Up coming season

[daddy_4_eyes]

So what does everyone think about the eagles prospects in season 2001? Any chance of avoiding bottom 2?

Personally I think that unless Cousins, wirrpunda, Jakovich and Cummings are playing such footy that they'll be brownlow favourites, the eagles will struggle to win, even against other struggling teams. And I don't know why. the eagles have a decent squad, fair depth and yet struggle as if they were the worst team since fitzroy. Any ideas why?

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"I'm not going to waste my life trying to prolong it"

 

[ah_19]

too few 2nd tier players
3 years of awfull drafting cost us, with hill, crabb, and a few other top 15 draft picks being wasted
i think we will do a alot better int he season, but personally i would like us to come last, #1 draft pick would help us a lot
and seriously, were not premiership material at the moment, so why try to finish in the 8? all that means we play finals, then loose them, and get average draft picks
if were not premiership material better to give the kids some practice, and aim for the # 1 draft pick

 

[jod23]

You two are shocking.

Ah_19, to actually want to win the wooden spoon gives me the impression that your not a true supporter. Any true supporter like myself would never want to my team finish last.

Anyway i dont think we'll do too bad, prolly finish around 9th or 10th and if lucky and geta good run with injuries we could sneak into the 8.

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All the people in the broken homes dont wanna fight no more. All the people nursing shattered bones dont wanna fight no more. But theres no profit in peace so we gotta fight some more.

 

[GoEagles]

Ah_19, I see your reasoning but what if the #1 draft pick turns out to be a dud? It's happened in the past a number of times.

I'm with jod - I'd rather see us come 15th or 8th and lose a final than finishing wooden spoon, it's not something to be proud and brag about although clubs DO get good players out - St Kilda is a good example this season.

We do have players which we rely on far too much and once they go, the whole ship sinks. We can play good footy, remember how good we were in 1999 and the first half of 2000? Thats not too long ago plus we have gained some good pickups, so there's no reason why we can't be successful

 

[ah_19]

since 1995 we havent been finals competitors
the eagles CEO said himself it would have been better if we had had some bad years to rebuild

true supporters are willing to stick wtih the club through its bad times,

short term pain for long term gain
what is wrong wtih that?

 

[daddy_4_eyes]

There is nothing wrong with that, butno club will ever on purpose finish last, so there go your hopes. I would prefer if the eagles did not finish in the bottom 4, but the signs are ominous.

Only thing that gives me hope is that KJ and Cummings have both publicly said that the eagles will be a decent team this season. The fact that both have always played down their teams chances makes those comments that much more believable.

I hope that the eagles never get the wooden spoon. There's nothing worse then that.

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"I'm not going to waste my life trying to prolong it"

 

[GoEagles]

One good thing is that I haven't heard any player say that they don't expect the Eagles to do well this season and finish last. Their spirit seems to be quite high dispite the pre season defeats - but look at Essendon, they haven't won any games this year and they are still the biggest threat in 2001.

 

[jod23]

Exactly GoEagles. We have won just as many games as Essendon have this preseason .. O.

And there still favourites for the flag so i dont think there is anything to worry about, if we are 0 - 4 after the first 4 rounds of the season then ill start worrying.

 

[Captain Random]

Maybe it was just the post-Mick politics, but there seemed to be something wrong off-field last year that really affected the team. They shouldn't have dropped all of those games in the second half of last year, injuries or no injuries.

Hopefully that's been turned around. It can't be too bad at the moment, because Bluey stayed when he really could have gone anywhere.

Still, a bad year or two flushes out the bandwagoners, so it's all good. And who cares that all the pundits put the Eagles last, those preseason predictions are always hilarious reading by August

 

[GoEagles]

carneagles maybe that will work to our advantage. Teams might not take us seriously this season and not play to their best ability - then we swoop in for the kill.

 

[jod23]

Exactly GoEagles....its going to be glorious.

I would love nothing more than an opening round win over Geelong just so the pressure gets taken off right from the start. If we lose our first couple of games the pressure will start to build and it could become a disastrous season. But a couple of early wins will bring confidence. And i think confidence can do alot!! I mean look at the Dons last year after about rd 8 i think they honestly believed they couldnt be beaten and teams started to beleive they couldnt beat them. And so they went on and rolled everyone but the Dogs. So i think the whole season hinges in the balance in the first few weeks.

Thoughts?

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All the people in the broken homes dont wanna fight no more. All the people nursing shattered bones dont wanna fight no more. But theres no profit in peace so we gotta fight some more.

 

[eagleskickass]

Yeah, we need at least 2 wins in the first 4-5 games and we should do alright if we do that. If it is 0-4 or 0-5 were in trouble. I can't see how anyone would want there team to finish last, just to get the #1 draft pick, its ridiculous. I hope the Eagles never ever get the wooden spoon, its just something you try avoid.