Prediction Who will finish higher - Western Bulldogs, Fremantle, Brisbane or St Kilda

Who finishes higher in 2019?


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Carson Dial

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Fremantle. They addressed their needs post season and will be nudging finals, maybe even a 7th or 8th position, after three years rebuilding. Brisbane and the Dogs will be a rung below, with finals the next year. Saint are no where near it, will finish bottom 6.
I thinkyou are a bigfooty optimist as far as Freo goes in 2019. I think they will be lucky to be in the top 10 personally.
 

SHill Shall

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Aug 22, 2009
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I thinkyou are a bigfooty optimist as far as Freo goes in 2019. I think they will be lucky to be in the top 10 personally.

Agree - we need to prove we have rid ourselves of our soft underbelly that gave rise to an unacceptable number of large losses in 2018. The gap between best and worst must close for top 8 to be even a remote prospect in 2019.
 

tonygeeks

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Interesting poll so far with Bulldogs, Fremantle and Brisbane all seemingly impossible to split.

It's one of the hardest to pick out of these ' who finishes higher ' threads because it's pretty easy to make a case for any of these 3 plus even though not many people are picking the Saints they probably have the age and experience to be the most competitive out of all of these teams and everyone says where's the stars but it's amazing how much better players suddenly appear if they can get a few wins early and get on a bit of a roll

Brissy would have close to the most young potential superstars of any club in the comp and seem to have improved the vibe around the club a lot

Doggies have a bunch of young premiership players about to enter their prime years and plenty of exciting kids coming through

Freo have some quality top end talent and have put together 3 consecutive off seasons as good as anyone's and a nice bunch of kids coming through

Impossible to pick really and who knows maybe there is a real changing of the guard this year that flips the whole comp on its head but it's probably a year or 2 too soon but it wouldn't surprise me if there starts being 4-5 changes to the top 8 rather than the usual 1-2 that has been the norm as the teams start getting closer and closer to equal


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VineyToClark

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It's one of the hardest to pick out of these ' who finishes higher ' threads because it's pretty easy to make a case for any of these 3 plus even though not many people are picking the Saints they probably have the age and experience to be the most competitive out of all of these teams and everyone says where's the stars but it's amazing how much better players suddenly appear if they can get a few wins early and get on a bit of a roll

I pointed out the fact Saints finished higher than Bulldogs, Dockers and Lions in 2017 and that one year is a long time in footy.

All these teams have potential to bolt up the ladder and the main reason I grouped these four teams together is they are all hard to predict and all finished in the 13-16 rungs.

People writing off the Saints this year could be in for a surprise like how no one predicted Collingwood to go from 13th to a kick from a premiership in one year.

In fact not many people thought Collingwood would even make the top 8 last year and the decision to stick with Buckley after 2017 was ridiculed by pretty much everybody.
 

tonygeeks

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I pointed out the fact Saints finished higher than Bulldogs, Dockers and Lions in 2017 and that one year is a long time in footy.

All these teams have potential to bolt up the ladder and the main reason I grouped these four teams together is they are all hard to predict and all finished in the 13-16 rungs.

People writing off the Saints this year could be in for a surprise like how no one predicted Collingwood to go from 13th to a kick from a premiership in one year.

In fact not many people thought Collingwood would even make the top 8 last year and the decision to stick with Buckley after 2017 was ridiculed by pretty much everybody.

Spot on , even if the Saints only major improvement is to lift their goal kicking accuracy to a league average level they could probably win 4 or 5 more games


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Isaac Cumming No 1

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Spot on , even if the Saints only major improvement is to lift their goal kicking accuracy to a league average level they could probably win 4 or 5 more games


On iPad using BigFooty.com mobile app
We played the Saints twice last year and struggled both times.

I dont believe it's goalkicking though. It's a fundamental issue with poor transition into attack. That leads to them being forced into the pockets and on the fringes of the 50 more than most.

To me they're good defensive team.
 

Carson Dial

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I don’t think any team will take any of these sides lightly when they play.
They all have the potential to beat any side on their day, if they are taken for granted.

Would not be surprised to see any of them challenging to be in the eight.
 

RAPPA

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Feb 20, 2008
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Freo always disappoint me. I like their list and while Neale is a loss, I think their additions will push many sides and they will be a surprise packet. Lions will continue their upward trajectory. The Saints will not be as bad as everyone predicts. I think the Dogs will be the worst performer of the lot.
 

Craven Morehead

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Jan 2, 2019
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So im guessing no one expects the Blues or GC to lift next year?
Not until we buy Stewie his own pie shop and lock him inside.
I like what Freo did in the trade/draft and think they'll push hard for the bottom half of the 8 this year.
 

VineyToClark

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Freo always disappoint me. I like their list and while Neale is a loss, I think their additions will push many sides and they will be a surprise packet. Lions will continue their upward trajectory. The Saints will not be as bad as everyone predicts. I think the Dogs will be the worst performer of the lot.

Bulldogs would want to return to finals this year. They were compared with Hawthorn 2008 after winning the 2016 flag but they haven't followed the same trajectory so far.
 

Isaac Cumming No 1

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Bulldogs would want to return to finals this year. They were compared with Hawthorn 2008 after winning the 2016 flag but they haven't followed the same trajectory so far.
They were compared to the Hawks 08 team by deluded Bulldogs supporters. It was always obvious that while they did some things incredibly well in 2016 their list lacked balance and the flexibility to adapt with the game.
 
Bulldogs would want to return to finals this year. They were compared with Hawthorn 2008 after winning the 2016 flag but they haven't followed the same trajectory so far.


Everybody always compares flags to past ones. We weren’t like hawthorn 2008, we were bulldogs 2016. Did hawthorn 2008 come from seventh and win four finals?

Despite being a young side our older players in that team had great value. Their retirement and others leaving has set us back down the ladder.

We will build again, and have the talent on our list. But we are now very young so it’s going to take time.

A quick hello here to our no.1 fan, I have him on ignore but occasionally check in. Hindsight hero was always right about 2016 apparently, and isn’t just a bitter GWS supporter who has made it no secret the pro bulldogs crowd at Spotless in September 2016 scarred him
 
They were compared to the Hawks 08 team by deluded Bulldogs supporters. It was always obvious that while they did some things incredibly well in 2016 their list lacked balance and the flexibility to adapt with the game.

Definitely not like the Hawks in 2008, we had a percentage of about 150 in our last 5 games. We were the consensus second best team in the comp that year and the outright best for the last 5 games which we dominated. Richmond 2017 was more comparable.

Bulldogs took what Port had been doing in 2014 and supercharged it.
 
IMO Brisbane are about to shoot up the ladder quite a bit.

The loss of Beams will be offset by both Neale and internal growth, of which they will have plenty.

Harris Andrews matures another year and gets another year with Hodge to coordinate their structure and how they want to play. Andrews and Gardiner will be a big one-two punch next year and will be able to shut down most key forward units. They also have Adams and Walker who are handy depth.

McLuggage, Berry, Witherden, Rayner, Hipwood all have huge upside and have shown signs that they will go from strength to strength.

They'll surprise a lot of people.
 

Lsta062

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Surprised at St Kilda’s low votes.

They just need their forward line to click and I believe they’ll start to become potent enough to finish the highest.

I am going with Bulldogs though.
 

Virgin Dog

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I just thought they’d be closer to the rest that’s all.
It's the problem with only choosing 1 instead of ranking. For all we know, Saints could be a lot of people's second choice, but it won't be reflected in the results
 

VineyToClark

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Everybody always compares flags to past ones. We weren’t like hawthorn 2008, we were bulldogs 2016. Did hawthorn 2008 come from seventh and win four finals?

Despite being a young side our older players in that team had great value. Their retirement and others leaving has set us back down the ladder.

We will build again, and have the talent on our list. But we are now very young so it’s going to take time.

Bulldogs under Beveridge have followed the same trajectory as Power under Hinkley. Surprised no one in the media ran with this comparison instead running with the Hawthorn 2008 comparisons.

Bulldogs 2015 and Power 2013 - First season under Beveridge/Hinkley and many tipped a wooden spoon but surprised everyone and made the finals.

Bulldogs 2016 and Power 2014 - Widely tipped to miss finals with a harder draw and teams working them out but Bulldogs went all the way and Power would have gone all the way too if not for dubious umpiring shafting them in the 2014 prelim. I have no doubt they would have rolled Sydney in the grand final.

Bulldogs 2017/18 and Power 2015/16 both missed finals but wouldn't be surprised if Bulldogs bounce back this year and make finals like Power did in 2017.
 

Virgin Dog

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Bulldogs under Beveridge have followed the same trajectory as Power under Hinkley. Surprised no one in the media ran with this comparison instead running with the Hawthorn 2008 comparisons.

Bulldogs 2015 and Power 2013 - First season under Beveridge/Hinkley and many tipped a wooden spoon but surprised everyone and made the finals.

Bulldogs 2016 and Power 2014 - Widely tipped to miss finals with a harder draw and teams working them out but Bulldogs went all the way and Power would have gone all the way too if not for dubious umpiring shafting them in the 2014 prelim. I have no doubt they would have rolled Sydney in the grand final.

Bulldogs 2017/18 and Power 2015/16 both missed finals but wouldn't be surprised if Bulldogs bounce back this year and make finals like Power did in 2017.
I can understand the comparisons, but the demographics of our sides are a lot different so it's pretty hard to compare. Power's older guys played a much more significant part in their 22, and actually have something that resembles a spine. Very different teams, but I guess it's all speculation anyway. We can all look back in 2020/2021 and see whether it's Port or Hawks that we resembled more
 

VineyToClark

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I can understand the comparisons, but the demographics of our sides are a lot different so it's pretty hard to compare. Power's older guys played a much more significant part in their 22, and actually have something that resembles a spine. Very different teams, but I guess it's all speculation anyway. We can all look back in 2020/2021 and see whether it's Port or Hawks that we resembled more

Bulldogs have also gone the rebuild route since 2016 while Power have gone the topping up route since 2014.
 

Virgin Dog

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Bulldogs have also gone the rebuild route since 2016 while Power have gone the topping up route since 2014.
Yeah, it's part of why I feel like we can't compare with either side. The Hawks '08 side had Hodge, Birchall, Lewis, Mitchell, Franklin, Rioli, Roughead, Brown and Ellis, who were all involved in the later premierships in some capacity (if I'm not mistaken). The majority of our experienced or middle aged guys involved in the 2016 premiership have since retired (Clay Smith, Robert Murphy*, Matthew Boyd, Shane Biggs) or moved on (Jordan Roughead, Luke Dahlhaus, Jake Stringer, Joel Hamling), plus Dale Morris and Liam Picken will probably be retiring this year. If we make another grand final any time soon, it's likely to involve maybe half the side we fielded that day, and most of them were quite young at the time:

JJ, Wood, Hunter, Bont, Macrae, Cordy, Boyd, Libba, Dunkley, McLean, Daniel.

We may have been a premature premier, but it will take a while for us to really rebuild properly, given that the majority of our experienced guys from 2016 are gone
 
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