Last Week 5/9 Season Total 137/198
And so, here we are at the back end of the
season. Seven teams are confirmed for
the top eight and two teams will be fighting it out for that last coveted
position. The Matilda’s unfortunately
fell short but united the nation against England like so many teams before
them have before. I really feel like
things – in general - are coming to a close.
The Ashes gave way to the Netball World Cup which then gave way to the
Soccer World Cup. What will fill any
voids that I have in my life now?
Family? Work? Self-Improvement? All great things I’m sure but there must be
something else out there…? Thank
goodness for the Basketball World Cup which starts this week! Is this the year of World Cups? After The Basketball is the Rugby World Cup
which overlaps with Golf’s versions of a World Cup and then the ODI Cricket
World Cup is on! That is a serious
amount of crockery on offer this year.
And alas there is a bye next week. What do we do with ourselves then? Keep an eye on the blog here and I’ll deliver
my annual “State of the Game” address, which I’m sure will be enlightening.
Essendon vs Collingwood MCG Friday
Night
What exactly is Collingwood
attempting? It is like Fly has them
approaching the season in reverse.
Normally you lose a few on the way and then build to unstoppableness as
the season reaches its crescendo. The
Pies on the other hand were in unbeatable form early in the season and look a
bit listless towards the end. There’s
one more game to build momentum before the finals and this is it. Can you get momentum from a single game? My High School Science teacher taught me that
momentum is the product of mass and velocity, and that momentum is conserved
based on the laws outlined by Newton
in his excellent book, Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687). Perhaps Collingwood has been conserving their
momentum or collecting other teams spent momentum, ready to discharge it. What did Newton really know about AFL and Collingwood
anyway? Speaking of Newtons laws of motion, Essendon were toying
with them themselves last week. In
particular it seems as if they were very focused on Newtons first law, which loosely describes
that a body will remain at rest unless acted upon by a force. No force was applied, and it looked like
Essendon just remained at rest. For a
time there, it looked like West Coasts big loss to Sydney was going to be outdone. So, what does this all mean for this
match? Essendon will come out strong to
make a statement that they don’t agree with the laws of physics and Collingwood
will be working hard to get themselves out of this Lagrange Point funk that
they are in. The risk for Collingwood
here though is finishing top of the ladder might mean a first up match against Melbourne at the MCG and if they lose that it would be an
MCG Semi against Carlton
(probably). That could be an
out-in-straight-sets scenario.
Interesting machinations. Collingwood
by 35 points.
Hawthorn vs Fremantle MCG Saturday Afternoon
For these two teams this is just a prelude
to Mad Monday. Luckily for them, it has
been scheduled in Melbourne rather than Launceston where there is more
flexibility over Mad Monday options.
Hawthorns Giant-killing run ended last week when Melbourne stopped them
and Fremantle, who seemed to be in a small vein of form against Brisbane and
then West Coast were taught some valuable lessons. How do these two teams approach a game where
they are not testing themselves against the best, not trying to disrupt a
contender and their ladder positions won’t even change? Not a spectators delight (I’m going out for
the afternoon) and not even a tipsters delight as who knows which way it could
go? Time for a guess. Hawthorn by 16 points.
North Melbourne vs Gold Coast Blundstone
Arena Saturday Afternoon
In a real twist on my earlier statements
about Mad Monday, these two teams could have been on the Gold Coast, but the
AFL scheduled this one down in Hobart. Jogging up and down Mt Wellington is about as
silly as Mad Monday might get! North
have their coach back and might want to win this one for him, although winning
this just gives their hard-fought 1st draft pick back to West Coast
so maybe they “play in a manner that makes it difficult to win.” They won’t be tanking though. I’m sure Clarkson needs to find out which
defenders play best up forward and which forwards play best in defence and
which midfielders play best when not playing well…all in the name of bettering
their gameplan for next year of course.
On the other hand, Gold Coast might want to win this one for their
incoming coach / outgoing coach. Not a
lot of interest in this one either. Gold
Coast by 28 points.
Brisbane vs
Saint Kilda Gabba Saturday Twilight
If Collingwood faulter, Brisbane can claim
top spot. But if they lose, they could
fall as far as 4th. The
reality is that they must win this one.
A win last week against an injury hit Pies outfit and they seemed to
play themselves back into form. Saint
Kilda are looking pretty good and can finish anywhere from 5th to 8th
depending on results. As good as Saint
Kilda have been, the winning record the Lions have at The Gabba means you just
can’t tip them. Brisbane by 34 points.
Geelong vs Footscray Kardinia Park Saturday
Night
One of the two games that actually matter
this week. Geelong can’t make it now, so this is a game
for pride for them and after last week’s debacle against West Coast, Footscray
have left their charge until the very, very last minute. Needless to say, it’s a must-win game for
Footscray. Lose it and they are out of
finals contention, win it and they are not guaranteed, but have to wait to see
what happens in the Giants v Blues match.
The match is at Kardinia
Park which is not a happy
hunting ground for Footscray. Geelong
by 17 points.
West Coast vs Adelaide Perth Stadium Saturday
Night
Last week was the worst possible result for
West Coast. It was the strangest attempt
to tank that I have ever seen. Winning
the game means that Harley Reid moves to North Melbourne,
which received 140,000 likes from Harley Reids account alone. It could also mean that, if Harry McKay
departs, the 2nd pick will go to North
Melbourne too as a compensation.
Looking through North Melbourne’s
playing list and it’s getting tough to find any players whose draft position
has double figures! But I’m off track,
this isn’t about North Melbourne. This is about whether or not West Coast can
get that pick back. As bad as the result
last week was for West Coast, the only worse result for the entire season was Adelaide’s. I’m not sure what more I can add to the
conversations during the week in relation to what happened there. Apologies were issued and somehow this makes
it all ok. Frankly anyone you ask is ok
with it…so long as you don’t ask any Adelaide
supporters. It’s not often you can say
you were robbed and its actually true. Adelaide should hold a
sit-in during the match as a protest.
Although West Coast are going so badly, they’ll probably score a behind
and have to wait for Adelaide to kick the ball in. Adelaide
by 29 points.
Port Adelaide
vs Richmond Adelaide Oval Sunday Afternoon
This game is only important for Port
Adelaide. A nice tune up before the
finals and a win could get them as high as 2nd or a loss as low as 4th. They will know if the win changes anything
for them once the Brisbane
game is played. In all likelihood this
game will determine if they travel to Brisbane or Melbourne for their first
final. Richmond are done and Dustied for the
season. I’m expecting a win won’t mean
much in this one. Port Adelaide by 41 points.
Sydney vs Melbourne SCG Sunday
Afternoon
It’s tough to understand what this game
might mean for both combatants? A win
for Sydney might give them a home final in the
first week and for Melbourne,
a win and they (likely) host a home final at the MCG or a loss and (likely)
play an “away” final against Collingwood at the MCG. There is a remote chance that they win and
have to travel to Brisbane
for the first final…but it’s pretty remote.
Better play the safe option here and just lose…unless Collingwood lose,
then they should win. Confused yet? I think Sydney
has more to play for. Or will the AFL
try to even things up by dubiously getting Melbourne
to win as they should have against Carlton
except for an umpiring error and get and in the process having Sydney
lose as they should have against Adelaide
except for an umpiring error. And now
we’re back to conspiracy theories. Sydney
by 11 points.
Carlton vs Greater Western Sydney Marvel Stadium Sunday Twilight
It comes down to this for GWS. Carlton
can’t be knocked out of the finals and can likely only finish as low as 6th. GWS need to win this to play finals. Will Carlton’s
minds already be fixated on finals? Will
they try to preserve their bodies while GWS cracks in? Will Carlton
completely ruin their streak by bringing back players who ruin any structure
they may have had for the last nine weeks?
All shall be revealed. GWS
by 1 point.
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