Opinion What's Possible? The Road Ahead

[Square Peg]

Thoughts?

What part of the grammar or punctuation was the final clue for you?

 

[UFO Tatsu]

Funny how a win shut the burning pitchforks brigade.

I'm not sure. The melt thread was pretty active after the win.

 

[FreoRicci]

Right now it's 4-4.
That's pretty decent. We were competitive against West Coast, horrible against Port and Richmond. Could've done better against GWS.

The injury list has 6 of definite best 22 on there:
Stephen Hill
Brad Hill
Michael Walters
Harley Bennell
Matt Taberner
Sean Darcy

With possibly Logue. That's a huge list. If we get all of those back in over the next month or so, who knows what this team can do. Lots to be optimistic over the second half of the season.

Hoping for 9-10 wins. Optus Stadium is our fortress and should win all home games bar Adelaide. So perhaps 11 is definitely achievable.

Many to debut possibly too. Strnadica is a possibility and add in Stefan Giro. North could come good too.
So far we've had 5 debut. It's exciting to have a mixture of youth and experience especially with Fyfe firing as good as he is. I'm hoping to end up with 8 debutants to have played this year.
Enjoying this season. Growing and frustrating, exciting too. Definitely interesting.

 

[Arcassius]

Agree with most of that. Bennell being best 22 is speculative until he gets a solid run at afl. He's still potential. Sean Darcy as best 22 means Sandilands is out. Can't have two primary rucks as best 22 unless one of those rucks is playing forward

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[Kenny_01]

I think If Darcy we’re fit he would def be playing ahead of Cox.

Wilson also to return.

So we legitimately have 6 to 8 of our best team to return. Just need to get through the next month without too many injuries.



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[Galvo]

Right now it's 4-4.
That's pretty decent. We were competitive against West Coast, horrible against Port and Richmond. Could've done better against GWS.

The injury list has 6 of definite best 22 on there:
Stephen Hill
Brad Hill
Michael Walters
Harley Bennell
Matt Taberner
Sean Darcy

With possibly Logue. That's a huge list. If we get all of those back in over the next month or so, who knows what this team can do. Lots to be optimistic over the second half of the season.

Hoping for 9-10 wins. Optus Stadium is our fortress and should win all home games bar Adelaide. So perhaps 11 is definitely achievable.

Many to debut possibly too. Strnadica is a possibility and add in Stefan Giro. North could come good too.
So far we've had 5 debut. It's exciting to have a mixture of youth and experience especially with Fyfe firing as good as he is. I'm hoping to end up with 8 debutants to have played this year.
Enjoying this season. Growing and frustrating, exciting too. Definitely interesting.

Agreed, I was going to write something similar though I’d have Logue and Wilson in the 22 every day if the week.

One of the upshots from last year is we have far less players on the list that have little to no chance of playing even outside of the injury list.

Last year we had Collins, Clarke, Griffin, Dawson, Ibbotson and Suban (I would’ve added Sutcliffe and D.Pearce if it was up to me) who rightfully already had their cards marked, plus Duman and Stradinica who were under-developed.

There aren’t many on the list you wouldn’t mind seeing on the field at some point

 

[Tbonefreo]

I'm not sure. The melt thread was pretty active after the win.

I meant the media - to be fair im terrible at articulating thoughts into posts

 

[SHill Shall]

I think If Darcy we’re fit he would def be playing ahead of Cox.

But not ahead of Taberner which was another assumed returner. Good point re Wilson - missed him badly at the weekend.

 

[Schauermann]

Well, no bottom 4, no finals looks reasonable atm. Sound low based on talent in our team, but we do play a lot of very inexperienced players and do miss key personal.

But I don't believe all this a flag in 2 years crap. Do it now or never. In 2 year the whole competition will look different.

Darcy: Not sure he is 100% best 22. Should be trialed with Sandi in the side at least, but he probably is more a pure ruck who should/will play instead of Sandi.

 

[Reginald Perrin]

What part of the grammar or punctuation was the final clue for you?

I think it was the fact that post #1 was in a West Coast related thread.

 

[Joao]

if we are not setting a high bar for ourselves as far as whats achievable by years end then we may as well just go away and call ourselves st kilda or gold coast or the likes
Clarko talks about pushing for top 4 a year into the hawks re-build
the eagles always expect to be competitive,as do sydney and geelong,as far as im concerned we should be no different and expect no less
lets not forget we pushed the form team of the comp to within a kick in the dying stages of the game a couple of weeks ago with one of our main weapons sitting on the pine for the majority of the game.
we have one of the most potent midfields in the game ,with arguably the comps best player as our captain
maybe i'm being a little optimistic buy hey if the players and coaches aren't as optimistic as me they may as well go get a job selling ice creams or something because they are never going to win anything

Hawthorn didn't rebuild ****. Team stats from their game against Sydney. They are one of the oldest and most experienced clubs in it.


Hawthorn Attribute Sydney
186.9cm Height 185.7cm
86.1kg Weight 84.8kg
26yr 4mth Age 25yr 2mth
119.4 Games 102.2

For comparison, this week even with Sandi, Johnno, DP, Ballas and Mundy in the team we were:

Fremantle Attribute
Height 187.2cm
Weight 87.5kg
Age 24yr 6mth
Games 85.5

Just 2 years and 40 games difference there. Massive.

 

[Freo88]

Hawthorn didn't rebuild ****. Team stats from their game against Sydney. They are one of the oldest and most experienced clubs in it.


Hawthorn Attribute Sydney
186.9cm Height 185.7cm
86.1kg Weight 84.8kg
26yr 4mth Age 25yr 2mth
119.4 Games 102.2

For comparison, this week even with Sandi, Johnno, DP, Ballas and Mundy in the team we were:

Fremantle Attribute
Height 187.2cm
Weight 87.5kg
Age 24yr 6mth
Games 85.5

Just 2 years and 40 games difference there. Massive.

Some good analysis there - makes me feel a bit better about how hawthorn are still so competitive. Will they fall off a cliff though - their senior players are guns so it will be an interesting time for them in the next few years.

They've unearthed some guns though - Sicily and Burton are handy players who aren't premiership players.

 

[Steinfreo]

One more cheeky top 10 pick for me would be great.

 

[Frigate]

The next 4 weeks will define our season. 2 would be a pass, then we are sitting 6-6, probably 2 games out of the 8. Our low percentage is essential an extra win required. 1 win out of 4 and we are out of calculations, 3 wins and we are right in the mix.

It has been a good year, mainly because we are playing our home ground so well. The major disappointments have been against Port and Richmond. Apart from that the season shows me that there is a massive upside to our current list.

 

[Joao]

Some good analysis there - makes me feel a bit better about how hawthorn are still so competitive. Will they fall off a cliff though - their senior players are guns so it will be an interesting time for them in the next few years.

They've unearthed some guns though - Sicily and Burton are handy players who aren't premiership players.

Their 150 gamers are all still good to excellent players. Some of ours are not so prolific anymore. They are heavily reliant on them and it is fair enough. If we still had 10 triple premierships players I'd hope we'd try and reload for another go at it.

Sicily is gun. Burton is a good young player. None of the rest of their youth is that exciting. No doubt some will turn out to be good players but I don't think there is another Sam Mitchell or Luke Hodge hiding in the VFL. I am very comfortable with where we site in comparison to them.

One more cheeky top 10 pick for me would be great.

Unless we get back and keep most of our good players on the park, we will end up with a top 7 pick IMO.

That gives us a look at (at least) one of
Lukosius
King
King
Rankine
Walsh
Rozee
Hately
Smith
Hill

 

[FreoMonocle]

But I don't believe all this a flag in 2 years crap. Do it now or never. In 2 year the whole competition will look different.

AFL is way different to u18. As good as Cerra and the other kids are going to be, they are a ways off the pace right now - and we have a lot of them in the 22 atm. None of them have hit 20+ disposals yet, let alone doing it regularly - caveat, depends on your position as to how much of the pill you get.

But particularly the midfielders in that group, playing against 30+ disposals in Fyfe and Neale, it shows that they have a bit of development to do still.

 

[Lach72]

AFL is way different to u18. As good as Cerra and the other kids are going to be, they are a ways off the pace right now - and we have a lot of them in the 22 atm. None of them have hit 20+ disposals yet, let alone doing it regularly - caveat, depends on your position as to how much of the pill you get.

But particularly the midfielders in that group, playing against 30+ disposals in Fyfe and Neale, it shows that they have a bit of development to do still.

http://finalsiren.com/PlayerCompare...2=&PlayerName3=&PlayerName4=&SelectedPlayers=
http://finalsiren.com/PlayerCompare...rName4=&Compare=Compare&SelectedPlayers=2796,

 

[anchor man]

Welcome Jim,I think the question or questions you ask are all relevant to the true Dockers supporter.I thought we would finish around 12th with a couple more wins this year than last.I doubt many would have had us 4/4 at this stage of the season.We have gone ok so far.
LIke you I can see us with at least ten wins, so a plus of a season with the rebuild in probably only it's infancy.

 

[anchor man]

We might be 4-4 but that is off 4 wins against bottom 6 clubs. We just aren't that good. Think we end up winning around 9/10 as the youngsters tire and the oldies really fall off the cliff.

I disagree, the Bombers were top eight chances coming into the season.Every one was on the.I think all expected us to lose that one.
The GC game was more than likely another that we wouldn't have pencilled in.Maybe the home ground was a bonus for us.
Bulldogs pre season were expected to rise again after a disappointing year last year.
Saints was a another of those games that pre season we may have looked at with trepidation as many of the experts were saying they will improve.
All our losses have been against sides that we would never have penned in.Maybe the Eagles was one we hoped we could win.

 

[Freo Hitman]

straight off the bat a percentage north of 95. the wins take care of themselves after that

 

[dominguez]

Gee you're a pessimistic bunch. If I was to grade 2018 like a School teacher I'd say 8 wins or less is an F. 9-10 wins a D. 11 wins a C. Make the 8 a B. Win one or more finals and it's an A.

Off field it's been a problematic year so far. All our outside run is injured in Hill/Hill/Walters/Wilson/Bennell. The coach is under the pump. Most of our tall that play in the front half are either injured or out of form.

Yet with all those problems we're 4-4. I think if we can be 6-7 or better after 13 games without major injuries in that period we'll make the 8. Fyfe is flying, our backline is strong. The kids look good. I threw some money at Freo to make the 8 last week, the $7 on offer before the Saints game looked good value.

 

[Steinfreo]

Gee you're a pessimistic bunch. If I was to grade 2018 like a School teacher I'd say 8 wins or less is an F. 9-10 wins a D. 11 wins a C. Make the 8 a B. Win one or more finals and it's an A.

Off field it's been a problematic year so far. All our outside run is injured in Hill/Hill/Walters/Wilson/Bennell. The coach is under the pump. Most of our tall that play in the front half are either injured or out of form.

Yet with all those problems we're 4-4. I think if we can be 6-7 or better after 13 games without major injuries in that period we'll make the 8. Fyfe is flying, our backline is strong. The kids look good. I threw some money at Freo to make the 8 last week, the $7 on offer before the Saints game looked good value.

I like you but your dreamin hahaha.

 

[Johnny Dalmas]

We're also going to potentially have a bunch of first year players knackered, so the incoming strength from returning players will be balanced out by the tiring tyros

Yes, very true. Last year when the younger players started to run out of puff, they got replaced by Nick Suban, Sutty, and D.Pearce. I'm hoping we can see out this season better.

 

[dominguez]

I like you but your dreamin hahaha.

Lol fair enough.

West Coast are flying and they beat us by bugger all at Optus. Fyfe is on fire, if he can continue and we get the Hills, Walters, Wilson back then 10 wins at home is very possible. Pinch 3 away and we're in the 8.

If Fyfe goes on to finish top 3 in the Brownlow and we don't win half our games then others have under performed IMO. Without checking the stats I'm guessing that most if not all of the last 10 Brownlow medallists have played for teams that finished inside the 8?

 

[im_a_lazy_sod]

We seem to be trying to put teams away again which is nice - last year we may have capitulated against the Saints but this year we built on the lead a bit more so when they did come back we still had our noses in front

Keeping them to 2 goals in 3 quarters should have been enough for us to not have even had to worry about them coming back - but we are Freo after all and Freo does as Freo does...

Bulldogs game was a good example of our players letting loose a bit - and I know they weren't amazing oppostition but we also didn't allow them to be. Our first quarter v West Coast was a great example of this. We controlled that section of the game brilliantly and a combination of factors didn't allow us to continue that momentum (umpire, injures, re-structure etc.). The second half of the last quarter of the derby was also reflective of us and I think that's probably the best reflection of our best footy as we were undermanned, the umpiring seemed against us and we had limited time - yet we still pushed on

10-12 wins seems fair. I'd be disappointed if we got under 10. Our home form is good without being amazing - but I think it's skewed slightly given the opposition we have faced. We will all know better by about the halfway mark of the season as to where we really are at.

I'm split as to whether I want us to make finals - on one hand the experience for the kids in an away EF (let's be honest we aren't making top 6) would be pivotal for not only our first year players but the 2nd to 4th year players that either haven't played finals at all or had limited action in the doomed 2015 campaign. On the other hand no finals = lower finish = higher pick, but I think I'd rather wait until we know where we are at a bit more before deciding I want a higher draft pick to potentially lure a better player. Also notwithstanding the possibility of getting the McGovern brothers here as a better pick will help leverage that and adversely, a finals finish may encourage them both further - so a slight catch 22 there also

tl;dr

We are doing ok. Unsure where we stand until around 1/2way mark of season. Played best footy (never say die) in derby 4th quarter. Finals good for exp. Missing finals good for picks and luring McGovern bros. Need injured players back as B22 is potential top 6-8