Cornes reveals his 2018 top eight

In March, everyone is a footy expert.

You’ve heard plenty of top eight predictions ahead of the first bounce in under a week — most of them are bound to be wrong.

There’s no reason why 2017’s top eight can’t qualify again, while Melbourne, St Kilda, Collingwood, Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs can all make legitimate cases after strong pre-seasons.

We could even see a shock on the level of the Richmond last year from a team like Hawthorn or Melbourne.

The Eagles appear to be the most likely team to fall out of last year’s top eight.

The 18 captains cast their vote yesterday and made their predictions.

They agree that the side most likely to win the flag (other than their own) is the Giants.

I’ve had an absolute ball filling in for Gerard whilst he’s been away but with normal programming resuming on Monday and Gerard back in the chair, this is the last time I’ll speak to the SEN audience before round one.

So, with that in mind, it’s time to put my neck on the line…again.

Here is my 2018 top eight.

1 Melbourne

2 GWS

3 Western Bulldogs

4 Richmond

5 Port Adelaide

6 Sydney

7 Essendon

8 Adelaide

Brownlow Medallist: Marcus Bontempelli.

And the individual set to rise the most: Isaac Heeney.

There it is. I'm sure you’ll keep me honest and remind me of how I've gone throughout the year.

Do you agree with me? What have I got right and what have I mucked up?