Who finishes higher in 2018? Collingwood, Fremantle, West Coast, Hawthorn

If Collingwood were to tank the second half of the year and blood all the youngsrters under the sun then they would have a good draft pick to entice Gold Coast or Adelaide to part with Tom Lynch and Rory Sloane respectively. Now, who accompanies the draft picks? That's the question. Many of our players are playing for their black and white lives this year. Mark my words!

Nup. You asked I told. Ridiculous argument you are running.; "What 10 or 12?" I tell you. "Pfff! Only 8 of those count" As if even 1 or 2 wouldn't make a difference. Chuz...when you have less than 30 to choose from each week, it's significant. You can reject that but I say you just don't want to see. That's your choice but, remember, you asked. I just told you and now you complain that I dared do so.

It appears that because I've pointed out some flaws in your statement, you're now trying to sway the spotlight back around on me, implying that I'm wrong for not realizing that your comments were about how well Freo would've performed in 2017 had the not had the injuries that they had? It's a very Trump-esque way of debating. Given that the article is about how Freo will go in 2018, and your initial comment is about the 8-12 players who will be returning from injury this year (we've now established that the correct figure is 8), bringing up Balic and Clarke is completely irrelevant to this conversation, and clearly just a poor attempt at smoke and mirrors to swing the debate back in your favor. Adding the fact that Fyfe and McCarthy both had a disrupted 2016, is also irrelevant to any of your or my previous comments, as they couldn't possibly be considered in the group 8-12 returning players, given that they played the majority of 2017. Granted, there is a good chance that they will improve on last year, having played a full season, but again, no one in their right mind would classify either of them as a returning player. It's just clutching at straws really. You initially said that there are 8-12 returning injured players (again - the correct figure is 8) who will put Freo into the top 8, so I asked you to name them, not as an attack on you, but just out of curiosity, so that I could form my own opinion on the impact that they will likely have on their returns. All I did was fact-check the names that you put out there, and found some of them to be incorrect. There's no shame in showing some humility occasionally when you're wrong. Like I said - I think that Freo have the potential to improve in 2018. But to claim that the return of 2 players who are no longer at Freo, as well as several others who were never injured in the first place as a reason to catapult them 6+ places on the ladder, seems a little hard to believe.

Top 50.

What you fail to understand is that Fremantle's entire list take up 40 places in the AFL's top 100 players list. So any outs of such high caliber are detrimental to their on field success.

What a strange piece of thinking. If you are going to discount someone like Baliic because he isn't there this year, then Wilson? Brayshaw? Cerra? And others? Balic is a genuine article. 10 or 12 all year...plus Fyfe and McCarthy after a year off. You ask. You couldn't think of them. I enlightened you. "That's 8? No. That's 10 to 12. If Clarke was fit, he'd do well. He ran out of knees. You dismiss him. He played always when he had knees. He didn't have a replacement. These players are back or have been replaced. It makes a difference. 7 or 8 close results different. Freo lost so many by small margins. A full list and top 4. You did ask. No need to argue they weren't missing. They were. Nothing parochial. They actually weren't available.

Obviously Pearce was out for the best part of 2 seasons, but given that you're referring to people who are returning from injury, I'm only really thinking about who Freo were missing in the back half of last season. Langdon, Spurr, Apeness and Bennell did miss decent chunks (if not all) of the second half of last season. Given that Clarke was delisted and Balic was traded to Melbourne, I wouldn't have high hopes for their impact for Freo in 2018. Grey missed the last 3 due to a hamstring, but most of the other few games that he missed during the year were because he was omitted from the team. Taberner only missed games due to omission, otherwise he played in the WAFL every other week. Hughes played 20 games last season, including the last 9. The only games he missed were due to omission. Neale missed the second last game of the season, but was back for the last game. So admittedly, that does give you 8 players returning from decent layoffs last year (not all of which will be guaranteed to make the top 22), but the other players didn't miss enough (if any) games last season due to injury to consider them as players that will make a big impact on the team due to them being overly missed last season. If they can stay relatively injury free, I reckon Freo will surprise a few people this season, and improve on last year, but top 8 (let alone premiership contenders) seems a bit of a stretch this early in what was always said to be a 5 year rebuild.

Langdon, Balic, Bennell, Spurr, Apeness, Grey, Clarke..even Taberner, Hughes, Neale went off for early surgery at the end. And that's just off the top of my head. Do you only remember Pearce missing half a year?

Who were Freo's 8-12 injured players? I remember Blakely, Walters, Sandilands and A Pearce all being out in the second half of the season. They'll all be handy inclusions, but I can't really think of anyone else of significance who was missing in the last few games?

I think Collingwood will finish highest, I also dont want Hawthorn finishing high as i dont want to see them follow Geelongs lead in topping up. Many of Hawthorn's important players are over 28 so I would prefer them to return to the draft and start building a list around the handful of talent they have that are under 25.

Lecras, OK he may fall into the 30-40 range but all 3 are more than capable of 40 plus in a season, ppl seem to miss that a huge part of Darling role is to drag defenders out of the corridor to free up jk to lead up the guts and have higher percentage shots at goal, fact he does this aswell as kicks forty goals a year is sign of a team player who thru hard work will guarantee that return.

I hope the pies give Mayne a chance in defence,he showed a lot in the 3-4 games he played at Freo........Waste of time giving another crack up forward.

We could all have written your negativity ages ago...except we'd do it using standard English. You have no idea who these players are if we base it on your comments. You demonstrate less knowledge about Freo than HTH.

Look who is back,Sandi, Appeness,Ballantyne, whoopee really,these 3 are all injury prone like the last 3 years hardly been on the park, getting older, 90% chance it will happen again then you will continue to blame injuries. Spurr another oldie even you have said not in best 22 Harley B your quote (imagine what he will do when he gets back ) from where ?? One more trip to the pub and we all know where he will be . Walters,Langdon and Pearce welcome back good young players. Every team will have back injured players not just Freo.

Peter - I know you are talking about Swingmen but they can still only play at one end at a time. Without Moore You have Grundy in the Ruck, Cox up Forward and Reid down back as the only 3 players above 193cm - that is a very shallow pool of KPP's.

When you try your hand at exaggerated sarcasm, you don't need the, "HaHaHa". That undermines your rhetoric. ...unless you actually think Sandi is 48 years old. In that case, another one of your apologies is in order. Remember demanding that? BTW, where have I put 'all (my) faith' in Sandi. I'll bet you can't quote anything. You need to read my posts. Look who's back! Sandi of course, Walters, Langdon, Apeness, Spurr, Alex Pearce, Harley Bennell (imagine what he will put on display when he gets back), Ballas (after half a season out), Fyfe (with fitness back in that leg) McCarthy (with a season under his belt)...Then there are all the draftees and recruits. When you look at that you might understand why you can never convince a Freo person to be anything but optimistic. We are all convinced you just mock and argue without ever looking. Each time you try, you parody yourself.

No youth coming through for the Eagles Josh? Really? Rioli (22), Ryan (22), Partington (21), Duggan (21), Sheed(22), Venables (19), Ah chee (24), Nelson (22), Cole (21) and Lycett (25). Alot of these guys have been biding their time in the WALF and getting some exposure at AFL level. Watch out for excitement machines in Rioli, Ryan and Venables. All will be best 22 by the end of the year. Duggan and Sheed to also emerge from the shadows of Priddis and Mitchell.

Darling and lecras

Chris, if the weather is good, round one against the Hawks will signify two things. Our arrival as a force for 2018 and a further decline for the Hawks. Pies will jump out of the starting blocks here with a 10 goal plus win. I have a lot of respect for the Hawks recent achievements, but they are done and we are just starting.

The reliance on Fasolo and Elliot are hopefully a thing of the past.The forward line needs to be kicking goals and it doesn't matter where they come from. I am sick and tired of hearing Jamie this and Alex that. Get some fresh legs and new faces on the park...Period!