A Rapid Rise Would Not Surprise.

[Lods]

Kids are a year older.
Our backline was decimated by injury last year...hopefully more settled next year.
Injury and a lack of a good pre-season affected some of our midfield as well.
Good luck to any defence lining up on McKay, Curnow and McGovern
A small goal kicking forward would top that off nicely and we have a few 'possibles" there.

The real issue will be the midfield applying enough pressure to aid the defence and at the same time providing enough forward entries and scoring opportunities for 'Charlie McHarry'

[flyboy77]

Murphy still has good footy in him, injuries withstanding.

How fast will the new blokes like Setterfield (21 next year), Kennedy (22 next year) and Lang (24 next year) start making a meaningful contribution?

The first two ex GWS blokes are both big bodies and (if fully fit) should go a long way to helping out Crippa.

Then, to our young draftees:

Willo (21 next year, late)
Cuners (22 next year - make or break for David)
Dow (20 next year - we have a player here folks)
O'Brien (20 next year)
Fish (21 next year, see Dow...)
Polson (21 next year)
SPS (21 next year)

And likely 18yo Sam Walsh....all of the above will start hitting peak output in 2020 more or less - I'd expect to make the 8 in 2020. Next year maybe 10-12th spot.

Hopefuly we get Barlow and/or Grigg. We have  a real need for one or two more mature agers.

[LP]

And likely 18yo Sam Walsh....all of the above will start hitting peak output in 2020 more or less - I'd expect to make the 8 in 2020. Next year maybe 10-12th spot.

We need to making finals and losing well before we are ready to make a real long term impact, they will need the experience.

We do not want to be one hit wonders, like a the starving homeless man invited to a feast then sent back to live in the gutter!

Also, the longer the lead-time to finals the lower our chance of retaining layers. Fans might hold the line and maintain the faith long term, but aging players won't if they are not given some positive short term signs! Believing otherwise is just a wish!

[ElwoodBlues1]

Kids are a year older.
Our backline was decimated by injury last year...hopefully more settled next year.
Injury and a lack of a good pre-season affected some of our midfield as well.
Good luck to any defence lining up on McKay, Curnow and McGovern
A small goal kicking forward would top that off nicely and we have a few 'possibles" there.

The real issue will be the midfield applying enough pressure to aid the defence and at the same time providing enough forward entries and scoring opportunities for 'Charlie McHarry'

For me it also depends what the other clubs are doing, we might improve but we saw teams like Collingwood, North, Melbourne etc improved out of sight and the ones that were meant to drop off didnt.
I have no doubt we will improve but it has to be measured against the other teams... only Gold Coast and Stkilda are teams I would confidently say we are going to beat.....
There isnt a game plan yet and IMO our defense is dodgy in the key spots......dont see Jones and Weitering holding up vs the teams that have real deal KP forwards....
Mcgovern, Charlie and Harry will need to kick a lot of goals for us to win because down the other end its going to be carnage.....

[Lods]

There isnt a game plan yet and IMO our defense is dodgy in the key spots......dont see Jones and Weitering holding up vs the teams that have real deal KP forwards....
Mcgovern, Charlie and Harry will need to kick a lot of goals for us to win because down the other end its going to be carnage.....

I think the defensive side of things comes back to the mid-field pressure I talked about in the OP.
It's not the only factor....but if the mids are getting dominated and the ball is coming in quickly and often that's when players like Jones and Weitering will get caught out.
If Jones drifts away from his man and there's a turnover midfield....or he backs his judgement and attacks the ball while a group of opposition midfielders are waltzing through ours... then we're in strife.

[PaulP]

We'll be bottom 4 in 2019 IMO. Too many unproven aspects to our game, and too many things have to go right to finish much higher.

[jeza]

For me it also depends what the other clubs are doing, we might improve but we saw teams like Collingwood, North, Melbourne etc improved out of sight and the ones that were meant to drop off didnt.
I have no doubt we will improve but it has to be measured against the other teams... only Gold Coast and Stkilda are teams I would confidently say we are going to beat.....
There isnt a game plan yet and IMO our defense is dodgy in the key spots......dont see Jones and Weitering holding up vs the teams that have real deal KP forwards....
Mcgovern, Charlie and Harry will need to kick a lot of goals for us to win because down the other end its going to be carnage.....

I know our defense looked a bit dodgey at times last year but in all honesty I thought they held up brilliantly for large chunks of the year.

Our midfield was non-competitive and the ball was flying straight down to the backline without any pressure what-so-ever. Critical turnovers in really dangerous positions constantly. I think out backline will be our strength if they're all fit and the midfield is able to pressure the D50 entries. Plowman, Doc, Simmo, Jones, Weitering, Marchbank, Newman, Williamson, McGovern (at times) - it's a good mix and there is a lot of depth there.

I'd also like to see Samo play half back for a year. I think he could make a real impact with his smarts and ball use and get his confidence right up. He's got to cut out those silly 15m sideways chips that get cut off. But it would be a good spot for him to develop. He could get 25+ pos a game and allow Doc to play midfield - where I think he will end up - and where we desperately need him.

Dow could be a big mover this year. He's the one I think could jump right up the rankings quickly. He's got the natural strength / speed / ability to progress quickly. I agree with SOS - he should have been taken at pick 1 last year. A more natural midfielder than Rayner who will be good but a Jake Stringer type and Brayshaw doesn't have the speed.

If Fisher can take that step from a 19 pos per game player to a 25+ pos per game player it will be massive for us also. Such a good user and always finds space to run at the opposition.

Murphy - needs to play wing / flank where he could still be damaging. He only damaged us last year. He was putrid. Injuries may have caught up to him though. Have to hope for an injury free run.

I'm extremely positive about next year but if we're changing 4-6 players every single week like we did last year we'll be winning the spoon again. We just can't afford key guys to be out but if we have a good run we could be looking at a rapid rise.

[JonHenry]

I know our defense looked a bit dodgey at times last year but in all honesty I thought they held up brilliantly for large chunks of the year.

Our midfield was non-competitive and the ball was flying straight down to the backline without any pressure what-so-ever. Critical turnovers in really dangerous positions constantly. I think out backline will be our strength if they're all fit and the midfield is able to pressure the D50 entries. Plowman, Doc, Simmo, Jones, Weitering, Marchbank, Newman, Williamson, McGovern (at times) - it's a good mix and there is a lot of depth there.

I'd also like to see Samo play half back for a year. I think he could make a real impact with his smarts and ball use and get his confidence right up. He's got to cut out those silly 15m sideways chips that get cut off. But it would be a good spot for him to develop. He could get 25+ pos a game and allow Doc to play midfield - where I think he will end up - and where we desperately need him.

Dow could be a big mover this year. He's the one I think could jump right up the rankings quickly. He's got the natural strength / speed / ability to progress quickly. I agree with SOS - he should have been taken at pick 1 last year. A more natural midfielder than Rayner who will be good but a Jake Stringer type and Brayshaw doesn't have the speed.

If Fisher can take that step from a 19 pos per game player to a 25+ pos per game player it will be massive for us also. Such a good user and always finds space to run at the opposition.

Murphy - needs to play wing / flank where he could still be damaging. He only damaged us last year. He was putrid. Injuries may have caught up to him though. Have to hope for an injury free run.

I'm extremely positive about next year but if we're changing 4-6 players every single week like we did last year we'll be winning the spoon again. We just can't afford key guys to be out but if we have a good run we could be looking at a rapid rise.

Agree with most of this, fitness, both injury wise and improved running ability (A Russell) will be massive factors.
I don't think we have been anywhere near fit enough, and a 10% improvement plus a smaller injury list would see our confidence skyrocket.
Not having spuds playing and having quality replacements will help a bit.
SPS, Dow, Fisher, O'Brien, Pickett and Polson all need to become running machines next year.
A fit Williamson and Docherty will improve the back line enormously

[flyboy77]

Setterfield and Kennedy the keys to seeing a highly competitive midfield imo.

[sandsmere]

Setterfield and Kennedy the keys to seeing a highly competitive midfield imo.

Spot-on fb.

They're the 2 that can help Cripps the most.

A mate in Sydney reckons Neuman played some good footy in the midfield too, but didn't get  a lot of time there because
they had plenty of midfielders.