The second official 2012 AFL thread: Undefeated after six rounds

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intedomine said:
Carlton all of a sudden don't seem like much of a premiership threat. Losing to Essendon, almost surrendering a decisive lead to Freo, struggling against Wests and now losing to the Seaford Saints is a poor stretch of form, particularly given their impressive personnel (Kreuzer, Judd, Murph, Jamieson)
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Eh, I have no idea who the premiership threats are anymore. There's like 8 of them (or, conversely, none at all). We've sucked as of late, but I refuse to believe that our personnel will continue to underachieve so profoundly all season.
 
Yeah, who exactly IS a premiership threat?

Hawthorn went in as favourites. Now they aren't even in the eight, with losses to Geelong, West Coast, and Sydney.

Geelong went in as reigning premiers. Now they aren't even in the eight, with losses to Freo and North Melbourne, and an unconvincing win over Richmond.

West Coast went undefeated the longest, but lost emphatically to Essendon and only just got up over Richmond.

Essendon flogged both West Coast and Carlton, but lost to Collingwood and only just eked wins over North Melbourne and fucking Gold Coast.

Carlton seemed to emerge as serious favourites, but then got done by Essendon and St Kilda, not to mention almost surrendering to Freo.

Collingwood went in as another favourite, but crashed early to Hawthorn and Carlton, plus only beat Essendon by a point and had a minor scare against the Bulldogs.

Adelaide are currently 2012's answer to the 2011 Eagles, knocking off Sydney and Geelong, but they lost to Hawthorn and most of their wins are against soft teams - they haven't yet been tested by a quality Melbourne team in Melbourne.

Sydney looked like they were going great, especially when they defeated Hawthorn - only to then go and lose to Adelaide and Richmond.

St Kilda looked absolutely out of it, losing to Port and Freo and only defeating a trio of easy-beats ... and then they knocked off Carlton in style.

Absolutely nobody rates Freo at the moment, yet they are still in the eight, able to list Geelong and St Kilda amongst their victories.

And if Hawthorn and Geelong are premiership threats from outside the current eight, then what about other teams? Richmond are climbing, having knocked off Sydney and very nearly beating Carlton and West Coast. North Melbourne are trying to build on last year's surge, and although they stuttered this week, they have beaten Geelong and could have knocked off Essendon after the siren.

Maybe not all of these teams are premiership threats (I'd strike off Freo, North Melbourne, Richmond, and St Kilda, with the red pen hovering above a couple more), but they're all finalist threats - and absolutely nobody here emerges as a clear favourite.
 
I'm backing West Coast at this point if they manage to get a fair amount of players back soon.
 
I got THREE. :grumpy: I'm plunging down the tipping comp's rankings faster than Hawthorn's going down the ladder (Friday's win notwithstanding).

I can't see the Hawks being a premiership threat this year... but then like everyone's said, this year things seem a lot more open and unpredictable; which is all to the good, unless your tipping technique boils down to "tip the favourite". :wink:
 
I realize that losing Walker is a huge deal, but wow, tabsportsbet has Adelaide at $3.25.

Pies vs. Cats
Power vs. Kangas
Hawks vs. Dockers
Swans:cute: vs. Demons
Doggies vs. Suns
Bombers vs. Tigers (hope to be wrong here)
Lions vs. Giants
Blues vs. Crows (emotional hedge? nah, we really suck right now)
Eagles vs. Saints

Seems like an easy week of tipping, but shit, you can never really tell.
 
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Easy week of tipping? Charlotte and I both found it the hardest yet. Pies/Cats, Port/North, Hawks/Freo, Bombers/Tiges, and Adelaide/Carlton could all go either way - and a couple of others could even see upsets too (like Brissie/GWS).

And ugh, why the hell is Port/North on free-to-air TV on Saturday arvo rather than the Hawthorn/Freo game? Bah!
 
A Dockers win would be a big upset in my book. They suck.

I think this is the week Hawthorn turns it around; I'm not sold on Richmond yet.
 
They can't suck THAT much if they've beaten Geelong and St Kilda. I mean, they're in the eight, which is more than Hawthorn can say.
 
Their recent form hasn't been great. They were very lucky to beat Gold Coast and even if they beat Port comfortably, they only managed a measly 12 goals against them and were hardly impressive. I have little doubt that Hawthorn will win.
 
If we hadn't laid an egg, they would still be bottom feeders. If they're worth the hype, they will upset a reeling West Coast, or at least keep it close.
 
It's hard to dismiss St Kilda when they have some of the best players in the league and have made the top eight in seven out of the last eight seasons. They may not have a complete team right now, but I think it's pretty unfair to say they'd be bottom feeders down on the Dogs/Lions level.

I mean, sure, I've been calling them as a team on their way down a bit, but I expect them to finish at least tenth, and to remain contenders to sneak into the eight.
 
Of the '09 Grand Finalists, who has a better list now?

Geelong or St. Kilda?

That's not an easy one to answer.
 
intedomine said:
Of the '09 Grand Finalists, who has a better list now?

Geelong or St. Kilda?

That's not an easy one to answer.
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Here's a laugh - let's take that back just a bit:

Of the '03 Grand Finalists, who has a better list now?

Brisbane or Collingwood?

That's an easy one to answer.
 
cobl04 said:
How about Aboriginals vs non-Aboriginals for State of Origin? O'Laughlin's raised the idea. I like it.
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I'm not sure. Besides the general worries, e.g. the minefield of who is and isn't Aboriginal, I must admit that I'm not sure it's a good idea in a country with a lot of underlying or unsaid racial tensions. Perhaps I'm being paranoid, but if Non-Aboriginals flogged Aboriginals by a good margin, you'd inevitably see "I'm not a racist, but perhaps these Aboriginals aren't as good as their boosters think they are / we shouldn't be spending so much money on them / they've still got a long way to go before they're as good as Real Aussies (TM)".

Plus I just don't like to think of sporting rivalry in racial terms. I don't want to be sitting in front of telly being all "yeah, go my whiteys, beat those Aboriginals!" ... it's not something to rally around like state identity is. I can get passionate about Victoria, being Victorian, beating non-Victorians, etc. I can't get passionate about non-Aboriginals, being non-Aboriginal, and beating Aboriginals. It's a contest where only one side goes into it with a collective identity and a positive, constructive passion to knock off their rival.
 
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