I finally got to an AFL game last weekend in Ballarat.
Both GWS and the Western Bulldogs are two excellent football teams and they'll likely go deep in the finals. It was my second time at Mars Stadium and this time it was much warmer which made the whole experience a lot more comfortable.
The rest of the round saw Carlton and Fremantle lose. The Fremantle loss meant Carlton scraped into finals which was probably deserved.
The top 8 being locked in means I can reflect on my predictions from back in March:
- Carlton
- Brisbane
- Collingwood
- Adelaide
- Sydney
- Melbourne
- GWS
- Gold Coast
- Essendon
- Fremantle
- Richmond
- St Kilda
- Hawthorn
- Western Bulldogs
- Geelong
- North Melbourne
- Port Adelaide
- West Coast
- Carlton scraped into the 8 but they look very shaky, it will be a tough task for them in Brisbane but they do get a lot of players back from injury
- Brisbane are also no guarantee, their inaccurate kicking at goal continues to plague them, at their best they can win the flag
- Collingwood were cooked by injuries and not winning the close ones this year
- Adelaide were maybe the biggest disappointment of the year, just never got going
- Sydney should win the flag, but I still can't go past losing by 100 points to Port a few weeks ago, that kind of loss usually means you can't win a flag
- Melbourne's culture is cooked, I was correct to worry about them, tipping them 6th was a decent prediction but they fell a little lower, I said this about them in March "Melbourne could be bad but I still have them 6th based on list talent, there's some concerns about their team culture and leadership"
- GWS are a great football team, can they beat the big dogs though remains a question
- Gold Coast were hugely disappointing, their wins over Collingwood and Geelong were fantastic, but then they lose to average teams on the road, it just isn't good enough for where their list is at
- Essendon have a sub par list and just don't look great, I worry they could drop off more next year
- Fremantle are also hugely disappointing this year, I got their ladder position almost spot on though
- The bottom has fallen out at Richmond, time to trade and get draft picks
- St Kilda could be good next year with a couple more pieces, I'd watch them
- Hawthorn are clearly the surprise packet of the year, amazing team to watch and very likeable, happy Jack Ginnivan is playing good footy, I did sort of get this prediction correct "Hawthorn could be a lot better than 13th, feel like they're a possible surprise team"
- The Western Bulldogs are also surprising from the perspective of where I picked them, but their list is just so good, didn't expect their younger players like Sam Darcy to come on so much
- Will Geelong just always be good, how do they keep doing this year after year
- North Melbourne looked really solid for about 8 rounds and then trash for the rest of the year
- From booing Ken Hinkley to potential flag favourites, it really could have gone both ways this year for Port, I got this pick very wrong "Port Adelaide will sack Ken Hinkley after ~8 rounds, they have a good list but have a feeling they won't be that strong this year"
- West Coast have Harley Reid and he's going to be a very good footballer
I only got 4 finalists correct which is a pretty bad strike rate.
This year was so damn up and down. It was a weird one.