2008 - Where will we finish?

[OzBomber]

Dunno, if there has been a thread on this already, but where do you think we will finish? I reckon we'll just miss out on the 8.

Even though in the ladder prediction thread I put us 6th.

 

[wasupwidat]

9-12 knights will try a lot of the younger blokes

 

[Maxwell#27]

Dead Last! I hear next year's draft is a good one though

 

[Burzum]

14th or 15th.

 

[retroparty]

9th - 12th seems like a safe bet. Will be happy with that

 

[bomberstomake8]

its impossible to predict, when a new coach arrives anything can happen.

i cant see us finishing top 4 unless we have some serious injury concerns..
with fletch, mal, lloyd and lucas as the spine i dont think we can finish bottom four..
I cant see us pushing high into the 8 due to lack of quality midfeilders. i guess it depends on whether the likes of winderlick, watson, lovett etc can bring them selves up another level and create amidfeild that actually works...

im worried about our forward line actually, we seemed to lose our way structurally when gumbelton was brought in... it gets too tall imo. however i think for our future gumbelton must be played.. So it will be interesting to see whether knights can create afunctional forward line with those three and even neagle getting some serious game time..

i honestly think (and a lot of people will disagree with me here) that mcveigh can push into an elite bracket if he plays in the midfeild all game and is not forced to play defensive roles.. Its questionable however i think he is capable of a lot more then this season... Only time will tell

 

[TheMightyPies]

this is what i think

15. Essendon
16. Richmond

 

[d4vE]

9 - 12th

 

[retroparty]

its impossible to predict, when a new coach arrives anything can happen.

i cant see us finishing top 4 unless we have some serious injury concerns..
with fletch, mal, lloyd and lucas as the spine i dont think we can finish bottom four..
I cant see us pushing high into the 8 due to lack of quality midfeilders. i guess it depends on whether the likes of winderlick, watson, lovett etc can bring them selves up another level and create amidfeild that actually works...

im worried about our forward line actually, we seemed to lose our way structurally when gumbelton was brought in... it gets too tall imo. however i think for our future gumbelton must be played.. So it will be interesting to see whether knights can create afunctional forward line with those three and even neagle getting some serious game time..

i honestly think (and a lot of people will disagree with me here) that mcveigh can push into an elite bracket if he plays in the midfeild all game and is not forced to play defensive roles.. Its questionable however i think he is capable of a lot more then this season... Only time will tell

I disagree Lloyd kicked more goals when Gumbleton was there. But yes sometimes it does become a bit tall.

 

[Big John]

I really don't know. At best, with a good run of injuries and a few youngsters stepping up we should make the bottom half of the 8. If a few key players go down, Knights turns out to be a dud coach and we don't get improvement we could finish 1 spot above Carlton.

 

[bomberstomake8]

What people seem to forget is that half way through the year before we played geelong we were top 4 and playing great footy then we had our injury concerns and things fell apart from there... next year will be a great indication of knights ability as a coach, most of our problems were from the coaching side of things which is encouraging. such things as accountability and protection the ball carrier (putting shepheards on), just a basic hardness that only afew members of the team were showing..

Thats the reason why we could be the big improvers next year...

 

[bomberlegend2007]

this is what i think

15. Essendon
16. Richmond

And do we care what you think

 

[Bomber32]

I think we will finish about 13th.

 

[Jono B]

We will scrape into the eight.

 

[Couch Potato]

I'm quite 'bullish' about the Bombers progress!

I think we will finish 7-10

Essendon have by far had the biggest rebuild of any squad over the past 5 years. They have only 14 players left from their 2002 list and that includes Bradley, Johns & M Johnson who may not be there next week.

They have the makings of a developing side with huge depth:

Established KPP
Lloyd
Lucas
Fletcher
Michael
Hille
McPhee


Developing KPP
Lovett-Murray*
Laycock*
Lee#
Ryder#
Gumbleton#
Neagle#
Daniher#


Established Midfield/Flankers
McVeigh
Ramanaskas
J Johnson
Peverill
Welsh*
Stanton*
Watson*
Lovett*
Davey*
Monfries#

Developing Midfield/Flankers
Winderlich*
Dyson*
Nash#
Slattery#
Dempsey#
Hislop#
Jetta#
Houli#
Riemers#
Lonergan#
Hocking#

> 30 Yrs old - 2
25-29 Yrs old - 6
* 22-25 Yrs old - 10
# 18-21 Yrs old - 15

When you consider that a further 3-4 young drafties will fill the ranks in the bottom bracket and we easily have the youngest list in the AFL.

Essentially - half of our list will be < 22. Many of our young recruits have 20-50 games experience and they almost took us to a finals berth this year. We have a massive amount of room to recruit out of contract players in the PSD.

10 wins from Essendon in 2007 will build into 12-14 as this list matures.
I expect 2008 to give the boys a taste of the finals and in 2009 they should be mixing it with the best.

 

[windyhill]

Me and the two lads I go with most weeks had a wager on the amount of wins we`d have in `07, I was bang on the money (and still awaiting payment) We`ll win 10-11 games as long as L18,L25 & F31 stay fit.

 

[Lovett Lover 13]

9-12 i think we'll end up 11 or 12 hopefully play some good footy andget some experience under the kids belts

 

[warney7]

Pretty much the same as the 07 season.

We had a few 'lucky' wins in the season just gone, so if we can win 10 next year, hopefully they'll be more convincing and we'll be heading in the right direction.

After finishing 12th, definitely don't want to be bottom 4 again.

But again.......I predict 9-12, because I think our list is capable but I'm just not sure if it's ready to take the next step.

 

[boms]

When you consider that a further 3-4 young drafties will fill the ranks in the bottom bracket and we easily have the youngest list in the AFL.

No way in hell we have the youngest list.

Even this year we had the 5th oldest list in the AFL.

But with Campo Heff MJ (Most Likely) Hirdy and Bolts going that will decrease.

Hawthorn are very young. Pretty sure they only have 1 player that is 30+ which is Crawford

 

[BABYBOMBERS2007]

I reackon that Essendon will make the 8. The players are there, all we need is a coach and now we have one. Sheedy cost us sooooo many games this year and we could have easily amde the 8. Though i reakon that getting in the 8 will depend on how Knights coaches.

 

[warney7]

Hawthorn are very young. Pretty sure they only have 1 player that is 30+ which is Crawford

And Geelong too.

Not sure the numbers, but I'm pretty sure only Milburn is 30!

 

[DaSawx]

With an emphasis on skill level and accountability, unification and a huge willingness to prove doubters wrong (we'll repeatedly be "tipped" down the bottom) and still in possession of 3 AA calibre match-winners (18,25,31)

Anything can happen.

 

[SA Blue]

And Geelong too.

Not sure the numbers, but I'm pretty sure only Milburn is 30!

Carlton's oldest is 28! and he may still be delisted (Saddington).

IMHO Bombers years is going to depend on how the playing group respond to the massive changes that have occured. Losing your best player and Sheedy is a massive task for any team.

Respond well and 9-12 is a definite possiblity, but if a few key injuries happen, and the players don't respond well, then it could be bottom 4.

 

[Hislop200]

Who really can tell, I think we are about a year behind where Port were last year. They had 4 Rising Star Noms 2006 I think, so I think this year will be all about seeing what our young talent can do and giving them game time. But having said that with our spine, Barring injuries anything is possible.
I Just want to see us committed to the contest, like the Kangaroos, and develop our youngsters. Where that leaves us only time will tell.

 

[stugots]

I reackon that Essendon will make the 8. The players are there, all we need is a coach and now we have one. Sheedy cost us sooooo many games this year and we could have easily amde the 8. Though i reakon that getting in the 8 will depend on how Knights coaches.

big call that

9-12th, maybe less wins in 2008 with knights persisting with youngsters which would be fine with me

however much of sheeds disappointment at his sacking was no doubt due to his belief that success wasnt too far away, he's an eternal optimist i know, but heres hoping he was right