Deductions from the 2006 Trial Games?

[Wedgie]

Always dangerous making deductions from trial games as noone shows their full hand but they can sometimes give an indication on what's going to happen in the "real" season.

Full results:

Saturday 4th February
NAFC 14-6 90 d NTFL 9-13 67

Friday 17th February
Crows 19 - 7 121 d Norwood 8 - 7 55

Saturday 4th March
Norwood 9-10 64 d Port 9-8 62

Friday 10th March
North 19-18 132 d Sturt 11-4 70
Saturday 11th March
Eagles 23-9 147 d South 13-16 94
Port 11-16 82 d v Glenelg 9-2 56
Norwood 14-14 98 d Central 13-7 85
Bye: West

Saturday 18th March
North 13-14 92 d West 13-8 86
Eagles 11-14 80 d Central 8-7 55
Sturt 13-8 86 d Glenelg 9-16 70
South 22-12 144 d Norwood 8-10 58
Bye: Port

Satuday 25th March
South 20-12 132 d Port 19-10 124
Eagles 18-10 118 d Glenelg 11-10 76
West 17-13 115 d Sturt 9-6 60
Central 12-10 82 d North 11-14 80
Bye: Norwood

Deductions?

Central:
1 win 2 losses
Were competitive in the most important trial, ie the one before the real stuff starts.
May have a slow start but with no doubt are still the flag favs.

Glenelg:
0 wins 3 losses
Confirmed everyone's beliefs that they'll be bottom in 2006, no doubt.
Didn't look like winning one game

North:
3 wins 1 loss
Will be around the mark, new players seem to look good, can they last the whole trip?]

Norwood
2 wins 1 loss (wont count the Cows game)
Probably proved what a lot of us think, will be up there with the best at their best but at their worst will be near the bottom.
Will be inconsistent but could take that 5th spot depending on consistency.

Port:
1 win 2 losses
2 losses were narrow, always competitive, another team that will be around the mark and are expected to improve when the real stuff starts.

South:
2 wins 1 loss
Lost one badly but had 2 good wins.
Similar to Norwood just confirmed they'll be inconsistent but could do anything on their day.

Sturt:
1 win 2 losses
Only win against Glenelg so that doesn't count.
Might have slipped more than what we most thought. Traditionally not a strong trial club so fans aren't slitting their wrists yet.

West:
1 win 1 loss
With the Eagles one of the success story of the trials.
The smart predictors have confirmed their belief that West will be the big improvers, the dumb predictors who thought West may be last are re-evaluating.

Eagles:
3 wins 0 losses
Proving that they will continue to bounce back and be a force in 2006, we still question their forward line but they are putting the score on the board.

[zipzap]

A bit harsh about the Bays - they certainly looked capable of running over Sturt in the second half at Alberton!

Sturt will be around the middle of the pack - whether or not they scrape in or fall short will come down to depth. We don't have enough key talls to sustain many injuries. Having no Beveridge (returning from injury) or Smith / Begley (gone) in the backlines has been a real struggle.

I don't think anyone at Unley would be panicking at this stage though - Apart from the North game when we were soundly belted, Sticks has been bringing on the youngsters and benching the 'guns' after half time (at which point Sturt was well ahead). These are trial games and winning is not always the main objective. Cripes - Feast, Squire and Whiteman weren't even played yesterday!

Of the 4 teams I have seen I think North are streets ahead and there won't be much separating West, Bays & Sturt. I wouldn't be overrating Westies too much at this stage though.

[Pseudo]

A bit harsh about the Bays - they certainly looked capable of running over Sturt in the second half at Alberton!

Indeed... and the two losses were against the Eagles and Port, each widely tipped to be contenders this year.

I don't think Glenelg will make the finals, and I readily concede that they'll likely be bottom three, but ferchrissakes don't write them off on the strength of 3 trial games!

FWIW I think the Bays have the cattle, and they haven't been THAT bad in the trials. It seems that their biggest problem is finding the ability to play 4 full quarters of footy, since it's generally been one bad quarter which has decided the trials. This problem was evident in the first half of last year. Their biggest asset is Mark Mickan: I'm sold on the guy, I believe he CAN turn it around, given time...

[eaglehaslanded]

I don't know how you can count North's win against the NTFL if you don't count Norwood's loss to the Crows Wedgie. I don't know how that works. Does that mean we should include the Eagles win in their internal trial.

[Wedgie]

I don't know how you can count North's win against the NTFL if you don't count Norwood's loss to the Crows Wedgie. I don't know how that works. Does that mean we should include the Eagles win in their internal trial.

It was a lot more even playing field than the Norwood v Cows game and going on past results could have gone either way so I counted it and it showed some good glimpses of some of the new recruits form.
You can count the win for the Eagles internal trial as long as you count the loss too.

[doggies4eva]

The Eagles are always good at the start of the season. They just can't keep it up.

[JK]

Deductions? As I've posted elsewhere (Ill explain again in case GrahamL finds the site) ...

1. ALL teams will be capable on their day including the lesser lights when they play the "big guns" who will need to come ready to play, or face the very serious prospect of being knocked off

2. Outside of Central, North, Port and The Eagles the 5th place down to the spoon looks to be somewhat of a raffle

3. Sturt likely to slide (no disrespect Blues fans, you've been up for a long time and all credit to you, but obviously about to enter a rebuilding phase)

4. The competition won't be as lopsided as many believe to be the case

[westies sarge]

thank god wedgie atleast some one agrees with me about westies position at the end of the season

[sus]

The Eagles are always good at the start of the season. They just can't keep it up.

Rubbish! Yes they can. Only fallen short in the GF. Finished equal top on points at end of minor round which requires consistency. Won the last two Prelims easily which requires strong season finishes!

[doggies4eva]

The Eagles are always good at the start of the season. They just can't keep it up.

Rubbish! Yes they can. Only fallen short in the GF. Finished equal top on points at end of minor round which requires consistency. Won the last two Prelims easily which requires strong season finishes!

History shows you're nearly unbeatable until mid-season then the slide starts. So you had a couple of easy Prelims? Only to go down the next week by 20+ and 5 goals!!!!!

[HeartBeatsTrue]

Geez doggie fans!! Enough of the torment over the Eags' GF record. Getting pretty old now.

[sus]

The Eagles are always good at the start of the season. They just can't keep it up.

Rubbish! Yes they can. Only fallen short in the GF. Finished equal top on points at end of minor round which requires consistency. Won the last two Prelims easily which requires strong season finishes!

History shows you're nearly unbeatable until mid-season then the slide starts. So you had a couple of easy Prelims? Only to go down the next week by 20+ and 5 goals!!!!!

History shows the Eagles havent measured up in the finals against CD (only) - thats all. Nothing to do with a slide. I think its more about what CD have been able to build come Sept rather than any deficiency in the Eagles camp.

[westside]

I think if the players show up at their home gorund first, then drive to another ground to play a trial game, they can get a deduction on fuel.

[ca]

Listening to RPH this morning and reading all the various website I think we all agree on the top four and the rest is just a raffle. I think you can make a valid argument for the other five teams to make 5th spot or win the spoon.

[Mickyj]

The Eagles are always good at the start of the season. They just can't keep it up.

Funny my son and I were talking about the eagles in round 1 or 2(we had a bye round 1 last year) in previous years , we dont really have agreat record if my memory is correct , South beat us first up last year . this could be said to spur us on like doggies4eva said until the middle of the season .i think its a bit early to say we will fall away AGAIN lets just wait and see , both teams may struggle to make it for all the both of us know .

[RoosterMarty]

This is interesting to look back on.
Centrals didnt perform very well in trial games, Glenelg looked like they would struggle to win a game, North were up and down and Eagles looked unstopptable.

When the real stuff began, Centrals had a huge win, Glenelg had a great start before getting over run and lost narrowly, Eagles didnt look very good at all while North were impressive for three quarters.
It shows you cant tell much by looking at trial results.

[Mickyj]

This is interesting to look back on.
Centrals didnt perform very well in trial games, Glenelg looked like they would struggle to win a game, North were up and down and Eagles looked unstopptable.

When the real stuff began, Centrals had a huge win, Glenelg had a great start before getting over run and lost narrowly, Eagles didnt look very good at all while North were impressive for three quarters.
It shows you cant tell much by looking at trial results.

Ahem to that RM

[Wedgie]

It shows you cant tell much by looking at trial results.

I disagree, as far as further deducions can be made from Rd 1 anyway.

Central:

no doubt are still the flag favs.

Spot on, kicked arse.

Glenelg:

Didn't look like winning one game.

Spot on, can't beat Norwood despite a 6 goal head start.

North:

Will be around the mark, new players seem to look good.

Spot on.

Norwood:

Probably proved what a lot of us think, will be up there with the best at their best but at their worst will be near the bottom.
Will be inconsistent but could take that 5th spot depending on consistency.

Positively, absolutely proven in 1 game and spot on.

Port:

another team that will be around the mark and are expected to improve when the real stuff starts.

Undefeated. Spot on.

South:
Haven't played.

Sturt:

Might have slipped more than what we most thought.

Used to be competitive in night games, got smashed, also spot on.

West:

The smart predictors have confirmed their belief that West will be the big improvers, the dumb predictors who thought West may be last are re-evaluating.

Spot on, would have got beaten by 90 pts last year unless Rehn flooded.

Eagles:

Proving that they will continue to bounce back and be a force in 2006, we still question their forward line but they are putting the score on the board.

Spot on, only played about 20 mins of decent footy against North and still got close.

Look, I'm not saying you can say the deductions are fully correct and can be substantiated after Rd 1 but to suggest the opposite is even more ridiculous.

[doggies4eva]

Wedgie, your summary seems to be close to the mark with one exception -the eagles. They have been a defensive side for a long time but haven't been able to "put the score on the board" when it mattered. As far as I am concerned the jury is still out!

[Aerie]

Wedgie, your summary seems to be close to the mark with one exception -the eagles. They have been a defensive side for a long time but haven't been able to "put the score on the board" when it mattered. As far as I am concerned the jury is still out!

A defensive side for a long time? They kicked more points for than any other team in the minor round last year.

Agree that they haven't been able to put a score on the board in Grand Finals, but the rest of your statement is garbage.