Are we sleeping on WCE?

[Big Animal]

Darling may have misdiagnosed narcolepsy. Every time he throws his head back or gets falconed, I think he's gone to sleep.

 

[eth-dog]

I think they're a 3-6 team. GWS and Sydney will be better IMO, and will be competing with Geelong, Western Bulldogs and a smokie in Melbourne for that last spot in the top 4.

People saying no Nic Nat = no West Coast have little clue. Last year they went 6-2 without him, and Lycett is actually a pretty good player himself if he plays. They have arguably the best forward line in the comp and excellent depth in their defence. Their midfield improves with Mitchell, which allows players like Yeo and Sheed to become 4th and 5th in line inside mids and hopefully an improved year from someone like Redden who is a top class player at his best, plus their outside run is still excellent with Gaff and an improved year from Jetta.

 

[Percel]

I did once, had to roll over three times to get off her.
#ballin

 

[Seeds]

People are definitely undervaluing West Coast. Everything will click together this season for them. Top 4 for certain.

Except your ruck situation

 

[Kram]

People saying no Nic Nat = no West Coast have little clue. Last year they went 6-2 without him, and Lycett is actually a pretty good player himself if he plays. They have arguably the best forward line in the comp and excellent depth in their defence. Their midfield improves with Mitchell, which allows players like Yeo and Sheed to become 4th and 5th in line inside mids and hopefully an improved year from someone like Redden who is a top class player at his best, plus their outside run is still excellent with Gaff and an improved year from Jetta.

I watch them play most weeks and they are a totally different team without NN, rely massively on him. Simpson will have to weave some magic to get around the problem.

 

[HumanMeatball]

If he played on Rance every week of the season he'd have that notched up by Round 10.

Really? Last I checked Petrie kicked a grand total of 4 goals in his last 3 games against Richmond.

 

[compact72]

Poor West Coast. What's the point when Darling shits himself every time in a final.

 

[ep2018]

Last time Always Ballin tried to troll us like this we finished 2nd and made a GF. Now we need that freo flog (name escapes me) to make a joke thread saying we should be flag favourites after we smack a crap team at home to complete the jynx.

 

[Matera92]

5-8 finish

Benched

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Benched

3 actives have left. Obvious empty threat is obvious. Nice try mate.

 

[gorilla92]

Except your ruck situation

So when Nic Nat isn't injured, he's overrated, but when Nic Nat is injured, he's the difference between flag contender and bottom 8.

 

[Seeds]

So when Nic Nat isn't injured, he's overrated, but when Nic Nat is injured, he's the difference between flag contender and bottom 8.

Diferrence between flag and no flag purely because you lack a decent backup. No one said bottom eight so dont know where you are pulling that from.

 

[eth-dog]

Diferrence between flag and no flag purely because you lack a decent backup. No one said bottom eight so dont know where you are pulling that from.

You're severely underrating Lycett here. Bloke may not be a top 10 ruck in the game but I'd take him ahead of any other second genuine ruck in the comp.

 

[juss]

Anywhere from 4th-10th

 

[lmach]

Last year West Coast did the sleeping.

The thread I linked was from January 2015...

 

[Ron The Bear]

The thread I linked was from January 2015...

Sure, but the year in between when virtually everyone had West Coast as prime contenders, they disappointed. I rate West Coast, but I think they missed their best opportunity last year.

 

[Royce Hafey]

The problem with West Coast is that their midfield is like the little girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead. When it's good they're very very good, but when it's bad it's they're horrid. Obviously the midfield is the most important line in football so that's not so unusual. What is unusual is the massive variation in form from year to year which they exhibit.

 

[LittleG]

Perhaps with Nic Nat returning late, the Eagles could do a Bulldogs and win it all from outside the top 4.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SCRAY72]

I had them finishing somewhere between 5th and 8th. I admit I got it wrong.
I think they will now finish somewhere between 5th and 7th.

 

[Always Ballin]

Worked last time.

They are sleeping on us again. Under performed all last year, and still hung in there with the best. I've predicted a 18-4 season which might be a little generous, but I think we can run a perfect 11-0 at home.

 

[Always Ballin]

Sydney at home
Hawthorn away
Bulldogs at home + away
Giants at home + away
Cats at home
Adelaide at home

8 games against the elite teams. 5 Home/3 Away

Last year?

Hawthorn away + home
Sydney away
Geelong away
Bulldogs away
Adelaide home + away
Giants away

8 games against the elite teams. 2 Home/6 Away

16-6 record last year. 5 of those losses came against the elite teams. 4 of them away games.

Against non-elite teams away from home we went 3-1 (Not including away derby game)

10-1 Home record (Blown 30pt lead to Adelaide)

Like our odds to at least match our 16-6 record, if not improve on it.

 

[Madtiger2006]

Just look at the first page of the ladder prediction thread. Granted, this is before we signed Mitchell.

Your avatar is sickening. Change it

 

[Scotland]

I don't really see it.

But I didn't see it in 2015 either.

I'd say the difference then was Simpson took his game plan to another level and they were ahead of the competition in game style.

The Weagles Web served as a defensive and attacking measure that meant the Eagles had a strong backline. The midfield finds it easier to break even with Nic Nat and then the forward line was very dangerous given the way the ball was moving.

Now Nic Nat's injured that probably leaves a bigger whole than Mitchell can fill. The backline's still solid but hardly full of stars and I think the forward line is coming down from its peak. I think it will take a tactical change and quite a few newer players stepping up to have a season like 2015.

I reckon this is pretty fair. Port 2013, WC 2015, even WB 2016 - sometimes teams perform better than expected and make a run at the finals. Teams worked out Port and they worked us out to a lesser degree, and we didn't improve in 2016. Unless you're the premier and most of the time even if you are, if you don't improve you go backwards. We need to find a chunk of improvement on 2016 to be a flag prospect. Kennedy has kicked 80 the last 2 seasons, so having Kennedy kick 80 again won't do it. It's great, but that keeps us where we are. We need Darling to kick 50, or another mid to step up to the level Shuey played at, or Masten to stop being a crab - whatever.

Outside of your games against GWS, Hawthorn and Adelaide in consecutive weeks you were immensely disappointing, probably the biggest disappointment aside from my own team.

Not saying you can't get back to 2015 levels but I haven't seen anything to suggest you will yet

I agree we were disappointing but we still finished 6th in the H&A and won 15 games. I'm not sure whether that's a sign we're sliding or that if we play to our potential we're better than a 15 win team. Finishing 8th after finals better reflects our season but we weren't far off a top 4 berth despite people saying 'WTF is up with WC? When are they going to get going?' all year.

 

[MotleyLemon]

Should be a genuine shot with their 11 home games.

Imagine that for a luxury.

 

[Always Ballin]

I reckon this is pretty fair. Port 2013, WC 2015, even WB 2016 - sometimes teams perform better than expected and make a run at the finals. Teams worked out Port and they worked us out to a lesser degree, and we didn't improve in 2016. Unless you're the premier and most of the time even if you are, if you don't improve you go backwards. We need to find a chunk of improvement on 2016 to be a flag prospect. Kennedy has kicked 80 the last 2 seasons, so having Kennedy kick 80 again won't do it. It's great, but that keeps us where we are. We need Darling to kick 50, or another mid to step up to the level Shuey played at, or Masten to stop being a crab - whatever.



I agree we were disappointing but we still finished 6th in the H&A and won 15 games. I'm not sure whether that's a sign we're sliding or that if we play to our potential we're better than a 15 win team. Finishing 8th after finals better reflects our season but we weren't far off a top 4 berth despite people saying 'WTF is up with WC? When are they going to get going?' all year.

We won 16 games. 16-6. Our two worst losses were Adelaide at home (Blown 30pt lead) and Collingwood at MCG. Lost to Dogs away, Geelong away, Sydney away, Hawthorn away.