2011 predictions...

[Dr Spaceman]

Gamble will go all Craig O'Brien on our arse and kick 40 plus...hope or prediction? Not sure. But happy to put the vibes out there.

Then piss off to the Swans

[Thinline]

Gamble will go all Craig O'Brien on our arse and kick 40 plus...hope or prediction? Not sure. But happy to put the vibes out there.

Then piss off to the Swans

If he's the missing link I don't care if he pisses off to Mars...

[plugger66]

Gamble will go all Craig O'Brien on our arse and kick 40 plus...hope or prediction? Not sure. But happy to put the vibes out there.

Then piss off to the Swans

It only thinlines opinion. Why should he piss off to the swans. He seems like a genuine supporter.

[Dr Spaceman]

Gamble will go all Craig O'Brien on our arse and kick 40 plus...hope or prediction? Not sure. But happy to put the vibes out there.

Then piss off to the Swans

It only thinlines opinion. Why should he piss off to the swans. He seems like a genuine supporter.

[Bardon Saint]

Saints def Pies in GF
Saints a step ahead with 'new' forward line structure
Alistair Smith plays 4 games and does very well as a tagger to replace Jones who is out injured (quad).
Goddard for Brownlow
Lenny for Norm
Gamble to kick 40+ goals
Nick to be considered best CHF ever by years end.
Kosi considered top 5 ruckman in league by years end. He steadily increased his time there throughout the year. Stanley or Lynch step up to assume a FF position. Between them they play 2nd half of the season averaging 1.8 goals per game.
Steven and Armitage to get more game time and will have an impact. Plenty of goals between them, ferocious tackling and can find the ball. Qs asked why they were not in the team earlier.
Raph Clarke reminds everyone why he is an important Saints player. He will make other teams take notice. He slowly gets into the season before gaining enough confidence to have a genuine impact.
Raphs presence has freed up Gilbert who is difficult to match up on. He is buddy-esque without the kicking ability but will work on this greatly throughout the pre-season. He will kick 36.34 for the season.
Gwilt will become an All Australian defender full stop.
Tommy Walsh will make his debut also aiming for the FF position left vacant by Kosi. He plays one game (get one goal) but gets a minor injury and is out for the following week. Lynch takes his place the following week and plays well enough to hold the position.
Qs start being asked if Nick Winmar was selected purely on his football ability and not on his name. He has a quiet first half of the year for Sandy before being named in the best for Sandy twice in the last 4 matches.
Ross loses his patience with Peake's kicking and gives Cripps a shot. He shows that he has a bright footballing future.
There will be no serious injuries for any player.

Just a bit of fluff with a few truths?? based on my opinion only.

[#1GILL]

Could anyone bring up one of these from this time last year?

It would be an interesting read.

[DK27]

Just saw my post from last year on the improvers and smokeys thread.

I may as well stick with what I said last year. SEE BELOW.


Just looking at who has not been mentioned who has a big upside.

Tom Simpkin could do a Zac Dawson and really suprise if injury hits and he is given a chance. He is a tallish half back who has pace and makes lots of contests. Ross likes these traits. He needs to inprove his decision making and disposal a bit. You would have said the same about Zac at the start of 2009! He has similar strengths and weaknesses as Miles but is taller. Certainly possible.

The other who may surprise is Alistair Smith. The forgotten Smith. He is a tall running midfielder with a beautiful left foot. Has had Osteiotis Pubis so has played off the bench a bit for Sandy last year. Good build, quick (when fit) and really top shelf user of the ball. Just needs to get his body right (like the other Smith) and could be really good. Can play as a running half back which is the likely spot he would start, again, only if we have injuries to our best team which didn't really happen last year.

I have doubts as to whether Armitage will ever be quick enough to play the modern game well enough. He has the same problem as Luke Ball. Looks great when he goes and gets the ball or tackles in packs but looks bad when his opponent is running forward with the ball and trails behind. Luke Ball was on Joel Selwood in the epic game last year and got creamed. That is when Ross lost faith in Luke and his worth to the team. Armo has the same problem. He will surely be played 2010 if fit and I hope he emerges as a star, but I have doubts.

I WOULD LIKE TO ADD CRIPPS TO SIMPKIN AND SMITH AS MY PICKS FOR BREAKS OUT YEARS. STILL HAVE DOUBTS ABOUT ARMITAGE.

[St. Luke]

I've got a good vibe about next season. I think with our new "attacking approach" (which naturally will have to be seen to be believed) will hold us in good stead! We'll certainly be a Top 4 threat again, but deep down I sincerely believe we can make the GF again....the result of that though is still very sketchy.

[st_Trav_ofWA]

prediction ...

Cripps will play in the NAB cup and tear it up he wont get picked in round one replaced by Mini and the forum will question what RL is doing !!!

round 9 Stanley will kick 6 goals in the VFL and get picked in the seniors will hold his place in the team remainder of the year ..

Bakes will get suspended again basically pulling the curtain on his career ..

Gardi will play the first 6 games before form/injurys sees him replaced by Big Mac as #1 ruck

Sean Dempster will fall of the face of the earth prompting calls to find out if he has been taken by aliens

Bj will be red hot favorite for the Brownlow until he plays Freo when he gets 3 weeks for snoting Ballantyne

Roo will kick 7 in a game prompting calls that he is better than Carey ...he kicks 1 goal 6 the next week ......

Kosi finally gets droped to the VFL ... he kick 12 goals as a ruckman and gets reported for running into the goal umpire

Raph makes a long awaited comeback ... 2 weeks later he only gets 10 possies and there are calls to trade him ...

Farren Ray takes mark of the year kicks 3 goals gathers 10 tackles bumps *random player* so hard hes taken from the ground ... RogerWA still reckons he's soft and should change his name to Ray Farren..

someone posts somthing negative about the afl/umpires .. plugger66 posts that they should take off their rose coloured glasses ... stinger tells him to FLOWER OFF.....

saints win second flag ... Robert Harvey refuses to let anyone else touch the cup in a lap of honour that lasts for 12 km!!... no one can catch him

[SainterK]

prediction ...

someone posts somthing negative about the afl/umpires .. plugger66 posts that they should take off their rose coloured glasses ... stinger tells him to FLOWER OFF.....

Now come on St Trav, these are supposed to be big calls.

[st_Trav_ofWA]

prediction ...

someone posts somthing negative about the afl/umpires .. plugger66 posts that they should take off their rose coloured glasses ... stinger tells him to FLOWER OFF.....

Now come on St Trav, these are supposed to be big calls.

true not much of a prediction ... kinda like predicting the sun will rise in the morning ...

[Bernard Shakey]

I can't argue with any of your predictions st_Trav. Looks like we might have a good year.

[Con Gorozidis]

Just saw my post from last year on the improvers and smokeys thread.

I may as well stick with what I said last year. SEE BELOW.


Just looking at who has not been mentioned who has a big upside.

Tom Simpkin could do a Zac Dawson and really suprise if injury hits and he is given a chance. He is a tallish half back who has pace and makes lots of contests. Ross likes these traits. He needs to inprove his decision making and disposal a bit. You would have said the same about Zac at the start of 2009! He has similar strengths and weaknesses as Miles but is taller. Certainly possible.

The other who may surprise is Alistair Smith. The forgotten Smith. He is a tall running midfielder with a beautiful left foot. Has had Osteiotis Pubis so has played off the bench a bit for Sandy last year. Good build, quick (when fit) and really top shelf user of the ball. Just needs to get his body right (like the other Smith) and could be really good. Can play as a running half back which is the likely spot he would start, again, only if we have injuries to our best team which didn't really happen last year.

I have doubts as to whether Armitage will ever be quick enough to play the modern game well enough. He has the same problem as Luke Ball. Looks great when he goes and gets the ball or tackles in packs but looks bad when his opponent is running forward with the ball and trails behind. Luke Ball was on Joel Selwood in the epic game last year and got creamed. That is when Ross lost faith in Luke and his worth to the team. Armo has the same problem. He will surely be played 2010 if fit and I hope he emerges as a star, but I have doubts.

I WOULD LIKE TO ADD CRIPPS TO SIMPKIN AND SMITH AS MY PICKS FOR BREAKS OUT YEARS. STILL HAVE DOUBTS ABOUT ARMITAGE.

agree. smith and simpkin the picks for me also.

i personally rate zac much higher than most (196cm athletic defenders who can kick and go fwd - they dont grow on trees).

as for stanely - amazes me people here want him to play full forward. full fwd is always only ever mastered by older mature players with big rigs and the ability to muscle up. its a wrecking yard for youngsters. as good as roo and his engine is i firmly believe he is better from an overall team perspective at f fwd. let stanley roam at chf like buddy did when he was young.

ablett sr, dunstall, hall, fev, plugger, lloydy, a lynch. - all beasts. roo needs to take the mature position of ff now.

buddy kicked a lot of goals as a young mobile stallion from chf. lets give stanley the same freedom please.

[jroberts:)]

Saints to finish 1st on 20 wins and 2 loses
Pies to slightly collapse and finish 2nd! Were a surprise package last year and over confidence will get the better of them, cutting them short!

Grandfinal = St Kilda VS Collingwood/Hawthorn/Fremantle

1- St kilda
2-Collingwood
3- Hawthorn
4- Geelong
5- Western Bulldogs
6- Fremantle
7- Bombers
8- Melbourne

Adelaide will have a better season but may just miss out on a spot in the top 8!

[st_Trav_ofWA]

my ladder prediction .....

1. Collingwood - they were awsome last year and from their drafting/trade cant see them going backwards

2. Freo - could be way off the mark with this one as they could easily imploade like the last time they made the finals but i think that this new Freo are a differant breed to the old shockers

3. St Kilda - we made top 4 without Roo for most of last year even if the so called "mental scars" exist i cant see us missing the top 4 unless somthing dire happens

4. Western Bulldogs - now that they have cleared out johnno eagleton aker and Hahn they should be carrying less passengers

5. Geelong - a team that still boasts the likes of Bartel ,Selwood, Stevie J and Chappy will still be hard to beat but with Ling getting slower Scarlett less effective and Mooney still getting a game add to the fact of a first year coach after many years with a successful coach a slide is bound to happen

6. Carlton - Judd , Murphy , Gibbs , Kruzer .... if they can narrow the gap from their best and their worst they will go a long way .. if not Ratten will be sweating hard

7. Hawthorn - their list has holes in it but they seem to not care about adressing those holes and sem to concentrate on boosting areas that dont really need boosting ... Hodge may do a Gabblet and have everyone asking will he wont he ...

8. Melbourne - the Dees will scrape into the finals with a enthusiastic young bunch who come finals time will be over awed by the increase in pressure


9. Swans - how much will Longmire change the game plan ? if he tinkers with it too much the team dont have the cattle to have a big impact if he keeps it pretty much the same as Roosey with a few slight changes then they wont get blown away but they wont win enough to play finals again

10. Richmond - a good start is a must will run out of steam come the second half of the year , Cousin Jack will find it harder this year now he has that expectation on him , but Hardwick will bring a harder more agressive tigers team to the crap they have served up the last few years


11. Gold Coast - will win a few games at home and maybe the odd game here and there but will mostly be an also ran will take great pleasure in finishing higher than the Lions

12. North - will struggle to get crowds , will be mocked for finishing lower than the gold coast , but they got a decent list of kids and on that alone they should win a few games

13. Essendon - no matter how hard you try you can never polish a turd.... Hird will be spewing he inherited this list and will be looking to off load a heap of them by years end with Thompsons recomendation... will be their backwards step before attacking the finals in a few years time

14. Adelaide - Craig hasnt got the old guard to help out this year will need some of the kids to really step up and lead the team , Tippet needs to make that next step to become a consistantly good player , hoping Tambling will be the answer will be an error

15. West Coast - will be much better then last year (but honestly is it possible to be worse??) , Will Kerr play more then 4 games? will Embly still be in the starting 22? will Masten live up to his hype? will the palm tree do somthing other than jump really high ??

16. Brisbane - Brown , Black & Power struggled to pull the team through the season last year this year they are older slower and missing some helpers... bets on who gets sacked first Voss or Fev ???

17. Port - no money , rubbish list , dud coach, might beat the crows in a showdown but that will be the only highlight

[stinger]

prediction ...

someone posts somthing negative about the afl/umpires .. plugger66 posts that they should take off their rose coloured glasses ... stinger tells him to FLOWER OFF.....

Now come on St Trav, these are supposed to be big calls.

yeah...i agree...that' one's a given....

[saintdooley]

Kosi will be better next year

well i dont think its possible for him to get any worse

[BangersBack]

Kosi will be better next year

well i dont think its possible for him to get any worse

Agree.

Kosi = hack.