What to expect in 2017

[BLUEALLTHRU]

A deeper commitment to the game plan and greater passion to wear the jumper(flying the flag where necessary). That'll do me just fine.

 

[Wye1]

Bolton and the boys will improve on last year big time we will miss Tuohey and Byrne (inj) but there is a plethora of young guns pushing to be played now - Marchbank/SPS/Pickett etcv will maek a huge difference.

Probably one of the most critical elements in our rebuild... young guys who want to play, and don't really care who gets in their way.... In a good way.

The last two off seasons has seen SOS slowly leak in some really talented and determined kids. It's so early, but we're slowly seeing the creation of depth - with depth comes pressure for spots, and with pressure for spots comes heightened expectations... not only in performance but also character and leadership. For me this is the cake. If we can establish this firstly, then and only then will the cherries come. Pressure from the bottom up. If the senior boys want it.... they know what they have to do. If the kids want it, the opportunities will be there.... I feel SPS and Fisher wont be sitting around and waiting for it.

 

[Red Bull]

If only Tommy Lahiff was still with us....

"Are you there Harry ?"

 

[thylacine60]

"Rex, are we still on the air?"

 

[ParapMarkets]

Hey Soapy with all due respect if you rewind back to when the Pies were flying Blair was every bit as good as Puopolo and spoken of in the same terms. My point is when the Pies declined so did Blair because he is not good enough to shine in a poor team. The same would be for Puopolo in my opinion, if he was playing in a weak side he would be a battler, put him in one of the best teams of all time at the right time and he plays his role very well.

A player like Armfield (or you could insert a dozen other names from other teams) could just as well fit into a team like Hawthorn, play a role and be seen as a far better player. On 2016 stats alone not much separates them, Armfield averaged 15 disposals per game to Puopolo 14, Puopolo averaged 1.6 goals per game to Armfield 1.1. I agree that stats are not everything but I also think some on this board are very harsh on Armfield compared to similar players. This is just my opinion but the bloke has played 140 games for the Blues and deserves a little more respect than he gets.

One of the best posts I have ever read here! Some people seem to think that we need 22 All Australians. Dennis could've done a job on any of the premiership teams of the past 120 years. If we get our coach right (which I believe we have) and if our core players are of the right material then we can do this.

 

[Tony Lynn 15]

You have got to be kidding.. No offence but that is as silly a statement as I have ever read on BF (outside of an essendon thread)

One of the best posts I have ever read here! Some people seem to think that we need 22 All Australians. Dennis could've done a job on any of the premiership teams of the past 120 years. If we get our coach right (which I believe we have) and if our core players are of the right material then we can do this.

TL15......boiled lollies to chocolates! It is what I love about this place, the agreeing....disagreeing....everyone has an opinion and as long as it is expressed in a respectful manner all is good.

Let's see what topic I can polarise next!

 

[Soapy V]

One of the best posts I have ever read here! Some people seem to think that we need 22 All Australians. Dennis could've done a job on any of the premiership teams of the past 120 years. If we get our coach right (which I believe we have) and if our core players are of the right material then we can do this.

thats not right. all sides need role players and workers. no doubt. the original comment was that Armfield could play in any top side. that I don't agree with and as discussed i thinks its more down to how people rate him rather than a side needing 22 all australians.

in fairness though i think he could have been a star in any side in the early 1900's. fit and fast, takes the game on and kicks a drop punt longer than the average torperdo. no need to use sand for a place kick either. the tatoos alone may have scared some people

 

[ferrisb]

Dennis's tatts scare me now, and we're into 2017...

 

[MileHigh]

I got Carlton winning their first 4 - Richmond, Melbourne, Essendon, Gold Coast. Bank it.

 

[footyfan1978]

3-1 I would take in a heart beat.
4-0 would be hard to keep a lid on the types that get excited without thinking.
Even last year, won a few games and some people got overly excited and even thought we would make finals. Muppets in press added to it too.

 

[Michael Jezz]

Our lack of midfield depth keeps us to 7 wins this year. Cripps will struggle without a pre season and we are 1 injury away to Gibbs or Murphy, from armegeddon. The theme for the season will be "I can see the potential but we can't get the ball out of the middle"

 

[Bluey24]

I honestly don't see us losing a game this year.......


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[ItsAllAboutMe]

I got Carlton winning their first 4 - Richmond, Melbourne, Essendon, Gold Coast. Bank it.

mmm interesting.. RIchmond yes, Melbourne maybe, Essendon yes, GC at home yes, Port away maybe, Sydney at home no, Collingwood maybe..

I hope Bolts has the boys up and going early knowing that we can get on a roll early.

 

[TooBlue14]

Looking at the year ahead.

Richmond - 50/50
Melbourne - 50/50
Essendon - 50/50
GC - Yes
Port - Yes
Sydney - No
Collingwood - 50/50
Saints - No
Fremantle - 50/50
North - Yes
BYE
GWS - No
GC - 50/50
Richmond - 50/50
Adelaide - No
Melbourne - 50/50
Western Bulldogs - No
Brisbane - Yes
Geelong - No
Essendon - 50/50
West Coast - No
Hawthorn - No
Sydney - No

Wins 4-9 (puts us about 16th to 11th) which seems reasonable for us to stagnate and sit about 6-7 wins for the year if you take into account natural improvement and splitting the double up games v Melb, Ess, GC, Rich. There is always 1-2 teams that drop from the previous year. Could come from port, north, hawthorn or west coast. Even dogs could easily go from a port (2014) to port (2015). They are very comparable and if port had of beaten hawthorn in that year they probably would if done something similar.

I'd like to think we can do something similar to hawthorn the last previous years and give up the midfield and focus on running and kicking from the half backline. Although I expect the third man up rule being removed will change a lot of teams midfield. The ruckman or two (Kruezer/Phillips) at Carlton should have more of an impact.

Our forward line needs a lot of work but the ball is going to make its way down there just as much as this year. 1116 (for) to 1148 (against). That's 51 v 52 average. It's sure going to improve us with the addition of better ball handlers kicking inside 50 with the addition of Murphy, SPS and Fisher (possibly). But it comes down to ruckman influence plus Cripps, Curnow getting the first use. Or moving it from HB once we give up the midfield battle???

I got one am not expecting finals or a huge year but another learning one. I'd love to see a better functioning midfield or forward line as the backline is basically done.

If we finish last I wouldn't be surprised but I'd like to see us not get spanked against anyone and be competitive v top 8 contenders just like this year.

Another pick 1 should net us some god trading opportunity. Having depth in th backline and players stepping up in th VFL ( possible finals??) gives us more trade bait as I haven't seen any team come after our kids for a decade. Surely coming last again nets us a priority pick like brisbane as we've been down there for a lot longer than them and despite our kids coming on they also have huge depth in this department with the academy concessions they receive too.

 

[Soapy V]

Interesting. 4 wins from first 5 is very possible. Will depend upon how many kids Bolton plays early and if Murphy Cripps Gibbs Simpson Docherty Weitering are fit and playing well. I expect we will beat Richmond quite easily Round One. They are on a major silde.

 

[gbatman]

If we have a good run with injuries and these young players really step up there is a chance we can push for finals though I would not expect this.

If you rely too heavily on individuals injuries and their effect on the team will be greater. That's a problem for us if we can't get enough out of the young players and we have passengers in the side. That's been our problem since the 90s. Depth.

I think realistically we'll have some really good patches where the young players step up and the older ones are playing well where we will have some really good wins. But I think we'll struggle to cope with injuries and when our depth is tested and young players get tired and have off games we will be brought back down to earth which is a little like last season but hopefully out good patch is a little larger.

I think if McKay and Curnow play good footy then look out because we will be alright. These guys could well be our barometers.

 

[MightyMighties]

I honestly don't see us losing a game this year.......


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Mick? That you Mick??

 

[bmaurizio]

We'll fall into the 4 to 9 wins category and I'd expect us to finish bottom 5 again.
No real surprise considering the state the club was in and how far back we’re coming from.
It will take Bolton and Silvagni the full three years at least to re-establish the playing list and all the supporting fundaments necessary to compete at a finals level.
Looking forward to much brighter prospects from 2019 onwards

 

[MileHigh]

We need Murph, Gibbs and Cripps to play 20 games each. That, or we need someone to step up. Charlie Curnow and Silvagni are probably another year from making a real impact but you never know. Most like to come from one of those two. Im talking mid/attack here, our backlines gonna be wicked this year.

 

[La Dispute]

Looking at the year ahead.

Richmond - 50/50
Melbourne - 50/50
Essendon - 50/50
GC - Yes
Port - Yes
Sydney - No
Collingwood - 50/50
Saints - No
Fremantle - 50/50
North - Yes
BYE
GWS - No
GC - 50/50
Richmond - 50/50
Adelaide - No
Melbourne - 50/50
Western Bulldogs - No
Brisbane - Yes
Geelong - No
Essendon - 50/50
West Coast - No
Hawthorn - No
Sydney - No

These are all winnable games.

There's a lot of hype around the Saints but they are still lacking some outside run and carry. Steele is an inside bull, Freeman is perpetually injured and their other outside options in Gresham and Lonie are still very young. I suspect they'll finish outside the 8 again.

Adelaide aren't all that either. Had a charmed run with injuries last year, really lack in the midfield and teams will start to expose their run and game style, like many teams did to Port.

We seem to play well against Geelong and they've got to patch up their side quite a bit. I'm tipping them to slide; I think they'll find it difficult to replace Enright and Bartel. Their midfield depth is deplorable as well.

West Coast could go either way. Mitchell strengthens them quite a bit but they're a flaky team and now without Natanui, who gives them an armchair ride, they aren't as potent. He also gives them real energy and drive.

Hawthorn are a massive unknown. This is a big watershed year for them and they'll have patches where they'll perform poorly. I think we'll get them at the right time.

 

[Metalcrusher]

These are all winnable games.

There's a lot of hype around the Saints but they are still lacking some outside run and carry. Steele is an inside bull, Freeman is perpetually injured and their other outside options in Gresham and Lonie are still very young. I suspect they'll finish outside the 8 again.

Adelaide aren't all that either. Had a charmed run with injuries last year, really lack in the midfield and teams will start to expose their run and game style, like many teams did to Port.

We seem to play well against Geelong and they've got to patch up their side quite a bit. I'm tipping them to slide; I think they'll find it difficult to replace Enright and Bartel. Their midfield depth is deplorable as well.

West Coast could go either way. Mitchell strengthens them quite a bit but they're a flaky team and now without Natanui, who gives them an armchair ride, they aren't as potent. He also gives them real energy and drive.

Hawthorn are a massive unknown. This is a big watershed year for them and they'll have patches where they'll perform poorly. I think we'll get them at the right time.

Haven't beaten the Hawks since 2005. They have the longest AFL recorded streak for one club v another

 

[Gethelred]

These are all winnable games.

There's a lot of hype around the Saints but they are still lacking some outside run and carry. Steele is an inside bull, Freeman is perpetually injured and their other outside options in Gresham and Lonie are still very young. I suspect they'll finish outside the 8 again...

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but don't be absurd.

St Kilda tore us apart last year because their gameplan is a hard counter to ours, and exploits our zoning for slingshot play. If we even make the vaguest of gestures towards a turnover, they'll pin their ears back and sprint forward, and even with the injection of SPS and Murphy back into the side our midfield still lacks the pace to go with them when they do. They rely almost completely on fast ball movement through pacy players on turnover to score.

We had no defense last year, and we'll struggle again this year. Maybe a little less, due to improved ball movement through the midfield/forward flanks, but they still have a strategic advantage over us, as well as being two years ahead in terms of development.

 

[therubbernub]

These are all winnable games.

There's a lot of hype around the Saints but they are still lacking some outside run and carry. Steele is an inside bull, Freeman is perpetually injured and their other outside options in Gresham and Lonie are still very young. I suspect they'll finish outside the 8 again.

Adelaide aren't all that either. Had a charmed run with injuries last year, really lack in the midfield and teams will start to expose their run and game style, like many teams did to Port.

We seem to play well against Geelong and they've got to patch up their side quite a bit. I'm tipping them to slide; I think they'll find it difficult to replace Enright and Bartel. Their midfield depth is deplorable as well.

West Coast could go either way. Mitchell strengthens them quite a bit but they're a flaky team and now without Natanui, who gives them an armchair ride, they aren't as potent. He also gives them real energy and drive.

Hawthorn are a massive unknown. This is a big watershed year for them and they'll have patches where they'll perform poorly. I think we'll get them at the right time.

Nice to read some glass half full comments about our chances this year. But I have to disagree about the saints. I think they have plenty of pace and run and they exposed our lack thereof very well in 2016.

 

[La Dispute]

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but don't be absurd.

St Kilda tore us apart last year because their gameplan is a hard counter to ours, and exploits our zoning for slingshot play. If we even make the vaguest of gestures towards a turnover, they'll pin their ears back and sprint forward, and even with the injection of SPS and Murphy back into the side our midfield still lacks the pace to go with them when they do. They rely almost completely on fast ball movement through pacy players on turnover to score.

We had no defense last year, and we'll struggle again this year. Maybe a little less, due to improved ball movement through the midfield/forward flanks, but they still have a strategic advantage over us, as well as being two years ahead in terms of development.

That's fairly sound. Perhaps I didn't see enough of them last year, or saw the games against us as downhill skiing. I'm still concerned they're still fairly driven by their older brigade and I think they'll fluctuate for a few years before really pushing.

 

[La Dispute]

Nice to read some glass half full comments about our chances this year. But I have to disagree about the saints. I think they have plenty of pace and run and they exposed our lack thereof very well in 2016.

Not sure it's glass half full or I'm expecting some teams we traditionally struggle against to slide. There's always teams that go backwards and others that surprise and take big strides forward. A team like Hawthorn might struggle to adapt to a radically altered lineup, or they may transition seamlessly.

I'll bet we knock off some of teams we didn't think we could ala Geelong, Collingwood, Port last year.