Season Predictions: 13 for 2013, Part 1.

To get you in the mood...

I'm falling for the same trap I did last year: 13 predictions for 2013. Madness, I know. I'm setting myself up for a monumental task 20 years from now...

13. The Best new recruit will be...

Not including draft picks, as I couldn’t pretend to know anything about them, there are many established new additions to choose from. Two Melbourne drop-outs in Bennell and Cale Morton, Saints youngster Jamie Cripps and the more high profile Sharrod Wellingham. They’re all potentially handy acquisitions, but you can’t go past Wellingham. He was recruited to add some steel (nearly typed steele there, damn you Sidebottom!) (premiership) experience and depth to a rather limited midfield. Trampolines and pony tails aside, once all settles down, there’s no reason to suggest he won’t do just that. Of course, as an established AFL midfielder the pressure is on him to perform at a high level once he returns. There’s no such pressure on Morton (early season nickname suggestion: Mor(e)ton Bay Fig?), Bennell and Cripps who are all low-risk, high reward recruits.

12. We’ll miss you...

I prefer to look forward than back (that’s a lie) and I don’t bear any ill feelings towards departed Eagles (massive lie), but we did lose a few players in the off-season; Lynch, Stevens, Stevenson and Swift, M.D.  Honestly, out of all of these I’ll personally miss Tom Swift the most. With his erratic kicking, weird deer like running style and bizarre hairstyles, he reminded me of a lot of myself.  Plus, he was such a polarising figure amongst fans that it was always fun blogging about him. More to the point though, in terms of actual ‘football’ I think we’ll miss no-one. Stevens and Stevenson are guys who never fulfilled their alleged potential. Lynch meanwhile was a player who clearly had reached a point where he was a cusp member of the team and he was unwilling to fight for his position. I’m grateful that he helped us win the 06 flag, but he’s past his best and now we’re past him.

His hair had a mind of his own as, unfortunately, did his right foot.

11. Best Old Man...

Old in the football sense, that is. Glass, Kerr, Cox, Embley and Adam Selwood are all battle-hardened veterans, but whereas the latter two seemed to struggle a little last season (injury and form), the first 3 flourished. The Kerr-surgence was particularly heart-warming after a few very dismal years of snaps, both of muscles and brain. But I think Glass will be the best old man as he’s still the glue holding our defence together, our leader and captain. The early Cox injury is a little disconcerting, but he has shown an amazing ability to play through injuries. I love that guy. Infact, I love all these guys, Selwood not withstanding (sorry Selly). At least I'm over the Embley toe poke, nearly definitely.

Stay tuned as the countdown will continue...make sure you don't miss it by liking and following the blog.

Until then, why not check out last season's predictions. Hilarious.

Rapid Reaction: Hawks vs Eagles

These are my thoughts following each quarter...

Q1. 
 A very promising start to the game. The Eagles are holding their own in the midfield. Shuey and Gaff have been very clean with their disposals.As I thought, the Hawks defence is no match for our key bigs. Kennedy is dominant, with two goals. He should have kicked 3 or 4.  Naitanui took a couple of marks!
I think we can win this game...though I may change my mind at half time. The Hawks may have been exposed as pretenders.

Q2.
 Umpiring grants Franklin another goal. Cox keeps slipping. He really looks off today. I wish Rioli played for us. Darling has been everywhere.
 Our forward pressure has been superb...I wonder if I'll be thinking that come the final quarter. We've played more consistent football than Hawthorn, yet trail by a point. I guess that's the talent differential. Yet, we're still in a position to win this game. This is a huge test of our ability to put 4 quarters together. We need more efficiency in front of goal.

Q3.
Great pressure continues. Ebert continues to turn the ball over.  Darling continues to rack up the disposals. I really don't think we have made the most of our chances. Given the dominance of our forwards, the delivery has been quite disappointing. Still, we lead by 2 points. This is a huge quarter for our finals prospects. Win, go into the bye 3-1 and we have very good chance. A loss will be psychologically demoralising as well as a statistical blow. We've played better than a 2-2 start. Let's Go Eagles!

Q4.
 The Hawks killed us. We couldn't get the ball and when we do we couldn't maintain possession. OK. 6 minutes left it's game over. Franklin just kicked his 6th. For two weeks in a row, we were in it and then well...we lost.
I don't know how to feel about this loss. It was expected. But we had a real chance. I think if we had have been more efficient in front of goal early we may have been closer at the end. There were some fine individual performances; notably Darling. I don't know what happened to Cox today. I just hope he's not injured.
So 2-2 after 4. We seem better than last year, but all that matters is wins. Real progress can only be evidenced by victories. 
It should be an interesting year.
....
So I wrote that when there was 5 minutes left. I went a bit early. Great fightback at the end. Inspirational stuff. Two things. Why the hell didn't the umpire stop the clock when Glass got a 50 m penalty, and when Embley was lining up for goal? Ridiculous. Then, Ebert and Cox touched Embley's kick on the line! What were they thinking? It was going to be a goal!
Still, the first part of the last quarter cost us.
Most of the above observations still apply.


Until next time
Misanthropic Eagle