Most improved teams of 08

[ben_fff]

Who do you think will improve next year? I can see us, Brisbane and Freo being the big movers next year and sides like the Roo's, Hawks, Swans, Crows as the teams that level out and drop back.

1. Geelong

2. St. Kilda (it'll all come down to injuries and fitness, we proved how good or team can be in the second half of the year but with our best 22 on the park we are an awesome side)

3. Collingwood (massive scope for improvement, they'll have to start winning more games at the end of next season rather than falling away like they have over the last two, should have finished top 2 this year with the run they had in the second half of the year but blew it, played some great finals football and with some good youth could take the next step.)

4. Port Adelaide (great season and should be in the hunt once again.)

5. Brisbane (how much impact can Bradshaw have? will he play up forward? those are the two main questions I have, they could be a very very good side come next season)

6. Fremantle (they have a quality list and when they play well they are simply awesome, too inconsistant but I still see them as a top 8 side.)

7. West Coast (The loss of 2 of the leagues best midfielders will set them back but they did a good job without them in games late in the season (judd was injured... I think Cousins was rested from hamstring pains?) I still see them having problems with their forward line, they really need another forward who can kick around 50 goals.)

8. Hawks (blew a chance at the top 4 this year then won a game against a undermanned Adelaide in the first final, if Buddy Franklin stops playing as a 7 foot crummer and actually starts taking contested marks they'll be a hard team to beat but at the moment they're just too green.)

9. Sydney (everyone always writes them off but they always end up in the hunt, a fully fit Hall could see them back in the mix next september but I really do see them as playing more outdated football)

10. Kangaroo's (Horrible finals series for the Roo's and I just don't think they'll be in the mix next year.)

11. Adelaide (too old, best avenues to goal have either left or are coming back from serious injuries, they need more blokes like Knights to come good.)

12. Western Bulldogs (piss weak side with no quality KPP's, they really struggle to compete against the hard ball winners.)

13. Melbourne (Melbourne have the players to be a competetive side but it seems that they've signalled a mini rebuilding.)

14. Carlton (Judd will make some impact but they need more than just Fev in the forward line, it would also help if they had a backline, Nick Stevens coming back from a season ending injury will be interesting.)

15. Essendon (Completely overrated side half way through the season, alot of work to do.)

16. Richmond (wow, I can't believe Richmond wouldn't chase Welsh, Pettifer, Richo, Brown and Welsh looks like a pretty good forward line to me however the Tigers just don't have enough quality through the midfield and they need a full back.)

[Armoooo]

1.Geelong (Don't see anyone overtaking them, we can only hope they have the biggest premiership hangover ever!!)
2.Hawthorn (Good young guns, strong midfield, great forwardline, god help us if they somehow find a gun FB)
3.St.Kilda (Great list, Great recruits, with any luck with injuries will be serious contenders)
4.West Coast (They love the adversity, they play their best footy when the whole country is against them, they were playing good footy without Judd and Cousins, they could have found a 40+ goal kicker in Kennedy aswell as some very high draft picks, bright future for the eagles.
5.Port (Will be a solid and VERY competative team but I don't see them going too far)
6.Collingwood (Some great young guns, however no backline whatsoever and still a very sus ruck dept.)
7.Brisbane (With Jonathan Brown being fed my Black, Power, Lappin, Johnstone, Stiller, Rischetelli and Adcock anything in the bottom 8 is unacceptable.)
8.Kangaroos (A so-so team that were playing for each other all year, I doubt they will be able to keep up that level of intensity for another season.)
9.Fremantle (Some good players but a crap club)
10.Carlton ( Overrated midfield, one forward, no backman, no ruckman, we will see how good Judd really is when he doesn't have Cox placing the ball in his lap non stop)
11.Sydney (Too old, should be lower but Roos will still get the best out of his team)
12.Adelaide (Too old, lost some quality, relying too much on the likes of Goodwin and Edwards, unless Griffin, Van Berlo, Knights, Jericho and Reilly really step up these guys aren't doing much.)
13.Melbourne (They have a pretty good list, but too many of their players are fairweather players, will need some leadership shown by the likes of Nathan Jones, Brock Mclean etc.)
14.Essendon (Just look at their list)
15.Bulldogs (Too old, too little quality, relying on the same names they have been for 8 years, why on Earth do so many players want to come to this club??!?)
16.Richmond (Enough Said.)

[Beej]

I think Brisbane is just about ready for another tilt at the cup.

Matthews has freshened up their list nicely.

[Armoooo]

I think Brisbane is just about ready for another tilt at the cup.

Matthews has freshened up their list nicely.

Yeah I agree I just think they need one more year, get a bit of experience under Leuenberger and they will be dam near unstoppable...

[Oh When the Saints]

Coghlan
Johnson
Deledio
Foley

That's a bloody good starting 4. Their midfield is under-rated.

Tigers will win 7-8 next year IMO.


Adelaide, Essendon or Melbourne to finish last.

[Armoooo]

Coghlan
Johnson
Deledio
Foley

That's a bloody good starting 4. Their midfield is under-rated.

Tigers will win 7-8 next year IMO.


Adelaide, Essendon or Melbourne to finish last.

Coughlan - Out of it for 2 years now, will never be the same...
Johnson - Nothing special
Deledio - He is not a midfielder and never will be, his place is on the forward flank playing him anywhere else is just a waste of time.
Foley - Gun, future superstar!!

I don't think that midfield is capable of winning more than 5 games...
Simmonds is a great ruckman but he has been quite injury prone of late and is getting on in years....

Pattison is a a GOP, he is like josh Fraser but not as good in the ruck and nowhere near as good around the ground.

Unless one of their young/depth midfielders like Connors or Casserly step up aswell as picking up a gun in the draft they will severely struggle.

God help them if they pick up Guy Richards....

[st_Trav_ofWA]

points ill make

West Coast will suffer hardship with the likes of priddis and fletcher now having close attention payed to them by other coaches there weaker forward line will not cope without judd getting the ball to them quickly. they still will be around the mark and win more games then they lose but the dominace is over .

Brisbane will come of age the quallity younge blokes from the preivious era are nowthe hardend vetrens of the new era add some quallity kids in the last few years they will be back big time will be almost unstopable at the Gabba and will win a big chunk of their melb games

Geelong we all want them to have the hangover like westcoast but in all honesty the way they went about destroying port makes you think they wont will be in the top 5 teams again next year

Carlton may have got judd but after that the list falls away very sharply Fev will love getting the ball fed to him by judd but qustions will be can he kick enuff to allow for the tissue paper defence impact ? answer no by round 18 will be Tanking to get the next hottest draft prospect !

Kangas played with heart , grit and determination this year ..... No Archer, Move to the Gold Coast .... no Kangas.... will struggle to win games against most of the comp on spirit alone now they have no real leaders left

Freo got exposed for what they are this year , lazy frontrunners who expect to win games cause "someone else in the team will do somthing soon" attitude , will win most subi games still soft as butter in melb should make the finals but again will just make up numbers , Pavlich will again be hard to stop and the wife beater will still annoy , cant belive they are in this day and age of professionalism in sport allowing dingdong to train byhimself and fly down for games at the weekend

Essendon will be like nailing jelly to a tree now sheedys gone they will miss the flair they once had and will not enjoy the exposure its used to that sheeds would generate . prob the worst coaching job in the comp having the ghosts of sheedy in the change rooms and in the box . may just add a spoon to that large amounts of cups .

[mad saint guy]

I expect Brisbane to be the big improvers of 2008.

Their defence is now pretty solid. Merret has developed into a good full back and has good support from the likes of Adcock, Drummond, Copeland, Mills and Roe.

The midfield is awsome. Black, Power, Johnstone, Lappin, Sherman, Notting, Rischitelli, Selwood and Stiller make up one of the best midfields in the competition. With Charman, McDonald and Leuenberger tapping it down they will cause plenty of trouble.

Then their forward line is probably the best in the league.

With Jono Brown marking everything that is kicked to him, Bradshaw providing another good marking target, Brennan pulling goals out of his arse and Hooper and Corrie sweeping up the crumbs they should be a very high-scoring team.

They also have some qulality young players developing in the reserves. If they can keep most of their team on the park they should finish no lower than 4th in 2008.

[Quixote]

Brisbane and us to be the 2 biggest improvers

Some people are saying Fremantle but I think they'll finish 9th or lower

Reason = an average finish for what is actually an average footy team

Geelong strong again

Also WCE

Swans, Crows, see you in a few years

Richmond will have a good year and challenge for finals

The Dogs will get the spoon


You heard it here

[Oh When the Saints]

Totally agree re: Brisbane MSG. Good assessment.

[Ghost Like]

15.Bulldogs (Too old, too little quality, relying on the same names they have been for 8 years, why on Earth do so many players want to come to this club??!?)

No expectations, no pressure = good chance of getting a regular senior game in postion of choice and the player looking better than what he possibly is. IMO

[LTN16]

10.Carlton ( Overrated midfield, one forward, no backman, no ruckman, we will see how good Judd really is when he doesn't have Cox placing the ball in his lap non stop)

How can you say that Carlton's Midfield is overrated??

They have players such as Judd, Stevens, Carrazzo, Murphy, Scotland, Simpson, Walker and Gibbs. Thats not a bad Midfield IMO.

But I do agree with you about how Judd will go with no Cox.

Cain Ackland is no Dean Cox.

[mad saint guy]

They have players such as Judd, Stevens, Carrazzo, Murphy, Scotland, Simpson, Walker and Gibbs. Thats not a bad Midfield IMO.

Judd - Superstar when fit and supported by team mates. We'll see how he goes with a hint of OP and being surrounded by hacks
Stevens - Good when fit, but is ageing and coming back from a severe injury. Wouldn't be expecting too much from him
Carazzo - The master of vast quantities of crap. Can rack up 45 disposals and have absolutely no impact on the game
Murphy - Currently just an average backup midfielder
Scotland - Plays more at half back
Simpson - Good outside wingman
Walker - Decent tagger
Gibbs - Not up to AFL level yet

They still have a poor midfield and pathetic rucks.

[LTN16]

Murphy - Currently just an average backup midfielder

Your calling Mark Murphy an average backup midfielder

He is only 19 and was tagged every week by the opposition. You just wait and watch him next year when they have Judd and Stevens back in the Midfield. He was averaging 17.9 Disposals per game this year as there number 1 Midfielder, I would hate to think what he will be averaging next year..

[saintsRrising]

Lingo- thereabouts means that the club will finish at a similar position in 2008 to 2007.

1 Geelong - Will be thereabouts again. Have more young talent coming up such as Tomahawk and not real losses....as Blake should cover King who only really played the GF.

2 Port Adelaide - a GF berth was an over-achievement and so I don't expect them to be in the GF in 2008...but they will very competitive.

3 West Coast - losing Judd and Cousins would hurt any team. Plus off field turmoil is not good for any team. WC still have lots of talent though and will be competitive but with so much going on at the club I think they may slip slightly.

4 Kangaroos - Defied all predictions ....so who can predict the Kangaroos, but they are a great example of what true team spirit can achieve. I expect them to slip in 2008 though.


5 Hawthorn - will stay thereabouts but with lots of good young ripening talent.

6 Collingwood - The Pies certainly surprised me in 2008 and showed dividends from substantial player development. should be thereabouts in 2008.


7 Sydney - would seem to be on the slide.....

8 Adelaide - time to rebuild....will slide

9 St Kilda - should be a big improver (ah nothing like rose coloured glasses!!!)

10 Brisbane - should be solid improver. Matthews has been steadily rebuilding the Lions with a big turnover of rookies as he sifted for talent.

11 Fremantle - I would imagine that they will have better year in 2008 but will still struggle to make the 8.

12 Essendon - Thereabouts....but with the bottom group all improving the Dons may slide...perhaps even to the bottom.

13 Bulldogs - should improve in 2008 but would struggle to make the 8

14 Melbourne - I think Bailey will have some positive immediate effect, but that he will also be rebuilding the list. So I expect them to bounce around for a year or two. With a better injury run they will be more competitive....but if bailey decides he wants to turn his list over and test all his players out it may see they struggle to win games again.


15 Carlton - will go up...but not by much. Should go past the Dons though. have handy midfield now but not much of a backline or rucks.

16 Richmond - Well they will not be as bad as they were in 2007, but with the rest of the bottom group all improving except for Essendon they may still finish bottom despite being a better team in 2008. the Dons may grab the sppon though.




Overall I think 2008 is going to be a very hard year for any team to win games as i see the gap in general narrowing with most of the bottom group besides the Dons improving in competitiveness. The competitiveness of competition may well stop the bottom group from winning many games though.

The Swans and Crows look like being sliders...but with other teams pushing up the top 8 will be fiercely contested.

Winning a top 8 place in 2008 will require a lot of effort.

Geelong will remain a quality team....but I expect others to be providing more competition to them in 2008.



Footywise 2008 will be a ripper!!!!!!!!!

Exactly how well the Saints go will depend on many factors......not least of which will be how good the surgeons knife was on Ball and Gardiner.....but another KEY factor is how successful our development team has been with our younger players in Armo, Geary, Eddie.......as well more mature players such as Fiora and X who both still have chinks that need ironing out......and then whether Ross can get the best out of his 4 new more mature recruits and blend them in with the current team (though this does not mean all 4 playing in the best 22)..

[Armoooo]

10.Carlton ( Overrated midfield, one forward, no backman, no ruckman, we will see how good Judd really is when he doesn't have Cox placing the ball in his lap non stop)

How can you say that Carlton's Midfield is overrated??

They have players such as Judd, Stevens, Carrazzo, Murphy, Scotland, Simpson, Walker and Gibbs. Thats not a bad Midfield IMO.

But I do agree with you about how Judd will go with no Cox.

Cain Ackland is no Dean Cox.

.
Judd - Superstar, will hopefully become fully fit so we can see him at his best again.
Stevens - Great player, same as Judd hopefully he can come back
Murphy - Good, Future Great. He is very good but he still has a long way to go.
Scotland - Nothing special, ignore the stats and watch the game and you will see that he is no superstar.
Simpson - I really rate this guy, but on the forward flank.
Carazzo - Don't rate him, cheap possie after cheap possie, doesn't have enough impact
Walker - The guy has done nothing so far, what makes you think he will do anything now...
Gibbs - The biggest let down of '07 IMO, ofcourse he will imrpove but I don't see him ever becoming a superstar, solid back pocket at best...

That midfield would severely struggle against Brisbane's, Geelong's, Hawthorn's, Melbourne's (when on song), Port's, Our's when fit and the eagles...

Their forward line is acceptable but their backline is deplorable and there is no way IMO that their midfield/ forwardline are good enough to cancel out that defense...