Ladder Predictor

[Ashb23]

Surprised people think we'll lose to WC. I am confident on that one. More so than either the Adelaide or north games. I think we will see the real gfc this week, and for the next 8.

 

[winty]

Cool, yes.
But not as cool as you know what.

Yeah, I'd prefer you know what too, but for a second option, what I said before is pretty cool too.

 

[BotsMaster]

If Richmond happen to play Collingwood in the Elimination Final at the 'G, will that game draw a bigger crowd than the Grand Final?

 

[DanA]

If Richmond happen to play Collingwood in the Elimination Final at the 'G, will that game draw a bigger crowd than the Grand Final?

Doubtfull. It'll sell out in minutes but there will be space in the MCC's where as there won't be on GF day

 

[Dinga_19]

Best case scenerio

1. Cats
2. Freo
3. Hawks
4. Swans
5. Pies
6. Ricmond
7. Essendon
8. Port

1st week

Cats v Swans
Freo v Hawks

2nd week

Richmond v Hawks
Pies v Swans

3rd week

Cats v Richmond
Freo v Collingwood

GF

Cats v Freo

One can only hope!

I think you can do this a million times over (and i do) on paper but from my experience over the years (and i think everyone deep down knows) to win the premiership you must first finish in the four to give yourself every chance, and which means you are good enough to mix it with the best, and then out perform the other sides in the 3/4 weeks of the finals. It really is that simple. I think this years Premier will simply come from whichever one of the top 4 teams plays their best football come september.

 

[Jon Douglas]

I think the game against Port will tell a story.

It is at home and will be wet.

If we cannot win this one - we are in trouble.

For us to get momentum for the finals and be a contender we need to win the next 4 - and that is not certainty. Swans will be hard to beat - Port no push over and who knows with WC ?

Brisbane I am confident about !

I think we should win 3 of these games and that means what ? Hard to tell as so much depends on other games. Maybe second maybe third. A home final or an away final ?

Usually by now we are playing really good footy - but this year we have had too many injuries and not made as much progress as we would have liked.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Sydney's loss now makes the equation simpler for us. Win our last three and we are guaranteed to finish top 2.

Big ask though, as we are not great travellers, and then Sydney the week after will be hard.

If we do win all three, then it would mean the best Sydney can finish on is 66 points, and you would think Freo would win all their games, in which case we would play them at the G in week one.

If however we were to lose next week but then win the other two, then we would expose ourselves to Freo in Perth in week one, which is the worst result for us.

All the more reason why we must win on the road next week.

 

[catstorm]

Sydney's loss now makes the equation simpler for us. Win our last three and we are guaranteed to finish top 2.

Big ask though, as we are not great travellers, and then Sydney the week after will be hard.

If we do win all three, then it would mean the best Sydney can finish on is 66 points, and you would think Freo would win all their games, in which case we would play them at the G in week one.

If however we were to lose next week but then win the other two, then we would expose ourselves to Freo in Perth in week one, which is the worst result for us.

All the more reason why we must win on the road next week.

Actualy the equation hasn't changed it was always win all remaining games come 2nd, Sydneys lose really doesn't effect us but it puts massive pressure on them.

Sydney now MUST beat Geelong or Hawthorn or I think Richmond will go past them into the top four, they are only 1 and half games back with a fairly easy draw.

 

[candiehappy]

Actualy the equation hasn't changed it was always win all remaining games come 2nd, Sydneys lose really doesn't effect us but it puts massive pressure on them.

Sydney now MUST beat Geelong or Hawthorn or I think Richmond will go past them into the top four, they are only 1 and half games back with a fairly easy draw.

the equation has changed with the Sydney loss. Now our destiny is in our hands, not looking others to slip.

what a massive last two weeks for the Swans after lest nights loss.

 

[year of the cat]

the equation has changed with the Sydney loss. Now our destiny is in our hands, not looking others to slip.

what a massive last two weeks for the Swans after lest nights loss.

Actually it was still in our own hands with the Swans having to play both Geelong and Hawthorn in the last 2 rounds, UNLESS they drew either or both matches.

 

[AlterRob]

Having a little play around mine goes:
1. Hawks
2. Cats
3. Freo
4. Bombers
5. Swans

 

[candiehappy]

Having a little play around mine goes:
1. Hawks
2. Cats
3. Freo
4. Bombers
5. Swans

to have the swans out of the four would be very nice Rob

 

[year of the cat]

Hawks have a very tough run into the finals with games against an inform pies, kangaroos and swans. Could win or lose all 3 comfortably.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Actualy the equation hasn't changed it was always win all remaining games come 2nd, Sydneys lose really doesn't effect us but it puts massive pressure on them.

Sydney now MUST beat Geelong or Hawthorn or I think Richmond will go past them into the top four, they are only 1 and half games back with a fairly easy draw.

Yep, in terms of us being top 2, our destiny was always in our own hands, and still is.

What is does however change is the possibility for Freo to pass Swans and be either 3rd or 2nd, depending on what we do. And we don't want Freo in 2nd, that's what the danger is.

Which is important because I think if you ask most supporters, we would prefer Sydney in the first week (either in Melb or Syd), and those who believe in our mental stranglehold would prefer Hawthorn, but all of us would probably least prefer Freo in the first week, given the final last year, and especially so if there's a chance it could be in Perth.

Which is why the road trip next week is now critical. Freo won't lose to GWS, Melb, Port or St Kilda, so
they will end on 70 points. Therefore if we are to only win two of three, it opens us up to finish third and go to Perth in week one, which is our worst result. Which is where a couple of our close losses in the last few weeks could come back to bite us, unless we win the next three.

 

[LongBomb]

A shame we missed out a big opportunity for percentage yesterday.

Freo will win all of their remaining games and handsomely. They have a dream draw.

If we drop the WC or the Swans game it's quite likely we will end up behind them in 3rd on percentage. Our reward for this would be a first up trip to perth in week one of the finals.

TLDR; We need to win every game.

 

[FredLeDeux]

A shame we missed out a big opportunity for percentage yesterday.

Freo will win all of their remaining games and handsomely. They have a dream draw.

If we drop the WC or the Swans game it's quite likely we will end up behind them in 3rd on percentage. Our reward for this would be a first up trip to perth in week one of the finals.

TLDR; We need to win every game.

Freo and us don't compete on percentage, only on points, they had the tie.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Freo and us don't compete on percentage, only on points, they had the tie.

True.

If we had won last week however, would have helped to make it that much harder for them to pass us.

The door is ajar, if we drop a game now.

 

[Zuta]

If we finish 2nd and freo 3rd the game may very well be played at Etihad due to the MCG being used for other games. This would be a bad result for us considering the dockers play well at Etihad. I think playing Sydney or Hawks would be better as Sandilands would destroy our rucks..

 

[candiehappy]

True.

If we had won last week however, would have helped to make it that much harder for them to pass us.

The door is ajar, if we drop a game now.

that is the ultimate frustration of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. At least it is now up to us to hold on to top 2, we aren't relying on anyone else. Which is kinda scary ....

 

[fpm84]

If we finish 2nd and freo 3rd the game may very well be played at Etihad due to the MCG being used for other games. This would be a bad result for us considering the dockers play well at Etihad. I think playing Sydney or Hawks would be better as Sandilands would destroy our rucks..

All depends on Essendon potentially losing points.

If the finals were next week, all of Hawks/Cats/Bombers and one of Tigers/Pies would qualify for home finals.

It would be a disaster if we finished top 2 and had to play at Etihad. I don't think we've played anything near our best football there for a couple of years.

 

[LongBomb]

Freo and us don't compete on percentage, only on points, they had the tie.

Right you are. I completely overlooked the draw.

 

[footscore]

wouldn't the top 2 teams be given the first best choice of grounds and time slots?

I would have thought if Hawthorn finish 1st then they play their final on the Friday night (MCG) as they did last year and then we would get the Saturday night at the MCG.

 

[Munich]

I've got:
Cats
Hawks
Freo
Syd

Would love this as I do not want to meet Freo Wk1 and hopefully the hawks can take care of them in their final.

We need % boosting wins though, cannot drop off like we did yesterday. I want at least a 30 point win over WC and 100 points against Brisbane.

Anything less and we won't take Hawks' No.1 position

 

[mrnatural48]

Imo we need to win next week's game to try and avoid the possibility of playing Freo in Perth. Worst case scenario would be losing that and then getting an improved Collingwood the following week.

 

[Partridge]

I shouldn't say this, because I know that it is an inane statement of the obvious - BUT ... "if" we hadn't dropped the brissy game .......

Not just the Brisbane game. What about the Adelaide one (we were 30 points up in that), or the North one?

Every game matter, and every loss hurts. And every year that simple truth is forgotten until Round 23.