2001 Ladder

[Frodo]

Interesting to see that most don't rate the Eagles and Ken Judge in Particular.
On the Eaglers forum the overwhelming opinion is that the draft was very good.
Eagles suffered from a lot of injuries last year and have a long lay off to get the players right. Cousins is a very good player but also consider :-

Wirrpunda
Morrison
Braun
Cummings
Phil Matera
Jackovich
Kemp
peter Matera
Gardiner

Then add seven recruits all under 26 and with lots of experience.

Take away
Gehrig....never tried last season
Lewis....injured retired
McKenna...played with injury all season
White.......after a knee reconstruction..poor

then you have some youngster that were given good experience last year.


I would expect a lot of you to be surprised how high they will go.

 

[S.Robbo]

Frodo, the players you mentioned are no one new. And Cummings is no star. He'll let you down when your mettle is tested.

West Coast for wooden spooners next year!

 

[Visro]

Thats why Cumming won the Coleman medal and was set to win it again or come close this year before he got injured is it S. Robbo. Forget all the crap about him being too slow and a pussy he still gets all the goals if the ball is passed to him and thats what the full forward is for.

 

[GoEagles]

gocatsgo - Thats a fairly bold prediction you made about Port Adelaide coming 7th in 2001. I do think they can improve but I cant see them in the top 12 next year. Where do you think they went wrong this year, they showed so much in 1999.

Robbo - Apologies Apologies. Scott Cummings is a terrible full forward, he's just a stupid Coleman and Simpson Medalist. If you want to see a quality Full Forward go look at Sav. Rocco - woops Collingwood dont even have him anymore.

 

[DTR]

1 Essendon {Too Good}
2 Melbourne {Getting better}
3 Hawthorn {Strong in all areas, More experience}
4 Kangaroos {Losing good players, but still have Carey - Possible slip}
5 Brisbane {Lost several good players-But still have a good coach}
6 Bulldogs {Good young players coming through. Cant have another bad year with injuries}
7 St.Kilda {Quality recruiting}
8 Richmond {Less injuries and their in}
9 Collingwood {Almost their}
10 Geelong {Not quite}
11 Sydney {dark horse - A Fit Kelly and who knows ??}
12 Fremantle {Additional quality mid fielder still isn't enough}
13 West Coast {Bad trading, need a better coach}
14 Port Adelaide {Younger team, to be considered down the track}
15 Carlton {Elliot D***Head factor? losing qualities players, stars are aging.}
16 Adelaide {It what they deserve!}

Carlton & the Crows tie for the spoon ! I would like to see that..

 

[Grendel]

Shinners, now i know youve been at the milkshakes, no not the statement that Ryan OConner played a decent game once.

The other bit about Grant taking a 'contested' mark!!


Be telling me about Micky Nolans speccies next!

 

[CJH]

ptw and Shinners,

That is a very good observtion. I had never thought of in those terms before.

So next time, when I am discussing a match with a friend and he goes "oh what match were you at"

I will know what he means!

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This is a hallucination and these faces are in a dream. A computer generated environment; a fantasy island you can do anything and not have to face the consequences.

 

[Mags]

Were Black Were White Were Thucking Dynamite!

The Mags Will Be Finshing In The Top Next Year.

Carlscum wont make the 8!
Swans Wont Make It!
Nor Will Richmond!
Freo For The Spoon!

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

We'd expect nothing less from you Mags!!!

Devo - Sydney don't exist apparently and Hawthorn's 5th and 8th adds up to 13th???

Aryana - You know something we don't know about Geelong. Won't even line up next year huh? Not the bloody bye again!!

Sainter - Despite our Hamill banter in chat (lol), you show your true colours as a well-informed, logical footy fan. I agree, if Carlton were so close to Essendon before some key injuries last season, how can they fall dramatically by losing Hamill. SOS will be back by the way. On that logic Essendon need only lose one or two of their top liners to fail dismally.

DTR - Just been released have we???? Do you really think Carlton will be fighting it out for the wooden spoon this year? It's one thing to overestimate your own team's chances (every footy fans right), but to predict a fall of such magnitude for another team???? Pure wishful thinking. Be looking for you in September, no doubt.

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mens sana in corpore sano - a sound mind in a sound body

 

[ant]

ODNB,

Fancy DTR saying the Blues and Crows will tie for the wooden spoon next year. I know it his/her opinion, but there is no way that going to happen. They'll both be in the top eight I reckon.

 

[Tom FC]

Frodo, that is the most ordinary list of best players I have seen since Collingwood and Geelong. I'm revising my prediction for the Eagles downwards on the strength of that post.

 

[CJH]

Mags,

If you were black were white what are you now?

------------------
This is a hallucination and these faces are in a dream. A computer generated environment; a fantasy island you can do anything and not have to face the consequences.

 

[Hawkforce.]

Jod23 reckons the Bombers are "so good they should be illegal"

lol, I thought they were, or has Rooboy been shouting for nothing!?

 

[Eagle_Fan]

We only have one footballer?

Look, I'll readily accept that next year will most probably be our worst in years, but I think that not even acknowledging some champion players just because the team overall isn't performing going a bit far.
Personally I'd rate quite a few above Cousins.

How many of you have ever witnessed David Wirrapunda tearing from defence, chaser in his wake? It is an awesome sight. He had most of the season off to recover from his injury, so should be OK for this season. He is definately a footballer.

Dean Kemp (though getting on in years) and Drew Banfield are more important to our midfield that said "young star", IMO.

Jako. Again, I'll admit that the few years following his recon were tough, but he is battling back to his best form. Surely someone rated one of the leagues absolute best just a few years ago can't have dropped so far to not even rate as a footballer?

Phil Matera. One of the best small crumbing forwards. If Farmer dissapears again (as he seems to do), who would possibly take his position? Not usually non-footballers in the AA team.

Look, our problems stem back to our admin. KJ is a shocking coach. The marketers have decided any tradition we had is now worthless and that the players are simply manequins for whatever the latest peice of merchandise is. What older players are left are so badly managed (regarding injuries and training) they're succumbing to injury, and anyone who doesn't get along with the coach is traded. Add to that that the true supporters of the club are worth only their membership fees, and are then ignored in favour of the those who pay more, and that player moral is down, and it's a pretty depressing picture. But the worst thing is that the club could implode, and there's FA we -the real supporters- can do about it.

Anyway, I probably shouldn''t have even replied. Don't anyone take it personally.

At the moment, it's as though every reminder of what the club used to be is being removed, and the fans forced to move on, forget the past. I realise it's not healthy to continue to relive those past glories, but even small reminders can help motivate players to strive for that again. It just doesn't seem fair that players who 'made' our club, are being completely forgotten, just because the dollar rules at West Coast Eagle Pty. Ltd.

Sorry for the essay.

Eagles2001- stick it up the admin.

 

[dyson]

Essendon (Look mummy no hands )
St Kilda (Blight and the suprise factor)
Kangas (a fit list and a revised game plan)
Brisbane ( the usual draw but are prone to self destruction)
Melbourne ( no surpirse factor in 2001)
Carlton ( winning culture)
Geelong ( good karma)
Western Bullies ( their in the 2nd phase)
Fremanlte ( big improvers)
Richmond ( its tradition)
Hawthorn ( a young side with alot of media committments)
Adelaide ( Gary should learn to wash his own car)
Port Adelaide ( more of the same)
Sydney ( old list)
Westcoast ( Judge is a stress carrier)
Collingwood ( Bucks the finals campaigner and the Brownlow medallist and who ?)

 

[Tom FC]

Hey Eagle, I understand that you're trying to defend your club against the board, (and don't worry about long posts by the way, they're usually the most interesting) but I really think it looks a bit hopeless at the moment.

Wirrpunda is an excellent player, though he looked a bit better in 99 than 00. It'll be interesting to see how he comes back from his injury. He needs to conquer his injury problems before he becomes a truly excellent player.

Kemp has gradually grown less and less effective. Age is catching up with him.

Jakovich is battling nowhere near his best form. I don't know who rated him the league's absolute best a few years ago but it was probably a West Australian.

Phil Matera is a good player, but not a great player. And he is probably the league's fourth best small forward, behind Farmer, Power and Harvey.

 

[jod23]

Tom FC you dont watch many Eagles games do you cos you've got absolutly no idea what your talking about.

Wirrpunda is a star and has the best skills ive seen in a long time and will continue to get better.

Cousins we all agree on is a future champion.

Jako is back, he had a great year and has become the rock in defence he was before the knee. Not as effective as before the injury but still gets the job done. He can still shut down Carey!

Kemp is not becoming ineffective. He had his best season in years and won the West Australian Footballer of the year award. Hes all class!

Banfield is a champion, no doubt about it, prolly one of the more consistent guys going around, great tagger.

Gardiner is fit may be the best ruckman in the comp come the end of the year.

Morrison is all class on the half back line, unlucky to miss all australian selection.

Braun, struck down by injuries but he is a very effective hardworking midfielder.

The list goes on Tommy, you should watch more games.
Now i aint saying we are gonna win it all next year but if all you ppl really believe that we dont have enough class to beat teams like Collingwooden and the terrible second rate Adelaide teams then your all misguided.

 

[ant]

jOD23,

Whatever you think mate but the Crows will take care of you at home (Footy Park). You'll probably win at Subiaco but I can guarantee you we'll win at home. I think you can beat the Pies and Power easily though.

 

[jod23]

Ant, yeah maybe the Crows are always tough at Footy Park but we will give you a run for your money.

 

[Dipper]

Hey I thought I'd just give you all a Pommie prediction for next year,& if you think I'm talking out of my arse then you'd probably be right but what the hell:-
1)Essendon
2)Carlton
3)Melbourne
4)North Melbourne
5)Hawthorn
6)Western Bulldogs
7)Brisbane
8)Sydney
9)Geelong
10)Richmond
11)West Coast
12)Port Adelaide
13)Adelaide
14)Collingwood
15)Freemantle
16)St Kilda

 

[BMD]

Alright, I'll have a ping at it.

1 Essendon (Duh)
2 Brisbane
3 North (still have Carey and Pagan)
4 Carlton (i wish i agreed that they'll slip)
5 Melbourne
6 Hawthorn
7 St Kilda
8 Sydney (probably similar to last year - hopefully a bit of good luck will see us in the 8)

9 Richmond (can't tip 'em to finish anywhere else
10 Geelong (could easily prove me wrong)
11 Fremantle
12 Adelaide (will win most games after Ayres' sacking)
13 Bullies (someone always slides)
14 Eagles (don't see a lot of improvement)
15 Collingwood
16 Port (dreadful)

 

[CJH]

Originally posted by Jod23

Tom FC you dont watch many Eagles games do you cos you've got absolutly no idea what your talking about.
Wirrpunda is a star and has the best skills ive seen in a long time and will continue to get better.

Cousins we all agree on is a future champion.

Jako is back, he had a great year and has become the rock in defence he was before the knee. Not as effective as before the injury but still gets the job done. He can still shut down Carey!

Kemp is not becoming ineffective. He had his best season in years and won the West Australian Footballer of the year award. Hes all class!

Banfield is a champion, no doubt about it, prolly one of the more consistent guys going around, great tagger.

Gardiner is fit may be the best ruckman in the comp come the end of the year.

Morrison is all class on the half back line, unlucky to miss all australian selection.

Braun, struck down by injuries but he is a very effective hardworking midfielder.

The list goes on Tommy, you should watch more games.
Now i aint saying we are gonna win it all next year but if all you ppl really believe that we dont have enough class to beat teams like Collingwooden and the terrible second rate Adelaide teams then your all misguided.

Jod23, If the West Coast Eagles are dripping with so much class, why did they finish 13th last season?

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This is a hallucination and these faces are in a dream. A computer generated environment; a fantasy island you can do anything and not have to face the consequences.

 

[Bloodstained Angel]

Because Ken Judge kept telling them how terrible they were all the time.

Do something like that often enough and it starts to rub off ...

 

[McKenna for PM]

St. Kilda may have traded well. But they are still St. Kilda - a team of great players rather than a great team. They lack the heart or the guts to go a long way next year. Malcolm Blight has lost his desire to a certain extent. He's proven that he can coach a GF team after his heartbreaking losses at Geelong. Sure, he wants to win, but I think he's more tired of it than he thinks.

I also believe that Essendon don't stand such a great chance next year. They'll do well on talent, sure, but it's more mental than that. Melbourne and Hawthorn are the ones to watch out for in my opinion.

I agree with most of Eagle Fan's comments. West Coast management is running the club more as a corporation than as a football club. Those new jerseys are a complete disgrace, and I believe it is no coincidence that they came in at the same time as our demise on the ladder. They merely provide the "company" with a new opportunity to increase their market stranglehold on supporters' gear.

They are selling our pride and tradition (never mind the young club thing - there is strong tradition in our club) for dollars. I want Judge to open his mind to new ideas. He's in charge of a great deal and I don't want to see it ruined. Hopefully McKenna's position on the coaching staff will remind them of what should be upheld.

 

[Frodo]

1 Eagles
2 Brisbane
3 Sydney
4 Adelaide
6 Port
7 Geelong
8 Dockers
9 Richmond
10 Essendon
11 Carlton
12 St Kilda
13 Bullies
14 Hawthorn
15 Collingwood
16 Melbourne

Unfortunately, the whole of Melbourne is hit by a plague three days before the season starts. It lasts through to the finals.