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Fluke? An 18 game win season is no fluke, no finals experience, now they have it they'll know what to expect next year.

Pressure.

They hadn't experienced that previously, now they have, expect them to be top 4 with a better finals showing.

Bookmark it.
We won't properly contend until we add more quality into the midfield. Petracca would be an ideal get, but that's still a big if.
 
We won't properly contend until we add more quality into the midfield. Petracca would be an ideal get, but that's still a big if.
What about developing kids? Got any there? Or maybe a tweak to your stoppage / cb work, or both.

Not so sure your midfield is that bad anyway and you've got players that can rotate through like Soligo, Rankine and Dawson. That's not bad.

In any case, Ade won 18 games! That's heady stuff. So how'd you win that many with a so called not there midfield?
 

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What about developing kids? Got any there? Or maybe a tweak to your stoppage / cb work, or both.

Not so sure your midfield is that bad anyway and you've got players that can rotate through like Soligo, Rankine and Dawson. That's not bad.

In any case, Ade won 18 games! That's heady stuff. So how'd you win that many with a so called not there midfield?
Defence and forward lines are top 2 IMO.
Dan Curtin and Sid Draper are our best midfield talents.
Would be good to have Petracca shield them from needing to develop into second year Nick Daicos level players.
 
Lions

Suns, Crows

Pies, Freo, Hawks, Dogs, Giants, Cats

To be honest, the way the Lions are looking, I'm glad we are down the bottom now. They aren't going anywhere anytime soon (and neither are we, just a different interpretation of 'anywhere'), and it feels like the teams trying to take them on could end up selling the farm or wasting their competing years for nothing.

I know all premiership teams can have that sort of aura. But not all premierships teams get a #1 draft pick/#1 contender when competing for/winning flags.
 
We won't properly contend until we add more quality into the midfield. Petracca would be an ideal get, but that's still a big if.
I think the Crows will learn a fair bit from their finals experience.

I reckon they will contend again next year and be better for it come the finals.

If you look outside the top 9 this year, really only Sydney I think will bounce back pretty strong.

Gold Coast Suns are going to be the team of the next 5-7 years. As long as they don’t get greedy and sell the farm all out to win 2026. If they let their list develop naturally, 2027-31 they will dominate.
 
Death, taxes and Geelong to finish Top 4.

And the Cats are one of 3 teams that can challenge the Lions (who absolutely deserve their strong favouritism). The other 2 are the Suns and Dockers.

Hawks need a massive trade period to truly compete - to quote Bill Clinton, ‘it’s the midfield Stupid’ and ours is still a ways off.

Really keen for the Saints to rise next year as well. A Saints flag would be the ultimate romantic fairytale (unless it’s v the Hawks).
 
Death, taxes and Geelong to finish Top 4.

And the Cats are one of 3 teams that can challenge the Lions (who absolutely deserve their strong favouritism). The other 2 are the Suns and Dockers.

Hawks need a massive trade period to truly compete - to quote Bill Clinton, ‘it’s the midfield Stupid’ and ours is still a ways off.

Really keen for the Saints to rise next year as well. A Saints flag would be the ultimate romantic fairytale (unless it’s v the Hawks).
Agree about the Dockers. They are not far away but they lose games they shouldn’t.
 

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Brissy might just have Essendon of 00 or cats of 08 type of season
No they won’t.

Main reason I say that is they know they don’t need to.

Lions have shown they are not afraid to rest players. They know it is all about being at your peak in September.

I am not sure we will ever see such dominant seasons again - the effort required to do that actually doesn’t hold you in great stead for September.
 

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I'm not buying into the Brsbane dynasty just yet. I think there are 8/9 sides at the moment that are just as good or potentially as good. The deciding factor this year is that Brisbane performed well when it counted when other teams had bad patches. Keep in mind Brisbane only won 16 from 23 and won 4-5 games by under 10 points - if they lose 2 of those games they miss the finals - they did not dominate this year - they just dominated Geelong on Saturday. Saying they will dominate next year based on the GF is just narow visioned / recency bias. Most people on this forum would've written them off at some stage this year.

If Brisbane were playing any other top 8 team or bulldogs or Sydney next week the odds would be pretty even imo.

Performing when it matters is ultimately what defines great teams but it also over-inflates reputations. All it takes is a couple of key injuries, some players losing form, maybe some different tactics from other teams and things can change very quickly. I think next year is going to be a very even race for the top 8 and top 4.
 

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