The home stretch: Matty Lloyd's predictions (Age)

[one-eyed]

Lloyd reckons will finish 10th with 12 wins.

The home stretch
Matthew Lloyd
The Age
June 24, 2012

IT'S been an amazing season so far. We have just about seen it all with tight games and some surprise packets — and still we are only halfway.

At the start of this round, just two games separated West Coast, which is on top of the ladder, and Geelong, which is in seventh position, and six clubs looked to be fighting it out for the last spot in the top eight. No one can predict the grand finalists or top eight with any confidence, and Melbourne, Greater Western Sydney and Gold Coast look to be the three clubs trying to avoid the wooden spoon.

Some players, such as Patrick Dangerfield (Adelaide), Lewis Jetta (Sydney), Ivan Maric (Richmond) and Mitch Clark (Melbourne) have had amazing seasons and are among the most improved, while Chris Yarran (Carlton), Colin Sylvia (Melbourne), Michael Rischitelli (Gold Coast) and Lindsay Thomas (North Melbourne) need to lift.
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With the season at the mid-point my Brownlow Medal tip would be Bomber skipper Jobe Watson from the Suns' Gary Ablett, while my Rising Star fancy is the Giants' Jeremy Cameron.

Here's how the clubs look to me.

Richmond

R12: Six and six.

At the end: 12 and 10.

The Tigers have had the toughest draw of any side and should be pleased with the improvement in the list. Ivan Maric and Steven Morris have been brilliant recruits and the Tigers squad looks to be in the best shape for years. If finals don't come this year, they'll come next year as they are playing with more consistency and substance.


Lloyd's end of round 23 ladder

Collingwood      72
Adelaide           72
West Coast      68
Sydney            64
Hawthorn         64
Essendon         60
Geelong           52
Fremantle         52
---------------------
Carlton            48
Richmond        48
St Kilda           44
North Melb.      36
W.Bulldogs      32
Port Adelaide    28
Brisbane Lions  24
Melbourne        16
Gold Coast        4
GWS                4

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/the-home-stretch-20120623-20va9.html#ixzz1ydwFkGRM

[Phil Mrakov]

Fremantle won't make it. Not good enough and too inconsistent.

I will lose my shet if Carltank take 8th spot and we come 9th.

[tony_montana]

Fremantle won't make it. Not good enough and too inconsistent.

I will lose my shet if Carltank take 8th spot and we come 9th.

I thought that too, but then I saw their draw......

Collingwood
Bulldogs
Melbourne
GWS
Port

They win 4 of the next 5 and momentum should carry them over the line

[Ruanaidh]

Fremantle won't make it. Not good enough and too inconsistent.

I will lose my shet if Carltank take 8th spot and we come 9th.

I thought that too, but then I saw their draw......

Collingwood
Bulldogs
Melbourne
GWS
Port

They win 4 of the next 5 and momentum should carry them over the line

That's why next week is so important for us. If we beat Adelaide and they lose to Collingwood it will put us 1 game and percentage ahead of them.

[Willy]

Freo are poo and do not deserve to play finals. We would be a far more dangerous proposition in the finals.

[Coach]

Freo are poo and do not deserve to play finals. We would be a far more dangerous proposition in the finals.

errrrr.....

[gerkin greg]

12 wins and miss the finals

Only Richmond 

Awww geeee

[Dubstep Dookie]

Freo are poo and do not deserve to play finals. We would be a far more dangerous proposition in the finals.

Keep your eyes on your fries William

[Francois Jackson]

Lloydy is pretty close to the mark. Face reality people, we will not make finals.

I find it pretty funny that somet think we will just breaze past the likes of Buldogs and Nought when we could only beat GWS by 2 goals.

That Freo loss will come back to haunt us


 

[Phil Mrakov]

North belting the crows as we speak!

[Tigeritis™©®]

North belting the crows as we speak!

and Melbourne didn't find it as hard to beat GWS as we did.

[Phil Mrakov]

North belting the crows as we speak!

and Melbourne didn't find it as hard to beat GWS as we did.

Melbourne would have lost at Skoda on that day.

[cub]

North belting the crows as we speak!

and Melbourne didn't find it as hard to beat GWS as we did.

Melbourne would have lost at Skoda on that day.

once again though it is the usual excuses, we all know what we think of velvet but to be honest I rate these outside opinions and if we are to go anywhere we have to do something about it......

[tony_montana]

Lloydy is pretty close to the mark. Face reality people, we will not make finals.

I find it pretty funny that somet think we will just breaze past the likes of Buldogs and Nought when we could only beat GWS by 2 goals.

That Freo loss will come back to haunt us

The past 2 weeks have hurt our chances, fact is even when we were poo, you'd back us to beat freo here most times. We had a chance to put our noses in front Of the pack the past 2 weeks but dropped a needless 4 points and much needed percentage, all the more galling when you see lowly Melbourne trouncing gws and the kangas getting back into the race with a surprise win over the crows.

Bloody he'll - ah well just not quite ready for the heat of finals yet

[TigerTimeII]

eff the score board , we smashed the giants, we played them in shocking conditions and still pumped them in contested footy possession
i50 and scoring shots, on a dry day we would have won by 100plus