Colby's AFL Preview - Foxsports

[free at last]

Why?

A backline consisting of Hayden, Broughton, Tarrant, McPharlin and Duffield is clearly the greatest backline in our history.

A forward line of Pav, Johnson, Ballantyne and Mayne is on par if not better than the one that carried us to a prelim in 2006.

We have essentially added Barlow and Palmer to our midfield from last year.

The players that left at the end of last season were mediocre at best.

All signs point to ten or more wins.

when you look at back six.to me there are two to three lads that will being knocking on aa selection, barring inj..easily our most attacking.

 

[Clay Davis]

Why?

A backline consisting of Hayden, Broughton, Tarrant, McPharlin and Duffield is clearly the greatest backline in our history.

A forward line of Pav, Johnson, Ballantyne and Mayne is on par if not better than the one that carried us to a prelim in 2006.

We have essentially added Barlow and Palmer to our midfield from last year.

The players that left at the end of last season were mediocre at best.

All signs point to ten or more wins.

Yeah, agree with this.

 

[newlander77]

Why?

A backline consisting of Hayden, Broughton, Tarrant, McPharlin and Duffield is clearly the greatest backline in our history.

A forward line of Pav, Johnson, Ballantyne and Mayne is on par if not better than the one that carried us to a prelim in 2006.

We have essentially added Barlow and Palmer to our midfield from last year.

The players that left at the end of last season were mediocre at best.

All signs point to ten or more wins.

I'm with you on this one. What the team looks like on paper often doesn't translate to winning games of footy though, but fingers crossed they will!

You could also argue that the culture that is being formed at the club is much stronger than that in 2006. In particular I like the message being sent out by Harvey that he wont tolerate distractions by the players, banning phones and ipods. It's uniting the team, as a result I think we'll see them gel and understand one another better.

 

[Reveler]

i swear he has us and Carlton in the wrong positions.

If Carltank drop back to 13th all hell will break lose on bigfooty.

 

[Moo]

I refuse to make any predictions until round 22.

Isn't this a prediction?

 

[dominguez]

Isn't this a prediction?

 

[Play by Numbers]

Intense deja vu for me.

Not saying Fremantle can't do it (at full strength have a good list), but this wouldn't be the first time a media personality (or plural) have pumped up your tyres before the season starts.

 

[paccraig]

8th

"Leigh Colbert says: "I just get the feeling the time is right for the Dockers..."

 

[el jefe]

Intense deja vu for me.

Not saying Fremantle can't do it (at full strength have a good list), but this wouldn't be the first time a media personality (or plural) have pumped up your tyres before the season starts.

Saying we'll make the 8 is hardly pumping our tyres.

Don't worry, I'm sure most if not all the local media have written us off this year (not that they know their arseholes from their elbows)

 

[malpaso]

i swear he has us and Carlton in the wrong positions.

If Carltank drop back to 13th all hell will break lose on bigfooty.

Carltank will stink it up this year. They lost 188 goals from the last 2 seasons. Their game style will completely change, they may get a hold of the footy but it will come bouncing right back out of their forward line without a score.

On top of the fact that we play them twice and will beat them twice.

 

[dominguez]

Intense deja vu for me.

Not saying Fremantle can't do it (at full strength have a good list), but this wouldn't be the first time a media personality (or plural) have pumped up your tyres before the season starts.

How many "media personalities" are there though?
50? 100? 150?

Two thirds of the "experts" in The West's season preview had your mob in the 8.

 

[dominguez]

Carltank will stink it up this year. They lost 188 goals from the last 2 seasons. Their game style will completely change, they may get a hold of the footy but it will come bouncing right back out of their forward line without a score.

On top of the fact that we play them twice and will beat them twice.

Fev was kicking goals when they won the spoon though.

The Eagles in '06 and the current Geelong line up are proof that you don't need a gun forward to win games if your midfield fires. If Judd/Gibbs/Murphy/etc have a good season they'll win more than they lose.

 

[Freo Big Fella]

Both Geelong and The Slime had solid-mediocre forwards though. As garbage a player as Lynch is, he still kicked sixty-odd goals when they won the flag.

Neither Henderson or Waite will be able to do the job for a full season like Mooney or Hawkins can IMO.

 

[malpaso]

Fev was kicking goals when they won the spoon though.

The Eagles in '06 and the current Geelong line up are proof that you don't need a gun forward to win games if your midfield fires. If Judd/Gibbs/Murphy/etc have a good season they'll win more than they lose.

They had a good season last year, spot the difference?

 

[Alfonz]

Fev was kicking goals when they won the spoon though.

The Eagles in '06 and the current Geelong line up are proof that you don't need a gun forward to win games if your midfield fires. If Judd/Gibbs/Murphy/etc have a good season they'll win more than they lose.

Don't forget Murphy is coming into the season underdone and Judd will miss the first few with suspension. You can add Kruezer to the players you listed, but after that there isn't much left in terms of genuine quality.

Waite is a gun, but he is coming off a serious knee injury. Some of their defenders like Bower and Jamison go OK, but aren't exactly superstars. The rest of Carlton's list are just a bunch of average plodders, at full strength they lost to a half-strength Adelaide (no McLeod, Thompson, Burton, Porplyzia, Edwards, Vince, Van Berlo, Knights).

I think 13th is right on the money for Carlton.

 

[surfsup]

The Adjudicator says: "Every year a side jumps up and surprises. It'd shock the last of the hair off my head if Mark Harvey could whip this lot into a top-eight side. They travel worse than former Arsenal striker Denis Bergkamp and would need to win every game at Subiaco to feature in September. It's anchors down in the bottom six for another year." http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,26816746-5018851,00.html

I don't know who "The Adjudicator " actually is but the truth maybe somewhere between what he/she says and what Leigh Colbert is predicting.... I think injuries will dictate where between 8 and 14 we finish.

 

[Clay Davis]

Intense deja vu for me.

Not saying Fremantle can't do it (at full strength have a good list), but this wouldn't be the first time a media personality (or plural) have pumped up your tyres before the season starts.

All things being equal we should rise. We've got a decent, mature back six, the best ruckman in the comp at the moment and a very good key forward.

Compared to almost all the other teams, our best 22 from last year has turned over the least. All we've lost from the list is Peake, and if he's being replaced by Morabito/Barlow, then we're doing better already.

 

[Clay Davis]

The Adjudicator says: "Every year a side jumps up and surprises. It'd shock the last of the hair off my head if Mark Harvey could whip this lot into a top-eight side. They travel worse than former Arsenal striker Denis Bergkamp and would need to win every game at Subiaco to feature in September. It's anchors down in the bottom six for another year." http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,26816746-5018851,00.html

I don't know who "The Adjudicator " actually is but the truth maybe somewhere between what he/she says and what Leigh Colbert is predicting.... I think injuries will dictate where between 8 and 14 we finish.

The Adjudicator sounds like Dwayno.

 

[Freo Blood]

Makes pleasant reading for once.
The pic of Balla looks bizzare and not like him.
He notes that we "blew it in recruiting a few years ago"
Being a high draft pick from the east coast gives you plenty of lives according to Colby, declaring that Murphy is not yet in the Last Chance Saloon. He believed that Murphy was settling into the team with 5 straight games early in 2009 before a finger injury got in the way. Murphy's total 2009 output was an average of 6 possessions and 1.3 goals per game. Pretty much in line with his career averages over 47 games.

 

[The Night Shift]

Denis Bergkamp was a very good striker back in the day..... He wasn't a bad away player.

 

[dominguez]

Denis Bergkamp was a very good striker back in the day..... He wasn't a bad away player.

He was a star, but he was like Mr T and didn't like to fly. Early stages of the Champions League he'd stay home but for the big games he used to get to mainland Europe through the Chunnel.

 

[dominguez]

Don't forget Murphy is coming into the season underdone and Judd will miss the first few with suspension. You can add Kruezer to the players you listed, but after that there isn't much left in terms of genuine quality.

I think 13th is right on the money for Carlton.

Fair enough Alfonz, but I'll be surprised if they finish bottom 5.

 

[The Night Shift]

He was a star, but he was like Mr T and didn't like to fly. Early stages of the Champions League he'd stay home but for the big games he used to get to mainland Europe through the Chunnel.

Thats right.. You jogged my memory. I was thinking in Premier League terms...

The analogy makes sense now.

 

[bigkev bleeds purple]

Isn't this a prediction?

Well played, sir. Less of a prediction and more of a force of habit, though

 

[prattsta]

Denis Bergkamp was a very good striker back in the day..... He wasn't a bad away player.

He has a fear of flying.