Prediction 2017 Predictions

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Not much love on here for Kersten. While he is not a world beater I think he will be a good contributor for us because he is a natural forward who has shown a bit at times at Geelong. More work and development required by him but my feeling is he will be a good player for Freo.

There is more upside in him than Mayne had delivered over the past few years and he has more years of football in him than Mayne baring injury.
 

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Square Peg said:
Now I'm pretty pessimistic and think we will finish in the 7-12 range, but a lot of these clowns have us bottom 4 again and not one has us in the eight. I really can't see it.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-03-20/crystal-ball-aflcomaus-2017-season-predictions
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Who are they though? Do they actually have any more idea than the everyday garden variety footy follower? I doubt it. And I'll bet every one of them that has us bottom 4 is based on the East Coast with little - no interest in the FFC.
 
Scham said:
Who are they though? Do they actually have any more idea than the everyday garden variety footy follower? I doubt it. And I'll bet every one of them that has us bottom 4 is based on the East Coast with little - no interest in the FFC.
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Is very hard to predict where freo at with pav retirement , fyfe and Sandi out of the game so long , chemistry between players , older players injuries concern . if I do analysis I will put freo in bottom 5 also due to lack of information.to be fair all of them need to put a number to each team .
 
meima said:
Is very hard to predict where freo at with pav retirement , fyfe and Sandi out of the game so long , chemistry between players , older players injuries concern . if I do analysis I will put freo in bottom 5 also due to lack of information.to be fair all of them need to put a number to each team .
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Exactly. They have no idea like the rest of us.
 
meima said:
Is very hard to predict where freo at with pav retirement , fyfe and Sandi out of the game so long , chemistry between players , older players injuries concern . if I do analysis I will put freo in bottom 5 also due to lack of information.to be fair all of them need to put a number to each team .
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If we finish bottom 4 (or 5) then something is seriously buggered off field. This is not a bottom 4 list
 
Gussman said:
Ross (best defensive coach in AFL) + one of the best midfield in the game (top 3 easily), including the best player in the game (suban) + a bunch of young guns = bottom four.

Seems legit.
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Yeah, seems pretty legit.
 
We have a new forward line, a new backline that isn't sorted out yet, quite a few player who have questionsmarks over their perfect spot in our lineup (Crozier, Weller, Blakely), as many player who are coming of (nearly) 1 year off (Sandi, Fyfe, McCarthy, Johnson, Bennell), some player who should be best 22 are half a season off (Bennell, Pearce, Ballantyne, with a lot of hope Apeness), we still need a second ruck who offers something else when not in the ruck.

Think we have against all odds a pretty good list talentwise, but we need to work out a lineup and chemistry. Can't see it start working before halfway through the season (or even later then some players only come back then). Then it will likely be too late, even when to competition looks more even then ever (actually that might help our course or hamper it).

Think with so many work in progress we are hard to predict while a lot off people see more obvious improvement in other teams.
 

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I think Griff is one of our most important structural players, at least early in the season. If he can offer the same marking and goal scoring threat up forward for us it will force the opposition big bodied defender onto him and allow McCarthy to get freer.
 
I'm pessimistic still, I just think the forward line is not going to get it done often enough. Other teams are more advanced but IF Sandi, Fyfe & Harley can get going we might sneak into 8th.

I'd say the only two teams we will finish above for sure are Brisbane and Carlton. Then I think we're on par with North, Essendon, Richmond and Port and slightly behind Collingwood & Gold Coast.

But anything can happen, maybe we have a 2010 season and sort of surprise with a few young kids stepping up and Sandi having a monster year. Worst case scenario I see as 5-6 wins, best case 12 wins and sneak into the 8 but reckon we will be 8-9 wins and in 12th spot.
 
I reckon our lack of depth makes us very sensitive to injuries. If senior players can stay fit we're a chance to sneak into the eight. If not, we'll get plenty of games into the younger blokes, which is not such a bad thing.

I'm not too fussed about win/loss this year. I'm more interested in watching the new blokes settle in and the young fellas grow.
 
Ye
Tayl0r said:
I think Griff is one of our most important structural players, at least early in the season. If he can offer the same marking and goal scoring threat up forward for us it will force the opposition big bodied defender onto him and allow McCarthy to get freer.
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Yep. Need Griff to find his pre-knee injury form. Having a Hale-like Ruck would be an enormous advantage.

Our biggest issue is delivery into F50. This is where we fall down and has been our weakness for god knows how long (including 2013). Seems to be a combination of selecting the wrong option, poor skill execution, static forward line and bad running patterns. The amount of times the ball is just kicked atop a player's head for it rebound out and set-up of counter attack. I think teams have worked or forward structures out.
 
10-12th is my bet.
I'd be happy to see Bennell to make half a dozen appearances and kick some goals, as well as McCarthy to enjoy himself and do the same. Fyfe, Neale & Sandi to have imposing years in their own right, And kids like Weller, Blakely, Tucker, Langdon, Balic emerge as genuine talents to get excited about going forward.
 
On paper we have a quality looking 22 .its just getting the core group to gel as quickly as possible. The new look forward line and back line will take a bit of time but it all comes down to sandilands,fyfe,neale getting it out of the guts. If they can get on top of the clearances each week we might surprise a few people and finishing as high as 8th isn't out of the question. We have added a bit of X factor in brad hill and McCarthy,kersten gives us that other tall leading forward,hamling has shown he should do the job as a quality defender down back. If bennell can get on the park it will add more class.

My prediction is 8th-10th


Teams that might finish below us

Carlton
Port Adelaide
Brisbane
Richmond
Collingwood
Melbourne
North Melbourne
Essendon
 
I think Collingwood, Richmond, Essendon and North are also pretty ordinary. No reason we should finish below them. Remember our list was good enough in 2015 to win plenty of games... last year was an aberration and we can climb quickly. Port I am not sure about but they have been mentally weak in the past.
 
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