Well almost halfway - sorry forgot about tonights game

My guesses:

TOp 5 in no particular order:

Forestville
Sturt
Woodville
North
West

Bottom 5:

Eastern
South
Centrals
Norwood
Southern

Are all the NBL players going to be around for all of the ABL season, including the finals?

As West and Eastern are 4th and 5th after the half way mark and are both on 5 wins, you would have to assume, like last year that to make the play offs, teams are going to need 10 wins, and the split against any team they happen to tie with(like Southern did over Forestville last year), going by this, for South(4 wins) to have a chance of making the finals they will have to go 6-3 for their last 9 games....unlikely! Norht and Centrals(both i believe are on 3 wins) will need to go 7-2 in their last 9 games, again unlikely, but certainly both these two teams have the talent to pull off that kind of record. Unless the Tigers win tonight, they are out, as Norwood are too already out of finals contention. Look out however for these two teams cos they will be playing for pride and will be out to spoil as many teams hopes as they can.

I would say that Sturt, Forestville and Woodville are already pencilled in to play finals action this year, interesting to see what order they will finish. And unless Eastern and West have horror secong rounds (3-6 or 2-7) which isn't totally out of the question, I would expect them to round out the final five, with North, Centrals and South just missing out.

I wouldn't however be surprised if we end up with 3 or 4 or 5 teams all on 9 wins at the end of the season and it will come down to splits between them (or possibly percentage if the tie is between more than 2 teams, not sure on that one) to see who will get the last couple of positions. South do have the advantage of already have beaten Eastern and West so wouldn't write them off yet.

Should be a great few last rounds when we get to it!

halfway house - sounds more like halfway fence.

Good write up - if you were a politician.

Make a prediction on who's form is going to run out, who should but wont make finals, and who just plain stink.

Here is my tip for the mens ladder at the end of the season

Sturt - Looking the goods
Forestville - Join Sturt, ahead of the pack
Woodville - Matt Elder, great addition
Eastern - Solid team
North - Will find late team form
West - Hot and Cold (possible dark horse with Blake back)
South - Sorry Panther, just wont fire
Centrals - Too reliant on 3 star players
Norwood - Late run, poor start to season costly
Southern - They really need to change how they play to get a W. too much individual offence, no movement off the ball. NBA-esque style, without the mad hops and deadly shots.

Clearly? Look at his posting history and try again...

Sturt - Look to strong
Eagles- seems to be a two horse race
Woodville- Talls seems to be good plus solid team play
Mavs- Surpriseing some teams and can make some noise this season
Centrals- struggleing now but i think they still have a chance but i could be wrong

south-Playing good team ball will just miss
north- Big troubles at north ..will play better late but just miss
west no nash no west

Southern - missing last years players and no one is stepping up
Norwood - just simply cant shoot the ball

no nash no west? How about Truslove then? beat mavs on the weekend.

maybe im wrong about west ...
They still wont make the playoffs tho

Watching the game vs Eastern, I'd have to disagree. I think they will sneak into the playoffs, and no one will want to play them.

They will have to play a blinder to beat anyone above them though. They have beaten Woodville, but they are a different team now. Forrestville and Sturt are a cut above the pack. Everybody else they have/can beat

correct me if im wrong, but i believe Newley will leave by the end of the month? this will effect the Eagles chances..

anon - i am not a southern supporter, but have seen them play twice this season, both times they dissapointed me. They have some good players, but aren't playing a team game (at the moment).

Lloyd - If newley is to miss the end of the season, will other NBL players (i am thinking Watson, Vanderberg, Truslove, Forman, Gower)also miss finals???

i think its due to the Emu's isnt it??

Doc

Newley is missing due to junior and senior Australian duties. I would assume like Jacob last year NBL commitments will not be a problem for the others.

Lloyd, the Eagles will need to collectively lift to cover Brad's absence. What some people have forgotten is that Dix and Farman are both coming back from knee recons. Having Brad in the team has allowed them to progress gradually without the pressure to score 45-50 between them.

While it might take a game or two get back into sync after Brad leaves the Eagles have the talent to challenge for the title.

Like a lot of people i think Norwood and Southern are out of the finals race (although they'll ruin someone's hopes on the way). I am confident North will sneak into the finals and make 1 or 2 teams pretty uncomfortable.

Woodville's huge weekend has demonstrated they have turned a possible disaster into chmapionship contenders.

West or Eastern will fill the final spot.

South are still a chance but will need to be a lot better than the team who got beat by Woodville and Forestville.

Centrals reliance on too few will see them fall 2 or 3 games short.

Finally Sturt probably are favourites, but their depth is a concern. If Oscar goes down then they would be in huge trouble.

Bring on the second round

Stella,
I think Sturt are as deep as anyone. If Newley or Dix went down Forestville would be hurt just as bad, same for Wilson or Puddifoot for Woodville, Davis for Eastern etc etc. Not many teams can cover the loss of a key player. Strangely enough, three of the deepest teams seem to be Southern, Norwood, and North but they are struggling. Perhaps the coaches are finding it hard to get the rotations right with so much talent.

Cagey how are Southern deep? They have blamed their whole season up until now on injuries, yet they are suppose to have one of the deepest lists?