SAAFL Div 7 & Div 7R (2011)

[AndersonWalkWarrior]

We lost our dour key defender Adam Hay early in the first quarter which really didn’t help our cause, he was playing on the guy who went on to kick 8 goals I believe. Credit to Angle Vale, they converted their chances and we didn’t, myself being a villain of quite deplorable accuracy in front of goal.

i still think that guy wouldve still kicked 8, he wasnt dropping nothing and his kicks were on song all day. yous are probably the hardest team that we have come up against this year. guess we see how we go the 2nd half of the year because at the moment we are travelling pretty good.

[The_Warrior]

Only that I think SHOC are clear second favourites and Angle Vale are 3rd in my opinion.

Modbury and Flinders are hard because Modbury fluctuates so much (as does TTG). When we played them Flinders Uni were a 10 goal better side than Modbury, but things change so much with 3rd string sides its almost impossible to create a realistic market.

So maybe swap SHOC and Angle Vale odds and I reckon its about right yeah...

I think you could cluster the 9 teams into 3 unique segments:

Elite 3

Mawson Lakes
SHOC
Angle Vale

Finals Tier

Tea Tree Gully
Mitchell Park
North Pines

Struggling a tad

Athelstone
Modbury
Flinders Uni

Medal tips - Brenton Reidy is always prominent, as is O'Gorman. Angle Vale is very even but their ruckman is a standout. SHOC I have no idea, all those tanned college boys look the same. Maybe Floreani? TTG Mount and Uncle will be thereabouts. Mitchell Park - May and Davidson have been excellent thus far.

Morell you are always selling Mitchell Park short

A lot has been spoken about this Division during the year, with many suggestion it was Mawson Lake’s flag for the taking, until the powerhouse club SHOC hit the comp hard early to suggest that they and Mawson Lakes had a mortgage on the Div 7 GF. However in recent weeks, Angle Vale have been the form side of the comp, TTG have emerged as a challenger and Mitchell Park will be thereabouts. Only North Pines outside of the 5 look like a team that could shape the 5 in the 2nd half of the season. My point being that while many thought this division would suffer in standard, due to 3 sides leaving, many from Div 7 in 2010 would argue otherwise judging by some of the clubs performances in 2010

Mawson Lakes – With greater numbers available have definitely improved from 2010. Depth was the Achilles previously but appears not now.
Angle Vale – Looked like losing their No.1 Big Man preseason, but haven’t, with their juniors available and the demise of Smithfield are significantly more powerful in 2011.
SHOC –With 5 sides to pick and blokes still missing out on a game, undoubtedly with their weight of numbers have got stronger
Mitchell Park – Morrell could probably best answer this, lost a key player, but have picked up more and would be arguably better than last season
TTG – Despite being a ‘C’ grade side, have a more pacey and youthful look in 2011. The inclusion of Mount has helped too.
North Pines – With several late inclusions have risen from a ‘1’ team club to a side that is on the rise.

[morell]

i still think that guy wouldve still kicked 8, he wasnt dropping nothing and his kicks were on song all day.

He was indeed a quality player and would have kicked numerous goals even if Steven Silvagni was on him, but he was playing on Steve Logan - a 19 yr old who has never played deeper than wing - which is a lot different to playing on team of the decade full back, 200+ gamer, Adam Hay. Who knows, injuries are an easy excuse, but Sarge going down definitely didn't help!

yous are probably the hardest team that we have come up against this year. guess we see how we go the 2nd half of the year because at the moment we are travelling pretty good.

Cheers Anderson, likewise that was the sorest I have felt after a game this year, some big bodies and hard tacklers. I got absolutely smashed (fairly) by one bloke on the wing, had to have your wits about ya!

Tell that Darren Hunter that when the G-Train is watching I wont take it so easy on him.

[morell]

Morell you are always selling Mitchell Park short

How so? I put us on about level pegging with TTG who would be behind ML, SHOC and AV. I expect us to make the finals (which I have said since round 1) and from there anything can happen, but at this stage the only top 5 side we have beaten was an undermanned SHOC at home.

The rest of your post I 100% agree with. Angle Vale are in some red hot form but I think SHOC and ML are marginally better sides, not by much and it could go either way on the day but I reckon they have a bit more class around the ground.

One thing is for sure, the finals will be close and very interesting.

[Lightning McQueen]

i still think that guy wouldve still kicked 8, he wasnt dropping nothing and his kicks were on song all day. yous are probably the hardest team that we have come up against this year. guess we see how we go the 2nd half of the year because at the moment we are travelling pretty good.

Meatbags Mathews is an absolute gun as I stated on the other thread, 8 goal wingmen are hard to find, he played some epic cameo's in the blue and white. Given up a couple of things that have slowed him down over the years aswell, the man will be a machine now.
Tell him LM said keep up the good work.

[dee man]

just a reminder guys that many teams have been excellent early and during the season but fail when it counts
the season defining games are along way off and the teams that will preform at their best will be the teams with the most depth
this is why morgs looks like he is selling the lions short but he is not because even tho their top dozen players are equal to anyone in the division thats where they then bottom out
just look at their b grade rersults and you will see what i mean
shoc and mawson are better equiped with angle vale even tho in top form probably just behind

[AndersonWalkWarrior]

i cant believe no 1 has faith in us, every1 just says "we might be going good but wait till finals", or "were just behind teams like ML and SHOC". i reckon we have come alot further than previous years, so lets see what happens.

[morell]

i cant believe no 1 has faith in us, every1 just says "we might be going good but wait till finals", or "were just behind teams like ML and SHOC". i reckon we have come alot further than previous years, so lets see what happens.

Indeed you have mate, Angle Vale missed out on finals last year, so to be considered "just behind" ML and SHOC and in the top 3 is a massive achievement and a credit to everyone involved at the Owl nest.

As I said the top 3 are all very close and any of those teams could beat any of the others on any given day.

[DKL]

i cant believe no 1 has faith in us, every1 just says "we might be going good but wait till finals", or "were just behind teams like ML and SHOC". i reckon we have come alot further than previous years, so lets see what happens.

I'm sticking up for the great Dee Man here. What more do you want? 2 posters from 2 separate clubs have identified Angle Vale as the form side of the competition, and all Dee Man said was that SHOC's and ML's depth is greater. Nothing sinister in that. If you don't think the others by now haven't caught on that Angle Vale are a serious threat for the flag, well then you must have rocks in your head, or must be living under one!

[The Informer]

i cant believe no 1 has faith in us, every1 just says "we might be going good but wait till finals", or "were just behind teams like ML and SHOC". i reckon we have come alot further than previous years, so lets see what happens.

Like the others have said mate, no one is downplaying the form you blokes are in at the moment. Take a chill pill and relax.
What was the reason you left Smithfield?

[Lightning McQueen]

i cant believe no 1 has faith in us, every1 just says "we might be going good but wait till finals", or "were just behind teams like ML and SHOC". i reckon we have come alot further than previous years, so lets see what happens.

Like the others have said mate, no one is downplaying the form you blokes are in at the moment. Take a chill pill and relax.
What was the reason you left Smithfield?

Smithfield pretty much closed up shop about a month out from round 1, the players that were attending training migrated to Elizabeth, Central United, Angle Vale and Virginia, there was no fall-out or anything like that, players needed to get a game somewhere.

[AndersonWalkWarrior]

hahaha i didnt mean it like that, i shouldve put 1 of those smiley faces after what i wrote.

[AndersonWalkWarrior]

calm down DKL sounds like ur gettin fired up mate.

[The_Warrior]

Morell you are always selling Mitchell Park short

How so? I put us on about level pegging with TTG who would be behind ML, SHOC and AV. I expect us to make the finals (which I have said since round 1) and from there anything can happen, but at this stage the only top 5 side we have beaten was an undermanned SHOC at home.

The rest of your post I 100% agree with. Angle Vale are in some red hot form but I think SHOC and ML are marginally better sides, not by much and it could go either way on the day but I reckon they have a bit more class around the ground.

One thing is for sure, the finals will be close and very interesting.

Still think you're selling your victory against SHOC as bit short Morell.

Anyway, how would you compare your team last year to this years? Would the 6 clubs previously mentioned be able to cut it in Div 6 or would they have to improve dramatically? Judging by Glenunga's, Central United's and Adelaide Uni's performances in Div 6 this year, the jump up may not be as big as some have suggested?

[Milly]

The season looks all set up for a good finish. Cant wait for the break fyeah!

[morell]

SHOC at home was a good win, the best I have been involved in at Mitchell Park probably since our come from behind Elimination Final victory against a very good Athelstone C Grade away from home, but still, we lost to Mawson Lakes at home, we lost to TTG and Angle Vale away. There is nothing to suggest we are ahead of any of those teams.

Funnily enough we had that exact conversation last night at training. I think MPFC's current team would be competitive in Div 6 based on last years standard. I think at worst we would just avoid relegation and at best come close to finals - so somewhere from 6th to 8th as a hunch...?

To go from a Grand Final side in Div 7 to a finals side in Div 6 requires the recruitment of several A grade quality players in my opinion. I really don't think you could go from Div 7 to Div 6 and be successful with the same team - unless you're a start up like Salisbury West and Blackfriars.

I don't think the above is necessarily the case in the other division jumps (Div 6 to Div 5 or Div 5 to Div 4) - which is why several people say the hardest jump is from 7 to 6.

[dee man]

Still think you're selling your victory against SHOC as bit short Morell.

Anyway, how would you compare your team last year to this years? Would the 6 clubs previously mentioned be able to cut it in Div 6 or would they have to improve dramatically? Judging by Glenunga's, Central United's and Adelaide Uni's performances in Div 6 this year, the jump up may not be as big as some have suggested?[/quote]

I think you will find that it is hard to compare them teams with the teams they had last year
both central united and glenunga recruited well again this year with alot of new faces in their teams and in both cases all with previous higher grade experience
uni is always hard to fathom with their policies of playing rosters as we have noticed down in c2 a different list starting to appear
having taken alot of notice over the last few seasons of div 6 and 7 the jump up is not that great butif clubs go up into the higher grade thinking along them lines and not trying to improve by at least 15% they will fail imo

[Q.]

Have done it twice now and can safely say that the gulf between Div 6 & 7 is a big one.

[carey]

Have done it twice now and can safely say that the gulf between Div 6 & 7 is a big one.

as a player who has been around these 2 div's for a while i'd say the biggest differance i noted was not so much at the top end its more so the bottom end. What i mean by that is this; you win the flag in div 7 go up the next year to div 6 your top 8 to 10 players are GENERALLY as good as the other sides top 8 to 10 but on the other end of the scale the other sides bottom 5 or 6 are alot better than your bottom 5 or 6 if that makes sence. (hence the 'your only as strong as your weakest link' tag)

the point i'm making is the depth in div 6 is alot better than div 7 i did'nt think it was but it surely is.

[Jugs]

Have done it twice now and can safely say that the gulf between Div 6 & 7 is a big one.

as a player who has been around these 2 div's for a while i'd say the biggest differance i noted was not so much at the top end its more so the bottom end. What i mean by that is this; you win the flag in div 7 go up the next year to div 6 your top 8 to 10 players are GENERALLY as good as the other sides top 8 to 10 but on the other end of the scale the other sides bottom 5 or 6 are alot better than your bottom 5 or 6 if that makes sence. (hence the 'your only as strong as your weakest link' tag)

the point i'm making is the depth in div 6 is alot better than div 7 i did'nt think it was but it surely is.

The juggernaut (pardon the pun) that is SHOC will smash the Div 7 comp come September time, and then will dominate Div 6. Mark it down