Happy with the draw. We always start seasons strong and therefore I would expect us to win 2-3 of our first 5 rounds against the Eagles, Blues and Saints. I would also say we're even a chance against GWS in round 3 after what happened this year when we beat them. Then the next five rounds we hav winnable games against Collingwood, Fremantle at home and potentially Sydney with the way we touched them up at the beginning of this year.
The following five matches are where we are either going to put ourselves in the frame for finals or we're going to fall away and waste another season. North (Darwin), Hawthorn (Darwin), Adelaide (Metricon), Port Adelaide (Adelaide Oval) and Collingwood (Metricon) should render four wins for us, at bare minimum three wins. If all goes according to plan, we should be sitting pretty on 8-10 wins by that stage, with only 2-4 more wins required in the last 7 rounds to make the finals.
Richmond (Metricon), Essendon (Marvel), Brisbane (Gabba), West Coast (Metricon), Hawthorn (Launceston), Geelong (Metricon) and North (Marvel) is the equivalent of coming home with a wet sail. Besides Brisbane and Geelong, I feel we're at least a 50/50 chance in all those games and should be the favourites against West Coast (at home), Hawthorn and North Melbourne. It's certainly set up well for us to go on a nice run leading into the finals...
What is really evident is how important it is for us to get wins in the first 10 rounds. IMO we need to win at least 4 of our first 10 games to give ourselves a chance of qualifying for the finals.
The following five matches are where we are either going to put ourselves in the frame for finals or we're going to fall away and waste another season. North (Darwin), Hawthorn (Darwin), Adelaide (Metricon), Port Adelaide (Adelaide Oval) and Collingwood (Metricon) should render four wins for us, at bare minimum three wins. If all goes according to plan, we should be sitting pretty on 8-10 wins by that stage, with only 2-4 more wins required in the last 7 rounds to make the finals.
Richmond (Metricon), Essendon (Marvel), Brisbane (Gabba), West Coast (Metricon), Hawthorn (Launceston), Geelong (Metricon) and North (Marvel) is the equivalent of coming home with a wet sail. Besides Brisbane and Geelong, I feel we're at least a 50/50 chance in all those games and should be the favourites against West Coast (at home), Hawthorn and North Melbourne. It's certainly set up well for us to go on a nice run leading into the finals...
What is really evident is how important it is for us to get wins in the first 10 rounds. IMO we need to win at least 4 of our first 10 games to give ourselves a chance of qualifying for the finals.