[AFL-Preview] AFL Preview

AFL Round 2 Preview

Results last week 7 / 8

Well Tipsters, not a bad start to the season with thousands getting 8 from 8 and millions getting 7 from 8. Those tipsters who scored 4 or less last week I suggest you ask for your money back now. This competition is not for you! Not sure whether the tipsters who got 8 were Collingwood supporters or Fremantle supporters these two games being the so – called “upsets” of the round. As predicted the local WA newspapers almost have the Dorks as the premiership favourites and even Jacko (Jackovic  from the Eagles) is getting on the bandwagon saying that Fremantle might finish as high as 6^th . I wonder what the papers will say next week after Freo plays the Bombers at Etihad?

There are a couple of interesting games this week for tipsters to mull over but I suggest a softly softly approach in the early part of the season and just keep your eye on the injuries list for each club on a weekly basis.

I have had some interesting emails already and it’s great to know that we have reached the far flung borders of almost every country that has an Aussie in it and who has found a tipping competition. The Schultz’s from Pakistan are a case in point. These people illegally rig up an internet connection so that they can get their tips in on time! Aussie ingenuity. Well if you can have internet in Norseman you can have it anywhere. And it only takes 7 weeks to get the connection here.

Obviously struck a sore point with delayed telecasts and non telecasts but I must admit that the only game I didn’t get here was the Collingwood versus Bulldogs game. Poor choice of exclusion by the channel but nevertheless it was a good weekend of footy. Easter hols this round and we have football from Thursday through to Monday albeit Good Friday remains untouchable. Will the walls that surround Good Friday continue to repel AFL attacks or will this solemn Christian day go the same way as Anzac Day? Time will tell. If they pay Demetriou a $1 million bonus I am sure he will give it a decent crack!

The ladder looks a little weird at the moment with some visiting teams in the top half but all shall settle by Round 8. AFL is poetry in motion, so the preview has been presented in verse this week. Good luck.

 

Brisbane V Carlton at the Gabba Thursday Night

 

The Carlton team are heading north this week nervous as they fly in,

They beat the hapless Tigers well, this week they meet the Lions,

Who won against the Eagles outscored them in last quarter

Will they beat the Blues this week? It’s a home game so they oughta.

Fevola’s up the other end I hope the Blues remember,

Coz he was kickin’ goals for Carlton only last September!

Juddy is still resting, he won’t make the trip,

A result of fingers in a face and a suspect sleepers grip?

The Blues are playing well and to play finals is their dream

But tipsters have to play it safe, my selection is home team.

 

Brisbane by 12

 

Collingwood V Melbourne at the MCG Saturday arvo

 

The Pies have started like a train and in an opening slog

Put paid to innuendo, they really kicked the dog!

The gods have smiled upon them and the fans are full of glee

As they play the sorry Demons in a big game at the ‘G’!

The Magpie army will all be there, they talk of premiership cup

If I was a Melbourne member, I don’t think I’d turn up.

Collingwood by 67

 

 

St Kilda V North Melbourne

 

North Melbourne better move aside as the Saints go marchin’ in,

Coz North will need a darn site more than to show their boners’ shin.

Reiwoldt in the forward line  and a mean crew in the back,

Montagna running through the lines and Milney in attack.

North’s Harvey is still going and on youth they place their hope,

Hard to make a case for North, will they win? It’s nope.

 

St Kilda by 44

 

West Coast V Port Adelaide at Subiaco Saturday night

 

Last week the Eagles played okay and while it was not slaughter

The Brisbane Lions upped the pace and won it in last quarter

The Power was the opposite and almost blew the game

And thankful were the Power fans when the final siren came.

Both are mediocre teams, highly they don’t rate

But both will fight the good fight and challenge for the 8.

The pick is hard who do we say will be first across the post?

Anyone like Port? Nah,  I’m goin’ for West Coast.

 

West Coast Eagles by 29

 

Adelaide V Sydney Swans at AAMI Sunday

 

The Crows were thumped by Freo in round one, who’d a thought?

And Sydney gave it to the Saints, comin’ up just short.

Based on stats from those two games the Swans look like the go

But I’m for form reversal and my pick this week? The Crows.

 

Adelaide by 21

 

 

Essendon Fremantle at Etihad Stadium Sunday

 

Can you believe those Bombers, almost gave the Cats a lick

And at times they moved the ball so well, looked really bloody slick.

At Subi Freo looked the goods, bashed the Crows and bent ‘em,

Can they travel to the east and keep up that momentum?

Etihad’s the bogie they need to overcome

Pick the Dorks to win this game? Not me, that’s dumb.

 

Essendon by 17

 

 

Richmond V Western Bulldogs at MCG Sunday night

 

At times the Tigers played just bad, at times they played it badder

Hard to see them win this game and climb up on the ladder

The Bulldogs lost to Collingwood, their reality faced a check

Will they let the Tigers win? They will not! By heck!

Eades has got the boys aside, gave a rocket style tongue lashing

Look out Richmond this Sunday night you’re gonna get a thrashing!

Western Bulldogs by 77

 

Hawthorn V Geelong at the MCG Monday arvo

 

Easter’s come and almost gone, during Lent we had to fast,

A weekend full of footy, the best game left till last!

The Cats will play their nemesis if you believe the talks

And will have to play their best if they’re to beat the Hawks.

Premiership hangovers and the Gary Ablett tale

Are not excuses they can use if in this game they fail.

It’s gonna be a close one and a game of pressure, skill

And whoever loses for them a bitter pill.

I guess the loser cops it sweet and turns the other cheek

But hey, it’s just a game, we’re back again next week!

 

Hawthorn by 11

 

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[AFL-Review] Round 1

Dear AFL Review Subscriber,

As you know, Tim Murphy, the author of the 'Review' for more years than I can remember, finally hung up his boots at the end of last season.

John Loffler, who has been writing the 'Preview' for the last few years, has kindly agreed to step into the breech. He has informed that he won't be able to produce such a thorough write up of each game as Tim did, but he hopes you will enjoy them/find them useful.

However, this was his first week with the Review, and he mistakenly sent it to his Preview list.....

So I am re-sending it to the correct list, with our apologies if you are on both lists and therefore receive it twice.

With thanks to Tim for so many years of great reviews, and with thanks to John in anticipation.

Here's to a great season.

Regards
David Layton
Footy Tipping Software


AFL Round 1 Review

Carlton 18.12.120 defeated Richmond 9.10.64
No doubt most tipsters started week one with a correct selection as the Blues gave the young Tigers a bit of a thumping. It wasn't quite as bad a game one last year but it looked like it was going that way near the end of the first quarter. Richmond made some valiant comebacks though a couple of periods of play but Carlton, with stand in captain Carrazzo notching 40 possessions, were far too good pretty well all over the ground. Without Fevola the Blues found nine players who contributed goals which will give them confidence for the rest of the season until they come up against a side that can cut those players out of the game. Early prediction? It will be a long and frustrating season for the Tigers and Carlton will be knocking on the door of the final 8 in September. The annual whinge? The game was televised into Western Australia an hour after the game had actually finished in Victoria. This is one area the AFL  has not been forward thinking. Just buy the rights to all the dumb shows the channels like to put on instead of the footy and show them at another time. Live games people. Keep up with technology.

Geelong 19.11.125 defeated Essendon  13.16.94

 I'd say 99% of tipsters were looking down the barrel of a lost point into the last quarter of this game as the Bombers almost pulled off the dream start to the season. Did the effort surprise many of us or was Geelong a little underdone due to a late start to the season after their premiership last year? A couple of vital turnovers in the third quarter by the young Bombers let the Cats out of the bag and as the last quarter rolled on they got better and better while Essendon seemed to fade. 9 unanswered goals in the last term put the result beyond doubt and if you had not watched the game you would have thought it was an expected final score line. Essendon did okay last year and they will be around that position again this season barring injury. The Cats will probably play off in the Grand Final again.

Hawthorn  17.15.117 defeated Melbourne 8.13.61

 The final score line flattered the Dees because at one stage the Hawks were up by almost 100 points. Up to half time Melbourne had kicked one measly goal and had lost Brad Green, carried off on a stretcher, to get that far. Rumour has it that the goal umpire, an entrant into this year's Comedy Festival, was practising his routine with the Hawthorn supporters behind the goal due to a lack of action with flag waving. He got a few laughs from that crowd because Hawks' supporters had a lot to be happy about. The game was well and truly over by half time, nay quarter time, with Hawthorn leading by 6 goals. Melbourne will fight for the Wooden Spoon, Hawthorn will fight for a finals berth.

 St Kilda 15.6.96 defeated Sydney 13.10.88

 The other grand finalist from 2009 was taken to the wire by a very valiant Sydney team. Again it is hard to guage how good the Swans are when the opposition is a little underdone with regard to training time pre-season. The Swans are still great in close quarters, a real facet of their game style. Goodes for Sydney was just that and Reiwoldt led the Saints superbly with 4 valuable goals and one of which was a real gift in the last quarter compliments of an umpiring decision I hope we don't see again this season. I thought players were going to be free kicked for staging? If that was the case the charity to Reiwoldt should have been cancelled out by his forward free fall. The Saints will be there again in September, they are a quality side while Sydney will be about where they were last year, maybe an extra win to their tally.

 Brisbane Lions 16.18.114 defeated West Coast Eagles 12.10.82

 West Coast started the last quarter a couple of points ahead but could add only two goals while the Lions booted 7 giving us a skewed final score relative to the rest of the game. The prediction was that the Eagles would not be able to contain Brown and Fevola and that proved to be true. Fev kicked 3 and Brown kicked 5 and these 8 goals constituted half the Brisbane score. The game was played at a great pace for three quarters with that greasy, sweaty ball causing every player handling problems except that freak Brennan in the Lions backline! Why West Coast were overrun in the last quarter is a puzzle as they have been training the house down in extremely hot conditions so that is something they will have to look at again this season. The old heads at Brisbane like Black and Power (put those two names together) were instrumental in pushing that ball continually into the forward line where the two spearheads were happy to receive and convert. Brisbane might climb a ladder position this year but the Eagles might be looking at their third consecutive year out of the finals although I feel they will be hard to beat at home.

 Port Adelaide 13.18.96 defeated North Melbourne 12.10.82

It was a miserable, wet day in Adelaide and an equally miserable first half of football played by North which ultimately cost them the game because they came closer as the match progressed but the bird had flown by then. We don't expect big crowds to the Port Adelaide matches at AAMI (why is that by the way?) but the weather really decimated an expected opening day of the season crowd of over 35,000. Mind you the 21,000 is above the average of the crowds that go to North Melbourne games anyway.  There were 5 new starters in the match today, 4 at Port and 1 at North. All acquitted themselves pretty well and I guess the standout was Bastinac for North. Hard to work out where these teams might finish in 2010 but let's guess at 11^th and 13^th respectively.

 Collingwood 19.15.129 defeated Western Bulldogs 13.15.93

 This was a tip I am happy to have got wrong but it sure blew a hole in the Bulldogs celebratory balloon as well. A 6 goal defeat for them is a thumping and while it bodes well for Collingwood it leaves a lot of unanswered questions regarding the Western Bulldogs. Tipsters have put both these teams into their top 4 with many suggesting that the Bullies might just go all the way in 2010. What is the suggestion now? I know, it's early days and Magpie supporters will be whistling well into the week after that effort and whispering 'grand final' to anybody that wants to listen so maybe the Bulldogs over celebrated their long awaited trophy they won in the NAB Cup final two weeks ago. Time will tell but Collingwood supporters are all happy I can tell you. These two quality teams will be there in September, no doubt, just what positions they will finish in will probably depend on injuries.

 Fremantle 17.16.118 defeated Adelaide 9.8.62

 Freo Heave Ho! The papers tomorrow in the West will be full of it. Admittedly the Docker played pretty well applying great pressure to the Adelaide ball carriers. There was a lot of fumbling by both sides but Adelaide was the worse. Their second quarter was poor and that is when Fremantle moved in for the kill. I know hard to imagine that of Freo but they did. This little effort will put Fremantle second on the ladder and being in the 8 is strange territory, a placing they haven't been in some 4 years I heard somebody say. Barlow for Freo was superb in his debut game gathering over 30 possessions and numerous goal assists as well as kicking one. Adelaide seemed out of sorts so they look like they will need to do a bit of work if they want to reach the lofty heights of last season. Hard to make a prediction on these two teams. We all Fremantle improves so they can notch about 8 or 9 wins. Adelaide has the players they just need to get their act together but based on that performance the 8 might be out of reach.

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[AFL-Preview] AFL Review Round 1

AFL Round 1 Review

Carlton 18.12.120 defeated Richmond 9.10.64

No doubt most tipsters started week one with a correct selection as the Blues gave the young Tigers a bit of a thumping. It wasn’t quite as bad a game one last year but it looked like it was going that way near the end of the first quarter. Richmond made some valiant comebacks though a couple of periods of play but Carlton, with stand in captain Carrazzo notching 40 possessions, were far too good pretty well all over the ground. Without Fevola the Blues found nine players who contributed goals which will give them confidence for the rest of the season until they come up against a side that can cut those players out of the game. Early prediction? It will be a long and frustrating season for the Tigers and Carlton will be knocking on the door of the final 8 in September. The annual whinge? The game was televised into Western Australia an hour after the game had actually finished in Victoria. This is one area the AFL  has not been forward thinking. Just buy the rights to all the dumb shows the channels like to put on instead of the footy and show them at another time. Live games people. Keep up with technology.

 

Geelong 19.11.125 defeated Essendon  13.16.94

 

I’d say 99% of tipsters were looking down the barrel of a lost point into the last quarter of this game as the Bombers almost pulled off the dream start to the season. Did the effort surprise many of us or was Geelong a little underdone due to a late start to the season after their premiership last year? A couple of vital turnovers in the third quarter by the young Bombers let the Cats out of the bag and as the last quarter rolled on they got better and better while Essendon seemed to fade. 9 unanswered goals in the last term put the result beyond doubt and if you had not watched the game you would have thought it was an expected final score line. Essendon did okay last year and they will be around that position again this season barring injury. The Cats will probably play off in the Grand Final again.

 

Hawthorn  17.15.117 defeated Melbourne 8.13.61

 

The final score line flattered the Dees because at one stage the Hawks were up by almost 100 points. Up to half time Melbourne had kicked one measly goal and had lost Brad Green, carried off on a stretcher, to get that far. Rumour has it that the goal umpire, an entrant into this year’s Comedy Festival, was practising his routine with the Hawthorn supporters behind the goal due to a lack of action with flag waving. He got a few laughs from that crowd because Hawks’ supporters had a lot to be happy about. The game was well and truly over by half time, nay quarter time, with Hawthorn leading by 6 goals. Melbourne will fight for the Wooden Spoon, Hawthorn will fight for a finals berth.

 

St Kilda 15.6.96 defeated Sydney 13.10.88

 

The other grand finalist from 2009 was taken to the wire by a very valiant Sydney team. Again it is hard to guage how good the Swans are when the opposition is a little underdone with regard to training time pre-season. The Swans are still great in close quarters, a real facet of their game style. Goodes for Sydney was just that and Reiwoldt led the Saints superbly with 4 valuable goals and one of which was a real gift in the last quarter compliments of an umpiring decision I hope we don’t see again this season. I thought players were going to be free kicked for staging? If that was the case the charity to Reiwoldt should have been cancelled out by his forward free fall. The Saints will be there again in September, they are a quality side while Sydney will be about where they were last year, maybe an extra win to their tally.

 

Brisbane Lions 16.18.114 defeated West Coast Eagles 12.10.82

 

West Coast started the last quarter a couple of points ahead but could add only two goals while the Lions booted 7 giving us a skewed final score relative to the rest of the game. The prediction was that the Eagles would not be able to contain Brown and Fevola and that proved to be true. Fev kicked 3 and Brown kicked 5 and these 8 goals constituted half the Brisbane score. The game was played at a great pace for three quarters with that greasy, sweaty ball causing every player handling problems except that freak Brennan in the Lions backline! Why West Coast were overrun in the last quarter is a puzzle as they have been training the house down in extremely hot conditions so that is something they will have to look at again this season. The old heads at Brisbane like Black and Power (put those two names together) were instrumental in pushing that ball continually into the forward line where the two spearheads were happy to receive and convert. Brisbane might climb a ladder position this year but the Eagles might be looking at their third consecutive year out of the finals although I feel they will be hard to beat at home.

 

Port Adelaide 13.18.96 defeated North Melbourne 12.10.82

 

It was a miserable, wet day in Adelaide and an equally miserable first half of football played by North which ultimately cost them the game because they came closer as the match progressed but the bird had flown by then. We don’t expect big crowds to the Port Adelaide matches at AAMI (why is that by the way?) but the weather really decimated an expected opening day of the season crowd of over 35,000. Mind you the 21,000 is above the average of the crowds that go to North Melbourne games anyway.  There were 5 new starters in the match today, 4 at Port and 1 at North. All acquitted themselves pretty well and I guess the standout was Bastinac for North. Hard to work out where these teams might finish in 2010 but let’s guess at 11^th and 13^th respectively.

 

Collingwood 19.15.129 defeated Western Bulldogs 13.15.93

 

This was a tip I am happy to have got wrong but it sure blew a hole in the Bulldogs celebratory balloon as well. A 6 goal defeat for them is a thumping and while it bodes well for Collingwood it leaves a lot of unanswered questions regarding the Western Bulldogs. Tipsters have put both these teams into their top 4 with many suggesting that the Bullies might just go all the way in 2010. What is the suggestion now? I know, it’s early days and Magpie supporters will be whistling well into the week after that effort and whispering ‘grand final’ to anybody that wants to listen so maybe the Bulldogs over celebrated their long awaited trophy they won in the NAB Cup final two weeks ago. Time will tell but Collingwood supporters are all happy I can tell you. These two quality teams will be there in September, no doubt, just what positions they will finish in will probably depend on injuries.

 

Fremantle 17.16.118 defeated Adelaide 9.8.62

 

Freo Heave Ho! The papers tomorrow in the West will be full of it. Admittedly the Docker played pretty well applying great pressure to the Adelaide ball carriers. There was a lot of fumbling by both sides but Adelaide was the worse. Their second quarter was poor and that is when Fremantle moved in for the kill. I know hard to imagine that of Freo but they did. This little effort will put Fremantle second on the ladder and being in the 8 is strange territory, a placing they haven’t been in some 4 years I heard somebody say. Barlow for Freo was superb in his debut game gathering over 30 possessions and numerous goal assists as well as kicking one. Adelaide seemed out of sorts so they look like they will need to do a bit of work if they want to reach the lofty heights of last season. Hard to make a prediction on these two teams. We all Fremantle improves so they can notch about 8 or 9 wins. Adelaide has the players they just need to get their act together but based on that performance the 8 might be out of reach.

 

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[AFL-Preview] AFL Preview

 

AFL PREVIEW 2010 ROUND 1

 

Oh joy to the world! The 2010 AFL season is upon us and we have all spent the last week in a frenzy of activity enrolling in a number of tipping competitions even though we promised ourselves we would restrict ourselves this year to no more than 3 – a manageable amount. The attraction of some of those big tipping comps is magnetic as they pull us in to dreams of great riches and the 15 minutes of fame we would get should we happen to win one. The real professionals register 10 alias names and work the odds to try and snare the end of season prize and with the money being in the $000’s why wouldn’t they? Well, because it’s not Australian that’s why! You have to experience the ups and downs of good and bad weeks, the bad brought about by crazy results like Melbourne winning two games in a row or Richmond beating Geelong by 70 points. These upset footy results are the initiators of anguished conversation over coffee at work on Monday mornings. There is the tipster who waxes on about his brilliance because he snagged that impossible result (usually a Pom who follows soccer) and the tragic tale of the AFL expert who managed 4 from 8 (usually a guy who played 200 plus games and still coaches the kids on the weekends)! It couldn’t be much fun going to work on a Monday knowing that one of your 2097 combinations got you 8 correct under one of your aliases and you knew before the first bounce that you had to get one combination right. How do you explain that to your mates who laboured on a Friday night over 8 selections to enter into the office comp the winner of which receives about $200 and the honour of being the tipping champ for the season? That my friends is a result of the bastardry of commercialisation and the power of the retailers who inundate you with ads on your online comp, harvest your name into their data banks and spam you off season with offers of TV’s, holidays, electronic gear, male organ growth cream and Viagra! Amen.

So into the fray we go again for the 2010 AFL tipping season. Hardly worth going through all the dramas of the off season as I am sure you have all kept up with the latest. Transfers, recruitments, retirements, new coaches, discarded players, operations, pre-season injuries, the draft and of course no season is complete without an FF (Fevola Frenzy). He ended the 2009 season with a Brownlow Brouhaha and had a bit of a bingle as he crashed into the 2010 season. Hope he kicks a 100 goals….not.

 

Richmond V Carlton at the MCG Thursday Night

 

The Tigers start this season without their legend Matthew Richardson who retired and similarly the Blues will be without their half wit full forward Brendan Fevola. Based on form these are big holes to fill for these two struggling teams and if you also take away from Carlton their captain terrific Chris Judd then there might be a case to be made for a Richmond win!! Haha, just kidding. Richmond will struggle to win 5 games this year and Carlton will struggle to make the finals but they shouldn’t have to fight too hard late in the game to see the Tigers off. It won’t be a mauling as happened in the same opening game last year but the Blues should open their account with a win here.

 

Carlton by 33

 

 Geelong V Essendon at the MCG Friday Night

 

With the Cats bagging another premiership in 2009 you would think they might lack a bit of motivation in the early part of the season, so, coming up against the Bombers at the MCG could be a danger game for openers. But consider the Essendon losses of Lloyd, Lovett and Lucas whose departures leave an ‘L’ of a hole, then add the transfers of Nash and McPhee and Bomber supporters will probably be counting their season wins on one hand. This won’t be one of them. The Cats can lift their rating whenever challenged and they will be far too good and experienced for Essendon who will not make the finals in 2010.

 

Geelong by 59

 

Melbourne V Hawthorn at the MCG Saturday Arvo

 

The Demons have bunkered down, lost a few players like McLean and Buckley while Robertson and Whelan have retired but conversely they have the pick of the young footy talent playing for them which bodes well for the future......but not in this game. Even without Lance Franklin the Hawks will be far too good for Melbourne. I don’t expect the Dees to finish on the bottom this year but they will finish bottom 4. The Hawks suffered annus horribilus last season and you can expect a return to the top 8 this year. A resounding win against the Demons will put them on top of the ladder at the end of round 1.

 

Hawthorn by 67

 

St Kilda V Sydney at ANZ Stadium Saturday Night

 

The retirements and losses for the Sydney Swans reads a bit like a who’s who for their fans. Leo Barry, Jared Crouch and Michael O’Loughlin all retired while Jolly and Hall went elsewhere. They did pick up Bradshaw from the Lions and Seaby from the Eagles but these additions aren’t enough to get them the points in round 1. The Saints continue to march on albeit they hit a bomb crater against the Bulldogs in the Nab Final a couple of weeks ago. St Kilda provided footy fans with two of the great games last year, both against Geelong, so like the Swans of old, they can play tight and tough. They will be hungry to avenge grand final defeat and don’t be surprised if that hunger drives them to another season of ladder topping wins. There might be 2 occasions this year I will tip against them. This isn’t one of them.

 

St Kilda by 39

 

Brisbane Lions V West Coast Eagles at the Gabba Saturday Night

 

If memory serves me correctly then this was a pretty close game last year. The Lions went on to make the finals in 6^th position so they have the credentials. Stopping both Fevola and Brown will be a mammoth task for the West Coast backline and one that I am not so sure they can manage. Or manage well enough to win the game at least. The Eagles looked reasonable at times last season but lost a few close matches and won just the 8 games. They will need to find 4 more wins in 2010 to make the finals in what will be a tight season for the group of teams that will circulate through positions 6 to 13 on the ladder during the year. Bradshaw, Dalziell and Notting are the biggest losses for the Lions but they picked up some experience with Buchanan from Sydney, Clarke and Maguire from St Kilda, Fevola from Carlton, Raines from Richmond and Staker from West Coast. The Eagles lost Staker, Hunter, Wirrpanda, Stenglein, Seaby and Fletcher to name a few and went for youth in recruiting. West Coast looked good demolishing Essendon pre-season but a long road trip, two great full forwards to beat....nope.

 

Brisbane by 17

 

Port Adelaide V North Melbourne at AAMI Sunday

 

Already I can see the Power as being the problem child for tipsters this year. Thrash a team one week then get thrashed the next. They made the prelim of the pre-season but that competition is not a good indicator for the mediocre teams. The game is at AAMi so that’s a point in their favour and they have recruited Laidley to give them a bit of toughness. North Melbourne, once favoured to disappear into oblivion like Fitzroy have hung on, built themselves new club rooms, have a young enthusiastic side and a young, new coach. What’s the game plan gonna be Scotty? Tough as nails so you would expect the team to be the same. If you get a chance to watch this on the box you might be surprised at how good a game it will be physically and what I predict to be a closeness in the score line. Port is favoured as the home team.

 

Port Adelaide by 11

 

Western Bulldogs V Collingwood at Etihad Sunday

 

Considering the position of these two teams last year then you would have to agree that this should be the game of the round. Woulds and shoulds....The Bullies look the goods this season and the addition of Barry Hall has already paid dividends as he helped them to a convincing Nab Cup victory in the Grand Final against St Kilda – same venue. The main problem Collingwood has had for about 5 years is the lack of a good ruckman, apologies to Josh Fraser. Their recruitment of Jolly from the Swans is just that – a jolly good decision and it will add that bit of extra power the Pies needed at the  stoppages. Luke Ball may be a bonus and Malthouse might get from him some of his early form he showed with Saints a couple of seasons ago. If not he won’t get a game – simple as that. This should be a great spectacle but the Bulldogs have had a marvellous preparation for a tough game of footy and Collingwood are notoriously slow starters.

 

Western Bulldogs by 18

 

Fremantle V Adelaide at Subiaco Sunday

 

The plethora of injuries the Crows had last week seem to have vanished this week. The game is at Subiaco and there has been a bit of hype at Fremantle about their chances this year. It is usually a safe bet to tip against the Dockers most weeks but they might have a bit of a chance playing at home in the season opener in front of the purple haze. Fremantle’s most notable recruit for the year is the return of McPhee – admittedly a strange move. Either Adam didn’t like Essendon coach Matty Knights or the surf is better here in the west, why else would you make such a masochistic move? Pavli up forward could pay dividends but can this Docker team kick enough goals? Can they get past Nathan Bock enough times to kick a winning score? Will the old legs of some of the Adelaide legends see them through a hot day in Perth? This could be a close game and I will grit my teeth and go for the Dockers to win their opening match and cause the greatest hype to be seen in the local papers since West Coast won their last flag.

 

Fremantle by 8

 

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