Three Things I've Learned - Round 1 Other Matches Edition

[westdog54]

Like the others, but tell us what you've learned as a result of the other 8 matches for the round. With 8 matches to choose from I'm sure we'll all manage to find 3.

[1eyedog]

1. Melbourne have too many midfielders playing for themselves. Even Nathan Jones looked to be going through the motions and seemed set on going in hard rather than doing anything productive. They were completely outplayed out of the middle by a bunch of kids. They are terrible at Etihad.

2. Essendon did what I thought they would do and beat Norf. Chappy and Goddard are two of the best ins you could have and both played exceptionally well on Friday night. By bringing them in Essendon signalled that they think they are in a premiership window and if they can bring consistency to their season I don't think it's a two horse race this year.

3. GWS and Gold Coast will be spanking our ass in our next premiership window.

[Sedat]

1. Terrible scheduling of Round 1 by the AFL
2. Norf, Richmond and Carlton are all still nowhere near top 4 level
3. We are ahead of the filth on the ladder - there, I found a positive from yesterday

[bornadog]

1. Hawthorn have plenty of depth and will make the top four again

2. Geelong have built a fortress at home and once more will be hard to beat there

3. Gold Coast are starting to build a fortress at Metricon Stadium

[Go_Dogs]

1. Port may be a genuine finals team again.

2. Crows may not (hopefully)

3. Melbourne are going to really struggle again despite making some decent changes to their list by way of increased experience.

[LostDoggy]

1. Carlton are in serious list management trouble and it will get worse before it gets better.
2. West Coast and Essendon will have good years - both have fringe players who look like they have picked up additional loads and will provide significant upside.
3. GWS have finally found some experienced players to significantly boost their core youth program. Their list manager should send the swans a bouquet - they took a bullet for them.

[bulldogtragic]

1. We will be competing in finals against GCS
2. We will be competing in finals against GWS
3. The split round is contemptuous towards fans

[KT31]

1. We will be competing in finals against GCS
2. We will be competing in finals against GWS
3. The split round is contemptuous towards fans

Do you mean this season or in a couple of seasons ?

[bulldogtragic]

Do you mean this season or in a couple of seasons ?

As optimistic as I am, probably not this year.

I'm thinking by 3 years all 3 should be around the top 8. Looking at our age and list profiles, we should have 3 seasons or so competing, much like the teams in our last purple patch.

[Mantis]

1. Terrible scheduling of Round 1 by the AFL

Ground access tied there hands didn't it?

[bornadog]

Ground access tied there hands didn't it?

With subi?

[Mantis]

With subi?

No.. With other grounds.

[bornadog]

No.. With other grounds.

and that is why we should have played the week before so we and WCE could have an extra 7 days off. It would not have impacted any other game, or ground.