Thoughts on AFL Season 2007: Teams Ranked in Order of 'Effort'

I posted this on BigFooty.com in response to a question on ranking teams by their 'effort' for Season 2007. It's an interesting exercise where the teams are ranked by effort and not games won

1. Cats – Tried hard and were well rewarded if an Premiership, 9 All-Australian's, the Brownlow medal, Norm Smith medal, Rookie of the Year, VFL Premiership are any indication!

2. Kangaroos – How the hell did this team finish top 4?? How did they beat the Hawks to get into Prelim final?? Great coach, great team work ethic. The Shinboner Spirit isn’t a myth under Laidley

3. Eagles - Fought it out to the end in a tough season on and off field

4. Pies - Bit up and down during year but September proved they are tough

5. Swans – Gutsy team. They try hard but will struggle in the new era with their current players and game plan

6. Crows - They put in every game and try all season but they don't have the forwards. Bizarre pre-season trading and season ending injury to Rutten will see them into the bottom 4 this year

7. Hawthorn – they do try hard, but there wasn’t evidence of that by falling out of the Top 4 in the final weeks of the regular season, and then following that up in the finals with a poor win over the Crows and awful loss to Roos the next week

8. Brisbane – Lethal Leigh Matthews' teams are nothing if not committed

9. Bulldogs – They do try pretty hard. Imagine Rocket Eade yelling at you if you were soft! You wouldn't do it to yourself

10. Carlton – I thought they fought hard in a lot of their games last year. Be interesting to see if Ratten can keep that up. Pagan was pretty harshly treated in my view. He might have been a bit out of the times, but in watching the games it was skill errors killing Carlton and not tactics. Kouta is now on Aussie Gladiator. Say no more

11. Fremantle – they’re not the worst tryers but they sure ain’t the best

12. Saints – I reckon they expect a lot to happen for them after reading too many Mike Sheahan pieces and Summers camps with Grant Thomas

13. Essendon – I think the last game of the season against the Eagles with a near incredible come from behind win said it all. When they want to, they can turn it on. The problem is they just don’t want to. Slim chance of still making the 8, Kevin Sheedy and James Hird’s last game at the MCG, and they lose to Richmond?? Come on

14. Port Power – I don’t know how they finished 2nd. Their effort in the GF lacked a lot of fight. New soft AFL rule interpretations allow light, tall and speedy sides like this to flourish. But they suck when it is either wet or tough or, perish the thought for them, BOTH

15. Richmond – With Wallace as your coach, dumping someone like Gaspar a couple of games into the season, why would you even want to try? More drink cards at Metro, please

16. Melbourne – They dropped their bundle after early losses