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Roo´s View
You Heard It Here First!
Roo's
2011 AFL Season Predictions
The Contenders
Collingwood
Premiers in 2010 and a young and very disciplined side. They have some great young players such as Chris Tarrant from Freo and former Bear Andrew Krakouer who had 43 disposals and 4 goals in the 2010 WAFL grand final. Their classic military style, frontal attack football takes away time and space from the opposition, which leads to opposition mistakes and turnovers. Will be extremely hard to beat in 2011.
St Kilda Three Grand Finals in two years with no premiership has led to great mental pressure on the team. Their defensive game style is similar to Collingwood with the 18 man zone, however they need to improve their ability to score and increase goal-scoring options beyond Riewoldt. Watch out for Reece Stanley, a good Riverland boy. The premiership window is rapidly closing for this mentally fragile and aging squad. Geelong There have been a lot of changes in the Geelong camp with Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson now at Essendon, a new Club President, Ablett now at the Gold Coast and Milburn retiring. The team will be under considerable pressure for the first time in four years. The loss of key personnel and their ageing list means they will need an injury free season to win the premiership, but my big question is ‘Do they still have the burning desire?’ Bulldogs A Team riddled by injuries in the late 2010 season, yet battled on manfully to make the final four. They now have the oldest list in the AFL with 10 players near or over 30. I cannot see them improving enough to win the flag, yet expect them to make the top six even without Aker. Fremantle Had a good year in 2010 which surprised a lot of people. It will be interesting to see if they can repeat in 2011. Brisbane Quite a bit of field movement in the coaching department. Will hopefully now have a better structure. If the team is fit, they still have the cattle in Fevola and Brown to have a chance. Predict they will make the eight. Sydney Appointed John Longmire as new coach for 2011 and there are no major changes to their list apart from Paul Roos and captain Brett Kirk. They have some great young players and will be one of the teams in the hunt for the final eight. Kangaroos, Carlton and Hawthorn Not a lot of depth in all three teams and they will need a lot of good luck with injuries to have a good year in 2011. There is a possibility of these teams being finals contenders if they are good on the day. Melbourne A chance for the finals. Lots of youth, pace and skill. Bailey made the tough decision in moving on Cameron Bruce and James McDonald. 2011 should be an exciting year. Essendon The world’s best coaching panel of Hird, Thompson, Wellman, McCartney and ‘Red Fist’ winner Simon Goodwin – none of them cheap. Next step is a playing list to match the coaching panel by developing and recruiting for a 2013 premiership. Richmond Some great young players including Riewoldt, Cotchin and Martin. If they can keep moving so will the Tigers. Damien Hardwick did a great job as coach in 2010. Maybe a push for final eight. Crows Lost 1500 games of experience in McLeod, Edwards, Burton and Goodwin. Can the youngsters come out of their shadows? Plenty of talent in the side but not a lot of depth with a number of inexperienced juniors. Need career best years for Vince, Tippet, Dangerfield, Walker and Porplyzia. Ranking: 6th to 10th. Power Honeymoon is over for Matthew Primus. Boak, Gray and the super-talented Motlop need to stand up and be injury free. Port also needs to unveil a constant match winning forward, maybe Westhoff or Trengove. What Port need most is an attractive style of footy so we see more bums on seats instead of black tarps. Good luck Matty Primus – a great bloke with a tough gig. Ranking: 6th or 12th West Coast Massive year for premiership coach John Worsfold, however predict they will struggle in 2011. Ranking: 16th Gold Coast If the newly formed Gold Coast can win three games in 2011 it will be a success, however winning games will not be their number one priority. They have twenty of the best kids in the camp including AFL superstar Gary Ablett and Guy McKenna, a dual premiership player from the Eagles who coached under Mick Malthouse at Collingwood. Need to develop a winning culture. 2014 will be the year that they challenge for the Premiership. Ranking: Wooden Spoon
Rule change to watch out for
One thing to look out for next year will be going from four interchange to three interchange with a substitute. This means the days of two ruckman will be gone and replaced with a more mobile ruck such as Kozzy.
Black & Whites for 2011
Keep an eye on Eddie’s head which will get bigger with back-to-back premierships. Looks a chance. The Buckley and Malthouse succession plan will be thrown in to doubt as Mick’s reign as coach is to come to an end, possibly after two premierships. |
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