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Round 17 AFL Review

Friday
West Coast 12.5.77 defeated by Collingwood 11.12.78
On a perfect Friday night for football at Optus Stadium, the Collingwood Magpies made their way to Perth to take on the in-form West Coast Eagles. In a match that was close throughout, the Magpies have triumphed over a newer rival to end up one-point winners of a very high-intensity, and exciting game of footy. In spite of the Eagles holding sway for most of the match, they were never able to create any decent lead over the visiting Magpies, and once the third-quarter rolled on, the Magpies lifted a gear and made everything hard for the Eagles once the ball got near the grass. This intensity picked-up even more in the last, where the ball spent nearly 80% of the time in Collingwood's half of the ground. At the end of the match, the Pies had moved up to second spot on the ladder and Nathan Buckley was a much happier coach.

Saturday
Sydney 8.14.62 defeated by Carlton 9.15.69
On a blustery afternoon in Sydney, the Swans came up ag…
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Round 17 AFL Preview

Friday
West Coast vs Collingwood @ Optus Stadium - 20:10
The first game of the round pits the second-placed West Coast Eagles against the third-placed Collingwood Magpies at Optus Stadium in Perth on Friday night. The Eagles are coming off a huge win over their cross-river rivals and will be feeling pretty good about their chances of putting a bit of space between themselves and the team immediately below them on the ladder. I've heard on the grapevine that the Magpies players have had their training loads increased, in preparation for their run at another finals campaign. If this is true, it would explain their lacklustre performances over the past few weeks. Adding to the loss to the Eagles in the Grand Final last year, whether at Optus Stadium or the MCG the Magpies haven't been able to match the Eagles over their past four matches and, riding a wave of improving performances, I think the Eagles will again be too much for the Magpies to match over in Perth.
West …
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Round 16 AFL Review

Friday
Hawthorn 9.13.67 defeated Collingwood 9.9.63
At the MCG on Friday night, Hawthorn played host to a Collingwood outfit who has hit a bit of a mid-season slump. Having been settled in second place for most of the season's first half, Collingwood has now suffered two consecutive losses, the first being a belting at the hands of the Kangaroos. This was a game that Hawthorn had to win to have any chance of scraping into the Top 8 at some stage of the year, and in spite of trailing the Magpies throughout the match, key forward Mitch Lewis kicked truly to give the Hawks their first lead at the midway point of the final term. Try as they might the Magpies were unable to re-take the lead, falling to a team that had smaller numbers of every stat except Inside 50s. The Hawks James Scilily was just fantastic, repelling so many of Collingwood's forward moves. He finished the match with 28 Disposals and 14 Marks.

Saturday
Essendon 11.10.76 defeated Sydney 9.12.66
In a huge blo…
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Round 16 AFL Preview

Friday
Hawthorn vs Collingwood @ The MCG - 19:50
Going back over the past half a decade of contests between these two teams, it is pretty easy to see that Hawthorn has had the wood over Collingwood for all that time and more. Over those seven matches, Collingwood has only won one; I sense a "boogie team" here...
When you add in last weeks performances, where Collingwood were absolutely belted by North Melbourne and Hawthorn put up a great fight against West Coast, only getting overtaken in the final minutes of their match, this game could be a very close contest that goes either way.
Based on current intent, injuries and Collingwood's problems with getting a win against the Hawks, I'm going to give the nod to Hawthorn keeping their superiority of the Magpies intact.
Hawthorn by 9 points

Saturday
Essendon vs Sydney @ The MCG - 13:45
In Saturday's first game, we have the Essendon Bombers playing host to the Sydney Swans at the MCG, and after last weekend's…
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Round 15 AFL Review

Thursday
Essendon 12.5.77 defeated GWS Giants 10.11.71
On Thursday night at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, the Essendon Bombers played well above their current ladder position to overcome the GWS Giants by the margin of a single goal. Even though they had more Disposals, Clearances, Contested Possessions, and shots on goal, the Giants weren't able to attack with the fluidity or success, that we had come to expect of them after their past few weeks, and while the Bomber's Cale Hooker managed the winning goal, in the last minute of the match, it was the Bomber's defence that set-up this great win for the club. While Essendon will be sweating on Tom Belchamber's injured calf, the Giants will desperately be searching for heart and consistency.

Friday
Geelong 14.12.96 defeated Adelaide 10.9.69
At GMHBA Stadium on Friday night the Geelong Cats overcame a dogged Adelaide Crows to again showed the footy world why it is they are sitting on top of the league ladder. Throug…
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Round 15 AFL Preview

Thursday
Essendon vs GWS Giants @ Marvel Stadium - 19:20
On Thursday night at Marvel Stadium, the 10th placed Essendon Bombers play host to a rested 3rd placed GWS Giants. While no team prefers to play away from home, I am sure the Giants are glad this match is at Marvel Stadium, instead of the "it's still a hoodoo ground" MCG. The Bombers are coming off a large loss to the Eagles over west, meaning they have had to put in lots of travel over the past week, where the Giants had their bye weekend after a good win over North Melbourne in Hobart prior. While Essendon is a middling team this year, the Giants are in good form and will be looking at a big push into the finals.
Even with Matt de Boer being out due to injury, the Bombers have more to worry about than the visiting Giants.
GWS Giants by 32

Friday
Geelong vs Adelaide @ GMHBA Stadium - 19:50
Injuries to trio Gary Rohan, Luke Dahlhaus and Jack Henry will keep people guessing as to what the Cat's team make …
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Round 14 AFL Review

Thursday
West Coast 14.22.106 defeated Essendon 11.5.71
At home on Optus Stadium on Thursday night, the West Coast Eagles made their task of winning against the Essendon Bombers harder than it should have been! While the Eagles dominated territory throughout the night, their inability to translate having the ball a lot more into goals (they had 36 scoring shots to Essendon's 16) meant that the Bombers would have held out hopes of being able to catch the reigning premiers at some point.
Even with just the one less disposal than the Eagles, the Bombers had serious trouble getting through the zone set-up by West Coast, a plan that you could see was implemented to take away the usual paths used by the Bombers when moving the ball forward, and it worked very well!

Friday
Sydney 12.10.82 defeated Hawthorn 9.9.63
On Friday night the Sydney Swans played host to Hawthorn at the SCG and what a typical "Sydney" game it ended up being! If it wasn' for the continued great…
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