After five weeks of footy, we’ve seem some cracking games, three drawn games, and a young team improve each week. Collingwood have proven why they are the dominant force in the league, followed by Geelong and Hawthorn.
Collingwood have a percentage of 177.19 after five games and this year they look a lot more accurate than last year, which is scary.
Geelong and Hawthorn played an epic match the other day and prove that they are genuine contenders.
Fremantle are looking strong with only one loss, to Geelong, by a narrow margin of 11 points and good, comeback from behind wins against Bulldogs and Lions.
Carlton and Essendon proved a couple of weeks ago there’s nothing between them after the match resulted in a draw.
Essendon had a narrow loss to the Swans by five points in round two and got run-over in the end by the powerhouse team Collingwood, in their traditional ANZAC Day clash before easily disposing off the Western Bulldogs and St. Kilda.
Carlton are 3-1-1, only losing to Collingwood and beating Richmond, Gold Coast and Adelaide.
Melbourne and Sydney also proved in round one that there’s nothing between them, after the match resulted in a draw.
Melbourne are 2-1-1, beating Gold Coast and Brisbane and losing to Hawthorn.
Melbourne will have to challenge the stronger teams if they are going to make the eight.
Sydney have been in and out of every game they have played, coming off with two wins, a draw and one loss.
Sydney defeated Essendon by five and West Coast at Subiaco by 13 points, to only lose to a powerful Geelong in the last quarter by 27 points.
Western Bulldogs are ninth with two wins and two losses, beating Brisbane and the Gold Coast and losing to Essendon and Fremantle.
Western Bulldogs made it to the preliminary final the last three years. , is there time, as real contenders up or can they bounce back and string a few games together. (I do not know what is he trying to imply here)
West Coast are sitting on the same position with two wins, one against Port Adelaide and the other against North Melbourne.
They lost to Hawthorn and Sydney, both games that they should have won. The Hawthorn loss was by seven points and Sydney by 13 points.
West Coast have proven this year that they can threaten the top eight, but won’t challenge many top eight teams.
St. Kilda and Richmond played off in a drawn match in round two and find themselves 11th and 12th respectively on the ladder after round five.
St. Kilda have had a disappointing start to the season and look like they’ve lost their hunger after three grand finals and no wins, having lost to a gallant Essendon, but being beaten by a strong Geelong outfit by a point.
They won their first game against Brisbane this week, an unconvincing win by 13 points.
I believe St. Kilda will make the finals, but having lost Lenny Hayes and look to be uninterested, it’s hard to see them making any real presents in the finals.
On the other hand, after Richmond haven’t played finals since 2001 and finishing ninth six times in the last 19 years, they have a new coach, new young guns stepping up and a new game-plan. Their future looks bright.
After drawing with St. Kilda, they won against North Melbourne by nine points and lost to Collingwood and Hawthorn by a fair bit. If they can compete more with the top teams, I have no doubt they will be a serious contender in the couple of years to come.
Adelaide, Gold Coast and Port Adelaide have only won one game each and it’s hard to see them pressing on the top eight this year.
Adelaide and Port Adelaide are the two most unpredictable teams in the league. While many thought Gold Coast wouldn’t even win a game, especially at the beginning of the year, they upset Port Adelaide at home, winning by just three points.
We see Brisbane and North Melbourne struggling at the bottom, without a win, but both can compete with teams in the bottom eight and they both should win games soon.
Brisbane have lost to St. Kilda by 13, Melbourne by 11, Western Bulldogs by 78 and Fremantle by just two, whereas North have lost to West Coast by four, collingwood by 87, Fremantle by 27 and Richmond by just nine.
My question to you guys is: Will the ladder change a great deal, and if so, what/who will change/move up or down?
Lachlan
Roar Guru
Yeah thats the beauty of the draft, we see more close games (even draws) and teams breed youngsters into superstars.
Lachlan
Roar Guru
I like your point. Im a big believer in the draft and how it evens out all the teams, but it will be interesting to see how the GC will hang on to their top draft picks.
Lachlan I'm still not sure about the draft. I would prefer an open market but I don't want to get into an argument about the "richer clubs will buy premierships" etc. What will be interesting is in a couple of years when all of the Suns's high draft picks are coming off contract. How can they get the money to keep them all? (Of course I mean legally ;).)
Hazey I agree with what you say. The figures actually say that Melbourne should win by five points but the Eagles seem to be improving every game and although I had to take the Demons I wont be surprised if the Eagles win. Their scoring is up on last year and the return of Mark LeCras tonight is a positive.
If you have a good look at the draw you will see that St. Kilda are going to have a real hard time making the finals. Of course it's not too late but it soon will be and if they can't kick some goals and string a few wins together they will miss out. At the start of the season i had them in my top four but no longer. You only have to look at losing margins to see that West Coast, Brisbane and North Melbourne aren't that far off but in a competition which is so close (apart from Collingwood) you don't have to miss by much to be out in the cold. Last weeks' round of games was the closest I can remember for quite a while. Really disappointed at Freo for kicking those few scores at the end of the game. Took the draw at 67/1 and was looking good with a couple of minutes to play :(.
Lachlan
Roar Guru
Nice to hear from you guys. I believe i wont change a great deal. It's good to see a lot of close games this year, which means the draft is really working evening out each club.
Redb
Roar Guru
Done similiar things with the forward press improving their defence,etc.
Hazey the Bear
Roar Rookie
Yeah, I pretty much agree with that Redb. West Coast aren't quite the bottom dwellers that a lot of experts picked, but they'll struggle to make the eight, most likely they'll feature in the upper echelon of the bottom nine. There's still a lot of question marks over match fitness (running out the game) and skills, but they've definitely improved. This week against Melbourne will be a good test for them and should indicate exactly where they're at.
Ashley
Guest
I think if NM and Brisbane could improve there accuracy they could both be top 8 contenders!
Redb
Roar Guru
Essendon & West Coast for mine.