[GTranslate]

Five predictions for the 2021 AFL season


The 2020 AFL season was exhausting to be put flippantly, with COVID-19 forcing the league to look into all new avenues to have the season go on, groups had been compelled into hubs, empty stadiums and a plethora of latest challenges.

The upcoming season could have followers at the dwelling of soccer, the MCG, 22 home-and-away video games and precise dwelling video games. With that being stated, listed here are 5 predictions for the promising 2021 AFL season.

1. Jordan De Goey will make the All-Australian staff
Jordan De Goey is one in all the most polarising gamers in the AFL, being somebody who has had a profession riddled with controversies off the area, accidents, inconsistent type and moments of pure footballing brilliance. De Goey’s 2020 marketing campaign featured all these above points, with an indecent assault cost and poor type plaguing his first half of the season, then a finger harm halting the second half simply as he again to type.

This meant he may by no means get going at 100 per cent throughout the season. De Goey performs his greatest soccer when one-out in the purpose sq., one thing he confirmed throughout his spectacular 2018 season. But in the previous two years, he has featured much less in that function as a result of Jaidyn Stephenson’s rise in that place. With Stephenson now at North after a turbulent ending to his Collingwood profession, De Goey is primed to characteristic as Collingwood’s major full-forward, and due to this fact get a greater crack at the place he performs greatest in.

Look for him to have a extra productive season that his 2018 one, the place he made the All-Australian 40 squad after solely 17 video games, and due to this fact get his first AA blazer.

2. West Coast will make the prime two
West Coast was one in all the groups that struggled the most with hub life throughout the 2020 AFL season, posting a report of 5-5 when of their Queensland-based hub. They completed with a report of 12-5 nonetheless, showcasing their dwelling floor dominance, going 7-0 throughout the home-and-away season at Optus Stadium and solely struggling one complete loss there, coming at the arms of Collingwood in a spectacular one-point loss in the first week of the finals.

Like many different groups, they had been compelled to spend greater than half their season away from their properties and away from family members. When firing the Eagles confirmed what they’ll produce, with Nic Naitanui again to his All Australian self, Josh Kennedy proving age fallacious and the backline being its regular self, the Eagles at occasions appeared like the greatest staff in the league.

Injuries to Elliot Yeo proved expensive as he was dearly missed of their final part of video games, primarily the elimination remaining. With a standard home-and-away season arrange, West Coast will then be capable of play 11 video games at their fortress, Optus Stadium. The Eagles will little doubt be trying to capitalise on the potential they showcased in 2020 and enhance to the prime 4, however I see them reserving a house remaining at Optus in the first week of September.

3. Joe Daniher will show to be the greatest recruit of the 2021 season
Joe Daniher’s profession at Essendon got here to a tragic however predictable finish throughout the 2020 free company interval. Daniher first tempted the concept of leaving the Bombers when he requested a commerce throughout the 2019 commerce interval, a yr earlier than his contract would expire. Sydney and Essendon would have interaction in stern talks over the key forwards future, however no settlement might be reached, and Essendon hoped to vary Daniher’s thoughts about his future with the Bombers.

But one other season of harm and an unsuccessful Essendon staff meant Daniher’s time there could be up very quickly. It got here as a shock to many when the Brisbane Lions had been the staff going after Daniher’s providers, a staff that has now develop into a perennial contender in the league, one thing the Bombers couldn’t provide Daniher. But there was extra to Brisbane than simply being a contender.

For starters, their current observe report with saving previously injury-plagued gamers resembling Lincoln McCarthy would enchantment to Daniher, somebody who has misplaced three seasons to harm. But possibly extra importantly, it was the undeniable fact that Brisbane shouldn’t be the loopy football-oriented bubble that Melbourne is.

If Daniher can return to his former All-Australian type then Brisbane would have their one lacking piece, a real key ahead. And for Daniher, he is not going to must be the one which carries all the strain and weight of the staff, as Brisbane is stacked with gamers of all ages able to have a tilt at a premiership.

(Photo: Creative commons)

4. Port will endure from a drop-off in type this yr
Port Adelaide was one in all the nice tales of the 2020 season, a staff that shocked a lot of the AFL pundits and turned in the league’s greatest report to complete prime of the ladder. Though their season would come to a heartbreaking finish with a six-point loss in the preliminary remaining to eventual premiers Richmond, it was a season that the gamers and followers might be pleased with.

But 2020 has no influence on the 2021 season, and this can present with Port Adelaide as they are going to be certain to endure from a drop this season. Not to say they received’t make finals, I’ve them firmly in the fourth to sixth vary, however it’s simply extra that they received’t be the clear greatest home-and-away staff or one in all the clear prime two for that matter.

The foremost issue behind that is the greatest opposing groups, specifically Richmond, shall be there once more. As talked about earlier than West Coast and Brisbane will enhance. Geelong shall be trying to go one higher than their 2020 grand remaining loss and with all their massive free company additions, and they’re going to have a say in the prime 4.

And then there are seven groups all trying to make finals and all who’ve a real probability in making the eight (Saints, Collingwood, Bulldogs, GWS, Fremantle, Carlton and Melbourne) which means, for the most half, there usually are not many simple video games, particularly now that you’re considered upon as one in all the league’s greatest, a job that flash-in-the-pan groups have struggled with time and time once more.

This level shouldn’t be saying Port will fully fall off the map (settle down Port followers), however simply saying that I discover it onerous to imagine that they are going to repeat the unimaginable feat they achieved final yr.

5. Fremantle will make the eight
The remaining of those 5 factors could also be the most agreeable or most surprising, relying on which aspect you face, however the Fremantle Dockers will end in the prime eight and finish their six-year finals drought. In his first yr as head coach, Justin Longmuir developed a staff stuffed with younger weapons resembling Caleb Serong, Adam Cerra, Andrew Brayshaw and elite stars of the comp in Nat Fyfe and Michael Walters.

Longmuir’s system has turned them into one in all the most promising lists in the AFL, as they’ve a stacked midfield, a greater than stable defence and now behind the emergence of Matt Taberner, a very good ahead line. Like his success in at Collingwood from 2018-2019, Longmuir introduced in a degree of professionalism and need that the membership had been missing in previous years.

As a staff that appears set to blow up and with younger weapons able to take the subsequent step, be careful for Longmuir and the Dockers to make the eight and enhance on their promising 2020 season.





Source link

Next Post

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Connect with us

WordPress › Error

There has been a critical error on this website.

Learn more about troubleshooting WordPress.