2/3 of the comp has gone backwards this year

[shwany]

With the exception of sydney, port , gc. North and melb has every other club gone backwards?


The general concensous at the moment is:

- Hawks are shot - too many injuries
- Freo not as good as last year
- Geelong are shot
- Essendon no where near a top 4 like predicted
- Adelaide not going anywhere
- west coast not going anywhere
- bulldogs not going anywhere
- Richmond horrendously gone backwards
- Carlton horrendously gone backwards
- gws no significant improvement
- Brisbane gone backwards
- st Kilda gone backwards

That's 12 teams you could definately say are not as good as they were last year, I'm not referring to ladder position but in terms of closeness to a premiership.

Collingwood I don't think has gone backwards but also has not gone forwards either.

11 of are players on the weekend had played under 50 games. None of our first round picks have played either.

A lot of people agree that we will be a contender next year but the argument has been that our improvement won't be as good as the other clubs, to which I disagree.

Other than Gold Coast I can't see a list with as much potential to improve dramatically and quickly, giants are probs 2 years behind gc ATM.

Syd, port, gc and us will be the contenders over the next 3 years, the rest if the comp is goin backwards.

[E]

not sure i agree that GWS have gone backwards.... they are having a season eerily similar to that of the Gold Coast from 2013. wouldnt surprise at all to see them looking a lot like GC does right now this time next year.

Of course next year Gold Coast will look a lot like Port Adelaide does this year (or better).

As for everyone else, its hard to show improvement when you get no access to the 20 best players coming through the draft for the past 5 years.

Sydney is the exception, but they have access to the best players through salary cap advantages. I think if we could of added Kurt Tippett last year and Lance Franklin this year, we too would have shown significant improvement.

[yin-YANG]

So you are suggesting the Pies have not gone back or going forward - so we join the WC, Dogs and Crows... 'not going anywhere'.

I don't agree - young teams like us and the dogs are probably going one step back to go two steps forward in the near future!

I also don't rate GC as highly as E... no way they will be top of the ladder next year and aiming for top 4!

[matrix10]

Norf are not much different to last year-just as inconsistent- huge gap between their best and worst.

The gap between our best and worst has DECREASED imo- apart from Freo game- we coulda/shoulda/woulda won all games.

I think the swans are overrated-all due to destroying cats- swans will never paly that well again- cats never as bad.

Demons have surely improved- as has GWS- almost beating hawks and winning a few games.

FREO are massively underrated- They are my tip for the flag and have been all year- building to perfection for September.

Cats/HAwks are seemingly on downward slope- yet keep producing.

The real duds this year are:

Tigers
Blues

and to a lesser extent.

Lions
Saints


Everyone else is around about where they were expected to be

[pieboy]

I think the overall standard of the competition has been declining in recent years. There are 396 footballers who play every week across the 18 clubs, and it is too many players contributing to a declining standard of football.

Congestion on the football field is leading to dour games, and I think the AFL should consider having 16 players on the field from each team at any one time rather than 18 players. If you keep the interchange bench at 3, plus 1 sub, this reduces the number of players in the competition and allows the potential for free flowing football.

I know the AFL/VFL have always had 18 players on the field at any one time but the negative tactics employed by coaches over the past decade is destoying the spectacle of our once great game. The AFL is aware of this and needs to act now.

[Pies4shaw]

Yes. I was in favour of dropping the wings, as in the old VFA. Until Millane and Wright joined us - that changed my perspective a little.

[jackcass]

Said consistently over the last couple of seasons that GCS would contend for the 8 in 2014, will be in the 8 in 2015, and will be top 4 and contending for the flag from 2016 and beyond. GWS are a season behind that.

Sydney, Hawthorn, Geelong and Fremantle are clearly among the dominant clubs in 2014. Issue that remains for them is list regeneration and an over dependence upon the performance of players in the 30+ group. These older guys don't perform and all 4 of these clubs struggle.

The Pies, Port, North have already undertaken the list regeneration and remain highly competitive. Port are probably marginally ahead of us because they started it sooner. Not sure North have compiled the right players, have too many nuggety inside mids and not enough outside run and pace. Think our list is reasonably balanced just hamstrung (pun intended) by injuries. Adelaide cling desperately to this group but have been hurt by draft penalties and the loss of very good KPP stocks.

Then there is a group that have invested heavily in the draft and are rebuilding their lists. The onfield results may be hampered in 2014 but I'd suggest that their lists are actually better placed than they were at the end of 2013. Melbourne, StKilda, Bulldogs, Brisbane are in this group.

Then there are the clubs who aren't really doing anything and their list management has been very ordinary. Carlton and Richmond are probably the worst offenders. Their lists don't give any enthusiasm that they're ready to challenge for the 8. Essendon fit in here purely on the back of draft penalties. Wet Toast are here because they're just not quite anything, their best is competative but they don't bring it consistently and the age profile suggests they should.

[jackcass]

[HAL]

What did you like best about favour of dropping the wings as in the old VFA?

[Pebbles Rocks]

Freo are on track to finish the home and away higher than last year and will make the granny again. They had a long injury lost early but are now just as good as lat year

[Piesnchess]

IT has gone decidedly backwards, and fans are voting with their feet, witness the smallest crowd for a pies v blues game, since 1921 !! Also. the bloody fixture is rigged for the interstate teams. Look at the Leagues darlings, the swans, the side that can never bottom out, the team that rorts the cap and gets billionaire buddy PLUS Tippett. ! The have played GWS twice so far, we have not played the Giants ONCE yet, and don't play em, and only once, in rd 22. Swans play tigers twice, we play em once, that's two more guaranteed wins over us, and yet the swans finished much higher than us last season. ! Make no mistake, the GF will be swans v dockers, and in two years or so, the Suns will be gifted a flag, then the Giants, while the dogs, dees, saints, tigers etc, and to a lesser extent us, languish with zero flags, unless things radically change. The comp is rigged and jigged, and the leagues darling swans just love it.too,.!

[Beast]

Not as far as us.

[Dave The Man]

Still no bloody Excuse why we gone backwards

[jackcass]

[Beast]