The most important difference with the Dragons next year will be out probable better ability to close out games.
Think of every have we lost by 6 or less. Now turn them into victories of 6 or less.
This is very possible with the addition of Graham and Hunt. Fox are right, anything under Top 4 is underachieving, Top 8 will be a 'pass' presuming we don't exit in straight sets.
Missing Top 8 again, well that will be a disaster and I'm almost certain Mary would get the flick this time, as now there is no luxury of 'expecting' being near the spoon.
If we had the same draw as 2017 or even 2016, then I agree, we could expect to turn some of those close losses into wins. Especially with Hunt closing games out.
Unfortunately our draw is significantly harder in 2018 + as you correctly point out, many bottom half teams have strengthened their rosters and are probably going to be different propositions in 2018.
We play Melbourne and Easts twice in 2018 whereas we only played them once in 2017
We still also play Parra twice.- they will continue to improve.
But we play Canterbury x 2 - on paper they are
much stronger than 2017 and Pay will have them eating raw meat.
Cronulla x 2 - Dugan will be looking to stick it to us.
Souths x 2 - Inglis makes them a totally different team.
Tigers x 2 - excellent coach who has already made a big difference. They will be hard to beat.
and Newcastle x 2 - On paper they are a top 8 team. No resemblance to the last 3 years.
When you look at these teams objectively, they will be much more competitive than 2017.
Cowboys will also be back to full strength and Brisbane has beefed up their forward pack under the wily old super coach..
I respect and understand the excitement surrounding Ben Hunt's arrival but in my opinion, we are going to be in a life and death struggle for a finals spot in 2018.
From a coaching perspective we have no upside with McGregor.
He will continue to make mistakes, get outcoached by his counterparts and mismanage the roster.
I think predictions of Widdop winning the Dally M are premature but
pointedly irrelevant.
So if we finish 9th and WIddop wins the Dally M - so what?
It's the biggest wank I've ever heard.
The key to improving our position on the ladder in 2018 is factoring in the harder draw and the improvement in most of the lesser teams we will face in 2018.
The biggest question is "will we be able to do that?"