Do We Want To Make Finals?

[bomberlegend2007]

I know it’s a bit premature, but there’s been heaps of talk around in the past few days that there is still a chance that we could make finals.

What I want to know is, do we want to make Finals?

If we do make finals all I can see is that we go into the game and then leave in the first week after a hammering to a side like Sydney or Hawthorn, so that there was really no point of making the finals in the first place.

I want the club to stay near the bottom for a 3-4 years period and develop the kids while also getting some good draft picks. Getting the players like Rich or Hurley, and hopefully causing upsets and destroying finals hopes to teams like Carlton.
If we do this, in 5 or 6 years time we will be able to have a real crack at the flag.

But on the other hand, this would boost up the young players spirits knowing that they can compete with the teams that will be playing football in September.

So who agrees with me or more to the fact, Do you want to make finals?

[warney7]

We won't so it doesn't matter.

But to answer the question, it doesn't matter either way.

Honestly, the lowest I think we could finish this year is 13th, and probably ending up with picks 4, 24, 40 etc if the bottom 3 all have less than 5 wins

If we make the 8, we'll probably have pick 9, 29, 45 etc

So I guess considering the big hole that the Gold Coast will put in the draft starting next season and then West Sydney the year after, earlier picks this year would be handy.

That said, I want us to put the best 22 out each week and I want to win every week.

It's an interesting question you pose and I can best answer it by saying, I just want us to improve and fight for the points every game. Finals will come to us when we're ready.

EDIT: I don't see why we'd be 6 years away from having a crack at a flag either.
Sheedy might not have given the kids a decent crack, but under his watch, Essendon recruited the Reimers, Lonergan, Davey, Gumbleton, Jetta etc that are the future of our club.

We've been down for a while now, and now that Knighter is there and giving the kids a go, I think we're starting to see that we have been building a solid foundation. We don't need to do what Carlton did. We don't need spoons to bounce back!

[bomba4eva]

I know it’s a bit premature, but there’s been heaps of talk around in the past few days that there is still a chance that we could make finals.

What I want to know is, do we want to make Finals?

If we do make finals all I can see is that we go into the game and then leave in the first week after a hammering to a side like Sydney or Hawthorn, so that there was really no point of making the finals in the first place.

I want the club to stay near the bottom for a 3-4 years period and develop the kids while also getting some good draft picks. Getting the players like Rich or Hurley, and hopefully causing upsets and destroying finals hopes to teams like Carlton.
If we do this, in 5 or 6 years time we will be able to have a real crack at the flag.

But on the other hand, this would boost up the young players spirits knowing that they can compete with the teams that will be playing football in September.

So who agrees with me or more to the fact, Do you want to make finals?
Of course we would prefer making finals. We have been picking up high picks for the past 3 years and it will be 4 after this year assuming we finish in the bottom 6. After getting Houli, Reimers etc late in the draft I would have thought you had learnt that high quality players can be picked up late in the draft.

Are you having a laugh? 6 years before we are legitimate contenders? Ridiculous. We don't need another 3-4 years near the bottom. Considering a few of those years are worthless down the bottom makes your argument even weaker. Finals next year and further up the following year.

[Impromptu]

Yes, I want Essendon to make the finals.

I prefer Bombers to make the finals (ie win more games) and then get knocked out first week of finals rather than lose games and not play finals football at all. It demoralises the supporters if Bombers every week.

Go Bombers!!

[bipolarbeaR]

Finals + 1st round pick = WIN/WIN situation IMO.

Not likely to happen but if it does I won't be complaining.
Making finals would be a brilliant jump in confidence for our young bruisers, The way the Bombers play under Knights is very confidence oriented, making the finals would be a great little boost for season '09.
Kids like Dempsey, Davey, Lovett, Jetta, Hislop, Lonergan, Reimers and Monfries all need that sort of confidence within the team to really get their hard at it, head over the ball, full pace game style to its peak.

[The_Young_Gun]

If I hear another pre-mature draft comment saying "we're going to draft Daniel Rich, Naitanui or whoever"....

Then I'm gonna have to punch someone in the face (Not Literally:thumbsu:). Its so annoying how people talk "Draft Talk" before the season has even bloody ended.... For all I know we could end up in the top 8, get to the preliminaries, get flogged by Geelong, and end with a good season. (Deep Breath)

[Bachar Houli]

I obviously want to make the finals, but we have to win something like 5 of our next 7 games... big ask

[Bombers_Forever]

Yes, for many reasons. Forget the draft picks.

Even if we don't make it, the pressure and intensity of the last 6 weeks trying to make finals will really help our young players in coming years.

[Blowfly]

Maybe I'm blindly optimistic...no wait, I am blindly optimistic, but if Essendon make the finals, anything could happen.
The media harp on how only the top four have a chance but as recently as 2006 Sydney missed out on the flag by a point after finishing 5th and mathematically 8th has just as much chance as 5th. And if we play well enough to win the games to get in we'll be taking good form (and presumably good health) into the finals.
Sure I might be deluded, sure it's a (very) long shot but while there's any kind of chance I enjoy believing in it.
So, yes, I'd love the Dons to make the finals.

[Longy413]

What I want to know is, do we want to make Finals?

If we do make finals all I can see is that we go into the game and then leave in the first week after a hammering to a side like Sydney or Hawthorn, so that there was really no point of making the finals in the first place.

We wouldn't play Sydney or Hawthorn, both teams are going to finish top four.

I don't think we'll make the finals, it's too much to ask of our young players to play the kind of footy across the remaining matches to win enough games to play finals footy. We're going to have another patch where we don't get near it, we'll string together 3-4 losses.

And that's okay, as long as we keep playing the footy we've played over the last three weeks.


BUT - If that doesn't happen and we were able to sneak into 8th, the ladder right now would have us playing Adelaide. A team we lost to by less than a goal, if we had the momentum and the form to win enough games to get there, you'd have to give us a chance.

Then we'd cop a smashing by Sydney or Hawthorn in the second week of the finals (although I'd give us a sniff against the Dogs).

Pipe dream though.

[daffo]

I looked through our run home this week and i think we can win 2-3 out of our next four games then we will have to knock off WCE over there plus another win against Adelaide here then it would come down to Essendon v Saints in the last round for the final 8 spot. BIG ask, but of course i would love it to happen. Confidence it huge in footy, look at Geelong in 2006-2007, or bulldogs this year to last. For the sake of a slightly higher pick, it really isn't worth it.

[_Interpol_]

Do we want to make finals?

LOL

It's not like it's your choice... Settle down, beating Eagles, Dockers and Blues doesn't exactly make you top 8 material. Enjoy the draft picks and leave pride at the door, only way to get ahead in this comp, unfortunately.

[Longy413]

Enjoy the draft picks and leave pride at the door, only way to get ahead in this comp, unfortunately.

I agree.

We should follow the St Kilda model.

[Ben the Gooner]

We want to finish as high as we possibly can,

____ the draft picks.

[Daytripper]

I want the club to stay near the bottom for a 3-4 years period

Well, its already happened.

Time to start moving up.

[FandangoDingo]

LOL

It's not like it's your choice... Settle down, beating Eagles, Dockers and Blues doesn't exactly make you top 8 material. Enjoy the draft picks and leave pride at the door, only way to get ahead in this comp, unfortunately.

LOL. What the hell would you know about getting ahead in this comp??

What has years and years of early drafts picks put in the Saints trophy cabinet lately? :o

[evs05]

i would prefer to make finals.

mainly because i have a bet with a mate about who will finish higher out of us and carlton and if we make the finals chances are carlton won't.

having said that i think we should be a little realistic. it is incredibly uncommon for a club to come from the bottom four halfway through the season and make the finals. in fact i can't think of it ever happening. further to that this time last year we were all talking about how we are still "a mathematical chance" and we still finished 12th. i expect we'll finish about 11th or 12th again.

but if it came down to it i would prefer to see us go out and have a real crack at making the finals (even if it means we end up 9th) rather than finishing in the bottom 4.

[evs05]

LOL. What the hell would you know about getting ahead in this comp??

What has years and years of early drafts picks put in the Saints trophy cabinet lately? :o

don't you remember? the saints won the pre season cup this year and sent a message to the footballing public and all of the gullible media fools that they are the big threat to geelong. :cool:

[The_Young_Gun]

Carlton...

Thats what happens when you tank...

This is how it happens:

3 Seasons of not trying to win a game, to obtain high draft picks.
1 Season of trying to make finals once you have obtained your future stars.
Then 1 more season to make you realise that your team is still horse shite.
Then you lose all your supporters respect for the team.
The team then throws cash around to try and obtain a high AFL profiled player in a trade.
The team Drafts another top prospect in the draft.
The fans get excited about the new players and purchase memberships.
They have one big (lucky) win for the season, get prospected to be in the finals race.
Get absolutly shut down. (By us!)

And After all that, they're still horse shite.

[Ben the Gooner]

LOL. What the hell would you know about getting ahead in this comp??

What has years and years of early drafts picks put in the Saints trophy cabinet lately? :o

http://www.goodscore.com.au/images/pics/jjadvd/kilda10dvd.jpg

[Merv]

LOL

It's not like it's your choice... Settle down, beating Eagles, Dockers and Blues doesn't exactly make you top 8 material. Enjoy the draft picks and leave pride at the door, only way to get ahead in this comp, unfortunately.

http://www.goodscore.com.au/images/pics/jjadvd/kilda10dvd.jpg

He must be so glad he dropped in for a chat

[kelvin_sheedy]

Of course we want to make finals.... sheeesh.

How about we make finals and players like Watson, McVeigh, Stanton, etc,etc move into the upper echelon.

Kids like Myers, Neagle, Reimers, Lonergan, etc, etc start having bigger influence on games.

Play finals this year and aim for finals/top 4 next year with Davey, Dempsey, Winderlich + a few others all primed!

I'd rather take the optimistic approach than the pessimistic. Not many successful pessimists out there. ;)

It'd be a miracle if we got there but I'd rather be there than bottom 4.

[bipolarbeaR]

I'd rather take the optimistic approach than the pessimistic. Not many successful pessimists out there. ;)


I really liked this Kelv :) Well said mate!

[Darealrath]

I want us to win every game we play.

[Grey Smith Bar]

I'd prefer an ordinary finish, so we could have an 'under the radar' 1993-style Baby Bombers flag next year.

Of course 2000 was awesome, but somehow I think 93 was more rewarding - instead of watching an elite team demolish the competition, we watched idealistic kids who never resigned themselves to defeat.

[The Donners]

it is incredibly uncommon for a club to come from the bottom four halfway through the season and make the finals. in fact i can't think of it ever happening.

It is very uncommon, Brisbane Bears 1995 under Robert Walls. They were 14th after round 16 with 5 wins and finished with 10 wins and 8th position on the ladder.

I would suggest Essendon will need 11 wins. We have to win 6 of the following 8 games: Brisbane (Dome), Richmond (MCG), Collingwood (MCG), Melbourne (MCG), WCE (Subiaco), Adelaide (Dome), WB (Dome) and St. Kilda (Dome). The only team I don't rate our chances against are the Western Bulldogs.

Do people agree with me? Could we finish with 12 wins, 10 losses and in the top 8?

[retroparty]

A little confidence goes a long way...

The AFL is an even competition and anyone can make the fnals with a bit of confidence and fight.

We probably won't make the finals but it is still mathematically possible so we need to try as hard as we can until it isn't possible anymore.

[Walesy]

BUT - If that doesn't happen and we were able to sneak into 8th, the ladder right now would have us playing Adelaide. A team we lost to by less than a goal, if we had the momentum and the form to win enough games to get there, you'd have to give us a chance.

Then we'd cop a smashing by Sydney or Hawthorn in the second week of the finals (although I'd give us a sniff against the Dogs).

Pipe dream though.

That's the ticket. If we did sneak into 8th, it would be Adelaide. could easily be a Brisbane though.

I think if we did manage to make it into 8th, between our form alone (I mean, we're gunna want 7 of our next 8 games considering our percentage) would be enough to make us a contender.

(I'm gunna pencil in a loss to the doggies - so we'll have beaten Collingwood, Brisbane, St. K, Adelaide)

Streaking home with 10 out of the last 11 games would be huge! possibly even beat Sydney in round 2 of the finals kind of momentum huge.

:D

/optimism.

it is nice to dream though. :D and I would way prefer that to finishing the season a lazy 12th.

Actually, who the heck would prefer us to *not* win 10 of the last 11 games of the season? what, for draft picks? pfffffft.

go dons!

[S.C[BANKS]]

Carlton...

Thats what happens when you tank...

This is how it happens:

3 Seasons of not trying to win a game, to obtain high draft picks.
1 Season of trying to make finals once you have obtained your future stars.
Then 1 more season to make you realise that your team is still horse shite.
Then you lose all your supporters respect for the team.
The team then throws cash around to try and obtain a high AFL profiled player in a trade.
The team Drafts another top prospect in the draft.
The fans get excited about the new players and purchase memberships.
They have one big (lucky) win for the season, get prospected to be in the finals race.
Get absolutly shut down. (By us!)

And After all that, they're still horse shite.



Great post. Great line.

[Lehban]

We want to finish as high as we possibly can,

____ the draft picks.
100 % agree you cant buy finals experince it, finals producers better players imho

[Pevers-Legend]

given our list -if we make finals doesn;t it mean we are starting to put it together and we are obviusly on the up and have the list.

Of course we won't make finals - but dreaming is nice sometimes.

[smcateer]

If a team has any chance of winning a flag, losing has to be regarded as absolutely unacceptable under all circumstances. If we had finished first in 06 and 07 the only players we would not have had the opportunity to have picked are Gumby and Myers. While these are promising players to be sure, they are not what I get excited about when I look at our list - for me it's Jetta, Davey, Reimers, Houli, Neagle, Lonergan (heart palpitating now). We could have still picked all of them.

By finishing at the bottom you pick up a couple of players who may or may not turn out to be the real deal (with Bill McNeil), and you also get one non-returnable LOSING CULTURE. A losing culture which can break any first round draft pick's spirit.

BTW I want us to win every game we play in, and that includes the next 8 + 4 games.

[Big Blow Hard]

[quote=warney7;11577499]We won't so it doesn't matter.

But to answer the question, it doesn't matter either way.

Honestly, the lowest I think we could finish this year is 13th, and probably ending up with picks 4, 24, 40 etc if the bottom 3 all have less than 5 wins

If we make the 8, we'll probably have pick 9, 29, 45 etc

So I guess considering the big hole that the Gold Coast will put in the draft starting next season and then West Sydney the year after, earlier picks this year would be handy.



quote

I think too much fuss is being made about the Gold Coast side taking the best picks. If we have not gotten together the best part of a team that is going to challenge in a couple of years time, then we don't deserve to get the early picks.

[The_Young_Gun]

Its not all downhill stuff when dealing with draft picks and the goldcoast team taking control of the draft in years to come.

Like in 1994, how we traded to Freo for draft picks and it landed us Scotty Lucas with the no.4 pick.

If we are desperate enough to need those top 10 draft picks then we can as easily trade un-wanted (eg.Johns, Laycock.ect) or un-needed players (eg. Pevrill, JJ.ect) and get some draft picks out of them, even though those examples are probably 1 in a million chances of happening but I hope you get my point that if there is a one in a kind player that would just fit perfectly in your side, then we can just as easily trade for the appropriate pick to get him...

I don't strongly advise trading away players, but if it can land us guys like Lucas, I'd at least take some chance of it.

[Bombers 4 premiership]

High draft picks are good, but are very overrated.

[Moore14]

Nah we don't wanna make finals we just wana sit back and watch the other teams go for glory.

[IsDonIsGood]

Carlton...

Thats what happens when you tank...

This is how it happens:

3 Seasons of not trying to win a game, to obtain high draft picks.
1 Season of trying to make finals once you have obtained your future stars.
Then 1 more season to make you realise that your team is still horse shite.
Then you lose all your supporters respect for the team.
The team then throws cash around to try and obtain a high AFL profiled player in a trade.
The team Drafts another top prospect in the draft.
The fans get excited about the new players and purchase memberships.
They have one big (lucky) win for the season, get prospected to be in the finals race.
Get absolutly shut down. (By us!)

And After all that, they're still horse shite.

:D:D:D Pure gold!

God i hate those bastards! Even if we don't make the finals, it gives me solice to know that we kicked these guys in the face right when they were starting to believe. ;)

[eth-dog]

I think we do want to, give My Store Myers etc. some experience, and then make a chargein the next 2-3 years

[Gerbil]

Realistically I think we are at least 3 years probably 4 from being a successful side. But making the finals or thereabouts is definetly a step in the right direction, while there is a chance that finishing lower and getting higher draft picks may work in favour of our list, there is no guarantee.

In My Opinion the risk is not worth the reward.

Silly question.

[Don5]

With a percentage of 78% it will be tough to think of us making finals, but I hope we can finish the season off on a high! It would help the boys confidence over the summer for a beta crack in 09.

[FandangoDingo]

:D:D:D Pure gold!

God i hate those bastards! Even if we don't make the finals, it gives me solice to know that we kicked these guys in the face right when they were starting to believe. ;)

Exactly!! Beautiful, isn't it?!!!! :thumbsu: :D