We can be contenders in 2017, today's GF proves it

[cityslick1]

Today's result proves very little. None of the bulldogs players or coaching staff will be at the pies next year, and there is nothing in today's result to show whether we have the same type of playing group / coaching staff culture that the dogs possess. They are truly a united team and club.

All is not lost though... i would say that seeing the hawks, Cats, Kangas and Eagles go backwards... along with us knocking off GWS and really pushing the dogs, proves so much more that we can beat these teams and make finals. CAN... that's is, not necessarily WIL. We still need to improve over the off-season, get our quality forwards back, develop our backs and young mids / forwards and have no more players slipping backwards, ala Brown, Cloke, Tooves, Crisp, Witts, Frost, Langdon and Williams this year.

Right now we really are an unknown quantity for season 2017. We could easily end up anywhere from 4th to 14th

[qldmagpie67]

This season was one of woulda coulda shoulda for us. We showed our best is good enough to challenge any side. When we are "on" we are competitive and that's the basis you want to see in a side
Our issue is bringing that competitive game every week. We have shown time and again that's our biggest weakness not just week to week but quarter to quarter.
Yes cohesion in team personal is important and having key players playing up to there best level every week is vital.
We need the players ranked 10-22 on our list to all show improvement in performance every week.
We can't leave all the heavy lifting each week to Pendles Adams Treloar Reid Grundy Sidey . We need the likes of Crisp Maynard Ramsay Langdon Scharenberg Fasalo Aish Moore White Howe Varcoe Brown to really lift and become consistent every week in every quarter.
I believe Moore showed in his last few games he's got that in him, likewise Aish
We can't afford to have another season start like last year. I don't mean the flogging the swans gave us I mean the loss of Elliott Swanny Scharenberg before they had a touch hurt. I would assume in our preseason planning we had Elliott and Swan penciled in for around 25-30 goals each for the season and that really hurt our plans. Conversely I would have thought we would have had Shazza penciled in at HBF to use his skills hitting Pendles Treloar Sidey etc up in good position. Alas we had to move Pendles to HBF and play him with busted ribs just to give our backline a semblance of skill factor robbing the midfield of our kingpin.
We looked a far better side with Pendles running the midfield group.
The addition of Aish in form after the bye showed we had class I really liked what he added to the side. He took some great marks competed very well his disposal was very good and he kicked some telling goals whilst still being able to impact a contest and halve the outcome when things looked like going away from us.
For mine th most telling stat of the season was we used 40 players on our list compared to the Crows who used 29 and they played 2 more games than us. No list has the depth that your 40th player can come in and be as good as the guy ranked say 15th on the list.
The upside was we got games into players again many before they deserved or were ready for them.
The likes of Smith Phillips Wills Crocker wouldn't have been prominent in our planing prior to the first bounce but all played games and which will be great in there long term development but it was a case they had to learn how to play AFL on the run.
The dogs used 38 or 39 players for the year the most used by a premiership winning team in a very long time (16yrs I think I heard the commentators say). The average had been in the low 30's every year (a couple years a few GF sides used in the high 20's in terms of players used for a season I think it was Freo used 27 a couple years ago) for a long time so recent history says once you get past using more than 32 players your season is generally shot. While the dogs used 38 or 39 players they did have some luck in regards to when a player went down towards the end of the season they had some good players ready to come back in. Murphy was there only long term (whole season) important player to miss. There best player (Bont) didn't miss a game and the most changes they made from week to week was 3 on 2 ocassions oh to have that sort of cohesion.
So luck plays its part and we are due for some of that for sure.
I think we are positioned to be able to compete and that's exciting but we need our best 22 available for 75% of the season to be a challenger and we need improvement in the players ranked 10-22 on our list.
If the moons align and we get that then yes we can compete.

[Tezza23]

Today has no bearing on Collingwood 2017 what so ever. In fact it has no bearing on anything from this time forward except for the various draft selections. Today was the outlier in any stats analysis where the 7th placed side wins against the 1st paced side. However over the last 20 years the bulldogs defied all previous precedents. Was this the result of the bye before the finals ? We will need to see. At this point I would be willing to bet that the Bulldogs do not even play in the 2017 GF. It was in my mind simply a one off season. In relation to our prospects for 2017 I remain firmly pessimistic and will remain so until we prove something. For all of the optimism around the second half of the season I believe it is a false dawn. You may want to say I'm negative and I can accept that, but I will only change my outlook when we play as a consistent top four side. To expect us to go from a rabble in the first half of 2016 to an inconsistent team in the second half of 2016 and then suddenly contenders in 2017 is very fanciful thinking. I hope you are right and I am wrong though

[thompsoc]

The betting market has us at 23 to 1 for the 2017 flag.
So obviously the punters don't rate us that much.

[Cam]

We have the talent, we have the game style, we have the soldiers, what we need is the general to read his own book again, and apply it to his troops. You can either learn your lessons during the war, or after war, it all depends on how deeply you reflect.

[AN_Inkling]

[RudeBoy]

[BazBoy]

Well done boys and soak it up --but my thoughts are with Pies and a Pie victory

Have we seen anything that indicates we will challenge what may be a new wave of finals bound clubs

Hawks --Cats--Sydney will still be in and about so GWS or Dogs back to back ???

Thought myself signs started to appear toward end of year and will the Gubby factor move us quicker

[kymbo5@yahoo.com.au]

Excuse the pun, but I am very bullish about our chances this year. The fact is, the lack of big name players, and "elite" players had not prevented Footscray from winning a flag. I believe our list is not dissimilar to theirs talent wise, coaches included. They came from a long way back a few years ago, we aren't as far back as they were. We can do it next year, no doubt, a little more luck and a united team, club and supporters (a few less "perceptive fellow" wouldn't go astray) and we can be intoxicated with exhilaration like those associated with the Dogs are today.

[piedys]

Once we rid the team of the ball slaughterers, we'll be on the way.

The dogs got lucky this year against us, twice. Probably where their charmed run with the umpires started too; i.e. Bontempelli not eligible for dropping the ball rule.

We should nail the Cats and Whoreks in 2017, and we owe Sydney a payback belting. Please Buckley LEARN from the 2016 grand final...
And stop dropping winnable games against the SHIT TEAMS would be a good start too.

We still have a lot of work to do, and a lot of ground to make up, and also need a team or two in the 2016 final eight to fall over next season.

[HAL]

OK I'll try not to do dropping winnable games against the SHIT TEAMS would be a good start too so much.

[RudeBoy]

[piedys]

[piedys]

[piedys]