Must win games

**dendol** · 1 May 2005, 06:39 PM

i dont have any confidence that we can win any of those games.

**Thunder Shaker** · 1 May 2005, 06:45 PM

Re: Must win games

Originally posted by NMWBloods
The next 3 weeks are absolute must wins.

We play:

Essendon - TS
Port - SCG
WBulldogs - SCG

If we can't win all three of these surely at this point the season will be over. Even winning them would just put us back to an even level.

After that we have:

St Kilda - TD
Carlton - TD
Fremantle - SCG
Collingwood - TS

So, by rd 13, if we are serious about this season and Roos is going to turn it around we have fantastic potential to be 8-5.

This is an outstanding run for us and a great chance to improve, and would place us about 4th-6th on the ladder.

An excellent opportunity to see what the team, and the coach, are made of. You don't get many better chances than this (also with Essendon missing Hird and Bulldogs missing Darcy

Essendon: They should be beatable without Hird. I'm expecting Essendon to finish in the bottom four this year.

Port: They seem to be the classic case of the "Premiership Hangover" right now. We may win this given it's at the SCG but it's hard to be sure.

Bulldogs: They have improved this year, no doubt about it. I picked them as the side that's going to have "hot and cold" form this year. They will have their good days and their bad days. They will not be easy to beat.

St Kilda: Their form should be too good for us to beat them away.

Carlton: If this game was in Sydney I would say that we will beat them. They've not beaten us in Sydney since 1993. It's at the Dome tho, so they are a good chance to win at home.

Fremantle: One of our bogey sides. After their win over the Demons yesterday, they are playing like a side that's finals-bound.

Collingwood: They are a rabble right now. If they don't have Buckley, we should beat them comfortably.

I expect us to win against Essendon and Collingwood. The Saints will be too strong for us.

Games that can go either way are Port, Bulldogs, Carlton and Fremantle. It is these four games that will be an accurate barometer of where we're going this year. If we win all four, we will probably be 8-5 as NMW says. Lose all four and we'll likely be 4-9 after round 13 and looking at our lowest finish for 10 years (likely 13th).

I think we'll be 5-8 after round 13.

**Charlie** · 1 May 2005, 06:51 PM

I was going to post something similar.

We should win the next three. We'll lose to St Kilda. That will put us back at 5-5 which was more or less where I expected us to be before the start of the year.

The next two games after that are both 50/50 splits. We should be able to beat Freo at home - but then we should have been able to beat Adelaide at home. Carlton's a tough one to pick this far in advance - there's no real trend with them yet this year. We should beat Collingwood.

**Mike_B** · 1 May 2005, 07:25 PM

Of the 50-50 games, the game against the Dogs concerns me. They are getting far more from their mid-range players this year (Gilbee, Giansiracusa, Hahn, Robert Murphy) and have the ability to play a fast possession-style game, but can also play very direct if they want. Even though they don't have tall forwards (especially now with Darcy going down) they have a lot of mid-sized players who can kick goals.

**BonBon** · 1 May 2005, 07:52 PM

I remember last year when we played Bulldogs, we didn't even give them a spanking at our home ground.

We'd better win against the Dogs and Bombers. I am not confident with Port, but seeing that we're playing at home, we should use that chance to try and win.

Beating St Kilda at TD is a big no-no. I have no faith in that game! Once, St Kilda offered money to Geelong for Geelong to verse them at Telstra Dome but Geelong told Saints to get stuffed. Not looking forward to that match, will be big though.

Carlton - has to be a should-win. Glad we're playing them at TD, not Optus Oval because that ground is the pits.

Fremantle we should beat them. Their home ground, Subiaco, is the longest AFL ground and ours is the smallest, so we'd be used to it more. But I have noticed that other teams can adjust to our home ground measurements than we can to others.

I really would like to beat Collingwood. Since it's a split round, we'll have a weeks rest which will obviously be nice. And if we beat Freo, we'll have an extra week to get over our win if we're on a high. Last year when we played Pies, split round, the margin never got greater than 6pts, so considering if Pies have improved by late June, I'm not too sure about our chances but we certainly have to bloody improve. We're not even at an average level!

I am really looking forward to Round 10 and Round 13. Will Buckley be back?

**anne** · 1 May 2005, 08:11 PM

What is the point in scrounging a couple of wins? I would prefer the draft picks!

**ROK Lobster** · 1 May 2005, 08:14 PM

Originally posted by BonBon
I remember last year when we played Bulldogs, we didn't even give them a spanking at our home ground.

Hall gave Grant one to remember IIRC.

***NMWBloods*** · 1 May 2005, 08:18 PM

Originally posted by anne
What is the point in scrounging a couple of wins? I would prefer the draft picks!

What are we going to do with draft picks? We already have 4 top 10 draft picks for our midfield and yet we have just about the worst midfield in the competition.

**anne** · 1 May 2005, 08:21 PM

Pick some tall players to start with.

**ugg** · 1 May 2005, 09:03 PM

Originally posted by NMWBloods
What are we going to do with draft picks? We already have 4 top 10 draft picks for our midfield and yet we have just about the worst midfield in the competition.

Don't you know that having high draft picks will automatically solve all our problems? Along with the rule of playing all our kids at the same time, these are the two cornerstones of dragging a team out of a form slump.

**ROK Lobster** · 1 May 2005, 09:04 PM

The title of this thread says it all really.

**desredandwhite** · 1 May 2005, 10:42 PM

Originally posted by ROK Lobster
The title of this thread says it all really.

Well I've always said that our main problem is that we're not scoring enough points. Which way to the coaches' box please?

I guess the bright side (if you can call it that) is that we are playing badly for what I reckon is a decent team. Now maybe it's because I'm deluded, but if the side starts playing to its potential, then we have a chance to see out the year with SOME dignity.

As mentioned before in the thread here, we have a couple of winnable games coming up. Now call me short sighted if you will.. But I will always want to win EVERY SINGLE GAME WE PLAY. I'll be disappointed as hell for every loss, but I'm sure I'll get a bit of perspective for the losses AFTER the event....

**ScottH** · 2 May 2005, 06:03 AM

And who has said we have "the most formidable forward line" in the comp!!!!!!

What a Joke.

**JF_Bay22_SCG** · 2 May 2005, 07:35 AM

Re: Re: Must win games

Originally posted by Thunder Shaker
Essendon: They should be beatable without Hird. I'm expecting Essendon to finish in the bottom four this year.

Port: They seem to be the classic case of the "Premiership Hangover" right now. We may win this given it's at the SCG but it's hard to be sure.

Bulldogs: They have improved this year, no doubt about it. I picked them as the side that's going to have "hot and cold" form this year. They will have their good days and their bad days. They will not be easy to beat.

St Kilda: Their form should be too good for us to beat them away.

Weirdly I'm not as scared of Port and St Kilda as you think I would be. Port at the SCG just doesn't scare me. they have a poor record here, play the ground poorly, are the Premiers so are the 'Hunted' so to speak, and are a big team, meaning we will be pumped to beat them.

we just have to beat Essendon on Saturday night. Can't see it being a good match, but I don't care. I just want us to win. From there we can start taking stock.

JF

Must win games

Must win games

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