2019 Expectations

Aug 16, 2009
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Putting aside injury, can't predict that...

Our new faces in defence aren't new anymore. They will at the least be as competitive as the last 2 years, but will probably work even better as a team. Logue back in and we have an extra and excellent, long kick out of defence and he will give tackles that you wouldn't want to be on the end of. But a better forward line will help the defenders, less rebounding from there helps them and scoreboard pressure will make for a few frazzled opponents which always helps. I think we give away 9 points less with these things combined.

As for the forward line... What I've seen of Lobb and Hogan, they are mature enough and thrive on teamwork and aren't solitary heros, it will take a while for the players to all gel, but I think they'll get there sooner rather than later. The structure changes for the better and McCarthy will thrive and the smalls will finally be able to crumb to effect. Based just on the addition of skill we are improved by a goal a game, once the chemistry is there between players, that will improve further. So starting with 6 points for and improving to the end of the year for 9-12 points. As good as Hogan is, it is a team game and our forwards will perform in periods like a rabble instead of a well oiled team.

The midfield is well covered. We lose a talented, calm and capable head with Lachie, but the likes of Brayshaw and other babes in swaddling come in with an extra year in the system, stronger, better built and knowing the system. If there are no more accidental surfs instead of visits to training (slipped and fell into the ocean a few hundred km away, a good thing he had his surfboard in hand or he might have drowned), Blakely will step in and monster the role. Sandi/Lobb/Darcy along with Fyfe and Blakely give us a big bodied and strong midfield, but the youngsters will still underperform unless the midfield spots require merit rather than being given for training purpose like this year (Brayshaw and others have a while to go before they can match Lachie Neales output). But can the midfielders send the ball forward better - that will be the deciding factor on which our fortunes are built for the year methinks.

The minimum we'll get is PA 1843, PF 1754, which makes 95% in 2019 up from 2018's 76% and we will have enough wins to come anywhere from 7th to 12th (spanked soundly a few times by the better teams) - we won't have the chemistry, tank, mans bodies or enough maturity in the team, will still fade out in q4 and the end of the year (not as much). Vastly improved on the last 3 years and set for a ripper year in 2020.
Get out of here with your well reasoned analysis and logic.
 
May 3, 2007
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Still think finals is not likely this year. We have 27 players under 24 still so if the 24+ get injuries we'll be rolling out a really young team again.

If we avoid the injury stick we'll be in the finals race up to our eyeballs. Doubly so if the mature draft picks have an impact.


I loved that bolded bit and here is why......

to have 27 players aged 24 or under is a good thing. Most decent players play their best years between 24-30 years old.

As I said, I have been a Freo fan since 2001. There have been a few things that have been drilled into my head. I still remember back in 2008, freo finished 14th with he oldest list in the comp.

The list was so old in 2008 that freo only had 6-7 blokes aged 23 or under. It was mainly due to 2 things...

1. Heavy trading from 2000-2006 such as trading picks 3 and 19 for des headland in 2002 and trading picks 11, 27 and 43 for Josh Carr in 2004.

2. What ever picks that were not traded were used to recruit kids and half of them were substandard as we rarely had access to 1st and 2nd rounders due to trading players as I said above.


chances are we are in for an interesting year regardless.

I wont be surprised if freo finished 14th with 8 wins again. I don't think that would be a bad thing. But at least we got 14th with 8 wins with a much younger squad.
 

yyou

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I read the first 8 comments and it became apparent that I was heading into an alternative reality that I'm just not prepared for.

Kind of like Deliverance when they head into hillbilly country.
Like bassendean oval?
Sorry swans fans :p:D:moustache:
 
Sep 11, 2008
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I really feel like our back 6 is set, our forward line will need some time to gel but it should have enough talent.

Our midfield has big questions for several reasons.
Can Fyfe stay fit
How will Brayshaw and Cerra go?
Can Mundy play through the midfield
Can S Hill and B Hill get back to his best?
Will Bennell stay fit?
How will Conca and Colyer go?

Having said that, I am optimistic and I expect a 11 plus win season with us chasing finals in the last bit of the year.
 
Apr 25, 2011
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Get out of here with your well reasoned analysis and logic.

Kids, don't try this at home. A professional stunt man wrote this under the influence of C2H5OH, don't attempt reasoned analysis and logic when sober on BF or you are at risk of serious permanent damage from the flames ;)
 

mattis117

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Midfield too young and not deep enough for mine. We’ll be good enough to smash the really shite sides, scrape over the line against middle of the road sides at home and maybe cause a few surprises along the way.

10-14th place imo.

I agree with this - we will still be rather thin when it comes to midfield. The list as a whole looks A LOT better than the last few years, but we need to wait a couple more before Freo are ready to challenge seriously.
 

theGav56

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I agree with this - we will still be rather thin when it comes to midfield. The list as a whole looks A LOT better than the last few years, but we need to wait a couple more before Freo are ready to challenge seriously.
Yeah probably agree, but I am open to being pleasantly surprised. We have some pretty decent mature players, pending fitness;

Fyfe, Hills/2, Mundy, Conca, Colyer, Watters, Blakely, Langdon and Tucker are a substantial core group. Also Bewley, Banfield and North I would classify as mature bodies, game maturity pending.

Of course we will be better when Brayshaw, Cerra and Valente are up and fully developed, but in the meantime they can still make significant contributions. Brayshaw will finish in our top 10 this season I reckon.
 
Jan 14, 2008
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Yeah probably agree, but I am open to being pleasantly surprised. We have some pretty decent mature players, pending fitness;

Fyfe, Hills/2, Mundy, Conca, Colyer, Watters, Blakely, Langdon and Tucker are a substantial core group. Also Bewley, Banfield and North I would classify as mature bodies, game maturity pending.

Of course we will be better when Brayshaw, Cerra and Valente are up and fully developed, but in the meantime they can still make significant contributions. Brayshaw will finish in our top 10 this season I reckon.


Yep add Sandi to that list . I cant understand the assertion we are inexperienced in the midfield when we have the likes of Fyfe,Mundy,Sandi ,the Hills ,Walters ,Conca and Blakely running through there
 
May 2, 2017
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Yep add Sandi to that list . I cant understand the assertion we are inexperienced in the midfield when we have the likes of Fyfe,Mundy,Sandi ,the Hills ,Walters ,Conca and Blakely running through there
At full strength we are fine, the problem is when half those blokes are injured and Crowden, Valente and Brayshaw have to take a center bounce together.
 
Jan 14, 2008
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At full strength we are fine, the problem is when half those blokes are injured and Crowden, Valente and Brayshaw have to take a center bounce together.


That injury scenario is pretty much relative to all sides in the comp. If we lose all of Fyfe,Mundy,Blakely,Hills, Conca ,Sandi,Walters at the same time would be extremely unlikely.
Jumping at shadows because Neale is gone. Conca and Bewley make up for loss re experience.
 
May 2, 2017
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That injury scenario is pretty much relative to all sides in the comp. If we lose all of Fyfe,Mundy,Blakely,Hills, Conca ,Sandi,Walters at the same time would be extremely unlikely.
Jumping at shadows because Neale is gone. Conca and Bewley make up for loss re experience.
I am not especially worried about Neale leaving but the facts are our midfield has been terrible (both as an eye test and in stats) for a few years now.

I also note that other teams who lost bulk midfield talent also under-performed (Crows come to mind).
 

SHill Shall

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I am not especially worried about Neale leaving but the facts are our midfield has been terrible (both as an eye test and in stats) for a few years now.

I also note that other teams who lost bulk midfield talent also under-performed (Crows come to mind).

Imo our greatest weakness last year was the midfield. And that's saying something given the state of our forward line of recent. The forward line has now been fixed with mature aged recruiting and hopefully the midfield improves through natural progression of the younger brigade and Conca/Bewley offsetting the loss of Neale.
 
Sep 30, 2005
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Imo our greatest weakness last year was the midfield. And that's saying something given the state of our forward line of recent. The forward line has now been fixed with mature aged recruiting and hopefully the midfield improves through natural progression of the younger brigade and Conca/Bewley offsetting the loss of Neale.

yeah just need Cerra to have a few more games like the one he won the rising star Nom for and we'll improve
 
May 2, 2017
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Imo our greatest weakness last year was the midfield. And that's saying something given the state of our forward line of recent. The forward line has now been fixed with mature aged recruiting and hopefully the midfield improves through natural progression of the younger brigade and Conca/Bewley offsetting the loss of Neale.
I am optimistic overall for 2019 (much more so than either of the last two years) but I still expect us to be in the bottom half for midfield performance this year. We have talent but lots of it is not ready or is perma-injured (Harley, Shill).
 

theGav56

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Yep add Sandi to that list . I cant understand the assertion we are inexperienced in the midfield when we have the likes of Fyfe,Mundy,Sandi ,the Hills ,Walters ,Conca and Blakely running through there

Competitive rather than dominant is very achievable I think. Bennell in serious playing mode would ramp that up a notch too.
 

DaveLister

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If our new game plan clicks along with the new forwards and we win more games than last year then Fyfe will just about win the Brownlow.

If he and Sandilands play enough of the season then we'll make finals and Fyfe will win the Brownlow as he'll consistently be the best midfielder. No Neale for competition just a relatively unknown Blakely and an aging Mundy won't take enough votes off him. It'd take monster games from those or Walters or touch wood Bennell.

Mitchell no longer competition, dusty hasn't played at his peak since 2017 and loses votes to Cochin, Danger is old and losing votes to the others in the cats midfield. Carlton won't win enough for Cripps to contend, neither will the Bulldogs for McCrae or Bont who would share votes as well. Talent spread hurts a demons' chance of winning likewise GWS.

wonder what the odds look like
 
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That injury scenario is pretty much relative to all sides in the comp. If we lose all of Fyfe,Mundy,Blakely,Hills, Conca ,Sandi,Walters at the same time would be extremely unlikely.
Jumping at shadows because Neale is gone. Conca and Bewley make up for loss re experience.

We lost Fyfe, Blakely, Sandilands, and Stephen Hill last season - it's not as unlikely. And remember that most of our centre bounce attendances last season had 2 tyros in the mix (and that's not including Banfield). It's only when we were getting slaughtered that you'd see both Fyfe + Mundy attend the centre bounce.

And *then* consider that you're expecting Blakely to step into a role that he's not played for a whole season before (and do it seamlessly) along with adding in two seasoned players that have never played with us before. We might have more experience in the middle, but what will be sorely lacking is the chemisty.

It's not jumping at shadows at all - it's just a frank view of where we stand. We'll push for the bottom of the 8 this season, but I expect us to finish around the 10-11 mark, and not be solidly competing until next year. This year the team will take a little time to get into the flow, and if we lose one of the guys who has been playing in our midfield for 7+ years, we'll struggle a bit. They're the guys that tell the kids where to stand, and call the plays.

Hardened Body <> Experience <> Chemistry
 

wayToGo_

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We have plenty of midfield experience and depth, we just need to keep them on the park...

2018
Walters - 18 games
Fyfe - 15 games
SHill - 13 games
Blakely - 13 games
Sandi - 11 games
BHill - 10 games
Bennell - 0 games

Compare that to West Coast's midfielders:

Yeo - 25 games
Redden - 25 games
Masten - 24 games
Shuey - 20 games
Hutchings - 20 games
Gaff - 19 games
Sheed - 18 games
Naitanui - 15 games


Neale (and Mundy) were our only experienced mids who didn't miss a game. Langdon only missed one game. Plus like I've said a million times, we often lined up 1st year mids in the middle even when we had more experienced options on the field. Ross played da youf and backed them in.

The addition of Conca, Colyer and Bewley plus an extra pre-season into Brayshaw, Cerra, Banfield, Tucker, Crowden, Giro, North and Valente gives us loads of options. Keep that core above on the park longer and our midfield will be fine. Give it a year or two and it will be back to one of the best.
 
Jan 14, 2008
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We lost Fyfe, Blakely, Sandilands, and Stephen Hill last season - it's not as unlikely. And remember that most of our centre bounce attendances last season had 2 tyros in the mix (and that's not including Banfield). It's only when we were getting slaughtered that you'd see both Fyfe + Mundy attend the centre bounce.

And *then* consider that you're expecting Blakely to step into a role that he's not played for a whole season before (and do it seamlessly) along with adding in two seasoned players that have never played with us before. We might have more experience in the middle, but what will be sorely lacking is the chemisty.

It's not jumping at shadows at all - it's just a frank view of where we stand. We'll push for the bottom of the 8 this season, but I expect us to finish around the 10-11 mark, and not be solidly competing until next year. This year the team will take a little time to get into the flow, and if we lose one of the guys who has been playing in our midfield for 7+ years, we'll struggle a bit. They're the guys that tell the kids where to stand, and call the plays.

Hardened Body <> Experience <> Chemistry

Blakely played mid last season,have another look at the Crows game, he was great. We had injuries last season no doubt but take the players we lost out of any side and they would struggle. I cant think of a side that is chock full of experienced mids. If we keep our best on the park our midfield will stand up
 
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