Huns view on how many games we will win in 2019

[evertonfc]

Evertonfc has rightly punctured the pre-season hope.

Eeek. I do feel a bit bad. Please buy memberships, folks.

- We have a great draw for getting wins.
- The list profile is a year older; that's going to help us.
- Better assistant coaches (regardless of what you think of the senior coach).

God, I want wins, so many bloody wins. I want momentum. And excitement.

I hope so bloody badly that I'm wrong. We really can't afford another bad year on so many fronts.

Yet the scope for improvement of the teams above on the ladder - is greater than what we have.

I mean, Adelaide (2017 GF), WB (Premiers), Port (under-performers), North (momentum club with upside) and Essendon (two years of incredible trading plus a great 22) didn't even make the eight in 2018, with Fremantle and Brisbane sure to improve as a result of age profile and home ground advantage.

So we'd not only need to improve more than the top eight, we'd need to improve against that lot, too. We're entering an era of supreme competitiveness, heightened by the fact that a superlatively talented list (GWS) and a brilliant top-six player side (Geelong) aren't locks to make the eight.

Well....Geelong pretty quickly stamped themselves as locks to make the top 8, but the rest of that was fairly true. We couldn't improve faster than those teams above us.

However, those three things (great draw, list profile, better assistants) all did contribute to the wins we had.

And given our sadistic run with injuries, there was some silver lining: Marshall, Wilkie, Battle and Clark became genuine first-team players. Dunstan seems to have made the leap.

More games through younger players who may or may not make it.

All in all...in line with those fairly realistic expectations.

[samuraisaint]

I think we can return to a 50% w/l ratio in 2019 if we have some luck with injuries ... but a lot will depend on our top couple of midfielders remaining healthy.
We don't have depth and we don't have elite users of the ball in our midfield - and our recruiting is not addressing this area.

(Our recruiting is the area that's holding us back - we need to nail our recruiting/drafting from now on. There's a lot of catching up to do vs the teams that are nailing theirs.I mean we could've got our no.1 pick right, at least. We don't have the luxury to make these mistakes.
What do we expect - a coach that can wave his magic wand (no innuendo intended)?? No such coach exists - but good recruiters do, at other clubs).

The other thing is ...
Max King is obviously a longer-term prospect, and some of the mature players we have recruited may or may not make it - but other teams have drafted and recruited players that will have an immediate impact.

No way can we win 11 matches in 2019 Samoht. However, there is a lot of truth in what you are saying about us needing a lot of luck with injuries, and you are spot on that King is a longer-term prospect, as is Battle. I also 100% agree with you on that our mature age recruits will turn out to be a mixed bag, with some making it and some not.
We might win 8 or 9 games or around that figure, but guys like Phillips, Rice, Austin, Coffield, Clark, Battle, and Pierce must be played at the expense of the experienced guys who are not going to take us to the next level, and this will surely equate to fewer wins. If they don't develop these guys we are going to be very mediocre for a decade. And we've been mediocre for going on six or seven seasons already.

Well I got it mostly right, missing out on Phillips, Rice, Austin and Pierce getting more games though. A lot of things can change in a season though, can't they. This is only nine months ago, but the club has been basically turned upside down.

[axcellence]

Evertonfc has rightly punctured the pre-season hope.

Really, all the pre-season hype is:-

1. Ratten
2. Hanneberry
3. Weller isn’t there so can’t be picked
4. Well, if Richmond can do it, so can the saints
5. Beign draw means that saints can push for 8-10 wins.

So, Richmond was a good team with Dusty, Cotchin and Riewoldt in it. They had multiple finals and then had 1 bad year. They got some good players in for the top picks they got, recruited a Rioli and also got the bottom 6 draw to ease things in for 2017.

Saints are getting the same mercy draw like Richmond, so Saints can get to 8-11 wins (according to a lot of posters). Just speaks volumes to how much the list is stuffed and how ordinary the coach is.

I know 1 thing - you could always buy a ticket to see Riewoldt, but despite Hanneberry, there isn’t a Saints player worth buying a ticket for.

8-11 wins was on the money. And so was my dislike of the coach. The board just pushed it past the no finals scenario to get rid of the coach.

Still not sure about ticket worthy players - but Marshall and Clarke are eminently watchable now.

[Ghost Like]

I'll happily buy front row tix to watch Marshall & Clark. Get on board, that ticket will only get hotter.

[spert]

Well if we win the flag next year, I guess the headlines will read "we didn't see that coming!"