Media Ladder predictions 2012

[ShockOfHair]

Dermie has us sixth.
Can't really quarrel. Bottom half of the top half feels like home turf.
Dermie's AFL preview: sixth place | AFL | Fox Sports

[Dosser]

I think he is spot on.

[dimelb]

The Age guide arrived today. Walls and Lloyd both have us at 7, basically saying we need more stars from the new boys. Garry Lyon has us at 4, and I'll give you his words:

Every year I find myself struggling to squeeze the Swans into the eight. I am now a believer. They could be the most honest team in the competition and find themselves with a nicely balanced list. Goodes, Bolton, O'Keefe and McVeigh are outstanding leaders. Kennedy and Jack have been joined by A-grade insiders in Hannebery and Parker, and they have at their disposal two of the most exciting talents in the game in Reid and Rohan ready to explode. Reid we know about and, in terms of value, there would be few ahead of him on an open market; Rohan's best is yet to be seen but there are no limits on what he can achieve.

Well and truly on the radar I'd say.

[bennyfabulous]

Like the Gary Lyon one and always appreciate Dermies views, but not that impressed with Andy Ryans article (its like he's heard other people say a few nice things and he's just repeating them all the while getting some of the details wrong)

[ShockOfHair]

Still while we have some issues, our preseason wasnt too bad.

I'm thinking of the team that declared it was in flag contention and went winless in the NAB. Every single pundit will puthem above us - can't wait to prove them wrong.

[swanspant12]

everyone loves the look of gazza rohan! i think dermie is right, but i think if we play like we did against geelong every game we could have a really solid season and get the 4th birth. we have to beat carlton, they were dominate against us last year and to make top 4 i think we have to knock them off. we got awfully close to beating the magscum and with the introduction of a few of our younger lads and some new forwards we could beat them.

[GongSwan]

Tagging Crawford as part of the media is a bit of a joke in itself, circus clown might be a better description. Not saying he wasn't a great footballer, but media? NO. Dermie, on the other hand knows his stuff, I used to love it when he an Denis did the commentary together, he knew pretty much who was going to do what and more often than not was right. He seems to have summed up our positives and negatives pretty well, good to see someone else notice Parker, who will, in time, be as valuable to the Swans as Reid.

[johnno]

I wouldn't worry too much about what Shane Crawford has got to say about the swans.

No word of a lie here, for the last 5-7 years, whenever he's been asked to talk about the swans, whether it be an analysis of a game just played on 'The Sunday Footy Show' or previewing a swans game on 'The Thursday Night Footy Show', he always trotts out the same few lines about us, LITERALLY ALWAYS!!!!!........"the swans, well they like to play that lock down style of football, thats what they're known for........", and on it goes.

I kid you mot, every single time he is asked about the swans, whether it be prior to a game or after a game, win-lose or draw, his analysis always starts with those same words, its like he just reverts back to the same old tried and trusted lines in relation to the swans just so he can sound like he knows what he's talking about!!!

Its truely pathetic!!!

[Dosser]

I often think of Dermie and Warne as being similar - I'm not impressed with either of them as people (as they are portrayed in the media) but they both have exceptional knowledge of their sport. When Dermie is giving 'special comments' he often sees the play unfolding before others do and calls what is about to happen. He rarely gets it wrong. For this reason I have a lot of time for his opinions on footy.

[wolftone57]

Shane Crawford was giving a review of a game on the Sunday Footy Show years ago and I thought 'you didn't see the game live did you'. I think he watched the highlights and gave a review. My grandfather used to write reviews of SANFL matches at the Bay Oval. He never went to a match, he used to sit in the Holfast Hotel and send a 'nit'. The 'nit' would come back at the end of each quarter and give a report and 'Stump' would write his column from the reports.

[penga]

+1 to the Dermie comments. By far the best "Special Comments" contributor in our game.

[jono2707]

+2 for Dermie - although I try not to like him he always seems to win me over with his insight and also his sense of humour. He's a welcome addition to Foxtel this year....

Mike Sheehan also noted today (I think) that he expects the Swans to finish in 7th this year and he also referred to the fact that our gameplan is subtly changing and moving away from the 'lockdown' stuff without compromising our hardness. Hopefully a few other 'experts' pay attention to this and stop referring to our 'stoppage-heavy' and 'lockdown' style which indicates to me that they haven't actually watched us for a few years. Just because we play hard and tough footy doesn't necessarily mean we play a boring game which is still the perception of some...

[ScottH]

In today's herald sun Shane Crawford had Sydney finishing in 11th. These are his full predictions.

1. Hawthorn
2. Collingwood
3. Carlton
4. Geelong
5. Fremantle
6. West Coast
7. Essendon
8. North Melbourne
9. St Kilda
10. W. Bulldogs
11. Sydney
12. Melbourne
13. Richmond
14. Adelaide
15. Brisbane Lions
16. Gold Coast
17. Port Adeliade
18. GWS

Some of the teams he has us behind astound me, i think i will wait for a more reputable media personality to have his 2c.

There is no link to this on the herald sun website(that i know of).

There's a surprise, he picked Hawthorn to win the flag!

BUMP!!!!!

[Zlatorog]

He, he. Shane wasn't that bad. He got 6 out of 8 right. Unfortunately for him those 2 he missed ended up in top 4. IMO Carlton is overrated and Essendon was unlucky with injuries.

[Dosser]

Haha what a twat - but hardly a suprise! Can't wait to come back and look at this thread at the end of the year when he and all his other muppet media friends are proven wrong by us!

Come back, MCS!