Prediction Who will finish higher - Melbourne, Essendon, Adelaide or Hawthorn

[Tulip]

Just like last year, only rebooted.

Four teams that will be aiming for the top four:

Melbourne - a blinding four weeks to close the season led to a Prelim, only to be blown out the water against WCE. Have they turned the corner into being contenders, or was it a flash in the pan? The loss of Hogan, despite him missing the big run in, will be felt keenly. There will be a lot of pressure on Weideman's shoulders, whilst May and Lever will be keen to make an impact and lead the defence.

Essendon - 14 years since they won a final. Sound recruiting and development over the past two years has seen them rocket up the ladder for many punters. How far can they go? Their form turned a corner when Daniher went down - can they fit him in and stay unpredictable? I suspect so.

Adelaide - a disappointing year after making the GF in 2017. The camp is behind them, and they'll be keen to write off 2018 and get one more year of top footy out of the likes of Betts, Gibbs, Jacobs and Walker. Sloane staying was a big boon. Is there enough star power left for a serious tilt?

Hawthorn - fared better than many expected last year, but were found wanting in September. Two boom recruits in, one quality youngster out. Can Clarko work his magic, or is it finally a case of the stardust washing away. Big concern is the lack of KPF depth, Roughy is the only recognised tall forward and he's clearly on the way down. A midfield of Mitchell, O'Meara, Burgoyne and Scully looks ominous.

 

[Great8]

For me:
Melbourne
Adelaide
Essendon
Hawthorn

 

[GuzzLG]

Essendon will win the premiership in 2019, so them.

 

[Bazza97]

My order:
Melbourne
Essendon
Adelaide
Hawthorn

Wouldn’t be surprised if all of these teams made finals next year. They all have the capability to finish top 4 and get the double chance I reckon.

 

[JayJ20]

Adelaide
Melbourne
Essendon
Hawthorn

 

[markm106]

Melbourne
Adelaide
Essendon
Hawthorn

 

[blitzer]

Could go any order but when I did my ladder prediction I came up with:

Essendon (4th), Melbourne (5th), Hawthorn (7th) then Adelaide (with Adelaide finishing 9th).

Wouldn't be surprised if all the teams make finals. I'd say supporters of all these teams would be quietly confident they can make an impact in 2019. The team I reckon you can bank the most on making finals would be Melbourne.

Adelaide are quite interesting, it was only 2017 when they were a really good team all year long until they played one bad game in the Grand Final, then they had a disaster year with injuries. Its hard to know if they will rebound or not.

 

[WWSD]

Not counting the 30 year olds but the remaining players in the Hawks best 22 going into 2019 is still pretty good.

Mitchell 25
Impey 23
Worpel 19
Sicily 23
McEvoy 29
Scully 27
O’Meara 24
Hardwick 21
Smith 29
Gunston 27
Wingard 25
Breust 27
Stratton 29
Shiels 27
Morrison 20

The addition of Wingard and Scully, plus the return of Birchall fixes the lack of speed issue. Who cares if Hawthorn don’t have a quality key forward. Gunston and Breust kicked over 100 goals between them and they’ll likely do it again.

Where it might be a challenge for Hawthorn next year is in the midfield. Not enough quality players in there and the lack of midfield depth might be tested.

If Scully returns to his best or close to it, then he and Smith could form the best wing duo in the competition. Wingard gives the Hawks a 40-50 a year half forward.

 

[Kappa]

1: Hawthorn
2: Melbourne
3: Essendon
4: Adelaide

 

[The Blue Baggers]

Have a look at Adelaide’s draw , big chance to finish top 2 !!

Melbourne & Essendon should finish 3-6

The Hawks sneak into the 8 at best !!

 

[kirbatron]

once again its great to be held in the same esteem as these other gun clubs going into 2019.

 

[Speakeasy]

I reckon Adelaide will bounce back, Melbourne will have an off year and miss finals, Essendon will make the 8 maybe and the Hawks will scrape into the 8 given the draw but win a few finals.

So for me it's
1 Adelaide
2: Hawthorn
3: Essendon
4: Melbourne

 

[NetworkNerd]

1: Hawthorn
2: Melbourne
3: Essendon
4: Adelaide

Hawks no chance. Ill delete my account if they finish above all 3.

Will be lucky to finish higher than the bottom 6. Shaky backline, shallow midfield depth, no KPF etc etc

 

[owen87]

I think Melbourne is the best chance for Top-4, whilst Essendon and Adelaide are the most unpredictable.

At their best;

Melbourne
Essendon
Adelaide
Hawthorn

I think Hawthorn probably lacks the peak of the others at their best, but are more likely to play to their ability every week so we could easily see them slot in ahead of Essendon and Adelaide.

I think Melbourne have shown they have the ability and consistency now, adding May / Lever / KK and they could be a real chance of top-2

 

[Tiger_Of_Old]

Has Melb finishing 1st.
Melb
Ess
Adel
Haw.

 

[SC26]

Melbourne
Essendon
Adelaide
Hawthorn

 

[JT_the_Man]

Considering Essendon is going to win the flag according to BF, we’ll put them at 1. My ladder predictor (which of course has the Dons winning the flag) says that the order is Essendon (1st), Adelaide (6th), Melbourne (7th), Hawthorn (11th).

Although I’d take the Dees to knock out the Crows in that EF.

 

[tigertigertiger]

Essendon being over hyped?


Crows and Hawks difficult to tell what they will do but not expecting much especially Adelaide, hawks wont be top 4 again

 

[Pessimistic]

Just like last year, only rebooted.

Four teams that will be aiming for the top four:

Melbourne - a blinding four weeks to close the season led to a Prelim, only to be blown out the water against WCE. Have they turned the corner into being contenders, or was it a flash in the pan? The loss of Hogan, despite him missing the big run in, will be felt keenly. There will be a lot of pressure on Weideman's shoulders, whilst May and Lever will be keen to make an impact and lead the defence.

Essendon - 14 years since they won a final. Sound recruiting and development over the past two years has seen them rocket up the ladder for many punters. How far can they go? Their form turned a corner when Daniher went down - can they fit him in and stay unpredictable? I suspect so.

Adelaide - a disappointing year after making the GF in 2017. The camp is behind them, and they'll be keen to write off 2018 and get one more year of top footy out of the likes of Betts, Gibbs, Jacobs and Walker. Sloane staying was a big boon. Is there enough star power left for a serious tilt?

Hawthorn - fared better than many expected last year, but were found wanting in September. Two boom recruits in, one quality youngster out. Can Clarko work his magic, or is it finally a case of the stardust washing away. Big concern is the lack of KPF depth, Roughy is the only recognised tall forward and he's clearly on the way down. A midfield of Mitchell, O'Meara, Burgoyne and Scully looks ominous.

Last years choices were from outside the finals. Two f these were pretty much top 4. Wtf

 

[Macca18]

Essendon being over hyped?

An annual event at this time. 14 years of mediocrity can promote delusions of grandeur with many in the supporter base.

3. Melbourne
4. Adelaide
7. Hawthorn
12. Essendon

 

[Mr_Moogle]

Crows really need to sort out their fitness dept. If Burton and co ruin another season it's...

1. Melbourne
2. Essendon
3. Hawthorn
4. Adelaide

If Crows can sort out their injury woes...

1. Melbourne
2. Adelaide
3. Essendon
4. Hawthorn

 

[Simon_Says]

Ess for mine
Dees stillhave to prove there consistent

Hawks (scully is a gun)
Adelaide last

 

[Morro]

Dees added the missing piece of their list puzzle with May plus another year into their youngsters, they should be spoke about when discussing flag favorites in 2019 IMO

 

[HolyRioli]

I'll say, relative to each other, same as 2018:
Melbourne
Hawks
Essendon
Adelaide

 

[tigertigertiger]

An annual event at this time. 14 years of mediocrity can promote delusions of grandeur with many in the supporter base.

3. Melbourne
4. Adelaide
7. Hawthorn
12. Essendon

Shiel has that Carlton Judd premiership vibe to it