Which team from the bottom 8 will be the bolter of 2020

Heaps of fun

Goatered on the sticks
Sep 13, 2013
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North Melbourne
North Melbourne play winning football. Short on quality defenders and depth in my eyes, but a friendly run with injuries should see them improve greatly
I'd say we would have the opposite problem. Lots of depth, not just raw kids but guys that will be waiting for a go if we have less injuries than last year, but short on top line talent. Hopefully the likes of Simpkin, Thomas and Davies-Uniacke coming on sorts that out though.

Best 22 (imo):

B: Williams Tarrant Daw
HB: Pittard Walker Ahern
C: Dumont Jacobs Polec
HF: Zurhaar Larkey Thomas
F: Ziebell Brown Garner
Foll: Goldstein Cunnington Higgins
Int: Davies-Uniacke, Atley, Anderson, Simpkin

2020 depth

Small/medium defenders: Macmillan, McDonald, Murphy
Tall defenders: Ed Vickers-Willis, Durdin, McKay
Midfielders: Hall, Tyson, Bonar
Wings: Bailey Scott, Will Walker
Small/medium forwards: Wood, Turner, Hosie
Tall forwards: Xerri
Rucks: Campbell
 
Mar 18, 2013
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Melbourne
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Collingwood
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I'd say we would have the opposite problem. Lots of depth, not just raw kids but guys that will be waiting for a go if we have less injuries than last year, but short on top line talent. Hopefully the likes of Simpkin, Thomas and Davies-Uniacke coming on sorts that out though.

Best 22 (imo):

B: Williams Tarrant Daw
HB: Pittard Walker Ahern
C: Dumont Jacobs Polec
HF: Zurhaar Larkey Thomas
F: Ziebell Brown Garner
Foll: Goldstein Cunnington Higgins
Int: Davies-Uniacke, Atley, Anderson, Simpkin

2020 depth

Small/medium defenders: Macmillan, McDonald, Murphy
Tall defenders: Ed Vickers-Willis, Durdin, McKay
Midfielders: Hall, Tyson, Bonar
Wings: Bailey Scott, Will Walker
Small/medium forwards: Wood, Turner, Hosie
Tall forwards: Xerri
Rucks: Campbell
I guess it depends on how you rate depth. A lot of those listed might do really well at VFL level but I’m not really impressed by what they offer at the top level - talking guys like Tyson, Campbell, Garner, Bonar and McDonald to name a few.
 

Heaps of fun

Goatered on the sticks
Sep 13, 2013
23,853
62,248
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North Melbourne
I guess it depends on how you rate depth. A lot of those listed might do really well at VFL level but I’m not really impressed by what they offer at the top level - talking guys like Tyson, Campbell, Garner, Bonar and McDonald to name a few.
That's why they're depth players.
 

Lsta062

Brownlow Medallist
Jul 15, 2014
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My problem with Fremantle this coming season is what my problem was with them last season and the season before that and the season before that.

They have the talent to compete. However, they are just not consistent enough. They lost to everyone in the bottom 4 last year except for Sydney, who they won against by 1 point in Perth. They also beat 5th-last St Kilda by 5 points at home and lost to them away by 3 points.

Yet, they beat GWS in Canberra, Geelong at home, Collingwood at the MCG, Brisbane at home and Port Adelaide at home. That is 3/4 of the top 4 at the end of the finals series (GWS, Geelong and Brisbane).

This happens in-game as well. They thrash some sides and then disappear midway through the game.

They genuinely have the talent to be the riser of the bottom 8, but they need to be much more consistent than the last couple of years to be the riser in 2020. Hopefully Longmuir has some things in place to make it happen for them.
 

Lsta062

Brownlow Medallist
Jul 15, 2014
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Richmond
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North's end of season was pretty damn good in all actuality. Besides the Geelong and West Coast games they were really competitive and had a lot of close losses.

Win against Richmond was pretty damn good too
Yeah they had some good wins. Their demolitions of Port Adelaide, Richmond and Collingwood were A grade.
 

AFDogs

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 9, 2014
8,548
11,932
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Western Bulldogs
Adelaide won't be as bad as people are thinking.

They didn't really lose anyone of quality now that I think about it.

Just get the off-field stuff right and they could see some results. Their midfield is still very good.
 

mookieb

Club Legend
Oct 4, 2006
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Perth
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Hawthorn
Losing Hill is a loss, but Langdon was not "one of our best players". Anyone who thinks that obviously didn't watch any Freo games. His skills were deplorable and we will be better without him. He was great at receiving the ball and breaking lines but he would consistently put the ball onto the chest of an opponent, by which time all his team mates were running forward to create options. His turnovers were deadly to us. Having a poorly skilled winger is like using Hayden Ballantyne as your key forward, doesn't work.

Freo's issue is depth, which we are building nicely. Until we lost our spine with injury last year we were in the 8 and doing ok to probably finish 7th or 8th. Any team who loses their spine is in trouble. we had out Pearce, Hogan, Tabener, Cox, Ryan and Wilson for the back end of the season.

It's an "if" but if we stay fit and players develop as they should Freo wont be world beaters but will be alright.
He finished 5th in the B and F count so i'm assuming him going will be a loss.
 

mookieb

Club Legend
Oct 4, 2006
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Perth
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Hawthorn
We sacked a coach and CEO we didn't believe were right for the club. It would have been far worse if we kept them on regardless. Garlick has previous experience at the Bulldogs, so I'm not particularly worried on that end. J-Lo I have some concerns about, but that's because he's a new coach, so no idea whether he'll be a Pagan or Drum or anything in between. It'll be premature to say he's going to lead the club to ruin.

Ed Langdon I'm not too fussed about. As I mentioned I think his loss will be covered by Aish, and I can do without that godawful kicking. Brad Hill hurts, but a fit Stephen Hill would minimise that damage by quite a bit. Also he'd be towards the backend of his prime, not entering it.

The performances shouldn't decline. As I said one of those two wings should be covered, and losing Hill will probably mean dropping back to being average there rather then great. Plus we get back Hogan, Taberner and Pearce which is a huge positive compared to where we were at the backend of this season. Brayshaw and Cerra should both be significantly better, and provided we're getting that development from the kids we already had before this draft we'll be a better team despite the losses.

Pass mark should still be competing for that finals berth towards the back end of the season.
Think Freo's midfield is going to be very weak and if Fyfe gets injured virtually no chance of beating the opposition. Langdon and Hill both top 5 in the B & F which i'm assuming will leave a 34 year old Mundy as the 2nd best midfielder? Darcy doesn't get much of the ball and is still learning. Unless of course Cerra or Brayshaw have a breakout season. Think their midfield will seriously struggle for outside run.

Backs and forwards actually look pretty good. Hogan might hurt them if he's not fully fit come season time as he really needs a good pre-season under his belt. If they play their 3 rookies then as you'd expect they'll be some inconsistent performances.
 

freo1

Club Legend
Jul 19, 2006
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perth
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Fremantle
He finished 5th in the B and F count so i'm assuming him going will be a loss.
Pffft that's because we were a poor team this year, and purely with his stats and drive he gave us he stood out. Hey i'm not saying he's a crab. he has a lot of good points to him, but a winger with poor disposal is useless and causes more harm than good. Langdon himself has readily stated he needs to improve his disposal. In a young team, that plays pressure (Lyon Style) football, poor disposal kills - Langdon killed us over and over again. He did break a lot of lines though and cover a lot of distance. He's an endurance beast
 
Im expecting us to struggle this year. 6-7 wins imo. transition year, new coach, 2 of top 5 in bnf leaving, lots of youth, etc.

ive prepares myself for bottom 4. and im fine with it. 2021 is when we'll start pushing.

This is also my realistic expectation. There's too much that has to change and develop to be that decent this year but I'd expect an upset or two thrown in due to the talent still available. Also a new coach in with a new system and focus on foot skills rather than tireless, dogged gut-running in and out of defence will take time to click. There's too much that would have to instantly click for Freo to be any decent in 2020. 2021 I'd expect to see more pronounced growth as some of the young mids approach and pass 50 games, the new coach has had 2 pre-seasons to work with the list and hopefully the key forwards start to play most of a season rather than half of it.

This year I wouldn't expect Melbourne to stay too far down. St. Kilda theoretically should be playing finals this year as well, perhaps even aiming higher than simply making it.
 
Hawks will probably sneak into the bottom half of the 8

Blues should win more games I doubt finals next season but should be the aim for 2021

Saints depends how the new boys gel could see them everything going well finishing 7/8 more likely 10th

Demons should bounce back and play finals if they don’t think goody gets the sack

North another contender for a 6/8 finish games against similar opponents will be 8 point games
 

Captain chaos

Club Legend
Jul 13, 2016
1,383
950
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Geelong
The Saints off-season recruits will all fit in straight away and have an immediate impact. The Saints have a lot of players returning from injury and they should push for a top eight spot.

The Hawks this time go into 2020 with their number one player returning, a full forward (Patton) and a centre half back (Frost). Expect Hawthorn to be a significantly better scoring team next year.

Melbourne could go from bottom four to top four. They need T.McDonald to have a 40-50 goal season again and also a better output is needed from their small-medium forwards if Melbourne are to challenge for the Premiership.


Sadly for the hawks their no 1 player still isnt running at full strength. I hope it isnt another nathan brown scenario
 

matey

Premiership Player
Oct 5, 2004
4,973
8,475
Melbourne
AFL Club
Hawthorn
I think the cocky smart arsed Clarkson will be found out this year. Hawthorn will finish bottom 2 in 2020. They are a team full of old codgers and broken down hacks......thanks to the master coach.

Head hunting the likes of Ratten, Hill, Roughy ....... Saints change of direction to become a cocky smart arse club!
 
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