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Prediction Flag Chances 2017

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Cloud_ said:
I wouldn't be too concerned, this year's lucky colours; blue, gold, white didn't do West Coast a whole lot of good.
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They managed to offload a list clogging ruckman to a top 4 club making them weaker in the ruck dept.

Id say they did ok
 
We are much better placed that I thought we'd be. We got finals into some kids & have covered key areas of concern we had about 12-18 months ago (trade ban time). Ruck, Def & small fowards.

We now have 3 genuine senior ruckmen in Tippo, Naisy & Sinkers. Yeah, Sinkers lost his spot last year but I still think he'll come good & there can be a role for him. In any event, he is high quality depth.

Our defence looked in trouble after losing Marty, Shaw, Mal & Teddy in fairly quick succession. But Rampe has been spectacular in filling part of the void. The 3 obvious other blokes have been Jones, AA & Millsy, who have all exceeded expectations & played well above par. With Laidler, Marsh, Talia & Newman all there too I reckon the glut of talent in Def means we're going to start pushing blokes like Jones & Mills into the midfield more to give guys a chance back there.

The one I'm most concerned about is Papley being injured. Last year we could interchange Benny & Paps. We don't have that luxury this year. I liked Rohans speed streaming into the fwd 50. Heeney should also still get a fair amount if gametime fwd of centre.

Last year we were missing Reid, AJ & Talia. All 3 with senior experience & all would be important additions this year if we're going to go around again. Not so much AJ (no pressure on the guy) but Reid & Talia need to pull something out this year or these kids will steal their contracts from under them.
 

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miggs said:
They managed to offload a list clogging ruckman to a top 4 club making them weaker in the ruck dept.

Id say they did ok
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They did that before the new year. :)
 
GotTheGoodes said:
We are much better placed that I thought we'd be. We got finals into some kids & have covered key areas of concern we had about 12-18 months ago (trade ban time). Ruck, Def & small fowards.

We now have 3 genuine senior ruckmen in Tippo, Naisy & Sinkers. Yeah, Sinkers lost his spot last year but I still think he'll come good & there can be a role for him. In any event, he is high quality depth.

Our defence looked in trouble after losing Marty, Shaw, Mal & Teddy in fairly quick succession. But Rampe has been spectacular in filling part of the void. The 3 obvious other blokes have been Jones, AA & Millsy, who have all exceeded expectations & played well above par. With Laidler, Marsh, Talia & Newman all there too I reckon the glut of talent in Def means we're going to start pushing blokes like Jones & Mills into the midfield more to give guys a chance back there.

The one I'm most concerned about is Papley being injured. Last year we could interchange Benny & Paps. We don't have that luxury this year. I liked Rohans speed streaming into the fwd 50. Heeney should also still get a fair amount if gametime fwd of centre.

Last year we were missing Reid, AJ & Talia. All 3 with senior experience & all would be important additions this year if we're going to go around again. Not so much AJ (no pressure on the guy) but Reid & Talia need to pull something out this year or these kids will steal their contracts from under them.
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Paps & Parks have both had surgery and will start pre-season a little late. Do you know we actually have some pretty good forwards waiting in the wings. different from Paps. Dawson, Murray (can play back, mid or forward), Hayward, Rose and Towers. Paps gives us that scrambling, hard, forward pressure and ability to snag the real crumber's goal. He has definitely been working with Nick Davis because several of his goals were classic Davis. His ability to get ball to boot within a split second is astounding. This is not to be underestimated. But even if he and Parks don't start the season there are players who will step up.

Reid will come back this year. he will change the dynamic of the forward structure. If we nearly won a premiership without Reid playing CHF then we are in even better form with him. If he plays the true CHF instead of a Switch hitter role he will be super. He needs the CHF position to flourish, it suits his game. His marking, control of space and more accurate long kick than short kick is better suited to CHF. The bonus would be to have AJ available.

You are right about the backline. Having so many good players available will free us up to make mid match ups that suit us not the opposition. I think if Jones went onto Bontempelli he would have restricted him in the GF but we didn't have that option.

You are right about Talia. He has to earn the respect of the players again. He would want to be good as Aliir is sensational.
 

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Wolftone said:
Gillon McLachlan is a Saints supporter. Need I say more. Bullies had to win last season for McLachlan to look good. GWS or Saints will get huge leg ups in 2017
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Is that right? For some reason I thought he was a Cats supporter...
 
Wolftone said:
Paps & Parks have both had surgery and will start pre-season a little late. Do you know we actually have some pretty good forwards waiting in the wings. different from Paps. Dawson, Murray (can play back, mid or forward), Hayward, Rose and Towers. Paps gives us that scrambling, hard, forward pressure and ability to snag the real crumber's goal. He has definitely been working with Nick Davis because several of his goals were classic Davis. His ability to get ball to boot within a split second is astounding. This is not to be underestimated. But even if he and Parks don't start the season there are players who will step up.

Reid will come back this year. he will change the dynamic of the forward structure. If we nearly won a premiership without Reid playing CHF then we are in even better form with him. If he plays the true CHF instead of a Switch hitter role he will be super. He needs the CHF position to flourish, it suits his game. His marking, control of space and more accurate long kick than short kick is better suited to CHF. The bonus would be to have AJ available.

You are right about the backline. Having so many good players available will free us up to make mid match ups that suit us not the opposition. I think if Jones went onto Bontempelli he would have restricted him in the GF but we didn't have that option.

You are right about Talia. He has to earn the respect of the players again. He would want to be good as Aliir is sensational.
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Bont is too big for Jones. Rampe would be a better choice if not needed in the backs.
 

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I feel good about next season. Best defense in the league, strong depth in midfield and one of the best forwards in the history of the game with strong support. We always talk about the individuals pulling the team but the truth of the matter is Horse has the Swans very well run these days and when one man steps down another slots straight in.

Top 4 minimum, anything less is a failure.
 
I'm bullish about our chances, particularly with JPK as captain. Our younger guys have had a taste and we won't be as inexperienced as we were in 2016. Our core players are in thier prime.

If we have a good run with injuries leading into finals were a huge chance.
 
To win the next premiership I believe the fitness level has to go up a cog. All our players, excepting those who had surgery over the break, returned super fit. I think our new fitness staff have to be more aware of the level of fitness needed at this level of AFL footy. The problem last year, I believe, is the new fitness coach is from an NRL Fitness background. The level of fitness needed to play NRL is no comparison to AFL. We faded in the last quarters of many matches last year, especially later in the season. We certainly started strongly, even in the finals, but we couldn't sustain our intensity for four quarters. So the upshot is my belief is that our fitness level is pivotal in our winning the premiership.

In saying that I also believe we have to blood as many of our talent as we can, all earned of course. we blooded more players this year the any other side other than the injury prone Suns and Lions (you'd really have to start asking why they have so many injuries, Qld beautiful one day, flooding the next). Players like Newman, Dawson, Rose (has only played a few matches), Leonardis, O'Riordan, Murray etc need to take the next step.

Robinson showed plenty before being injured and was an integral part of the 22 until then. If you have a look at the early matches you will find he is very active. BJ really needs to come on this year otherwise it is curtains for him. Towers needs to step up and consistently find the form he did in four or five matches where he got over 25 disposals. He was VERY good in those matches, showing incredible flair, but his inconsistency is frustrating. Talia has to close his chapter of believing that 'things go better with Coke' and move on to play some good footy. Harry Marsh has to go to another level too.

Some of the new guys are probably going to take a bit of time. Cameron, Maibaum, Edwards, Fisher and fox are certainly body ready but the others will probably need at least half a season on weights. Ronke is probably the closest of the rest.

The key to the season, other than the fitness level needing to top a level never imagined, is the young players stepping up to the next level and the players who have been here a while taking the next step on a sustained basis.
 
We'll be solid top 4. Expecting some build on the youngsters performance of last year...
Aliir, Mills, Heeney and Jones to all go a level up.

GWS look awesome on paper but a few injuries or off field drama can change it all
 

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