That good month didn't have anything to do with getting a handful of senior players back either did it??
Just to think Bob Murphy, Crameri & Adams walk back into that 2017 line up as well!!GWS wet behind the ears...lol. How convenient.
Prediction Can Essendon Win the Premiership in 2017?
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That good month didn't have anything to do with getting a handful of senior players back either did it??
Just to think Bob Murphy, Crameri & Adams walk back into that 2017 line up as well!!GWS wet behind the ears...lol. How convenient.
That good month didn't have anything to do with getting a handful of senior players back either did it??
GWS wet behind the ears...lol. How convenient.
GWS can be beaten.
Never said they couldn't, but suggesting the dogs were fortunate to get a prelim win because GWS, were "wet behind the ears" is just ridiculous. They tore Sydney apart 3 weeks earlier to prove they weren't.
Maybe not GWS but they were fortunate to get passed Hawthorn. Beating WC in Perth and Sydney in a GF are the only 2 wins I rate.
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The other 5 months of the season got them a pretty damn good record for a team that wasn't good.
Not sure you not giving them credit for those other wins will have too much bearing on the trophy cabinet.
no
Optimism is good, but please don't be fooled into thinking we are anywhere near GWS or the Dogs at the moment.
A top-8 finish would be nothing short of amazing this year.
I think people are forgetting, we really weren't that good before the saga.
Yes, we've added and improved from within the club, but we're not turning into premiership-threats overnight.
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- Dec 14, 2015
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I think about half the responses in this thread are not meant to be taken seriously. Mine included. The 2017 expectations thread is probably closer to the mark.
I think winning a final or 2 should be the pass mark. The team has already shown we are good enough to make the 8.
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- Dec 18, 2007
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I agree, particularly with the bolded part, we have added depth across the ground and on paper should be competitive so whilst it is possible that Essendon can make the eight, but I would be shocked if we were top four, of course in saying that, if the forward line clicks anything is possible as we have a good midfield & backline.
Before the saga, we had a poorly developed list with several guys that were not AFL standard, Woosha has gone someway to correcting this and we have done well in recent drafts.
Finish as high as 7th or as low as 12th would equal a solid season, anything above 7th is a bonus, anything below 12th will be a disappointment.
What? Are you talking about 2014?
You're thinking about it far, far too simply.
If you think winning two finals is the pass mark, you're going to be bitterly disappointed come the end of next year.
I would be happy with 1 never said we should win 2.
If we keep setting the bar low will will never achieve anything imo. We haven't won a final in over a decade and fans are starting to get impatient just making 8 won't satisfy me.
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- Mar 28, 2010
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This team has not yet played a game. How could they have shown anything?
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- Dec 14, 2015
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It's the wrong time of year for reality checks. That's meant to set in somewhere between rounds 3 and 15.
I'm talking over the years we did play a final in 2014 also the team was sitting 2nd on the ladder for half the season before the AFL told them they'll be barred from playing finals.
Doss
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- Aug 1, 2011
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That's 44 games ago now. The side is different, you have a different coach, some players have got better, some have probably declined.
It might be a small guide, but it's not a great one.
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It isn't about setting the bar low, we have a number of young guys who are a few seasons away from their peak, the forwardline hasn't fired for years although that might change this year, at the moment best case is the bottom half of the eight, anything above that will mean that someone out of the Dogs, Geelong, GWS & Sydney will have gone backwards, most likely suspect would be Sydney or maybe the Dogs will have a premiership hangover.
At the end day of you are probably correct Doss but I'm at a stage where I'm craving for some success. I'm over watching dvds of the 84,85,93 and 2000 GF haha
You did though, you said winning 'a final or two should be the pass mark'.
This team's going to take a while to gel.
Doss
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Mate, if the club set the bar as what it thinks fans would be expecting it would be a very unprofessional way to run a club, because fans are inherently parochial and quite often one-eyed. They have to be realistic in terms of where the list is, and in this case that ten of the players, including many of our most important and best players, have missed an entire season of football.
Watch '65 then.
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One thing we need to be mindful of, just how will the ten returning players go, its possible that most will have benefited from the year away in terms of getting over injuries but there is a risk that some will struggle, we saw this with Ryan Crowley last season, remember when he was picked up, people were saying, he will be great, will be a two to three year player etc etc, unfortunately for Crowley, whilst he was good at times, there were matches where he just wasn't able to get into the contest.
Crowley was finished as a player.
I think a lot of our younger guys will have the same problem. Displaced from the midfield by Watson, Heppell, some will struggle to get into the game as easily as they did when they would spend larger chunks in the midfield. I think our backline will be very good, but we'll struggle in the transition, haven't really solved our half forward problem. And Worsfold's defence first tactics probably won't change that.
Close season and soft draw gives us every chance of finals.
Its all dependent on how guys like Heppell, Hurley, Hooker, Watson, Myers, Stanton and Colyer return.
And how fit Bags, Goddard & Berger are. they are going to be critical. As will be the sustained performance from guys like Tippa, Hartley, Brown, Ambrose.
Add to that, Francis, Langford, Laverde, Parish, Redman all get another pre-season.
And then you have an ace in Zaka who should be able to find some space to operate in.
14-15 wins is achievable and thats finals. 17 if we seriously take our chances and win some 50/50's or 40/60 games.
But in the heat of finals, it would be hard to win against teams like West Coast, Adelaide or Sydney on their home grounds.
We'd want a straight run of finals in Melbourne against select opposition
Its all dependent on how guys like Heppell, Hurley, Hooker, Watson, Myers, Stanton and Colyer return.
And how fit Bags, Goddard & Berger are. they are going to be critical. As will be the sustained performance from guys like Tippa, Hartley, Brown, Ambrose.
Add to that, Francis, Langford, Laverde, Parish, Redman all get another pre-season.
And then you have an ace in Zaka who should be able to find some space to operate in.
14-15 wins is achievable and thats finals. 17 if we seriously take our chances and win some 50/50's or 40/60 games.
But in the heat of finals, it would be hard to win against teams like West Coast, Adelaide or Sydney on their home grounds.
We'd want a straight run of finals in Melbourne against select opposition
