroos Away Win
14 Port Adelaide Home Win
15 Essendon Away Win
16 Geelong Away Win
17 West Coast Home Win
18 St. Kilda Home Loss
19 Melbourne Away Win
20 Adelaide Away Loss
21 Hawthorn Home Win
22 Kangaroos Home Win

Total Wins 16 /15

So far prediction is three out, with two expected wins and one expected loss (not correct), which means one down.

For the remainder of the season, who thinks we can keep going per above. I am sticking to my prediction which means we will end up with 15 not 16 wins.

[Go_Dogs]

Yeah, some tough games to come still in Geelong, West Coast, Adelaide and the Kangaroos twice, throw in St Kilda who always trouble us. No reason we can't still achieve the target, but we'll have to play well.

[Dry Rot]

Do we all think Geelong is the real deal or just mid-season premiers?

[Go_Dogs]

Hard to say DR. They certainly have the fire power all over the ground to be more than mid-season premiers, and the squad has been close many times - remember them playing Prelims a few years back - and will definitely have a finals proven game plan with some good contested footy, and also the ability to run the lines and score heavily.

[alwaysadog]

Do we all think Geelong is the real deal or just mid-season premiers?

They have talent and they're hot right now, but I don't expect their run to continue all the way to September.

[Bulldog Revolution]

They have talent and they're hot right now, but I don't expect their run to continue all the way to September.

Thats right, its just too early to tell, Adelaide dominated 3/4's of last years season only to not really perform in finals. You wouldn't mind being in there position but its really about how much they can improve.

Geelong look good, but a dynamic midfield is still there undoing - they lack depth of leg speed - they have a couple of quick players but a few too many slow ones - although adding Sellwood and Prismall to their team will improve its class, i'm not sure how quick those guys are.

[bornadog]

Geelong look good, but a dynamic midfield is still there undoing - they lack depth of leg speed - they have a couple of quick players but a few too many slow ones - although adding Sellwood and Prismall to their team will improve its class, i'm not sure how quick those guys are.

Thats why I think we can match them pretty well and I am confident we can beat them. Whether they can sustain their current run for the whole season remains to be seen.