Sydney might still make it

I am really awaiting the next few rounds with anticipation, as really the formation of the top 4 and under isn't finalised. I am so far hoping collingwood can continue its form and stay in the top 4.....

Oh, they might make the 8. But Sydney are just not the same team they were in the past three or four years. They don't have that killer instinct that they used to have. If they do make the finals, they won't survive long therein.

^I wouldn`t right off the Swans yet, they are still a team capapble of taking down the top teams and with the teams so close together on points inside and outside the eight they could still finish in quite a respectable position within the eight. St.kilda on the other hand are not only two games but also a significant amount of percentage outside the eight. The loss to Collingwood just about finished us off, but its still a mathematical possibility for us to make it, too bad we play an in-form crows this week even if it is at home.

I'd like to thank St Kilda for keeping Adelaide away from the top four for this week

I have the black/white & teal blue running through my veins(POWER) Subtemperate...

And man i feel as good about the Crows loosing as i do the Power winning

Im sure most of the competition feel the same way.. about adelaide that is

So we keep in touch of the eight beating a top-four contender. It gives me hope, but it will take a massive effort to still make the finals. Our percentage is dangerously low and results will have to go our way but we do play quite a few of the teams just above us in the final seven rounds. Just about all are at the Telstra Dome as well so thats a positive plus our side is getting close to full-strength although Goddard, Gardiner and probably Hamill wont play again this year.

I would say that todays game by the pies was riddled with errors..... They turned the ball over consistantly, and weren't as good defensively as they can be.

...Though I would like to cite a general warning to the competition that rumour has it Clement, Buckley, Prestigiacomo, Holland, Rhys Shaw.... as well as Rusling (who is unproven) will all be back in our lineup within 2 weeks. All of a sudden we are starting to look like a strong outfit.

It was POWERful performance by the POWER demolishing West Coast Eagles.
..................................................................
POWER 22.20.(153)

West Coast Eagles 9.8.(63)

Malthouse stated after the game in his post-match conference that he thought it was the worst game they had played all year. Considering it was against the Cats, by far the form team of the competition and cosidering you only got beat by 16 points I feel that was slightly going too far. They should have played much better considering what they've done this year but it could have been much worse.

I had to laugh when Grant Thomas in his article in the Age today stated that the only team Geelong needed to fear was a fully fit and fully manned St.Kilda side. He believes that we will make the finals and play a key part in knocking other teams out as our side is nearly over all the injuries and achieving considerable form. While I find his view encouraging and while I still believe we are capable of making the finals, I dont see us as the only team capable of ending Geelong's run if we make the finals. We have shown quite often this year how vunerable we are and have let many opportunities slip in winnable matches.

i think you'll find hes not far wrong... we let Geelong dictate.... he said it was close to our worst game of the year... remember we have really only had 2 shabby performances before this game... so he can't be wrong

This Rod will sue Grant over putting pressure on his players to make the finals now? *gig*

^Well apparently the lawsuit has been settled out of court and they have even chatted on the phone together. At least thats what Rod Buttress claimed when interviewed just a few days ago. I must admit its goes to show just how loyal Grant Thomas is to St.Kilda, even after everything that has happened to him through the actions of the President and board he is as supportive as ever of his club. Hopefully Buttress will be gone soon as although he has helped St.Kilda to a very good financial position he has caused far too much trouble amongst the board, players and coaching staff. His comments and statements this year in relation to Grant Thomas went too far and damaged the club, he in my opinion is now a liability.

I never liked grant thomas as coach, thought he was put there for the wrong reasons.... But I get the feeling the person who would be to blame there would be rod also I don't like him, he obviously has no idea whats good for his club and supporters if you ask me.

Just over 85,000 people at the Magpies V Cats game...

For just a minor round clash against these two sides, that has to be some kind of record?!

I'm just going to make a small prediction as to who i think will make the ''top 8 only'' at the end of the minor round season going into the finals...


In no particular order...

Sydney Swans
Collingwood
Geelong
West Coast Eagles
POWER
Adelaide
Saint Kilda
Hawthorn

Dated: 16/7/07

Your right Aztec edited Kangaroos for the Saints...how did i forget the saints

^I would tend to agree although I still believe St.Kilda can make it. All the teams besides Geelong are relatively close together and I feel that the final top eight will look very different to the current one in relation to placings.



To be honest he was a hard man to like, but if you listen to any who knew him personally they all said he was a great bloke. He also led St.Kilda to three successive finals, which included two successive preliminary finals so although he wasn`t too likable he did achieve a fair bit.

Kangaroos aren't in your 8 when they are equal 2nd????


Mine in no order is

Geelong, West Coast, Collingwood, Sydney, Kangaroos, Hawthorn, Power and... maybe adelaide or the bulldogs..

Ok this is my ''final change'' Subtemperate...take out the Crows and throw the Roos in there.


Thats absolutely positively it! lol!

Its ok... I think the more interesting thing will be where everyone finishes in the 8. I would think if the interstate teams don't get home finals it will make the job too hard for them... Though I kinda wish collingwood would face geelong in the first week... given the pressure they will be under

^Geelong just keep on getting better and better Subby, are you sure you would want to take them on in the first week of September?

Good to see St.Kilda easily disposing of Hawthorn although allowing them to kick the last three goals gave them scoreboard respectability that they didn`t deserve. Once we got in front by 2 goals we were never trully threatened again, but we should have finished them off much earlier and given ourselves a percentage boost. We are only now out of the eight on percentage and we get to play Carlton next week, so maybe that match can be our percentage booster. After that most of our games will be against decent opposition, luckily all but one is at Telstra Dome so that makes life slightly easier.

Another POWER surge! AC/DC

Demons sinful

^Indeed Port's resurgenece has been quite impressive and I now believe you are inside the top 4? Anyway St.kilda did manage to make it into the eight for a day or two but due to percentage have slipped down to ninth. It is really unacceptable as we should have gone on with the game against Carlton winning by about 10 goals rather than letting them back in and only holding on for the win. Although we would still have slipped outside the eight it would make it much easier to get in later on but with Brisbane right behind us and those above us with far greater percentages we will be in for one hell of a fight.

Hmm, yea but i'm quietly confident Aztec, after all in the last few weeks the Power have played cellar dweller teams so the genuine tests are still to come in the next 5 weeks to the start of the finals.

Hey no sweat Aztec the Saints are still in it, only out on percentage.

A.F.L Premiership Ladder 2007 (updated every hour on the hour)

Later

^Indeed. Unfortunately 4 out of our next 5 games are against tough opposition. We have the Bulldogs, Sydney, Freo and West Coast so essentially every match for us now on is a mini final. If we can manage to take out Sydeny, the dogs and Freo we will just about assure ourselves a place in the eight with our final match against Richmond.

V

*Hopes POWER zaps Crows featherless in today's ''Showdown*

^As do I. We need Adelaide, Brisbane and Essendon to all lose this weekend as that will give us some breathing space. The draw last night basically means we now have to win every match and hope results go our way. I`m just hoping that this doesn`t halt our momentum as we were on a roll before this game.

Well Aztec...there was a POWER failure at Football park today and the CROWS swooped.

As much as it kills and cuts me up inside to say it, the CROWS *cough*deserved*cough* the win.
POWER 'defended'(thats Aussie rules suicide in my book)their lead and CROWS 'attacked' throughout the second half, hence the win.

I havn't checked yet but the SAINTS should be still ok to make the eight.

2007 AFL PREMIERSHIP LADDER ...constantly updated.

Later Aztec.


*note no POWER 'logo' on this post. lol!

Well, at least my team eventually got over the line

Ahhh yes Sub, COLLINGWOOD Vs CARLTON...The clash of the traditional rivals...those games are never dull.

Hmm, I think I might have been too quick to put the post mortem out on Sydney. After a series of great wins, they are no firmly entrenched in the top-8. Only one game out of the top 4, and two wins out of 2nd spot. And with the second-best percentages in the League, if they can manage to make up that one game deficit (for top-4) or two game deficit (for top-2), then they'll jump to the head of the pack, only behind Geelong.

To be fair though, Sydney have played pretty substandard opposition the past few weeks - Carlton, Richmond, then Melbourne, the three bottom-placed teams. But they have won all these games by 10 goals, 11 goals, 8 goals respectively. The only blemish was against West Coast, which they lost by 12, but even this wasn't too bad considering that Sydney were missing many of their stars, including Barry Hall, and some other dude that was voted the MVP for a few games (not sure who though).

The next few weeks will be telling, as we take on St Kilda (good luck, Aztec), Brisbane, Collingwood (good luck, Subby), and Hawthorn, all still hotly contesting for finals berths. We'll know after the next few weeks whether Sydney have the "Goodes" to do it again (sorry, bad pun, maybe I should be a newspaper reporter, they're almost as bad as I am )

lol I think the Sydney/Stkilda game this week will go a long way to determining one of those spots in the eight....

^Indeed, if Sydney win they are just about assured a spot in the top eight and if the Saints lose then basically our season is over. We must win every game from now on and bloody Hawthorn and Adelaide finding form again is not helping us at all. I still believe we can make it but the battle will definately be an uphill one.

I watched a lot of the port and adelaide game, I wouldn't worry so much about adelaide.... A dry track and I think the result may have been different....

^Indeed I saw a fair bit too and it also looked like Port were simply having a bad day, they really should have been able to win that game. Other teams apart from our opponents are irrelevant now, we simply have to win every game theres no point in relying upon results going our way as we wont be in contention unless we keep winning. I fear that the Collingwood and Bulldogs that we should have won could come back to haunt us, those 8 points would have really helped us make the finals.

An interesting round of football. It looks like the top-7 spots are all wrapped up, with 5 teams in the hunt for 8th spot. I've gone through and tipped my winners and losers for the next three weeks, and if things work out as expected (and assuming the percentages remain the same) here is my projected Finals contenders:

1. Geelong - 76 pts

2. West Coast - 60 pts

3. Sydney - 56 pts

4. Port Adelaide - 56 pts *

5. Kangaroos - 56 pts

6. Hawthorn 52 pts *

7. Collingwood - 52 pts

8. St Kilda - 46 pts

So don't worry, Aztec, assuming you win 2-from-3, you should be fine. If you can also take down the West Coast Eagles, that will guarantee you 8th spot, I think.

* - Hawthorn and Port ply next week. If Hawthorn wins instead, they will swap positions (Hawthorn will be 4, Port will be 6).

Adelaide has a chance of scraping in with three winnable games, but they are all against teams also fighting for the last place in the 8, and one bad game will put them out of contention. Brisbane have too tough an ask, with games against Sydney and Geelong. All others also fall short.

^Hopefully, it essentially means that next round is our grand final. If we beat Fremantle we maintain our position or jump above Brisbane into the eight and knock Fremantle out of the finals race. Having to also rely on other results is definately not an ideal position to be in but its what you get for letting two winnable games slip.

wow...
Aussie has a football league...or is it soccer? ....I'm sure its very exciting!...






Mr Halfhand

"Hawks Rule".

Hi Aztec,

Freo's a winnable game, I think - and so is Richmond (though Collingwood might disagree right about now). West Coast is a tough ask. Brisbane, on the other hand, who are the only team above you have to play both Sydney and Geelong, while, the Bulldogs take on Hawthorn and the Kangaroos. Adelaide, Freo, and Essendon all have to win their three remaining games to stay in the hunt, with only Adelaide having an "easy" run - by easy, they play three teams all within the fight for the final spot in the 8 - the other two teams take on the heavyweights.

I feel certain that if you can get over the top of Freo, and keep it up against Richmond, then the other teams will stumble. Of course, beating West Coast also will basically guarantee you the 8th spot. If your team's as good as I think, and going by their showing against Sydney, they are, they should make it.

...............

Oh, Barek - we're talking about Aussie Rules Football, AFL - see THIS LINK for further reading

Oh so its like more like Rugby ... thats different .....B

POWER gives CARLTON the blues

CROWS lost their feathers to CATS...rofl!

Considering our talent and home-ground advantage all these games are winnable but definately the Freo and Richmond matches are the ones we have to win. We have beaten West Coast up at Subiaco but that was Harvey's 350th, then again the desire to play finals could get us over the line, as the Eagles have already made it, hopefully we will want it more than them. I`m hoping that Xavier Clark is dropped as he was horrific in the final quarter against Sydney and was directly responsible for turning over the ball every single time he touched it and allowing Sydney to score twice. We could replace him with Brett Voss and also chuck in Fergus Watts who is a big forward and just kicked 7 goals for Casey in the VFL.

yeah well, considering talent and such Collingwood should have walked over richmond this week

Oh well..... We have a birght future, we are on the way up...rather then on the slow descent down.

I can't wait to see Rusling back in our side, and hope to see buckley back.... but Chris Dawes is the one that interests me..... Haven't seen anything of him since he had a knee reconstruction... so he has just resumed in williamstown reserves... a centre half forward.... and kicked 7 goals this week....

So would you guys consider this video accurate as far as the explanation of the rules?.....
looks cool...you kick field goals on the run? .... but I refuse to call it "footie"....(sorry too soon mate ) ....B

edit:zup rebel...


Australian Rules Football explained
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA4gmMvye5M

Yeah, but its quite a sit through

I saw this on youtube, and... has anyone actually seen anyone doing this method of picking the ball up before???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9H-YZYRPas

^Someone probably has done it before but probably as a fluke. That Irish boy has defintely combined his Gaelic skills with his AFL skills. He has been a real find for Collingwood Subby, I wouldn`t be suprised to see him do that again. What are your thoughts on Buckley returning without playing in the VFL? Do you think its too much of a risk or worth it as Collingwood's form has dropped over the last month?

Good to see ya Barek.

Thats a fairly good description brother.....But this one speaks for itself!

My own opinion is divided.... Buckley is one of those players where the word superstar does not do him justice.... I WANT to see him back in the black and white as soon as possible.... but as safe as possible. They have announced he will play in the 2's, which is probably the right decision... as long as he gets through it....

^I definately want to see him back out there as he is a superstar but he should start in the VFL. That way they can use him sparingly and ease his fragile body back into it. Collingwood are all but assured of making the finals now so that gives him at least one extra match to recover by. If he does reinjure himself in the next few weeks I would think that would finally be the end of his career, heres hoping that doesn`t happen though.

thanks Reb...
that what I like to see ...OUCH! ....B