If they beat Sydney at the SCG they will definitely become premiership favourites. I can't believe people still think NM aren't favourites. Looked at the odds and iirc Geelong, Hawthorn, Sydney, West Coast and EVEN GWS are ahead of them.
They need a big scalp and beating Sydney at SCG is one.
I find it quite funny - even when we've beaten Adelaide and the Bulldogs, it's always been 'oh but its only Round 1' for Adelaide, and 'oh but 3 players are down' for the Bulldogs.
BUT if we are to lose tonight against Carlton (for example), given we have injuries now ourselves, the whole 'excuses' thing won't be taken into account at all. Even if we beat the Swans next week (slim chance), doubters will find
something to use an excuse or justification for the win (e.g. 'oh, they were just recovering from their win against the Hawks, pretenders!!! haha').
People are missing the point -
even though we may have nearly lost to St Kilda and Essendon, the fact is that we managed to pull ourselves out from a dangerous situation. I think with the fierce competition this year, it isn't wise to discount ANY team from a potential win, because we can see how fast things change (e.g. collingwood beating the cats, when they are apparently premiership favourites).
Really cannot win