I find it hard to believe that we can all of a sudden leap frog Richmond, Melbourne, Saint Kilda and probably North in the space of 12 months, Richmond are one team that can easily reload and make the finals again next season for example (they have a pretty solid top 6 core of players)
The Good news is that we're pretty much setting up our backline for the future in good stead, which means the days of 80 plus blowouts are a thing of the past, but it all boils down to lack of decent midfield depth, speed, and of course, our impotent foward line (of sorts)
And now that Mr 'Boring' Roos has left, the Dees will be massive improvers next year, reckon they will make the eight, especially they'd want to go all Go to Whoa to try and keep Jesse Hogan at the Club.
Suspect we'll probably finish very similar to this season, somewhere between the 11th - 15th spot range on the ladder.
I suspect around 2018/19 is when we'll likely see significant improvement in terms of wins and ladder position, especially once the likes of Prince Charles and Hazza Mckay can get 40 games (touch wood) under their belt.
But it's really impossible to predict anything that will happen next year with any certainty, I'd like to think we will finish above Collingwood, despite what the experts say, their kids are crap bar Moore (De Goey is an absolute flop) and there's talk of them bringing in Chris Mayne and Daniel Wells lol