The final eight

[dumesny1]

What chance the bullies making the finals next year?

[John Gent]

One in 16.

[Ipaidmy200in89]

What chance the bullies making the finals next year?

Not great. We need to aim for a consistent showing in all games and win 8/9.

Blood a few more young guys and see improvement Ray, Cooney, Minson, Briss, Cross.

See Bob, Mitch, Daniel Gia, Jordy take the next step.

See Bandy and Rawlings play full seasons with real fitness...

[Pembleton]

What chance the bullies making the finals next year?

We will be in the middle bunch. 2 tight games going one way or the other can move you a very long way up or down within that group, so actually predicting a finishing spot is very much just guess work. Suffice to say that i would be disappointed if we are more than a couple of games out of the 8 next year.

Something to note: Every year for a long time there has been a side from outside finals the previous year who finishes in the top 4.

2004-Cats or Dees and Saints
03-Swans
02-Pies
01-Tigers and Port
00-Dees
99-Brisbane
98-Dees
97-Bulldogs
96- Swans
95-Tigers and Bombers
94-Cats
93-Essendon and Carlton and Roos
92-Bulldogs and Pies

I am sure the list goes back further but you get the point. So its a pretty sure thing that at least one team from outside the 8 will be top 4 next season, let alone top 8. Many of these teams came from the bottom 3 the year before.

It depends on who ends up playing finals this year who is most likely to continue the pattern, but we would be one of the top 3 from outside the 8 in terms of likelihood of being able to climb the ladder in the same way the sides on the above list have.