Ladder - almost perfect

[treespirit]

Bombers, Blues and Magpies at the bottom. Hawks & Saints outside the 8.

Put the Swans on top and swap Adelaide for the Doggies and the ladder would be perfect.

[barry]

The current ladder is a true reflection of where we are. Perhaps with a slightly stronger % if we had kicked straight.
Yesterday we were saved by straight kicking, while we lost one earlier through bad kicking (Roos?).

So we are back to our old familiar comfort zone of 6th. Good, but not a challanger.

But..... we are only a game and % off 4th, and over the next few weeks if we really are going to go any good this year, could barge into the top 4. These next few weeks define our season.

[NMWBloods]

I don't think we even look like being a challenger at this stage. Haven't been impressive at virtually anu stage this year.

But we are well placed and it is quite an even comp, so there are fantastic opportunities for us. We'll see what the guys can do with that!

[barry]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
I don't think we even look like being a challenger at this stage. Haven't been impressive at virtually anu stage this year.

But we are well placed and it is quite an even comp, so there are fantastic opportunities for us. We'll see what the guys can do with that!

I agree. But we've managed to drag ourselves kicking and screaming up froma a complete mess to a position where we can begin to mount a challange. We should be very happy with the last few weeks.

[Glenn]

After the Melb,Adelaide,and Wet Toast debacles a hard fought win over Essendon then getting on top of Port and now the Western Bulldogs, Sydney seem to be getting a bit of confidence back, which showed in patches yesterday.
Next week vs the aints will give us a good indication of where Sydney are at the moment IMHO.

[Sean]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
I don't think we even look like being a challenger at this stage. Haven't been impressive at virtually anu stage this year.

I agree completely. I was thinking yesterday that we will be bloody unstoppable if we ever actually play well this season. It hasn't happened yet but I'm still hopeful.

The old cliche that winning whilst playing badly is a good thing is true but some wins whilst playing well would be nice right now.

[punter257]

well thats what hopefully the next few weeks will bring

we have some confidence after a few wins, now its time to up the ante and dominate

[ScottH]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
I don't think we even look like being a challenger at this stage. Haven't been impressive at virtually anu stage this year.

But we are well placed and it is quite an even comp, so there are fantastic opportunities for us. We'll see what the guys can do with that!

And so ends the postive post streak of NMW!!!!

[Tuesday]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
I don't think we even look like being a challenger at this stage.

Well, I am going on the record now and saying that this is it! To quote The Castle once again, "its the vibe". So much can and will happen in a season, but I am confident that things will work out for us. I know it's not much to simply say that we will stand victorious in September, but I have a vibe. And so there you go.

"Who knows where thoughts come from? They just appear."
--Lucas, Empire Records

[Wil]

Originally posted by barry
The current ladder is a true reflection of where we are. Perhaps with a slightly stronger % if we had kicked straight.
Yesterday we were saved by straight kicking, while we lost one earlier through bad kicking (Roos?).

Don't think so. We have had 3 home games in a row - unthinkable for the league to allow that! Lets see how the next two to four weeks pan out for us.

[Mike_B]

Originally posted by Wil
Don't think so. We have had 3 home games in a row - unthinkable for the league to allow that! Lets see how the next two to four weeks pan out for us.

Officially we had 2 in a row....3 in Sydney. But look at Richmond, this weekend was the first time they had played outside Melbourne this year.

[Schneiderman]

I dont think St Kilda will show us much at all. I am confident of a win, but if we lose, it can be put down to the "one step back" thinking. The Saints are copping an absolute pasting this week in the media, and still can play the Dome bloody well.

The true litmus test will be how we do against Richmond and Geelong (Rnds 14 & 15). By that stage we could well be 8 or 9 wins on the board (Saints, Carlton, Freo at home and Collingwood at home are all very winnable). That would put us very close to, if not in, the top 4, and virtually guaranteed a finals berth.

But two losses there could really dent our confidence and probably make it very hard for us to win in the finals even if we make it.

[liz]

There's been little in the football we've played to suggest we can challenge but premierships are won in September, not April-May. This time a year ago everyone was wondering if the Saints were beatable. Not only were they, but they found it progressively hard to keep up their form. Yes, they did perform well in finals but certainly weren't the montys that short-memoried people thought they might be.

Brisbane were average in the first year of their premiership run before coming with a huge run towards the end.

On the otherhand, Essendon really were close to unstoppable in their recent premiership team (though disintegrated very quickly afterwards).

I'm not ready to make a prediction yet about how we'll go for the rest of the year but I take encouragement from the fact we're winning while playing mediocre, patchy football. And while our injuries haven't run as deep as, say, the Saints', we know that we have some very experienced and classy players to come back in.

We still have a pretty experienced team out there compared to many (most?) other clubs yet have a strong smattering of players with under 50 games experience who are making really important contributions. Top end depth is still thin but at the bottom end I still reckon its OK - ie if the likes of Moore, Dempster, McVeigh, Bevan tire I believe that the likes of Malceski, Schmidt, Willoughby, Schneider are capable of coming in and doing their bit. And that conclusion is not based on hype, or reading about them, but seeing a fair amount of them running around in the twos.

We have a good smattering of players playing well but haven't been reliant on the same two or three playing brilliantly each week. Compare that to 2003 where Goodes - in particular - and often Hall were huge reasons why we won some games. Those two are playing good football but not quite at the level of previous years. Bolton, Kirk and Barry have been ultra-consistent and there's no reason to believe they will drop off. Crouch and Kennelly are capable of more than they've delivered thus far, as is O'Keefe, so there is genuine scope for improvement without relying on someone new to jump up.

I realise it is possible to come up with as many reasons for why we might fall away but we're in a pretty reasonable position to consolidate a place in the top 8, and I think a top 4 position certainly isn't out of the question if more things go right than wrong.

[Matt79]

Good post Liz.

This Saturday night will provide a great insight to where we are at. The Saints are being stung in the media (like prior to the semi final last year after they were smashed by Brisbane) and you know on their own dung hill, they'll come out swinging.

Great opportunity for us to indeed cement a place, put an 8 point buffer between us and eigth.

You'd imagine there would be a huge crowd at the dome.

We are flying down Friday morning for our footy weekend...
Melbourne V Richmond Fri night,
Hawks V Collingwood Sat arvo and then the biggie...
Sydney v Saints on Sat night

Cannot wait...should be a ripper!!

[barry]

Originally posted by liz
I realise it is possible to come up with as many reasons for why we might fall away but we're in a pretty reasonable position to consolidate a place in the top 8, and I think a top 4 position certainly isn't out of the question if more things go right than wrong.

I doubt many here think we will fall away at all. Its another bottom of the 8 finish that scares me and many others.
Realistically I think we need to finish top 2 (or top 4 + luck) to win a flag. To get there from where we are at the moment means we need to win nearly every game from here on in. No luxury of having time to play ouselves into form.
Finish top 2, or finish bottom 2. The rest is really the new "last".