A nightmare run home?

[bandwagon]

The Age this weekend made much of the Demons tough last 8 matches. However I reckon ours would have to be far tougher:

v. Top 8 teams Swans - 6 Melb - 3
v. Interstate Swans - 4 Melb - 3 (plus a trip to Geelong)
v. Bottom 4 Swans - 2 Melb - 1

We have arguably the toughest last 8 matches from any team in the 8, but I've seen people on RWO say that we have the easiest draw... am I missing something here??

[NMWBloods]

I reckon ours is much the same as Melbourne's.

[barry]

Re: A nightmare run home?

Originally posted by bandwagon
The Age this weekend made much of the Demons tough last 8 matches. However I reckon ours would have to be far tougher:

v. Top 8 teams Swans - 6 Melb - 3
v. Interstate Swans - 4 Melb - 3 (plus a trip to Geelong)
v. Bottom 4 Swans - 2 Melb - 1

We have arguably the toughest last 8 matches from any team in the 8, but I've seen people on RWO say that we have the easiest draw... am I missing something here??

Based on last years ladder, when you looked at our draw it looked like a gift. One trip to Perth, one to Brisbane, one to Adelaide (against the wooden spooner to be crows!). Freo, WC and Port at home.
Soft away games against the tigers and Melbourne (odd year).

Unfortunetly, the landscape changed this year against us.

[Xie Shan]

It is a really tough draw - the next three weeks will probably be the toughest. However, on form I'm a lot more confident about our chances against Melbourne and WC. Maybe I'm just looking for things to pin my hopes on, but it was encouraging to see WC fall over the line against the Kangaroos away, and the SCG game will be a tougher road trip for them.

Adelaide I'm marking down as a loss - not just our terrible record there, but their superior skills especially through the midfield have always troubled us.

[cruiser]

We have a good recent record against the Dee's in Melbourne (having won the last 3) and a very good record at home against West Coast (I cant remember the last time they won here) . I think Sydney can win both. I cant remember the last time we beat the Crows in Adelaide. All games in August are winnable even though three of the four could be very tough. The game against Brisbane at the Olympic Stadium could be the blockbuster that was hoped for when it was scheduled.

If we're good enough, we'll win enough matches to take a top four position.

[Dave]

Originally posted by cruiser

If we're good enough, we'll win enough matches to take a top four position.

That's right. If you can't prove yourself leading up to the finals, then we're not going to be there for long anyway.

[liz]

Originally posted by cruiser
a very good record at home against West Coast (I cant remember the last time they won here).

We played them the week before Plugger beat Coventry's record in 1999. He had kicked a bag the week before at Kardinia and was suddenly on the brink of the record. A lot of the focus in that game (at least for the media) was whether he'd make it or not.

IIRC he kicked 2 or 3, playing on Ashley McIntosh, and the Swans petered out to a disappointing, "soft" loss to the Eagles.

Don't think they've beaten us here since. In 2001 I took a Russian friend to his first ever AFL game which was a wet stoush against the Toasters that we had won by half-time.

(Not a great "first game" to take someone to, but he did come back to another game the following year and brought his 9 year old daughter with him, so I guess he must have enjoyed it!)

I cant remember the last time we beat the Crows in Adelaide.

Can't remember exactly what year (maybe 2001) but Ball played a blinder and we beat them comfortably after a terrible start.

[cruiser]

I do remember that the goal umpire robbed us of victory against the Crows in Adelaide in 2003, awarding a late goal that was actually a point to Wayne Carey to give the Crows the lead and shortly afterwards, the game.

[Jeffers1984]

It might be a nightmare run, but what is the point of making the finals if we can't beat these teams? I don't know about you guys but i will love this challenge coming up in our next 5 weeks.

If we get through it, we have arrived.
If we can't well, tough ****, we are still pretenders.

[ScottH]

Our home ground advantage is far greater than the Dees, who share theirs.

[Xie Shan]

Originally posted by ScottH
Our home ground advantage is far greater than the Dees, who share theirs.

True - they're no certainty to even have a substantial home crowd advantage against us, judging by the number of Swans fans v Demons fans who've turned up to the games in Melbourne the last couple of years

[cruiser]

Originally posted by Jeffers1984
It might be a nightmare run, but what is the point of making the finals if we can't beat these teams? I don't know about you guys but i will love this challenge coming up in our next 5 weeks.

If we get through it, we have arrived.
If we can't well, tough ****, we are still pretenders.

I totally agree. I'm really looking forward to the challenge and if the Swans win enough games, the enjoyment that I'll get out of it.

[DST]

Our run home seems to be as hard as most of the other team vying for a spot in the 8.

We only need to win 3 more to make the 8 and 5 wins would get us a top 4 berth.

We have three remaining games at home, Wet Toast, Lions & Kanga's. All hard but we will start favourite becuase they are at home.

Of the four away games only one of them looks to be a certain loss (against the Crows) with the other 3 all winnable in the Demons, Bombers and Hawks.

Win all three at home and beat the Bombers & Hawks we will finish top 4.

Lose one at home and the result of the Demons game will be the clincher for top 4.

Lose a couple at home and we will be on the cusp of the 8.

DST

[cruiser]

Originally posted by DST
Our run home seems to be as hard as most of the other team vying for a spot in the 8.

The Crows have a fairly easy run home. However, that may be their undoing come September.

[NMWBloods]

Kangaroos have the best run home.

Haw (TD)
Adel (TD)
Port (Manuka)
Coll (TD)
St Kilda (TD)
Swans (SCG)
Carlton (TD)

Minimal travel and mainly winnable games.