The game is back to being an almost national game, with matches returning to Qld and WA. But unfortunately, things have been heading the other way in Sydney. So, can I just express my support to the Sydney RWO contingent and hope that the outbreak is not affecting you too badly and that things will soon return to something like normal.

The first game is tonight's heavyweight clash between Port and Melbourne. Both sides have got good form and shaky form, going into this. Especially Melbourne; who in their last six, have wins against Essendon, Brisbane and the Bulldogs, but losses against GWS, Collingwood and Adelaide. So, who knows which Melbourne will show up? The odds are saying that Port should be too good at home, but I don't know. I have an inkling that Melbourne might notch the sort of battling win, which will give comfort to their increasingly fretful fans.

The Friday game is Essendon v Adelaide at Marvel. I just hope that they don't chop up the ground too much, before our Sunday match against the Bulldogs.

The first Saturday game is Hawthorn v Fremantle in Launceston. This is Nathan Fyfe's 200th, so perhaps that will be enough for Fremantle to rise above their usually patchy away form. And who knows how Clarkson will react to the imposed succession plan? Perhaps, he will graciously take a back seat, and allow Sam Mitchell to get an early taste of the senior coaching role; and then bribe his players to put in a shocker.

The Saturday twilight game is Carlton at home to Geelong. I'm a bit torn for this one. On the one hand, a Carlton win would give us a better chance of catching Geelong. On the other hand, it would reignite their finals hopes.

The night game is Brisbane v St Kilda, which due to a partial covid lockdown in Brisbane, is at Metricon, rather than the Gabba. Last week against Collingwood, it was good St Kilda for the first three quarters, but in the last, bad St Kilda showed up. I expect to witness bad St Kilda for most of this game.

The early Sunday game is GWS taking on Gold Coast at Mars Stadium in Ballarat. Speaking of good and bad, the good Suns finally showed up again last week, to convincingly beat Richmond, with the sort of fast moving, high pressure game, that's been missing since they beat us at Metricon. Hopefully it will still be there on Sunday, and they'll do enough to keep those pesky Giants off our tail. However, the weather forecast for Ballarat, is much like the weather for our game against the Eagles: 10 degrees, cloudy and a brisk breeze. Which are conditions that most Gold Coasters would complain about; trust me.

We then take on the Bulldogs at Marvel. I'm feeling quietly confident. We usually play Marvel pretty well and last week's form was excellent. And I might even watch a bit of tonight's game, in the hope that, cracking down on illegal disposals might be rule of the week.

Next up is Richmond v Collingwood. Strangely, Collingwood might even have the better recent form going into this.

The round ends with a Monday night clash between West Coast and North in Perth. The Monday schedule appears to be because that will be when crowd restrictions are lifted fully in WA. I expect that North will play the Eagles back into some sort of form. If that doesn't happen, then the crowd shots should be more entertaining than the football.