What would you prefer? In the 8 or out

[robamiee]

Just curious as to what our supporters would prefer us to finish this year?

I want our guys to give good account of themselves week in week out, however i wouldn't be concerned if we finish towards the bottom this year and get some picks with the last semi uncomprimised draft.

Realistically if we make the eight i dont think we can shake the top 4 or 5 teams..

What are everyone else's thoughts....

[Margie]

I'm all for playing in finals.

It's good for team morale, experience for younger players and gives the fans something to be proud of. Finals matches have a real air of excitement about them.

[Lucky Knickers]

You've got to be in it to win it!

[AnnieH]

IF (that's a big IF) we go that far, I'd love to be able to say "at least we made the finals" for another year - even if it is just as fodder. It's better than not making it.

[UglyDuckling]

this is such a hard question you have to pit the your competitive nature and will to always want to win against draft picks to get better players thus possibly increasing the chance of future success.

Personally i dont think we can really challenge in finals this year the best case scenario is that we would win 1 final. Eventually we will have to have a season that we finish outside the 8 and i would rather that happen this year than in the next 2 because of gold coast and west sydney.
Butcher didnt have a very good carnival he could be a slider down to pick 5 or 6 and the swans could sure up the forward line for the future butcher johnston and Vezpremi

[johnno]

I'm sorry, no disrespect but this is a no brainer for me, finals every single day of the week and twice on Sunday. A message to people who have become very used to us playing September footbal for the last 6 years/11 out of 13 years.... don't downplay september football, its not that easy to come by(as we are finding out this season),and there is no question its a different kind of buzz. Imagine being Carlton(of late) supporters or Richmond supporters. I know a lot of you have been throught the dark times of the early 90's like myself, I don't want to see a repeat of that, and I dont think we will, I have faith in the kids on our list, but when a team start playing for draft picks, I just think it inexcusable, its giving up. Also, when a team says its in a rebuilding phase whilst languishing down the bottom for a few years, this is just football talk that means we are crap an we know it, they have thrown in the towel. You can rebuild and stay competitive. If I ever had concrete proof that the team I was supporting was deliberately losing games, I dont know if I could follow them with the same passion I have now. I can handle losing due to the fact we are not good enough, but not tanking.

[Plugger46]

Finals. No doubt.

[robamiee]

i think as i mentioned i want our guys to give accoutn of themselves every week.

It was more of a as a supporter looking at where we are with our list, how would we honestly fair in sept if we made the finals.
if u look at last year we made the second week by us luckily coming up against the Roos.
also looking to the future considering the next 2 drafts after this year.
I dont thik I or anyone else is asking the team to tank. as i said more of where would like them to finish considering the next coming years and our list at the moment.
If there was no uncomprimised draft, i would be saying finals finals and keep topping up our list as we done with great success, but trade week this year wll be like last year, not much movement because of the draft.

INteresting thoughts though from everyone that has replied.

[Dalai Lama]

have a crack....

[desredandwhite]

"Good draft picks" is a consolation, not a reward.

As mentioned here, I would be quite displeased if I didn't think the team was giving its best every single game.

Sure, if the door is shut on finals, you might make certain selection calls that see more young kids getting a game (risky call) ahead of veterans (safe call), but I would like to see them earn their spots on merit, and also giving it a real crack. As a result of playing the kids, you might get inconsistent results that mean a slide down the ladder, however they can also surprise you with some good performances and win a couple of games. This should not be seen as a "failure".

[Plugger46]

i think as i mentioned i want our guys to give accoutn of themselves every week.

It was more of a as a supporter looking at where we are with our list, how would we honestly fair in sept if we made the finals.
if u look at last year we made the second week by us luckily coming up against the Roos.
also looking to the future considering the next 2 drafts after this year.
I dont thik I or anyone else is asking the team to tank. as i said more of where would like them to finish considering the next coming years and our list at the moment.
If there was no uncomprimised draft, i would be saying finals finals and keep topping up our list as we done with great success, but trade week this year wll be like last year, not much movement because of the draft.

INteresting thoughts though from everyone that has replied.

The reality is that we're not going to finish any higher than 7th or 8th and no lower than 10th or 11th, so our position in the draft won't be much different.

[Jeffers1984]

lol at the person who voted "just outside the 8"

[arht]

lol at the person who voted "just outside the 8"

As much as I enjoy bringing laughter to all, I should probably justify the vote.

Last year finals appearance was a fraud that led to our 2009 reliance on the eldery at the start of this season. We snuck into the finals in 2008 - got lucky against North (because they were useless) and we were then exposed for the frauds we were by the Dogs ... had we not been a chance to make the finals, we would have played some more youth towards the end of last year and been in a better place than we are now ... didn't we bring Crouch back in for the finals last year? Why?

2009 starts with the same old has-beens - why, because we made the second week of the finals last year and we think we can be a "player" in 2009 ... as much as we all would have loved that to be the case, we/Roos were kidding ourselves.

Therefore, I don't want to be in the finals in 2009, nor do I want to go through the rest of the season losing the majority of our games ... so Option 2 is the only answer ... just miss the finals.

But, I want us to be out of contention for the finals soon and therefore they will have no option but to ditch the likes of Crouch and avoid playing Leo/Ablett and play some of these kids with consistency who we still don't know whether they deserve to be on our list or not next season. As sad as it seems, I want to lose this weekend so finals are no longer even a remote thought in Roos and the match committee's minds. If they win this week and they are still a chance, despite what Roos says publicly, he will bring back the old farts - he has form! ... welcome back Ablett, Buchy, Leo, Crouchy ... and that isn't the answer. I am still bitter about Meredith getting dropped and then getting injured in the two's ... why was he dropped?

[sWAns63]

It was good to see a win for the few youngsters in the team Ves, Smith etc.
Though I would still put long term future ahead of limited short term success.

[Bloody Hell]

Since we are playing the youth anyway, even one game of finals experience would be invaluable for them going forward.