Prediction Bold Prediction 2018

[SHill Shall]

So just accept the status quo if memberships and attendance continue to head south?

And we can absolutely agree to a settlement. Don't be so naive.

I predict that attendance will not head South - under any scenario. Don’t be so ridiculous.

 

[Bigtrev41]

Fremantle lost 1.22% memberships down from a record high in 2016 and the average attendance increased from 26 back to 31 thousand this year.
Bombing the first 8 weeks and firing the coach might be a bold prediction but it isn't well thought out.

So if membership numbers continue to trend downward, and we have a poor start in 2018, it's completely unreasonable to assume Lyon is under pressure?

 

[Bigtrev41]

I predict that attendance will not head South - under any scenario. Don’t be so ridiculous.

Of course not, in the very short term - there is a novelty factor attached to a new stadium, irrespective of the product on display.

Again, don't be so naive.

 

[DaveLister]

So if membership numbers continue to trend downward, and we have a poor start in 2018, it's completely unreasonable to assume Lyon is under pressure?

I'd take $1.01 odd Ross wont be sacked mid season and I'm not even a betting man.

 

[Bigtrev41]

I'd take $1.01 odd Ross wont be sacked mid season and I'm not even a betting man.

Great, in the bold prediction 2018 thread, I'll make a bold prediction.

 

[Marty Whitelaw]

Luke Ryan an all Australian half back flank.

MJ to retire mid year.

 

[yoong]

Taberner, Apeness and Walters to combine for 150 goals as the most lethal forward line for the year!

Ross Lyon to be criticized for playing a boring defensive game.

 

[SHill Shall]

Of course not, in the very short term - there is a novelty factor attached to a new stadium, irrespective of the product on display.

Again, don't be so naive.

I was pointing out the obvious which you seem to have missed.

Pots - black; and all that.

 

[SHill Shall]

So if membership numbers continue to trend downward, and we have a poor start in 2018, it's completely unreasonable to assume Lyon is under pressure?

Has it occurred to you that membership numbers have a strong positive correlation with games won? Given we’re in full rebuild, we’d expect nothing other than a decline in members (our numbers have held very well given on field performance).

Lyon only comes under any sort of pressure this year if a large number of heavy losses suggest a declining trend. Reckon he’s sleeping easy right now.

 

[yyou]

Cam Sutcliffe to win the Doig Medal.
Blakely, Neale, Walters & Wilson to make the AA squad.

 

[Joao]

We have a very difficult first 8 weeks - I can see a the wheels falling off.

I will continue to post my opinions, as I see fit regardless of what others deem "controversial".

If we start the year 2/8, it's not unreasonable to think Ross will be in the gun.

There is a huge difference between being 2-8 with a % of 75 and 2-8 with a % of 50 though. We'd need the latter and I don't think any team in the comp is bad enough to lose every second game by 60+ pts.

 

[electricfeel]

Sean Darcy wipes out Luke Shuey on field and then shh's him while hes down

 

[Bigtrev41]

There is a huge difference between being 2-8 with a % of 75 and 2-8 with a % of 50 though. We'd need the latter and I don't think any team in the comp is bad enough to lose every second game by 60+ pts.

I don't think either is acceptable, under any circumstance.

 

[Joao]

I don't think either is acceptable, under any circumstance.

Yeah that is fine, but that doesn't effect the pressure on Ross. Even if the media join your chorus as well.

Also it entirely depends on the health of the list. If say Fyfe, Neale, Sandi, Hammer, Ryan, Blakely and Sonny are all injured then you can't just blanket blame the coach because we cant win games without our 7 of our best players. So I 100% disagree that there are no circumstances where it would be acceptable.

Sure they board may agree with you, but I doubt it for the 75% version. For the 50% then sure since that would indicate being noncompetitive which is generally a sign the coach has lost the players (early in the season, can be fatigue with young players in late season).

 

[Bigtrev41]

Yeah that is fine, but that doesn't effect the pressure on Ross. Even if the media join your chorus as well.

Also it entirely depends on the health of the list. If say Fyfe, Neale, Sandi, Hammer, Ryan, Blakely and Sonny are all injured then you can't just blanket blame the coach because we cant win games without our 7 of our best players. So I 100% disagree that there are no circumstances where it would be acceptable.

Sure they board may agree with you, but I doubt it for the 75% version. For the 50% then sure since that would indicate being noncompetitive which is generally a sign the coach has lost the players (early in the season, can be fatigue with young players in late season).

The injury excuse annoys me.

Every club has injury issues, and sure it affects the ability to perform, but not to the extent we have witnessed in the last two seasons.

I've watched us win 12 out of our previous 44 games. It's not acceptable and the manner of some of those losses has been truly awful.

Do you really think another year with multiple 100 point floggings will be tolerated?

 

[Taylor]

and the manner of some of those losses has been truly awful.

You should expand on this.

 

[Bigtrev41]

You should expand on this.

I am still numb from being pumped by Brisbane to the tune of 10 goals.

That was the low point of the year for me. No excuse for an effort like that and makes one wonder how it can occur?

 

[Lost_Deputy]

Nick Suban to not get pinged for holding the ball all year.

 

[FreoMonocle]

I am still numb from being pumped by Brisbane to the tune of 10 goals.

That was the low point of the year for me. No excuse for an effort like that and makes one wonder how it can occur?

Our players in the early to mid 20s were drafted when we played well and is the age range that should pick up the slack from the older players who have been slowing down or retiring in the last few years. We don't have enough talent in this age range as a consequence of the poor picks we earned (made worse by concessions to expansion clubs and those AWOL first picks in Morabito etc).

It's not a difficult concept to grasp that the drafting has been deliberately set up to attempt to even the competition - Hawthorn didn't fare much better than us in 2017 - on your logic, Clarkson is a numpty coach if his now depleted team struggles for another year or two in the wilderness while they rebuild.

 

[Bicco]

We go undefeated through to round 10, Collingwood don't win a game. Buckley goes and Ross is offered the mother of all offers to leave. He doesn't.

 

[Bigtrev41]

Our players in the early to mid 20s were drafted when we played well and is the age range that should pick up the slack from the older players who have been slowing down or retiring in the last few years. We don't have enough talent in this age range as a consequence of the poor picks we earned (made worse by concessions to expansion clubs and those AWOL first picks in Morabito etc).

That's just a list of excuses and an apparent swipe at our list management.

It's not a difficult concept to grasp that the drafting has been deliberately set up to attempt to even the competition - Hawthorn didn't fare much better than us in 2017 - on your logic, Clarkson is a numpty coach if his now depleted team struggles for another year or two in the wilderness while they rebuild.

There are many avenues to list management - drafting is but one component.

Hawthorn have won 4 flags this century, Clarkson has earnt the right to leave on his terms, when he chooses.

I look at a club like Geelong and I wonder how it can be that Geelong finds itself if the premiership discussion year after year, having missed the finals once in 10 years, climbed the mountain on 3 occassions and turned over the majority of its premiership list.

These are the benchmarks we should be striving for.

 

[Tallest]

I predict in 2018 we'll have the best off field facilitys & the best stadium in the AFL.
We'll also have arguably the best coach and player.
No excuses over the next 3-4 years, none!

 

[FreoMonocle]

I predict we'll make it somewhere around the border of the 8, position 11 to 8, that sorta range. The Tank and inexperience of a youthful side won't let it execute in 2018 to it's fullest potential, but it will show us glimpses of the powerful team that it will be in future years.

In the process, we'll see more fast tracking of youth, with Cerra, Brayshaw, Crowden being permanent members of the 22 at some point in the next year, the others will take longer to get there, with our trades livening up our forward line and defence with some skill and experience. Last years draftees will look a million dollars, Logue, Ryan, Cox, Darcy running the games out better and knowing the structures - Logue and Cox suffered a bit of headless chicken from being children playing amongst hardened men, but will show real prowess in 2018.

Barring Johno (who will be edged out due to age and feeling the years of injuries), our defence is new and revitalised and better than it was at any time under Luke, able to rebound way better and set us up for a quick, killer counterpunch. Our Midfield has also had an injection of skills, along with speed on the wings in the last few drafts, Mundy to be edged out of the midfield in the course of the year, this young group will show us in glimpses what it will be capable of for the next decade (depending on our eventual replacement of Fyfe, Neale, Shill etc) and will be one of the top midfield lineups, improved on the midfield in our successful years as it is more rounded (runners who are fleet of foot, improved distribution skills, probably the same for getting the ball from in and under).

But the one thing that will change the most is the forward line. It has some nominal staff changes, but it's going to look better because those up the field will deliver the ball better, which will let it be more proactive than reactive, so it can take control rather than being controlled by the other teams defenders. Tabs won't be the saviour of the forward line and our messiah going forward, but he'll cement himself into the team this year and kick 45ish. Ballas will struggle to stay in the 22, Mundy as a half forward will probably assume leadership of the forwards in his final year. But the forward line is still a work in progress and with Walters playing a lot of midfield time is going to struggle until it's found it's next long term leader - who we might finally lure out of Melbourne FC at the end of next season.

 

[Taylor]

If we get eighty games out of Sandilands, Fyfe, Bennell and Walters we will play finals.

 

[Scham]

Cox to win Freo's goal kicking (bold enough for you?)

Essendon to win the flag

Sandi to retire before seasons end.

Dixon to play half a dozen Peel ressies games

Switkowski to win Peels goal kicking

North to win Peel's B & F