Predictions and Expectations for 2015

[melliot]

I'm just going off the trend of the back end of last season which was woeful. I've seen little to excite me in the preseason games to have changed the trend.

I don't think the pendulum has swung past the bottom yet. Think we'll be close to bottom 4.

today's news just adds to the disaster that 2015 will be.

I won't be looking for team success, but looking for leadership and development of our younger players. This season's a right off in terms of ladder position. Get games into the kids fast. And tank tank tank. We are no better for finishing 10th as finishing 15th.

Players that are average and senior will have to make way.

I'm really unexcited about 2015 season.

[think positive]

Can we change our vote?

[think positive]

[Jezza]

[Miz]

12-14 is very likely

[Holbrook Bloke]

Hope I'm wrong but 9-12 seems about right. Several teams have stepped up and we have had a big influx of kids and experience from elsewhere so it may take time to gell.

A pass mark for Bucks is competitveness and better skills. Our supporters can inspire the players only so far but in recent times, our skill levels have been quite ordinary, even in wins. We looked great against the Hawks but they had hald a side and premiership points weren't up for grabs.

[uncanny]

I voted 12 to 14
I'd love to be proven wrong on this but we need to regenerate and get games into our young picks and this means we won't win as many games as last year. Hoping to see improvement in the game plan and a foundation built from which we can rise the ladder again from next year.

[Lazza]

[Lazza]

[Piethagoras' Theorem]

It's not a bad draw, I think we'll be scratching for the 8 and just get in.

Then of course, go on to win the flag.

[roar]

TBH, I'm not that distressed about our players getting banned but the fact that essendon was cleared has really established that our competition is a farce.

[Monco Matt]

My expectations for this season are about as low as they have been since the start of the 1999 season. I feel like we will finish lower than we did last year which mean 12th or worse. I look at our list and i just do not see enough developed talent good enough to propel us into the finals. I take it on board that we have some good kids coming through. From what I have seen on the field I do believe that these kids will become excellent servants of the club, Broomhead, De Goey, Grundy, Langdon and I am expecting Sharenberg, Freeman to debut and show something and hopefully Adams can improve his skill level to match his fantastic endeavor.

However, until the day comes when these players make it we are looking very very ordinary indeed. Our skill level is nowhere near AFL standard from what I've seen in recent years and it does not appear to have improved over the pre-season. Our team on the field doesn't gel and move the ball in any consistent fluent motion. Our ball movement is very stagnant and therefore F50 entries are just not dangerous. I think our lack of leg speed and line breaking prowess is a big cause of this, we just do not look to have this confidence in our abilities.

Defensively we are sound, except in fast break situations after we turn the ball over. How often do our defenders get caught high up the ground and just cannot get back fast enough? This gets back to skill level in maintaining possession and our leg speed to get back into defensive positions when a turnover occurs. This hurts our ability to score and therefore our ability to prevent scores. I see this again being a massive problem.

The list has undergone far too many significant changes over the past 3 seasons. We have (rightly or wrongly, in or out of our control)) turned the list over way too fast to be able to stay inside the Top 4 or Top 8 while rebuilding. Geelong are doing this far better than us. They are blooding and developing their next core group of midfielders (without turning over mass quantities of older players) while still maintaining their competitiveness, skill levels and ball moving abilities. We have failed in this regard.

Too many best 22 established players have exited too quickly. Let's list them, Jolly, Johnson, Thomas, Beams, Brown, Maxwell, Tarrant, Ball, Davis, Dawes, Didak, Krakouer, O'Brien, Shaw and Wellingham. That is 15 premiership/experienced players over 3 seasons shown the door. Irrespective of reasons why this is just far too many far too quickly and it has exposed our youth and lack of depth too much. We have been forced to draft/trade/recruit mature players to fill the gaps and they just have not been anywhere near good enough. The team is a mixed bag, similar to the Richmond teams of the past, full of band aid players.

I don't know about you guys but I find it bloody hard watching us play footy. It is very much a chore that i feel i must endure. The enjoyment is not there but yet i still watch them, cringing more than cheering. I hate that and I feel like we have cut ourselves down to size. We have only ourselves to blame for reasons that can only be described as horrible list management. Buckle up because it could take us a decade to recover.

[Collingwood Crackerjack]

[matrix10]

[Miz]