Is the top 4 set?

Cripps 'n' Blue Bloods

Sir Cripps of Carlton House
Mar 26, 2015
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I bet my left nut we beat you when we play you again. Full strength with Dusty in you have no chance. You beat a VFL standard midfield due to injuries and you think you’ve done something
Dusty played in round 1...
Apart from losing Prestia during the game, who else were you missing?
 

Cripps 'n' Blue Bloods

Sir Cripps of Carlton House
Mar 26, 2015
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LOL ladder position early is the season is the most idiotic reference anyone can use, simple fact is after 9 rounds we have a better idea with a larger sample size and the saints have beaten 3 of the current top 8 and comfortably beaten the 2 sides you have lost to, while the blues have beaten the team in 8th only.
Most of the arguments in here are idiotic. It's a game of one-upmanship. My team's better than yours because... and then finding the most obscure metric to justify the stance.
Here's another one: Carlton are the ONLY team in the AFL to have beaten BOTH grand finalists from last year in AFL sanctioned games over the past 6 months. We also beat the team who won 3 of the last 5 flags and are so good that they're in the 8 right now and in preseason many had them as the team that would bounce back and be a strong flag chance. Beaten three teams who were top 8 last year (it's important because it's how the AFL decides the fixture for the following year and I'm making it important to suit my argument), including the team who finished 2nd, and beat another top 4 hopeful in our other preseason game, in the Saints.
We're 9-2 under the Voss regime and are therefore very comfortable top 4 material.


For the record: I DON'T think we are top 4 material just yet, and making finals is the first hurdle and hopefully snagging at least one win would be a great result from 13th last year.
 

Cripps 'n' Blue Bloods

Sir Cripps of Carlton House
Mar 26, 2015
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We only really had vlastuin lambert and kmac out of our best 22 that night. Prestia going down at quarter time killed us

I’d be pretty confident against you guys with no McKay though.
Our biggest what-if at the moment is how we will fare without Harry.

Whilst GWS this season isn't exactly a big litmus test, we hadn't beaten them since 2017, had never won on that ground, were missing McKay, Young, Pitto, Gov and lost Williams early. Played Cripps in the ruck (attended 17 ruck contests). Played a 3 gamer at CHB, played another 3 gamer and a debutant. Against a side that isn't much changed from the regular top 8 side they've been for years, in the last game for their much loved 10year coach. There's a reason why we went from favourites with bookies early in the week, to the longer odds in only a couple of days. To get a win in those circumstances won't look overly special when people just look at the ladder positions, but there's a bit more to it than that.

We also didn't have Walsh in round one, so he'll be a handy inclusion for the 2nd matchup. Should be a better game.
 

Cripps 'n' Blue Bloods

Sir Cripps of Carlton House
Mar 26, 2015
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4th spot between Richmond, Geelong, STK, Carlton, Sydney. Richmond and Geelong the only of those who could inflict any harm in September if all sides are full strength.
Agree with the teams who are all a decent chance for top 4, but I'd add in Freo and extend it to fighting for 3rd and 4th.
Disagree with the claim that only Cats and Tiges could do damage in finals if all sides are fully fit. I think they all could under the right circumstances.
 

Lsta062

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Jul 15, 2014
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Some Non-Richmond supporters on here put Richmond’s good start in 2017 down to a soft draw. Richmond won the Premiership

Some non-Melbourne supporters (including Richmond supporters) put Melbourne’s good start in 2021 down to a soft draw. Melbourne won the Premiership.

Now, some non-Carlton supporters (including Melbourne supporters) are criticising Carlton’s start due to a soft start. It’s like a Bigfooty cycle.

I’m not saying that Carlton are this year’s Premiers or that they will end up making finals for that matter, but a team can only play who they are fixtures to play. May be a cliche point to bring up but it’s true.

Yes they lost to Fremantle, but so did 7/9 other teams so far. Yes they lost to Gold Coast but so did Fremantle and Sydney, which are two of their rivals for a top 4 spot. The reality is that Carlton may only need 8 or 9 more wins to make the top 4. They still play Collingwood twice, West Coast, GWS again, Adelaide, Essendon, and Richmond again (who they beat). These are games that they would probably start favourites in.

They play Sydney and Fremantle at Marvel, St Kilda at Marvel, and Geelong at the MCG. These are also games that they can win, so there are plenty of opportunities for them to get to the top 4. Only games that I’d have them as a sizeable distance away from winning is Brisbane at the Gabba and Melbourne at the MCG.

Of course, this doesn’t lock them in as a top 4 team because one of the big issues that stopped Carlton in the past were upset losses and injuries. The upset losses in particular is what used to derail Melbourne’s season, so the fact that Carlton are following their tracks in rectifying that and overall winning games they’re expected to win puts them in a good position.
 

Falcon3518

Norm Smith Medallist
Mar 13, 2022
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Dusty played in round 1...
Apart from losing Prestia during the game, who else were you missing?

Reservoir Tigers answered this but you couple those 3 losses with Prestia’s injury, Martin playing depressed and Soldo playing his first game back from an ACL we had no chance. Really surprised we were leading with 15 left to go.

You have to remember we replaced those guys with first and second year players that hadn’t even played 10-15 games yet.
 
Mar 9, 2014
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Our biggest what-if at the moment is how we will fare without Harry.

Whilst GWS this season isn't exactly a big litmus test, we hadn't beaten them since 2017, had never won on that ground, were missing McKay, Young, Pitto, Gov and lost Williams early. Played Cripps in the ruck (attended 17 ruck contests). Played a 3 gamer at CHB, played another 3 gamer and a debutant. Against a side that isn't much changed from the regular top 8 side they've been for years, in the last game for their much loved 10year coach. There's a reason why we went from favourites with bookies early in the week, to the longer odds in only a couple of days. To get a win in those circumstances won't look overly special when people just look at the ladder positions, but there's a bit more to it than that.

We also didn't have Walsh in round one, so he'll be a handy inclusion for the 2nd matchup. Should be a better game.
As much as I think Walsh is a gun I think your outs definitely outweigh your ins from that game. No Harry, Williams and McGovern (who played like jackovich that night) are massive losses.

If we keep our current side together.. knowing those 3 are definitely out… I think we win… but fit blues best 22 are definitely top 4 material
 
Jan 14, 2002
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still bitching about free kicks from round 1 in mid-May

so bitter
To be fair Juddernaut, Round 1 decisions remain somewhat relevant while so many actions that were penalised with 50's in that match appear to receive impunity since then.

As a Tiger supporter, I have very little issue with any of the free kicks awarded against my team. What I do marvel at, however, is how teams so often seem to have their own best match in terms of "Frees Against" when playing Richmond? I mean, 3 FA's in a half of footy, seriously? It's just a strange anomaly, and very frustrating for a fan watching this unfold so often at a match.

And to answer another poster, Richmond definitely did have a dream run with injury in 2017. I certainly won't shy away from admitting that - it's not a thing of shame.
 
Nov 8, 2007
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To be fair Juddernaut, Round 1 decisions remain somewhat relevant while so many actions that were penalised with 50's in that match appear to receive impunity since then.

As a Tiger supporter, I have very little issue with any of the free kicks awarded against my team. What I do marvel at, however, is how teams so often seem to have their own best match in terms of "Frees Against" when playing Richmond? I mean, 3 FA's in a half of footy, seriously? It's just a strange anomaly, and very frustrating for a fan watching this unfold so often at a match.

And to answer another poster, Richmond definitely did have a dream run with injury in 2017. I certainly won't shy away from admitting that - it's not a thing of shame.
End of the day, two things are true. 1) There were some questionable calls both ways. 2) Blues won by 25, it wasn't close.

Not saying this is you, because you seem pretty level headed.

But the other dude is clearly bitter. Rambling on with his complaints about a match over 2 months ago. He seems unhinged.
 
Jan 14, 2002
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End of the day, two things are true. 1) There were some questionable calls both ways. 2) Blues won by 25, it wasn't close.

Not saying this is you, because you seem pretty level headed.

But the other dude is clearly bitter. Rambling on with his complaints about a match over 2 months ago. He seems unhinged.
Nah mate, I'd never insult you by claiming my team lost because of a series of umpiring decisions early in a match. We had our chances but the Blues just made the better use of their momentum when it counted. You've shown since then that you're the real deal and that we just weren't on the required level we needed to be to beat you.

I'm concerned with how my footy club just can't seem to draw free kicks like other clubs can against us. We could only draw 13 against the Crows to their 33, so the umps were clearly paying them that day, just not to our boys. Only 3 in the first half vs Pies, only 8 by 3/4 time vs Hawks etc. It's clearly a deficiency of some kind in how we present. I think this is the 6th consecutive year that we look like finishing 18th in the differential - maybe there was one year we ended up 17th. Only 163 in 9 matches so far this season, miles below the next worst. And hardly any 50's conceded against us by our opponents. Bloody frustrating, even in the premiership years.

Anyway, it's more a post for a thread on the Richmond Board on how we address drawing more free kicks rather than here. I realise I'm on a hiding to nothing doing it here, whether its right or wrong.
 
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DanWA

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The Dockers have the absolute best luck injury list this year so they are top 4 currently based on that
 

estibador

purple haze
Mar 2, 2007
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I reckon only Freo & Melb are top 4 locks, both have gamestyles suited to the winter grind

We failed miserably last week in winter conditions so I assume this is sarcasm, except the inclusion of Melbourne is throwing me off a bit.
 

estibador

purple haze
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The Dockers have the absolute best luck injury list this year so they are top 4 currently based on that

All those years we had terrible injury runs and eagles fans kept telling us injuries aren't a factor in football. They seem to have changed their tune this year funnily enough.
 

DanWA

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Aug 13, 2013
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All those years we had terrible injury runs and eagles fans kept telling us injuries aren't a factor in football. They seem to have changed their tune this year funnily enough.
We have a history breaking injury list for the bad part where the Dockers have a history breaking list for the good part
 

estibador

purple haze
Mar 2, 2007
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We have a history breaking injury list for the bad part where the Dockers have a history breaking list for the good part

We've had a pretty good run but I wouldn't call it history breakingly good.

  • captain and best player hasn't played a game
  • best key forward has missed over 50% of the season (our only good key forward, let's be honest)
  • number 1 ruck and reigning B&F has missed a 3rd of the season
  • a third of the side going out because of covid one week

As for the eagles... hard to stay fit when half your squad is fat.
 
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