Who Misses Out on the 8?

[THRILLHO]

Is there a sadder specimen in the AFL world than the Richmond fan who hasn't accepted his club's contemporary plight?

I know quite a few Richmond fans and every single one of them I pity. Some of them are just general strugglers in life and deserve pity at all times, but some of them are - outside of football - happy, successful people, but when it comes to football, it's just a part of their lives that I don't like talking about.

It is sad.

They genuinely believe that there's an AFL conspiracy against them because of their draw. What they can't seem to comprehend is when you're a crap team your draw is automatically hard as you're worse than 3/4 of the competition.

Lol, see:

Andy D. will be livid with jealousy if we make the 8 going by the draw he gave us.

Have to laugh at you lecturing people on being deluded about their team's chances, no group of supporters are more deluded about their team's chances than North supporters. Maybe the reason you struggled to beat Gold Coast is your team actually isn't as good as you think it is.

What?

North vs. GC definitely wasn't Essendon vs. GC. We kicked 17.25 and completely disrespected GC. We played about ten minutes of decent footy and destroyed them. The rest of the time we were completely sluggish.

 

[The Casey Cat]

Will make it:
West Coast, Sydney, Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Geelong, Hawthorn

Might make it:
Freo, North, Adel

Forget about it:
St. Kilda, Richmond

Agree with this.

 

[clmac]

Agree with this.

hi tess heres your forum

 

[Plugger35]

North vs. GC definitely wasn't Essendon vs. GC. We kicked 17.25 and completely disrespected GC. We played about ten minutes of decent footy and destroyed them. The rest of the time we were completely sluggish.

Well whatever the final score was the fact is Gold Coast were leading North at half time while we had put Gold Coast away by half time and ran out 92 point winners.

FWIW I think Richmond still has greater upside than North despite winning less games so far this year. They should have beaten West Coast last weekend with the opportunities they had in the last quarter.

 

[Whatname]

The Port and Freo games were more than just the usual few bad umpiring decisions, in both games the umpiring was consistently in favour of one side and it wasn't us.

Just have a look through the Freo v St Kilda match thread if you don't believe me, plenty of neutral supporters said we got screwed by the umpires in that game too. Watters even had a meeting with the umpires department last week to find out why we had missed out on so many blatant free kicks.

As for our defence, I don't think we are too badly off with the likes of Fisher, Gilbert, Blake, Dempster, Geary and Simpkin. We also have Gwilt who is back playing VFL and will return to bolster our defence soon.

FFS plugger, if you seriously think the umpires lost you the game against us you are the deluded one. If the umpiring was consistently one sided all game how come the free kick count read 12 all. I know you think it was the free kicks missed but there were heaps of free kicks missed in that game for both sides and if you had of fired a shot in the last ten minutes you may have won. The reason you lost was you butchered your chances early kept us in the game and we took it. Disposal effeciency is one of the three key ingredients if you listen to Kingy.

 

[fairdinkum]

North supporters were telling us last year that our window had closed, our team was past it and their young guns were going to smash us.

I wasn't telling you that.

Have to laugh at you lecturing people on being deluded about their team's chances, no group of supporters are more deluded about their team's chances than North supporters.

Yep, on bigfooty there are some very deluded North supporters, no doubt about it. But I'm not one of them. I'm not even allowed to post on the North board so don't lump me in with them.

I tipped Sydney to beat us. Correctamundo.
I am tipping West Coast to beat us, too.

We are still miles off it and if Bon keeps playing blokes like Tarrant, then we aren't even taking this season seriously anyway - which I, for one, think is a good thing. Let's give the fringe players a run and see if they are up to it, I say. 2013 s**t gets serious.

As for St. Kilda, I was praying for a Saints win in 2010. I remember being glued to the telly, perhaps a meter from it by the end, hoping the ball would bounce the right way. It didn't and the rest is history. I'm not a Saints hater, I have a soft spot for them (and the Dogs for that matter). The reality is that the window is closed, if Goddard is smart he will take the $$$ and go, hopefully the AFL give you some good compensation picks for it, and in five or six years you can have another crack.

 

[Kcrack]

GC leading by 1 point at half time means little when we still won by a comfortable 34 points, Saints lost to Port FFS, and Freo at Etihad!

 

[fairdinkum]

GC leading by 1 point at half time means little when we still won by a comfortable 34 points

It means our boys still aren't mentally focused enough to be considered contenders in 2012. If it were a one-off that would be a different matter but GWS managed to kick six goals on us in a quarter and we got belted by Sydney from the opening bounce until the game was essentially already lost.

Long way to go.

 

[Punt_Road_Roar]

In the 8:

West Coast
Carlton
Collingwood
Sydney
Geelong
Hawthorn
Adelaide
Essendon

North Melbourne
Fremantle
Richmond
St Kilda
Western Bulldogs
Brisbane
Port Adelaide
Melbourne
Gold Coast
GWS

Bolded teams to miss the 8

 

[Plugger35]

GC leading by 1 point at half time means little when we still won by a comfortable 34 points, Saints lost to Port FFS, and Freo at Etihad!

Well North still have to play Port at AAMI and Freo at Etihad so you might lose those games too.

Port aren't easybeats this year, especially at home, while Freo have improved and will be better at Etihad under Lyon who knows how to play at that stadium.

 

[THRILLHO]

It means our boys still aren't mentally focused enough to be considered contenders in 2012. If it were a one-off that would be a different matter but GWS managed to kick six goals on us in a quarter and we got belted by Sydney from the opening bounce until the game was essentially already lost.

Long way to go.

It cuts the other way too. North have beaten GWS by the most of any team this year.

Well North still have to play Port at AAMI and Freo at Etihad so you might lose those games too.

Port aren't easybeats this year, especially at home, while Freo have improved and will be better at Etihad under Lyon who knows how to play at that stadium.

I think North will cut some mid-tier teams to shreds at Etihad with the new gameplan. Whether that holds up outdoors or against good teams will be another matter.

Fingers crossed we don't become St Kilda mkII: Etihad specialists.

 

[Ambrosia]

I think the top 8 will be in no particular order

Geelong
Carlton
West Coast
Collingwood
Hawthorn
Essendon
Sydney

So that leaves
Adelaide: not up to it
North: gameplan isn't defensive enough.

 

[Spector]

Think it will be Saints, North and Adel that just miss out. With Carlton and Sydney rounding out the top 2 spots.

I don't think we will be finishing in the top 4 - just did the ladder predictor pretty realistically and those that put us in 1st place I think are just looking at our current position and not form / injuries.

We haven't played particularly well at all (losing clearances in games against Giants, Melbourne and Dogs I think). Definitely not playing as well as last year from a pure stats perspective.

I even have a feeling that North might roll us this weekend.

 

[Tas]

Well whatever the final score was the fact is Gold Coast were leading North at half time while we had put Gold Coast away by half time and ran out 92 point winners.

FWIW I think Richmond still has greater upside than North despite winning less games so far this year. They should have beaten West Coast last weekend with the opportunities they had in the last quarter.

I don't think anyone cares what the opinion of someone who has showed a track history of bias and disrespect to one of the clubs he is giving an opinion about, unless you show objectivity your vision for the future is probably as clear sighted as Stevie Wonder's vision.

I don't know where we will be in the future by comparison to Richmond or anyone else, crystal balling is the domain of fools and charlatans and I think you have both areas covered well when you feign the wisdom of someone who is a deep thinker.

We have talent to work with, nobody knows which will take the next step or how many or how it will compare to other clubs, you have to be an idiot to think otherwise.

 

[scooterselwood]

West Coast
Carlton
Sydney
Hawthorn
Geelong
Collingwood

Just can't see those 6 teams missing.
After that:

Fremantle
Essendon
-----------------------------------------
North
Adelaide
St Kilda
Richmond

 

[Macca18]

Essendon at 4-1 have in the next 9 weeks -

R6 - Brisbane @ Etihad (H)
R7 - West Coast @ Etihad (H)
R8 - Richmond @ MCG (H)
R9 - GWS @ Skoda (A)
R10 - Melbourne @ MCG (H)
R11 - Sydney @ Etihad (H)

R12 - BYE

R13 - Fremantle @ Subiaco (A)
R14 - Western Bulldogs @ Etihad (H)
R15 - St Kilda @ Etihad (A)

Even with current injury concerns if we cannot win at least 6 of those 9 games and be 10-4 at worst, then we do not deserve to play finals. 5 out of 6 home games (with the only away game being against GWS) in the next six weeks will help. Don't think many sides over the years would of missed finals action after reaching 10-4 (or even 9-5).

 

[Tas]

Essendon at 4-1 have in the next 9 weeks -

R6 - Brisbane @ Etihad (H)
R7 - West Coast @ Etihad (H)
R8 - Richmond @ MCG (H)
R9 - GWS @ Skoda (A)
R10 - Melbourne @ MCG (H)
R11 - Sydney @ Etihad (H)

R12 - BYE

R13 - Fremantle @ Subiaco (A)
R14 - Western Bulldogs @ Etihad (H)
R15 - St Kilda @ Etihad (A)

Even with current injury concerns if we cannot win at least 6 of those 9 games and be 10-4 at worst, then we do not deserve to play finals. 5 out of 6 home games (with the only away game being against GWS) in the next six weeks will help. Don't think many sides over the years would of missed finals action after reaching 10-4 (or even 9-5).

Bombers are very well positioned at this point in time, the only real concern would be dropping one or two you probably wouldn't have lost if not for a bad run with injuries.

Bombers were 5 wins and a draw by round 8 last year then lost to Richmond and Melbourne unexpectedly and that cascaded to losses against Freo, North and Hawks during the middle part of the season and you went from finals certainty in round 8 to 5 and a half wins at the end of round 14 and looking very wobbly.

I do think the Bombers are much improved so don't expect that to happen, just people need to be careful about early form, it can be fickle and injuries can trigger a form slump. In saying that, I still expect the bombers to make it easily if they can sustain their form.

 

[Plugger35]

I don't think anyone cares what the opinion of someone who has showed a track history of bias and disrespect to one of the clubs he is giving an opinion about, unless you show objectivity your vision for the future is probably as clear sighted as Stevie Wonder's vision.

I don't know where we will be in the future by comparison to Richmond or anyone else, crystal balling is the domain of fools and charlatans and I think you have both areas covered well when you feign the wisdom of someone who is a deep thinker.

We have talent to work with, nobody knows which will take the next step or how many or how it will compare to other clubs, you have to be an idiot to think otherwise.

Yet quite a few North supporters in this thread and in other threads keep saying that St Kilda's window is closed, we are too old and going backwards and are no chance of playing finals this year. They also claim that North are a better team than St Kilda despite not beating us in about 3 years and getting flogged by 10 goals last time around.

Yet as soon as I offer my honest opinion about North I get howled down as a fool and a charlatan. Pot kettle black anyone?

 

[fairdinkum]

It cuts the other way too. North have beaten GWS by the most of any team this year.

I have noted that I think our best is good enough to beat anybody.

However, as I have said, we play about 1.5 quarters of our best footy per game. We go to sleep once or twice in almost every match and against the good teams that simply won't be wallpaperable.

 

[fairdinkum]

Yet quite a few North supporters in this thread and in other threads keep saying that St Kilda's window is closed, we are too old and going backwards and are no chance of playing finals this year. They also claim that North are a better team than St Kilda despite not beating us in about 3 years and getting flogged by 10 goals last time around.

Yet as soon as I offer my honest opinion about North I get howled down as a fool and a charlatan. Pot kettle black anyone?

Your problem is you think all North supporters are the same.

We are not.

Tas does not speak for me, nor I for him.

I am quite happy to crystal ball and in my crystal ball I see this: A builing in Seaford, some time in September, with all of its windows shut.

 

[Righteo]

GC leading by 1 point at half time means little when we still won by a comfortable 34 points, Saints lost to Port FFS, and Freo at Etihad!

Bollocks mate, it was the umpires who lost them those games; technically Saints are undefeated this year.

 

[gbatman]

The Top 7 in no particular order
sydney
wce
carlton
essendon
geelong
adelaide
hawthorn

8th place runners
Collingwood
North
Richmond
Probably Collingwood then north then richmond

Bottom dwellers
GWS
GC
Saints
Dogs
Port
brisbane
Melbourne

 

[scooterselwood]

The Top 7 in no particular order
sydney
wce
carlton
essendon
geelong
adelaide
hawthorn

8th place runners
Collingwood
North
Richmond
Probably Collingwood then north then richmond

Bottom dwellers
GWS
GC
Saints
Dogs
Port
brisbane
Melbourne

Do freo get banned from the AFL at some point during the year?

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

I can see Collingwood missing out.

Tough draw... still settling into new setup... few injuries... more with poor pre-seasons....

 

[Righteo]

The Top 7 in no particular order
sydney
wce
carlton
essendon
geelong
adelaide
hawthorn

8th place runners
Collingwood
North
Richmond
Probably Collingwood then north then richmond

Bottom dwellers
GWS
GC
Saints
Dogs
Port
brisbane
Melbourne

So are we bottom dwellers or "8th place runners"

Also, I'll eat my hat if Richmond finish above us this year. Our next few games are very winnable and we have an excellent finish to the season too, I think we'll also only drop two more games at most at home. Hopefully the Carlton loss doesn't come back to haunt us later.