Preview 2012 WCE Predictions Thread

[Icanwalk]

Agree, Im not saying instant success. I hope next year is big for Stevens and Swift and Sheppard.

I sincerely hope so. I reckon these three will be important cogs in our development. If all three work out successfully, I'm certain we'd be challenging for a premiership in a few years.

I'd also include Brown in this group, and perhaps Weedon, who I'm less certain of.

 

[Masto]

I sincerely hope so. I reckon these three will be important cogs in our development. If all three work out successfully, I'm certain we'd be challenging for a premiership in a few years.

I'd also include Brown in this group, and perhaps Weedon, who I'm less certain of.

I think Brown will have to wait for Glass to retire before cementing his place. Sheppard and Stevens are good chances. Swift has a number of issues, most of all disposal. He is a fair way back in the queue. Weedon is talented but may not have the hunger or determination to play AFL.

 

[Icanwalk]

I think Brown will have to wait for Glass to retire before cementing his place. Sheppard and Stevens are good chances. Swift has a number of issues, most of all disposal. He is a fair way back in the queue. Weedon is talented but may not have the hunger or determination to play AFL.

Agree that Brown will have to wait until Glass retires to 'cement' his position, but hopefully he gets 10-15 games during the season so that his development is not stifled. Whether this means rotating Glass to a greater extent or even resting him every now and again. Either way I'm of the opinion that it'll be his last year, so I'd prefer to see Brown given game time prior to his retirement.

 

[Prem87]

Overall our team is still better than Carlton IMO so we'll still finish above them.

 

[WCE_phil]

Carlton if anything have a lot of improvement in them heading into next year where as our improvement if it happens will be from relatively unknown youth.

Carlton basically didnt have kreuzer all year due to his recovery from the knee reco and he should be much, much better this coming year and by all reports gibbs is going to enter his first true elite year this year similar to murphy last year. Gibbs playing during our final against them and kreuzer there and up and running as well and we would have been in a lot of trouble.

Our improvement isn't so clear cut and if anything we could very easily slide backwards this year (bloody likely considering from a h+a perspective we've had as good as year as any since the early 90's). As much as people don't like to admit it, it wasnt just our youth that won us games this year it was players that had been written off. Lynch and nicoski are not likely to perform as well next year, embley almost certainly won't be as good as his first half of last year and at best cox and glass are likely to be down in output by about 5%. Butler, Waters and A. Selwood all have various questions hanging over their heads and while a lot of us think adam is borderline best 22 he was heavily restricted by injury this year and may well be into the future. Then there is kerr, with him in the middle we are a genuine top 4 side but without him we currently sit anywhere from 5th-10th imo.

While we have youth there we really have nobody ready to step up at afl level and cover lynch and cox and down back if glass falls over we will be relying on the injury and at times form plagued mitch brown. In saying that if most of these guys all hold it together and we see a significant step forward from brown, masten, shuey, s.selwood, stevens, darling, gaff, smith, swift, sheppard and naitanui then we can genuinely challenge for the flag. (If we get 3 guys to play at the level naita, scooter and shuey did this year with those 3 slightly improving again we can do it imo)

Im hugely passionate as a west coast fan but sometimes even if its not heartfelt somebody has to be devils advocate and point out the faults so that there is a reason to continually improve.

 

[Belltower]

Our draw is harder this year, teams will also be gunning for us and know our gameplan better. I reckon we will win 12-14 games and finish in about 6th with Carlton finishing ahead of us and one other extra.

There is a lot of improvement in the younger tier but the champs like Cox,Glass and Kerr would need to maintain the same level as last year for us to win so many games.

Shuey and Nicnat could explode this year and if the guns can stay fit we could finish top 4 again. Carlton will be hyped up again but they still lack class in the key positions and are over reliant on Judd,Murphy Gibbs,Simpson and co.

The way the media is talking there is only 4 teams that can't make the top 4. Brissy,GC,GWS and Port so we have a fair bit of compettition next year

F&B

Priddis
Shuey
Kennedy

Goals

Kennedy 65
Lecras 45
Darling 35

 

[Obeanie1]

H and A Wins: 17 and 1 draw

Final Ladder Position after H and A: 3rd

Largest victory: Round 3 vs GWS 121 points

Best and Fairest
1) Matthew Priddis
2) Shannon Hurn
3) Jack Darling

Leading Goal Scorer
1) Josh Kennedy: 65
2) Mark LeCras: 45
3) Jack Darling: 40

Post 2012 Retirees: - None, Embley and Glass go around for 1 last season

Games played by Murray Newman: 2

Rookie player most likely to get a game:

Turnbridge

Senior listed players cut / traded:

A Gaff (traded by request)
B Daziell
L Stevenson
R Neates

 

[groga]

Senior listed players cut / traded:

A Gaff (traded by request)

Jesh lets hope not!

 

[bali-dog]

Jesh lets hope not!

for sure, although losing gaff now wouldnt be such a big loss, compared to losing shuey..we could cover for gaff,with newman or hill ..

i wouldnt dismiss carlton so easily,and wouldnt be surprised if they beat us this season..

swift is a conundrum..youd think,he's in danger of being surpassed by others,but maybe this is his year for a good outing on the turf!

good reality check by wcephil..
certainly expect embley to drop off..no reason for nicoski to drop off?..cox needs to be preserved..introducing lycett..for some crazy reason i feel lynch may explode this season..or slowly disappear? and theres a queue of players on the cusp about to/or expected to step up..thats exciting,cant wait to see who.

 

[Piss Poor]

My fairytale season

Getting ready for 2012 and honestly I'm quietly confident that we could finish the season on top of the ladder.

Best Case seniorio and here's how it will work.

Round 1 for me is a huge game against the Bulldog away but we win.
Round 2 Melbourne- Home is WIN
Round 3 GWS- Away- WIN and Kennedy kicks 12 goals

Three games in for three wins- looking pretty good

Round 4 Hawthorn Home- their equal to us we win in nail bite at home.
Round 5 Richmond Away- Another close game but win with more quality.
Round 6 North- Home- Kangas surprise us, but we get the points, we could of played better.

Six wins now- getting scared we are now First on the ladder.

Round 7 Essendon- Away- We get lucky Essendon have injuries, we win
Round 8 Saints- Home- Saints can't travel so we win.
Round 9 Freo- Home- Our Home game but we win Lecras kick 6 goals

9 wins and we are still not respected- Bookies have us 4th Favorite for Premiership, Still looking good

Round 10 Brisbane- Away- Nic Nat does a shit all over them we win

11. Bye- we sit and watch our prey before attacking.

Round 12- Carlton- Away- With the week off where refreshed and win by shocking everyone with a 80 point smashing the 3rd rank team.

Round 13 Collingwood- Away- Finallly someone as put a end to the Eagles, We Lose by 23 points

Still First on Ladder

Round 14 Gold Coast Away- We win and B Matera accidently celebrates one of Shueys goals

Round 15 North Away- We get beaten in a reality check that we needed.

Round 16 Sydney Home- We win in bounce back at home this time by 54 points
no more rivalry.

15wins 2 loss- can it get any better

Round 17 Adelaide Away- Struggling Crows no match for giant Eagles

Round 18 Brisbane Home- Lions no match for Eagles at home

Round 19 Freo- Away- Third Loss for the year in arguably the greatest Derby.

17 wins 3 losses,

Round 20 Geelong Cats Home- ageing cats shadow of themselves we win by 40 points

Round 21 Port Adelaide- We win away, Waters got reported, Stevens best on ground

Round 22 Magpies- Home- We win in upset, Massive Crown advantage even Mexicon Waves and Beach balls, Crowd was on fire

Round 23 Hawks- Away- We Lose a week before finals. Mind games begin

Season finished we are on 19 wins 4 losses. Finsh 1st Minor Premiers

I'm going to start celebrating now

 

[Marlin01]

Re: My fairytale season

Just out of curiosity Piss Poor, would you say Houlihan runs at crazy subtle angles?

 

[Carbine Chaos]

for sure, although losing gaff now wouldnt be such a big loss, compared to losing shuey..we could cover for gaff,with newman or hill.

Gaff would be a massive loss for our future premiership hopes...just about on par with losing Shuey, IMO. He is exactly the type of player we need and if he leaves he will leave a massive hole.

Newman is unproven, and Hill...really? Hill isn't worthy of being mentioned in a post that contains anything about Gaff. Completely different type players anyway.

 

[Marlin01]

Gaff would be a massive loss for our future premiership hopes...just about on par with losing Shuey, IMO. He is exactly the type of player we need and if he leaves he will leave a massive hole.

I agree 100%.

 

[Eastern Rangers]

I actually rate Gaff on par with Shuey.

 

[Obeanie1]

Re: My fairytale season

Getting ready for 2012 and honestly I'm quietly confident that we could finish the season on top of the ladder.

Best Case seniorio and here's how it will work.

Round 1 for me is a huge game against the Bulldog away but we win.
Round 2 Melbourne- Home is WIN
Round 3 GWS- Away- WIN and Kennedy kicks 12 goals

Three games in for three wins- looking pretty good

Round 4 Hawthorn Home- their equal to us we win in nail bite at home.
Round 5 Richmond Away- Another close game but win with more quality.
Round 6 North- Home- Kangas surprise us, but we get the points, we could of played better.

Six wins now- getting scared we are now First on the ladder.

Round 7 Essendon- Away- We get lucky Essendon have injuries, we win
Round 8 Saints- Home- Saints can't travel so we win.
Round 9 Freo- Home- Our Home game but we win Lecras kick 6 goals

9 wins and we are still not respected- Bookies have us 4th Favorite for Premiership, Still looking good

Round 10 Brisbane- Away- Nic Nat does a shit all over them we win

11. Bye- we sit and watch our prey before attacking.

Round 12- Carlton- Away- With the week off where refreshed and win by shocking everyone with a 80 point smashing the 3rd rank team.

Round 13 Collingwood- Away- Finallly someone as put a end to the Eagles, We Lose by 23 points

Still First on Ladder

Round 14 Gold Coast Away- We win and B Matera accidently celebrates one of Shueys goals

Round 15 North Away- We get beaten in a reality check that we needed.

Round 16 Sydney Home- We win in bounce back at home this time by 54 points
no more rivalry.

15wins 2 loss- can it get any better

Round 17 Adelaide Away- Struggling Crows no match for giant Eagles

Round 18 Brisbane Home- Lions no match for Eagles at home

Round 19 Freo- Away- Third Loss for the year in arguably the greatest Derby.

17 wins 3 losses,

Round 20 Geelong Cats Home- ageing cats shadow of themselves we win by 40 points

Round 21 Port Adelaide- We win away, Waters got reported, Stevens best on ground

Round 22 Magpies- Home- We win in upset, Massive Crown advantage even Mexicon Waves and Beach balls, Crowd was on fire

Round 23 Hawks- Away- We Lose a week before finals. Mind games begin

Season finished we are on 19 wins 4 losses. Finsh 1st Minor Premiers

I'm going to start celebrating now

WOW, my prediction of 17 wins seems easily attainable after reading this.

Great work Go Eagles, love your style.

 

[sTeeL]

I actually rate Gaff on par with Shuey.

Nah. If it came down to a pick between the two, just about every day of the week you would pick the guy that bursts through congestion and is a fantastic kick of both feet.

Gaff is nice but he is the complement to a good team.

 

[Blue and Gold Blood]

H and A Wins: 13

Final Ladder Position after H and A: 6th

Largest victory: Round 3: 120 pts vs GWS

Best and Fairest

1) Matt Priddis
2) Luke Shuey
3) Nic Naitanui

Leading Goal Scorer

1) Josh Kennedy 56
2) Mark Lecras 55
3) Quinten Lynch 35

Post 2012 Retirees: Dean Cox, Quinten Lynch, Daniel Kerr

Games played by Murray Newman: 2

 

[Eastern Rangers]

Nah. If it came down to a pick between the two, just about every day of the week you would pick the guy that bursts through congestion and is a fantastic kick of both feet.

Gaff is nice but he is the complement to a good team.

Nah you're wrong. He's got a lot more physical improvement left in him than Shuey and once he's ready physically he will impact on contests a lot more. Gets to the right spots, uses the ball well and makes the right decisions.

 

[Jack_the_Ninja]

Nah you're wrong. He's got a lot more physical improvement left in him than Shuey and once he's ready physically he will impact on contests a lot more. Gets to the right spots, uses the ball well and makes the right decisions.

So Gaff could take Rosa's spot straight up you think ?

 

[WCE_phil]

So Gaff could take Rosa's spot straight up you think ?

Embley will probably be out after this year and even if he's not he won't be the first choice wingman going into 2013. Even if he is i have a suspicion we may see rosa playing as a half back flank / run with player.

 

[Natho]

Re: My fairytale season

Darling to kick 30+ goals.
Shuey to make eagles fans very happy.
Kerr to play more than 15 games.
Rosa to finish top 3 b&f.
Butler to play over 15 games.
Glass to go on another season with JK taking over as skipper

 

[Piss Poor]

Re: My fairytale season

Just out of curiosity Piss Poor, would you say Houlihan runs at crazy subtle angles?

Maybe that's why he couldn't get the ball.
But to answer your question, Yes he does.

 

[Breva_]

I'd love it if we got top 4 again, but glass half full I'd be leaning more to the top 8.
Surely we can't have another good year on the injury front as we did last year?

 

[bali-dog]

Gaff would be a massive loss for our future premiership hopes...just about on par with losing Shuey, IMO. He is exactly the type of player we need and if he leaves he will leave a massive hole.

Newman is unproven, and Hill...really? Hill isn't worthy of being mentioned in a post that contains anything about Gaff. Completely different type players anyway.

no,not a 'massive' hole..i thought my comment might raise some eyebrows..look,obviously he's a good player-possibly a great player-discounting the hype and looking at his stats and track experience-he's not a shuey yet is what i'm saying..and we're not yet completely reliant on him as we are with shuey..so he can be replaced with a workhorse type player,someone who mightnt quite have gaff's polish,but is effective on a consistent basis..hence my reference to a newman or a hill,both of whom i must admit i havent seen play-but presuming the workhorse factor there..it was just a sidepoint..and we dont know who may step up this season-but its possible that any one or number of players can step up,and be good enough to fill that hole..
on that note..and slightly off topic-anyone seen the new movie 'Moneyball' - you might understand where i'm coming from..
and i certainly wouldnt want to see Gaff gone, but he's not irreplaceable.

 

[Big_Luch]

Carlton if anything have a lot of improvement in them heading into next year where as our improvement if it happens will be from relatively unknown youth.

Carlton basically didnt have kreuzer all year due to his recovery from the knee reco and he should be much, much better this coming year and by all reports gibbs is going to enter his first true elite year this year similar to murphy last year. Gibbs playing during our final against them and kreuzer there and up and running as well and we would have been in a lot of trouble.

Our improvement isn't so clear cut and if anything we could very easily slide backwards this year (bloody likely considering from a h+a perspective we've had as good as year as any since the early 90's). As much as people don't like to admit it, it wasnt just our youth that won us games this year it was players that had been written off. Lynch and nicoski are not likely to perform as well next year, embley almost certainly won't be as good as his first half of last year and at best cox and glass are likely to be down in output by about 5%. Butler, Waters and A. Selwood all have various questions hanging over their heads and while a lot of us think adam is borderline best 22 he was heavily restricted by injury this year and may well be into the future. Then there is kerr, with him in the middle we are a genuine top 4 side but without him we currently sit anywhere from 5th-10th imo.

While we have youth there we really have nobody ready to step up at afl level and cover lynch and cox and down back if glass falls over we will be relying on the injury and at times form plagued mitch brown. In saying that if most of these guys all hold it together and we see a significant step forward from brown, masten, shuey, s.selwood, stevens, darling, gaff, smith, swift, sheppard and naitanui then we can genuinely challenge for the flag. (If we get 3 guys to play at the level naita, scooter and shuey did this year with those 3 slightly improving again we can do it imo)

Im hugely passionate as a west coast fan but sometimes even if its not heartfelt somebody has to be devils advocate and point out the faults so that there is a reason to continually improve.

Firstly would like to say i love watching the eagles play, alot of exciting talent. Your rucks and big forwards are very enjoyable to watch.

Now as for 2011 i feel your top 4 finish has a slight asterix on it as you guys had a pretty good run in the fixture as you didnt have to play many top 8 teams (obviously fixture can be luck of the draw depending on which teams play well).

I also thought it was your older core players which led the revival as they A. were playing for once and B. playing well. As they are all 30plus generallyi believe you guys will experience a dip in the next couple seasons (lets say finish 10th) and then come back and be a real flag threat for a fair few years when the young brigade along with big J Kennedy being a monster fwd.