TOPIC:

My 2 cents worth. About 6 weeks ago when Souths played Swans at Freo, I took a look at the scoreboard at the ten minute mark of the 2nd quarter which read Swans 8 - 2 - 50 to SF 1 - 3- 9 or a 41 point lead. The fact that Souths were able to turn around that deficit and come away with a 7 goal win was a testament to their level of mental strength and I decided on that day that Souths were absolutely contenders for the flag. What they must do though in any finals game is to be switched on at the very start of the match unlike that day at Freo when Swans stole a march on them. Teams like Subiaco, Peel and even East Perth will not allow you to clamber back into the game if you end up a long way behind early in the piece. Swans became defensive and were not a good enough team to be able to shut out Saunders and others. You would have no hope playing catch up footy against Subiaco. I wish you luck and if Swans get knocked out I will be supporting you guys in the finals series.

Dwert wrote: With the club having this week off with the bye to re charge and refocus on the last round V Freo reserves I thought I might raise the question and am interested in the thoughts of others?

My thoughts:
we are good enough when we play our A game. Still think our team defence is questionable and will need to go to another level.
Forward line looks potent on paper if the supply from the midfield is constant
Midfield has plenty of firepower and options and are the vital cog to carrying us to finals success, Whether we can do it with only one ruckmen against the bigger bodied teams is debatable.

My concerns:
The teams seemingly collective psychological barrier to beating firstly defeating Freo 's reserves team and then eventually the Lions to claim finals success. Last year we exited in straight sets, will that experience be the motivation for the group to rise to another level?
Our record against the Lions in previous years is disgusting , we have been the constant whipping boys for them and will need to have some serious plans in place to turn the tables when we meet next.

Anyway interested in the thoughts of others as it is very quite on the forum at the moment...

Agree 100% , the mental game will be huge here, and come finals so will the Physical , one the purple scum drop all the players back to the peel spuds you can rest assured we will be on the back foot and now its apparent the eagles wont be progressing much further the eagles reserves, tbh I cannot see us beating either fully stocked side.

swan42 wrote:

BC wrote: as you well know 42 we've won 17...but that counts for nothing come finals time when playing against loaded up alignment teams. as I said in my previous, we're missing quite a few including our skipper and most important player and have others coming back from long term injury which isn't great at this time of year.

BC to keep this on topic and given that the order is likely to be at the end of the qualifying games: Subiaco, South Freo, "Peel", Swans/"East Perth" what are your predictions for all the finals matches?

Don't worry BC its all entirely the Eagles fault we have this alignment deal and the dockers role in its purely imaginary and they played no part in it what soever. according to Swan , Meanwhile he can turn his venom on a traditional WAFl club Subiaco which appears to be an obsession with his ilk.

You couldn't make this crap up.

to be perfectly honest Baz the alignment doesn't worry me that much except at finals time when they drop back a heap of players. I understand why WCE and FFC want their players together in one WAFL team but what needs to happen is a complete rethink of the rules around eligibility so it makes it a bit fairer for non-aligned clubs. a cap of 15 is still far too many for my liking given the quality of some who have qualified.

BC wrote: to be perfectly honest Baz the alignment doesn't worry me that much except at finals time when they drop back a heap of players. I understand why WCE and FFC want their players together in one WAFL team but what needs to happen is a complete rethink of the rules around eligibility so it makes it a bit fairer for non-aligned clubs. a cap of 15 is still far too many for my liking given the quality of some who have qualified.

Of course it is. Subi & South have been the best two sides for the past two years by a mile and deserve to play off at the end. The ladder doesn't lie!

Said a few weeks ago everything WAFL finals-wise will be heavily influenced by what AFL content there is - yes South have the means & ability but even that may not be enough

Southerner wrote: Said a few weeks ago everything WAFL finals-wise will be heavily influenced by what AFL content there is - yes South have the means & ability but even that may not be enough

It all comes down to the quality of players the AFL clubs release.

Roman wrote:

Southerner wrote: Said a few weeks ago everything WAFL finals-wise will be heavily influenced by what AFL content there is - yes South have the means & ability but even that may not be enough

It all comes down to the quality of players the AFL clubs release.

Yep , this year neither will make it to the finals.

So a heap will come back and cause chaos during finals.

It could ruin the whole series.

BC wrote: to be perfectly honest Baz the alignment doesn't worry me that much except at finals time when they drop back a heap of players. I understand why WCE and FFC want their players together in one WAFL team but what needs to happen is a complete rethink of the rules around eligibility so it makes it a bit fairer for non-aligned clubs. a cap of 15 is still far too many for my liking given the quality of some who have qualified.

Well the whole deal pisses me off , but its when the finals come it really comes home to roost..

So yeah with you there.

Southerner wrote: Said a few weeks ago everything WAFL finals-wise will be heavily influenced by what AFL content there is - yes South have the means & ability but even that may not be enough

Well mate are we contenders or pretenders? If we are the later then why should we turn up and play in the Qualifying Final in 3 weeks(@Fremantle Oval), we may as well tell the boys to start the players trip a few weeks early and save ourselves the pain......