The draw so far has helped us to 2nd spot

[Piethagoras' Theorem]

3 more, that's a commemorative dvd release!

[tbaker]

[E]

[Raw Hammer]

It certainly has.

[Pies4shaw]

It’s helped us back to 4th (or 5th, if the Swans win by 3 or 4 goals) today.

[piedys]

Well firstly, the "draw" [read: fixture] has been another abortion, like it is most years.
Until it is tabled that every team play each other once in the first 17 rounds, it will always be a debatable lump of unbalanced shit.
But that is a topic for another thread, if we haven't already done so in the past.

[Monco Matt]

We finished bottom 6 last year didn't we? So our draw was always going to be one of the easiest, and we have taken advantage of that. Maybe it makes us appear to be better than we really are, I think most teams are pretenders really. But, we can get lucky in September regardless of how favourable our draw was in getting us there (if we get there). Next season will be different but I think we will be better prepared next year for a tougher draw.

[Raw Hammer]

Maybe best scenario is to finish bottom part of top 8. Tough draw could be too tough for where we’re actually at as a team.

[K]

[Jezza]

It's funny when I see people acting surprised by our soft draw. After finishing in the bottom 6, an easier draw was always going to be inevitable. Richmond were given the same benefit last year after a poor 2016 season.

We've done well to beat most sides in the bottom 10, but the question remains where we will sit at the end of the home and away season. I've always been adamant that we're not a top 4 team yet, but we've definitely shown enough to be a 5-8 team.

Many people are dismissive of our victories, but I think the wins against Adelaide, Melbourne and Essendon (last week) shouldn't be underestimated. All three sides were playing like top 8 sides when we encountered them.

A majority of people didn't expect us to play finals this year, so to have already accumulated 11 wins and be sitting in the top 4 after 16 games is an impressive feat and something most supporters would have taken at the start of the year.

Time will tell whether we can maintain our form as we face some tough opponents in the next few weeks. Today was a setback, but it wasn't a fatal blow.

[Cam]

Watch teams scramble to finish 13-14 this year. I got my eye on you Hawthorn and Dogs, Bombers might start to tank soon too.

[tbaker]

[E]

We are 1-5 vs teams in the top 10
We are 10-0 against teams in the bottom 8.

You can believe whatever you want to believe, but that is a damning stat right there.......

i wonder what our record was last year against top 10 teams? Perhaps all that we have done is gotten more consistent.

[didick]

^It's easy to look straight at the numbers. But as with individual player stats like disposals you have to look deeper.

If you consider we were up against the Giants in the last quarter but were decimated by injuries that whole game, then the stat becomes 2-4 against teams in the top 10. Then against Richmond we definitely gave them a run for their money, probably one of their toughest opponents for the better part of the year, and on their turf too. And even against the Cats we had a shocker and had injuries during the game and still weren't thumped.

Take those three games into consideration alone in the big picture and we're a pretty good competitor. I think we deserve to be where we are. The problem is now that with some tough games coming up, they could cloud our image as we have lost so many more players and we haven't got anywhere near our best team on the park.

So screw the supposed softness of the draw, the only thing holding us back this year is injuries. With a tougher draw and fewer injuries I believe we'd still be in the 8, quite comfortably.

[E]