We’ve all sat throughout from a buddy whereas watching a sport or messaging on social media and made all kinds of predictions.
‘He’ll hit the publish’ you proclaim as the ball sails straight the center of the sticks and also you lament that the participant allow you to down, albeit with a chuckle.
But when that participant hits the publish, you’re a genius. You are a prophet the place man and beast shall bow to your superior experience and rightly so. So right this moment you’re the buddies who will resolve if I’m loopy or onto one thing. It’s all on the line and right here we go.
A one-time Brownlow Medallist can be topped
Of all present gamers, Nat Fyfe, Patrick Dangerfield, Tom Mitchell, Dustin Martin, Lachie Neale and Trent Cotchin have received the prestigious Brownlow Medal.
In 2021, a brand new title can be added to the record. More evaluation on Martin is under, Cotchin doesn’t play his 30-disposal video games anymore for the sake of staff success, Nat Fyfe appears to be endeavor a ahead/midfield position and Hawthorn received’t win sufficient video games for Mitchell to be related.
The solely two that may disrupt the prediction are Patrick Dangerfield and Lachie Neale.
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
Brisbane can be an upper-echelon staff in the competitors so Neale can be underneath the umpires’ noses and Dangerfield is dynamic sufficient to do the ahead/midfield position and nonetheless be finest on floor. He received votes for high-possession video games naturally however the Round 18 sport towards Sydney was the meal ticket, with 14 touches, 3.2 and the three votes.
So who’re some gamers who can problem? Patrick Cripps appears to be the standard selection for specialists however I’m all about the diamonds in the tough.
Could Brad Crouch’s inclusion at St Kilda get reigning equal bronze positioned Jack Steele over the high? Could Clayton Oliver lastly shake off Max Gawn and Christian Petracca taking votes? Could Marcus Bontempelli be the king of the kennel? The Ferrari at GWS must get transferring and Josh Kelly is the man to do it. Any can be worthy.
Geelong received’t win a closing
One of the stats of the pre-season is that everybody who’s performed greater than 20 video games who’s on Geelong’s record has received a closing bar one: Jordan Clark.
With as a lot if no more finals expertise than anybody – particularly with variety of their recruits in the final two seasons like Josh Jenkins (Adelaide), Jeremy Cameron (GWS), Isaac Smith (Hawthorn) and Shaun Higgins (North Melbourne) – if somebody was to say Geelong will make it again to the grand closing, win the flag or no less than a preliminary closing, that’s 100 per cent justified. But that is about the different method.
If Geelong end in the high 4, the prediction will depend on them dropping to Richmond after which crashing towards a tricky fifth-placed match-up but when the Cats end fifth and have a tricky match-up, sport on. How they get better from the grand closing second-half catastrophe is one in all the extra fascinating story traces of 2021.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
GWS will chase Michael Voss to be the subsequent coach
As a fan of Leon Cameron, this one hurts a fraction however GWS need to maintain it actual. This Ferrari wants toughness and grit, no less than a model of some variety, and a few identification again.
In the again finish of the season, GWS appeared lifeless, soulless and missing path. Not since 2013 did the earlier loser of a grand closing (Hawthorn fell to Sydney in 2012) make it again to the grand closing however for those who made somebody watch the Sydney sport at Perth Stadium, you’d be shocked to know this was the second finest staff of 2019.
If the Giants fail once more, GWS must take into account transferring off Cameron. They (like Port Adelaide with Ken Hinkley) signed Cameron to a two-year extension in September and in a COVID economic system, it will be a threat.
But in the event that they went down that highway, Michael Voss is the man. While males like Adam Kingsley and Daniel Giansiracusa received actually near the North Melbourne job, North inquired about Voss very early into the course of and rightly so.
Port Adelaide’s midfield is deep and difficult, with guys like Connor Rozee to carry some X-factor, and the Giants may use the similar with the likes of Stephen Coniglio, Matt De Boer, Tom Green, Jacob Hopper and Tim Taranto as top quality troopers with Josh Kelly, Toby Greene and Lachie Whitfield including their aptitude. If there’s no finals, I’d be choosing up the cellphone.
Josh Kennedy will turn out to be a three-time Coleman Medallist
Josh Kennedy is one in all the finest Eagles of all time. The gluttony of midfield champions have blessed the western shores, together with tall ahead Peter Sumich, in addition to ruck champion Dean Cox.
Kennedy has received two Coleman Medals (2015-16) and was runner up in 2017. In 2020, at 32 years of age, he nonetheless kicked two objectives a sport (34 objectives in 17 video games). At 33 years of age, Kennedy has most likely yet one more likelihood to take the competitors by storm in entrance of the sticks.
(Photo by Ryan Pierse/AFL Media/Getty Images)
Tom Hawkins and Jeremy Cameron will want video games to get them going, Tom Lynch and Jack Riewoldt will share objectives at Richmond, Jesse Hogan wants time to regulate to GWS, Joe Daniher and Lance Franklin are getting back from damage, Ben Brown wants to regulate to the Melbourne system and the younger tall forwards of the competitors (the Kings and Harry McKay) aren’t able to be the primary guys.
Kennedy will get 11 dwelling video games and though Jack Darling can even kick objectives, Franklin received the Coleman when Jarryd Roughead kicked 80-plus. The numbers received’t be the similar however it’s the similar precept.
Melbourne will sack Simon Goodwin
Melbourne aren’t a top-eight staff heading into the pre-season however their destiny appears to be set on Ben Brown.
Melbourne’s midfield – whereas affected by being too one dimensional – can match most and with Steven May and Jake Lever down again – remembering they’re good gamers in the again half of 2020 – it means Melbourne have the potential to problem for finals.
He is contracted till 2022 like Cameron, so on this COVID economic system, may they turf him out?
It actually doesn’t matter with Melbourne’s grand historical past at this level. From the 2000 grand closing and the 2018 finals wins over Geelong and Hawthorn, Melbourne have been extra mocked, pitied and disadvantaged of success than anybody.
So it’s now two full seasons (coming into the third) since that run they usually went utterly backwards in 2019 and though improved in 2020, Melbourne shouldn’t need to put up with mediocrity. Their record administration and sport plan want brutal critiques and my guess is Melbourne miss the eight once more and Goodwin doesn’t survive a assessment.
Martin won’t be in the high handful in the Brownlow
Richmond have made a dynasty that followers in the ’90s and ’00s may solely dream of and for those who listened to the media, it was all due to Dustin Martin and nobody else, which is nonsensical.
No one has been higher than the boys at Punt Road in the final 4 years and Martin himself put collectively one in all the finest seasons ever by a midfielder in 2017, operating away with the Brownlow Medal.
(Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
However, with the 2018 medal, Martin completed equal sixth (tied with Rory Laird) and 9 votes behind the winner, Tom Mitchell. Mason Cox value the Tigers one other grand closing look and when the mountain was climbed in 2019, he completed equal sixth as soon as extra (tied with Brodie Grundy) and ten votes behind Nat Fyfe.
Richmond did what many doubted and received once more in 2020 and Martin completed equal fifth (with Jack Macrae, Luke Parker and Patrick Dangerfield). Richmond can succeed with out Martin doing a LeBron James and dominating each second and with Dion Prestia coming again to the engine room, Martin doesn’t want 24 votes for his staff to win or even his legacy. Other gamers will want three and two votes extra, however he does stand out.
Hawthorn will end seventeenth
Hawthorn are the youngest when it comes to expertise inserting in the league since 2011, being the seventh oldest staff in the competitors, held up by Shaun Burgoyne largely. Alastair Clarkson is a training immortal however the Hawks are usually not excellent and whereas the sentiment of North being the worst staff in the competitors is truthful, who’s subsequent?
Sydney are rising and had an excellent draft, Fremantle have a younger midfield core to die for and a celebrity in Nat Fyfe, Gold Coast are including weapons, Carlton may end sixth to sixteenth and nobody can be shocked and the Giants must be rebounding. Perhaps Essendon may upset the prediction however the Hawks aren’t in a very good place proper now.
Rowan Marshall will make the All Australian squad
I received’t go on the market and say he’ll be in the aspect however the Saints ruck/ahead has been a revolution in the previous two seasons. He has performed 39 video games in the final two years and averages a tick underneath 16 touches, 4.25 marks, 21.7 hit outs, 4.1 clearances, 3.17 inside 50s and over three tackles.
With the likes of Max Gawn, Brodie Grundy, Nic Naitanui, Reilly O’Brien and Todd Goldstein in the large combat for these two spots, Marshall got here of age in the second half of 2020 in tandem with Patty Ryder, and he’s prepared for the subsequent step.
(Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Logan McDonald can have the finest season of the large three
In the 2020 draft, three tall forwards have been chosen in the first 4 picks with Jamarra Ugle-Hagan going at one to the Dogs and native lad Riley Thilthorpe going to the Crows at two. After North swung a shock and selected Will Phillips at three, Logan McDonald went at 4 to the Swans and up at the Harbour City he’ll flourish.
McDonald is a pure full ahead, whose WAFL stats of 21 objectives from 9 video games are actually encouraging. Going to Sydney on the small floor, together with his energy and marking means, is a match made in heaven.
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan can be a gun, however he had a dominant Oakleigh Chargers midfield in his underage yr and Riley Thilthorpe isn’t an computerized starter for Adelaide, who have gotten extra talls than they know what to do with. Although from reviews, Thilthorpe is genuinely tearing up the monitor. But even when he performed each sport, McDonald has the greater expertise in seniors and McDonald would get the second or third finest defender.
The Bulldogs will lose a few midfielders
Nick Dal Santo got here out lately and referred to as the Western Bulldogs the finest midfield in the competitors and rightly or wrongly, it’s stacked. Marcus Bontempelli, Tom Liberatore, Josh Dunkley, Adam Treloar, Bailey Smith, Lachie Hunter and Jack Macrae are all walk-up begins however there’s just one ball at the finish of the day.
Skipper Marcus Bontempelli is one in all the hottest free brokers of 2021 however it will be exceptional if he left and Tom Liberatore’s deal is up in 2021 as nicely. Josh Dunkley, Bailey Smith, Jackson Macrae and Rhylee West’s contracts all finish in 2022. Lachie Hunter finishes in 2024 however golf equipment have been reportedly chasing him final season and with Treloar on 5 years, golf equipment will completely circle and rightly so.
Bailey Smith is the greatest one. Josh Dunkley to Essendon appears nearly a fait accompli maybe, however golf equipment ought to positively inquire about Bailey Smith, particularly if he’s pushed out to a wing the place he doesn’t belong, like he was in the direction of the again finish of 2020. It may be very attention-grabbing.
