The round starts with Essendon and Collingwood. Apparently Essendon still have some sort of chance of making the eight, but I think that chance is roughly equivalent to Gillon McLachlan stating that he "takes full personal responsibility" and then that actually translating into a loss of his personal pay, perks or conditions. And since Essendon have already started delisting players, I suspect they feel their chances are similarly remote. Although, an upset would be handy, to further knock the wind out of Collingwood's sails.
Saturday starts with North and Gold Coast in Hobart. Clarkson seemed to go out of his way this week, to make rubbish criticisms of the allegedly unfair advantage that Gold Coast are getting from their upcoming academy haul. So I'm wondering if he thinks that's some sort of deep, long-term strategy? That is, make sure Gold Coast are fired up, they give North a thumping and Harley Reid will be off to Arden St. Hopefully, in two years time, that chain of events will come to its natural conclusion, with Reid declaring that he's tired of the Melbourne fishbowl, he hates the pressures being piled on him by an overly demanding coach and that he really likes the beaches of Sydney.
Next up, Clarkson's old team go up against Fremantle. I really don't know what's more disappointing: the once highly rated Fremantle's mediocre season, or Hawthorn starting to seem like a decent side?
Then there's a game that has some consequences for our ladder position: Brisbane hosting St Kilda. If St Kilda lose, we can climb over them and nab a home final. So, go the Lions. Although, earlier in the season, when I saw St Kilda's massive injury list, I think I said something like, "If Lyon can overcome that and get the Saints into the finals, then he's a genius". After witnessing a few dire St Kilda games, I don't know if I want to use the term 'genius', but credit where credit's due.
The first Saturday night game is between Geelong and the Western Bulldogs. If the Bulldogs fans commenting on BigFooty after the West Coast loss are anything to go by, I think if given the choice between the Bulldogs sneaking into the eight after a gutsy win, or Beveridge being sacked immediately after a horrible thrashing, I think most of them would go for the thrashing. Personally, I'd probably prefer the gutsy win and them later missing the eight, after GWS get the benefit of a controversial late free, to record a miraculous comeback win over Carlton.
Then it's West Coast hosting Adelaide. A West Coast win would really shut down all the what ifs over the behind call, wouldn't it? Then again, there'd probably soon be claims that the players were so traumatised by one bad call, that they couldn't possibly be expected to play decent football only a week later.
Sunday starts with Port and Richmond. For anyone wondering, it seems to me, that it's now impossible for Richmond to finish ninth.
Next up, we need to beat Melbourne, to give ourselves a chance of a home final.
Then finally, it's the important clash between Carlton and GWS. To go through all the possible permutations for this one, might involve doubling the size of this introduction. So, since I'm generally a lazy person, I might leave that to Sunday afternoon when things will undoubtedly be a whole lot clearer.
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Originally Posted by Maltopia
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