TAB sportsbet has us finishing 13th next year

[one-eyed]

TAB Sportsbet odds have us finishing in the bottom 4 and 5th favourite for the spoon  .

2007 Flag

West Coast $4
Adelaide $7
Sydney $7
Fremantle $8.50
St Kilda $9
W'Bulldogs $9
Geelong $15
Melbourne $17
------------------------
Collingwood $21
Port Adelaide $21
Essendon $31
Hawthorn $31
Richmond $35
Brisbane $51
Carlton $101
Kangaroos $101

2007 Wooden spoon

Carlton $2.85
Brisbane $7
Kangaroos $3
Essendon $9
Richmond $11
Hawthorn $12
Collingwood $31
Geelong $31
Port Adelaide $31
Melbourne $35
W' Bulldogs $81
St Kilda $101
Fremantle $126
Adelaide $151
Sydney $151
West Coast $301

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,20950762-23211,00.html

[Gordon Bennett]

Oh ye of little faith.

[F0551L]

i think i'll nip down and have myself a bet  easy money

[wayne]

Ok, they're just betting odds and don't mean a thing in regards to where we will actually finish....

..but Hawthorn and Essendon above us  .....

..I bet Buddy Franklin is brownlow favourite ...

[mightytiges]

Outside our own we aren't rated. Not that we've done ourselves any favours in that department  . Up to us to prove the pundits wrong.

As for those odds - since the top 8 was introduced apparently the top 4 has never remained the same from one year to the next. At least one of them tumbles down. This year it was the Saints. And on average two teams who finished outside the Eight the previous year play finals with one coming out from nowhere. Freo was latter in 2006.

There's no reason provided our best 22 or so stay relatively injury free that we can't play finals next year.

[Jackstar]

Would think they are the right odds considering the draw Richmond has.
If we had the 2006 draw, we would be much much shorter.

[Stephanie]

What a pile of poo... 13th... we are more likely to finish 9th once again 

[Jackstar]

With Simmonds having little impact for the first 4-6 weeks, the odds are about right,

[Ramps]

I hope we make the 8. The kids need to make the finals so they can the club is going forward.

[mightytiges]

Simmo or no Simmo, it's by how much our midfield/running brigade has improved (compared to the other 15 clubs) that will decide where we finish. Last year we were able to out-run most of the bottom 8 sides but got run off feet by the top sides.

Current final 8 betting:

WEST COAST  1.07
ADELAIDE  1.12
ST KILDA  1.25 
SYDNEY  1.25   
W.BULLDOGS  1.33 
FREMANTLE  1.33 
GEELONG  1.70 
MELBOURNE  1.75 
-----------------------------
COLLINGWOOD  1.85 
PORT ADELAIDE  2.10
ESSENDON  2.40 
RICHMOND  2.50 
HAWTHORN  2.65
BRISBANE  3.75 
CARLTON  6.00 
KANGAROOS  6.00 

[Jackstar]

Can tell you that Simmo makes a big difference to the tiges.HUGE actually
If my memory is right, when he got suspended last year, the next week we lost he alone would of made the difference between winning and losing

[mightytiges]

Yep he gave Riewoldt one near the end of the Saints game and missed the doggies game IIRC. We lost that game in the first quarter when Paddy kept kicking points  and the doggies, being the best side at going coast to coast, would run it up the other end for a goal each time .

I'm not saying Simmo doesn't make a huge difference to us Jack and we will miss him big time. It's just that Simmo is at his peak so we aren't going to get a further step up in performance from him as we will (hopefully) from our younger guys - Lids, Tambo, etc... With Simmo playing 21 games we finished 9th. It's the others around him that need to step up for us to push into the top 8 and compete with the best sides.

[Jackstar]

Yeah. and if Simmo plays 12-15 games. Tiges will finish 12th.
Tell me who rucks then and dont anyone say Knobel either

[Mr Magic]

I'll place money on us making the 8. We are a better team than many of the sides rated above us.
The overall depth this year has me quietly confident of a finals birth.
As for the draw, it's only those that play the Tigers that have a tough one.

Collingwood's odds are hilarious.

[Jackstar]

Out of the teams in the current final 8 betting, the only one I can see that we could beat is Geelong. Most of the others team have ""pulled out pants downs"" over the past 2 seasons. St.kilda , Sydney, and the Dogs have smashed us over recent times.
Wouldnt think we would cause too much trouble for W/coast, adelaide, or Freo
melbourne usually have had our measure as well.
Wouldnt be in a too much of a rush to get to the tab