Poll: Is it too early to call "Season Over?"

[tigerdell]

We're trying to win the Preeemiership, td.

Mr Damien Hardwick measured the challenge three weeks ago when we played Melbourne. We all saw how that worked out.

That was a huge game. The whole season for RFC hinged on the testing in that game. Mr Damien Hardwick didn't like the results of the testing and went back to the drawing board. Baker and Balta back. MRJ given a chance. Two rucks. Midfield slot open to RCD or Dow. Ross eventually sacked.

There are still other vacancies. Mansell is in the frame. Stack could be. Juddy is a year away IMO. Brown and Banks can't get a kick. And Sonsie is a project. Cumberland is the interesting one IMO.

We are nowhere near cue in the rack because there is nothing around. We could get our reserves into the AFL Grand Final if they gel.

We are running out of time to slap these M-Town upstarts. We've got to settle soon.

There is the very important indicator. We're seeing it. Glamour football. Sometimes. Mr Damien Hardwick engineers the indicators. But he looks for them just as we do. Glamour football. We're not seeing cat *smile* defence yet but we're all looking out for it.

We've gone forwards to go backwards Monsieur D.
Sent the glamour players back, Notorious and Snake-eyes. It has returned the back 7 to its rightful spot as a premiership winning defence. Solid.

But what I didnt see coming was transforming our front half into a Glamour team.
Imagine the forwards as Dusty, Bolton, Lynch, Riewoldt, M Rioli Jr, Lambert.
Glorious.

Who is the main forward?
Who can believe Jack is batting #4
That Big Tom has a spring in his step.
Its like Dior, Prada and Hermes teaming up with Yves SL. Good times. Glorious times. Glamour times.

Dimma has released the handbrake and finally after what 13 years at the helm he is finally picking a forward line.

 

[Dyer'ere]

I think Mr Damien Hardwick is handling it much as he has for five to thirteen years, td.

Hardwick thinks he has roughly the personnel he needs (if h can get them sound on the park). But he has to get the individuals to the right proficiency/confidence levels. And then he has to get the individuals to gel at the same time.

He has analysed Melbourne. Tested them. We've already tested everybody else. So we've got a measured goal. We have a fair idea of what's required and it's very like stuff we've previously done.

We all love hanging *smile* on that bastard Conservativewick but it is absolutely certain that he is easily the best coach in the AFL. That said, Mitchell has surprised plenty and I will love watching his work this week. Just as Mr Damien Hardwick did, Sam Mitchell has surpassed his master.

"Play the kids!" This is not Port Adelaide. Or Carlton. How's Sam Walsh going? Zac Butters? Rozee? Georgiades? Duursma? Far too much contact. Poor coaching.

We'll give our youth a chance to succeed over time.

As much as I'll enjoy watching Mitchell's work this week I will study Mr Damien Hardwick.

 

[Rfc4Ever]

Wonder how the vote would look now?

 

[BT Tiger]

Wonder how the vote would look now?

When was the poll posted? Round 3? Waaaayyy too early to be writing off the season.

 

[AngryAnt]

Things are looking better, but we still need to take some serious scalps before I'm flipping back to the bright side

We've beaten Footscray, which looked good but now doesn't look that hard.
GWS - very poor this year
WCE - terrible side, but we did spank them
Collingwood - not bad but they were running without many key forwards or backs

Lost to Cartoon, St Kilda, Adelaide (how?) and Melbourne.

The Melbourne performance actually gave me some hope we are on the way back.

Defo need to beat Dawks, Bombers and probably Sydney in the next stretch.

 

[Ian4]

Looking at our draw, finals should be the minimum if we get a good run with injuries. We should be aiming for top 4. Essendon twice, Hawthorn twice, Port twice and the Eagles again.

For mine, it’s the premiership or bust. If we’re not contenders, we’re rebuilding. Finishing 7th or 8th is pointless.

We are miles behind Melbourne atm. We wouldn't beat Brisbane or Freo on form atm. That’s not to say we can’t catch up, but its already starting to look like there is only one spot up for grabs in the top 4.

For all we know, this year could be Melbourne’s 2018. But we haven’t beaten anyone above us at this stage. That not too dissimilar to 2021 when we all thought we would eventually make a run for the flag. we didn't. Come back to me when we’ve taken a scalp or 2.

 

[TrialByVideo]

Finishing 7th or 8th is pointless.

The Bulldogs should just hand that flag back then

 

[St Kevin]

For mine, it’s the premiership or bust. If we’re not contenders, we’re rebuilding. Finishing 7th or 8th is pointless.

We are miles behind Melbourne atm. We wouldn't beat Brisbane or Freo on form atm. That’s not to say we can’t catch up, but its already starting to look like there is only one spot up for grabs in the top 4.

For all we know, this year could be Melbourne’s 2018. But we haven’t beaten anyone above us at this stage. That not too dissimilar to 2021 when we all thought we would eventually make a run for the flag. we didn't. Come back to me when we’ve taken a scalp or 2.

I'd re-emphasise my first point, looking at our draw.

We also get Freo, Brisbane and Geelong at the G. These results will show where we are at imo.

Everyone is miles behind Melbourne, but it's a third of the season through. We haven't beaten anyone above us, but I think we've given Melbourne their sternest challenge of the season.

Finally, if you're attitude is premiership or bust, it doesn't leave a heap of opportunity to enjoy footy. We've been fortunate recently we capitalised on our strong list and won 3. I'd rather we persist with always trying to compete (regardless of where we finish on the ladder). That's how you build a winning mentality.

 

[Ian4]

The Bulldogs should just hand that flag back then

You say it as if this is a common occurance. We won’t see that again for another 50 years.

Finally, if you're attitude is premiership or bust, it doesn't leave a heap of opportunity to enjoy footy.

Premiership or bust because we have a raft of premiership players nearing the end. I don't wanna see us fall off the cliff like West Coast are currently doing or Adelaide did after 2017 or what Geelong are about to do. If we are not contenders this year, I wanna make sure we are contenders again within 3-4 years. It took us 8 years from bottoming out in 2009 to winning the flag. Lets try to avoid a repeat of that.

 

[TigerPort]

I'd re-emphasise my first point, looking at our draw.

We also get Freo, Brisbane and Geelong at the G. These results will show where we are at imo.

Everyone is miles behind Melbourne, but it's a third of the season through. We haven't beaten anyone above us, but I think we've given Melbourne their sternest challenge of the season.

Finally, if you're attitude is premiership or bust, it doesn't leave a heap of opportunity to enjoy footy. We've been fortunate recently we capitalised on our strong list and won 3. I'd rather we persist with always trying to compete (regardless of where we finish on the ladder). That's how you build a winning mentality.

Well technically we beat Collingwood who were above us prior to the game

 

[ceehook2]

For mine, it’s the premiership or bust. If we’re not contenders, we’re rebuilding. Finishing 7th or 8th is pointless.

We are miles behind Melbourne atm. We wouldn't beat Brisbane or Freo on form atm. That’s not to say we can’t catch up, but its already starting to look like there is only one spot up for grabs in the top 4.

For all we know, this year could be Melbourne’s 2018. But we haven’t beaten anyone above us at this stage. That not too dissimilar to 2021 when we all thought we would eventually make a run for the flag. we didn't. Come back to me when we’ve taken a scalp or 2.

we just have to stay on our feet , who knows what might happen
and it teaches the right mind set to our young guys

 

[RoarEmotion]

We haven’t had a fit dusty and one of Prestia / cotch for months. It’s a different team when you swap our seventh and eight best mids for those two.


We need to have a good run with injury and probably have Melbourne lose one of Gawn/Petracca/Oliver and would be 50:50 imo.

 

[Ian4]

We haven’t had a fit dusty and one of Prestia / cotch for months. It’s a different team when you swap our seventh and eight best mids for those two.


We need to have a good run with injury and probably have Melbourne lose one of Gawn/Petracca/Oliver and would be 50:50 imo.

agree. Melbourne are sitting pretty now, but can they recover from the loss of someone like an Alex Rance doing an ACL?

 

[spook]

We also get Freo, Brisbane and Geelong at the G.

Freo is at Marvel, unfortunately.

For mine, it’s the premiership or bust. If we’re not contenders, we’re rebuilding. Finishing 7th or 8th is pointless.

We're trying to rebuild while contending. Finishing 12th instead of 7th gets us a better draft pick, sure. That got us Gibcus last year. But we're a live chance this year. Yes, we need to improve, but we already have improved since the Melbourne loss, and we have further improvement in us.

 

[Brodders17]

You say it as if this is a common occurance. We won’t see that again for another 50 years.



Premiership or bust because we have a raft of premiership players nearing the end. I don't wanna see us fall off the cliff like West Coast are currently doing or Adelaide did after 2017 or what Geelong are about to do. If we are not contenders this year, I wanna make sure we are contenders again within 3-4 years. It took us 8 years from bottoming out in 2009 to winning the flag. Lets try to avoid a repeat of that.

some might say we bottomed out in 2016. plenty would have said we should stay down the bottom of the ladder in 2017, some probably said we should play the kids in 2019, after the pies "went past us" in the prelim.

the idea of premiership or bust is nonsense.
Yes there are teams like North and the Hawks who need to take a long term view, and the Weagles now, but pretty much all other clubs should be aiming to win the flag this year, because you never know. some teams are absolute rubbish, but not many. if things go right for any of the others, and wrong for say the Dees and Lions, a premiership can still be 'stolen' by someone unexpected.

 

[MD Jazz]

For mine, it’s the premiership or bust. If we’re not contenders, we’re rebuilding. Finishing 7th or 8th is pointless.

We are miles behind Melbourne atm. We wouldn't beat Brisbane or Freo on form atm. That’s not to say we can’t catch up, but its already starting to look like there is only one spot up for grabs in the top 4.

For all we know, this year could be Melbourne’s 2018. But we haven’t beaten anyone above us at this stage. That not too dissimilar to 2021 when we all thought we would eventually make a run for the flag. we didn't. Come back to me when we’ve taken a scalp or 2.

Miles behind Melb- not necessarily. If we were playing Bris or Freo this week I'd be confident.

We simply haven't had our best side on the park for over 12 months. This Saturday will possibly be the best side we can field. At their peak - no. But if we can manage to keep most of them on the park the rest of the year we should secure a Top 4 spot. Then its up to a bit of luck with the draw/injury in the finals.

The next 3 weeks before the bye will decide if we are top 4 material. I expect us to win the next 3 and be under 10/1 for the flag come the bye. We were 1.53 this week against the Hawks when betting opened, we are 1.40 now. That's smart money. Back us now at 16/1 and lay us at 10/1 in 3 weeks time if you want to make some easy $$. Or wait until we beat PA & Carl on consecutive Thurs nights. We will be 9-4 and about 6/1.

 

[St Kevin]

some might say we bottomed out in 2016. plenty would have said we should stay down the bottom of the ladder in 2017, some probably said we should play the kids in 2019, after the pies "went past us" in the prelim.

the idea of premiership or bust is nonsense.
Yes there are teams like North and the Hawks who need to take a long term view, and the Weagles now, but pretty much all other clubs should be aiming to win the flag this year, because you never know. some teams are absolute rubbish, but not many. if things go right for any of the others, and wrong for say the Dees and Lions, a premiership can still be 'stolen' by someone unexpected.

The bolded is exactly right. When you have the draw that we have, and you still have the players we have (despite the age of some), this is a season you play to the final siren. There's a big middle class of teams, none of who I would say are clearly better than we are.

 

[TigerForce]

The next 3 weeks before the bye will decide if we are top 4 material. I expect us to win the next 3 and be under 10/1 for the flag come the bye. We were 1.53 this week against the Hawks when betting opened, we are 1.40 now. That's smart money. Back us now at 16/1 and lay us at 10/1 in 3 weeks time if you want to make some easy $$. Or wait until we beat PA & Carl on consecutive Thurs nights. We will be 9-4 and about 6/1.

Not too far away now. A few lessons to be taught. Where's that Farnsy/LRB song again....

 

[lamb22]

Yes

I'm getting a whiff of tigers 2018 for Melbourne.

 

[Tiger Rob]

It took us 8 years from bottoming out in 2009 to winning the flag. Lets try to avoid a repeat of that.

I’d take 8 over 30 plus. But I get your point.