TOPIC:

With the season rapidly approaching, lets get the ball rolling.

For what its worth:

Subiaco
South
SD
Peel
EP
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Raffel: EF/CL/WP

Perth

Expect like last season that competition for 5th spot to be very tight

South - lost Kelly but picked up Suban so will be thereabouts again
Subi - will find it harder to kick winning scores without Liam Ryan
FART - new finals restrictions on Freo players will make it tougher to win another flag but should be competitive during the season
WART - same as FART
EF - anything other than top 5 will be disappointing given their off season recruiting.
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Wooden spoon - Perth

1. Subiaco
2. Peel

With the restrictions in place Subi will win every premiership until the demise of the WAFL in about five years.

This is after the home and away season, anything can happen come finals depending on if either or both AFL clubs make the finals as they are then unrestricted in the WAFL.
Top 3 in no particular order:
Souths, Subi, Eagles.
battling for 4th & 5th:
EF, CL, Peelmantle,
WP & Perth bottom 2.
Hard to predict a club with a new coach so need to wait and see re Swans

ShinyDuck wrote: 1. Subiaco
2. Peel

With the restrictions in place Subi will win every premiership until the demise of the WAFL in about five years.

After completion of the home & away season

ShinyDuck wrote: 1. Subiaco
2. Peel

With the restrictions in place Subi will win every premiership until the demise of the WAFL in about five years.

Another duckman glooming and dooming.

And there are a large number of supporters of the hybrid East Perth team who don't really care if they make the Finals or not.

I for one, don't.

The top 3 is a pretty boring read of Subi, Peel SF......ho hum who gives a fark.....even with their restrictions come finals time SF will struggle when Peel roll out their B grade AFL boys and show folk why Saunders never got drafted and why Shaw, D'Olio and Johnson had little or no AFL careers.....Subi will be less of a threat up front with Ryan gone....though mentally other WAFL clubs will always struggle v Subi, thus Subi will be the best WAFL club this year.

EP on paper should secure 4th spot......with EF, SD and Cl fighting over 5th spot.....though folk forget Kommer had an AFL career cut short by injury, Loersch, Snadden and Jansen dismal AFL showings too.....whilst Boekhorst never got going at a weak Carlton club.....and Griffen was toiler at best at the elite level...the jury is out as far as I'm concerned at what EF recruits will bring to the WAFL table....hopefully as much as SF failed AFL players have done......Cl have a great midfield.....on paper a potent tall forward line in Maister and Lee....not sure up back what they have tho......SD will miss Cary and his ability to kick goals, though if Blakely is back, Gault could go forward with Notte making SD a better side up front than last year.....Ames will be missed though, so Notte will be used and abused by Pickering no doubt up front and back....Palmer easily replaces Crowley.....so only Bennell and Ellis are losses......if Yarren, Eades and Newman play then SD on paper have a shed load of x-factor.....

WP.....never write them off.....always seem to do best when least expected.....totally respect WP and their abilty to win games.....as for Perth.....on paper will obviously find life hard on match day.....but IF White and Garstone stay fit, plus others stay on the park long enough, they do have the ability to compete and win games....as they showed v EP late last year.....depth will always be Perth's problem

Peel SF Subi EP EF SD CL WP Perth.......would love a SF v EF GF.....or for the banter an EF v SD GF

Nice write up freez even if I do say so myself. I agree with your observations on Subi...what will be interesting for me is to see how our mids go with a proper ruckman for a change...that's if Clarke can stay on the park of course. We were beaten in the hit out department by 78 in the 2017 GF and 60 in 2016. With a true ruckman instead of a pinch hitter like Delahunty, hopefully our mids can get their fare share of first use. In relation to your mob, you're conveniently forgetting LA will be like a new recruit and hopefully Georgie H gets a decent run at it. Those two will make a difference that's for sure.

BC forgot you guys had Clarke....as u say.... if fit him and DeLa Hunty interchanging up front will definitely on paper add some goalkicking strength to your forward line.....though Ryan always seemed to kick a few when subi needed that spark.....perhaps Sokol can provide that x factor for Subi......Subi do have that mental stranglehold over the rest of the comp bar Peel.....thus to me that is why they will be the best performed WAFL club in 2018.....yeah be nice if George could play a full season.....if EF mids stay fit it might see Hampson rest his dodgy hamstrings and play purely as a forward.....reckon due to injuries he has been required to play thru the EF midfield more than what his hamstrings can handle..........

I think Souths will be a huge threat this year...even more so than Peel who will be missing quite a few who made the difference in the last 2 finals series. They haven't lost too many although Kelly being drafted will hurt but they've got some good young kids coming through and every single line is rock solid.