Form ladder 2021

[David]

Thought I’d go early on this this year:

Round 2 form ladder

1. Port Adelaide
2. Richmond
3. Sydney
4. Western Bulldogs
5. West Coast
6. Melbourne
7. Geelong
8. Brisbane

9. Collingwood
10. Gold Coast
11. Fremantle
12. Adelaide
13. St Kilda
14. GWS
15. Hawthorn
16. Carlton
17. Essendon
18. North Melbourne

I think the jury’s very much out on whether we belong in that top 8 group based on the first two rounds – but we can make a big step by beating Brisbane, who IMHO are by far the best of the winless teams and arguably in better shape than a number of those that have won a game. Having said that, I think the top of the table (say, top 5) is much clearer right now than the bottom at the moment, North Melbourne aside. It already looks to me like there will only be three finals spots available for the teams from 6 down.

[BazBoy]

Our loss to Dogs was not desirable of course but we turned a fumbled ridden loss around with a game of high pressure footy

Their mindset set the pattern—aggressive footy led to better disposal and decision making against Blues & to loose then regain momentum was a plus

I believe we will make the eight but not top four

[Rd10.1998_11.1#36]

Don't encourage him

[The Boy Who Cried Wolf]

Emmm we've played our two games like ying and yang so far.. Jamie is a BIG loss, and it shows our frailty - our list has very little depth.

Clearly we have the 'makings' of a fairly competitive side, Nick Dacios will clearly add to that... but for now I'm still very worried about our depth, and of course the 'Buckley + co' issues. If we have zero future 'major' injuries I can see us making the eight just (and us not really vying for a flag 'realistically'), otherwise I think we may struggle..? Too early to see for now but as I said, any injury issues in key areas and we'll be stuffed.

[David]

^ I think that's pretty much spot on. Definitely hard to take anything conclusive from the first two rounds, but so far I'm not seeing any signs of a finals-bound club. At this rate, we might sneak in among the pack of mid-tier teams like Melbourne, Fremantle, Gold Coast and St Kilda, but one would think we'll have to lift a gear if we're going to do any serious damage this season.

[BazBoy]

After the Briswegians we have out of form GWS then Weagles who are a bit off at present followed by Bummers

Three wins a possibility or not ???????

[Abdul The Bull]

[BazBoy]

We travel well I rekon and we traveled over there and knocked them(WCE) out of the finals last year
Always a hard side to beat but I like our chances

[Lazza]

Realistically this will be a very tough gig. They have been in Melbourne for the week and won’t need “acclimatisation”. They have had more time to spend with their teammates and will be ready for a hard fought game. Not saying that we can’t win it but the real Collingwood will have to turn up instead of the goofy one that makes too many mistakes and turnovers.

[Rosolino_Leone]

I cant believe the Dogs are not ranked No.1, they are the only team in the AFL who has defeated two of last years finalists. While blooding a number of new recruits...

I can no longer take this Form Ladder seriously

Good day Sir

[David]

I do appreciate that you said "no longer". Most posters here would not be so generous.

[Rosolino_Leone]

[David]

Round 3

1. Sydney
2. Western Bulldogs
3. West Coast
4. Port Adelaide
5. Richmond
6. Melbourne
7. Geelong
8. Brisbane

9. Adelaide
10. Collingwood
11. Gold Coast
12. Essendon
13. Hawthorn
14. Carlton
15. Fremantle
16. St Kilda
17. GWS
18. North Melbourne

(Amended as per suggestion below)

[dalyc]

[David]

Fair call there. I put Melbourne in fourth before doing the bottom teams, thinking that they’d beaten some decent opponents – but now you mention it 6th or 7th probably is about right (I’d say 6th because Geelong hasn’t really proven themselves either; they’ve still only narrowly beaten Brisbane and Hawthorn and lost against Adelaide).

You could make a case for either the Bulldogs or Sydney being top – both have beaten top teams (West Coast and Richmond, though Sydney won their match by a lot more) and also won comfortably against mid-range teams (us and Brisbane/Adelaide, again in Sydney’s case by bigger margins). The Bulldogs also beat up on North by a huge margin, but I’m not sure that’s enough on its own to overturn the edge Sydney have in the other comparable matches.

(A few interesting games next week for sorting out positions: Port vs Richmond, Melbourne vs Geelong and, I’m sorry to say, Collingwood vs GWS – can’t say I have a great feeling about that one.)