Actually, now that I've typed, Mad Monday; will the clubs still be having Mad Monday? I suppose that if you're in a non-lockdown state, there's no real reason why you shouldn't? Though it would probably be a breach of etiquette, for a club from a lockdown area, to fly interstate for Mad Monday. Perhaps they could improvise? Have the all the football department sit in their respective lounge rooms on Monday, drinks in hand, to shout at their team mates, via a complicated and disconcerting Zoom call? Or maybe after their final game, they could just hide away in the change rooms, with a keg or two, until somebody eventually spoils the party on Monday night?
"They seem to be singing the club song for an awful long time?"
"Well, it's been an emotional season."
Anyway, football. The Friday game is Bulldogs v Port. If the Bulldogs lose this, they could easily drop out of the top four, with a Brisbane win over the plummeting Eagles. Here's hoping.
The first Saturday game is Richmond v Hawthorn. Richmond still have the slimmest of mathematical chances to make the eight. However, I think they hinted what they really think of their own chances, by making nine changes to last week's team. Which is the sort changes you make if you're tanking for draft picks, not desperately striving for the finals. Though of course, it's too late to tank for picks, so perhaps they're thinking, that if they lose by enough, a ninth place finish will be avoided? Hawthorn should be pretty motivated, too. What with Clarkson's final game and Shaun Burgoyne's retirement after a magnificent 407 game career.
Next up, we play Gold Coast. There's only been occasional sightings of good Gold Coast lately, so let's hope that their poor form continues and they provide us with a fairly stress free finals tune up.
The Saturday twilight game is Brisbane v West Coast Eagles. I guess that the Eagles will be really hoping for a Bulldogs win on Friday, otherwise the Lions will be going hard for a percentage boosting win, and if that's the case, I doubt if the Eagles are anywhere good enough to overcome that.
The first night game is Geelong v Melbourne. I think it would be nice if Melbourne could finish on top of the home and away ladder, for the first time since 1964. I mean, I don't mind fans of other clubs suffering; but not for that long!
The other night game is Carlton v GWS. Last week, Carlton played like they couldn't give a damn if David Teague remained their coach or not. Hopefully, they'll be more fired up for the final game of Eddie Betts. Or at the very least, give him a few opportunities to work some magic from the pocket.
The first Sunday game is St Kilda v Fremantle. There's every chance that Fremantle will still be alive in the finals race. Or at least, have a chance to finish above West Coast. Which might be motivation enough. Conversely, St Kilda may be able to finish above Fremantle.
Next up is Essendon v Collingwood. There could be fans of a couple of other clubs watching this, desperately hoping that Collingwood will do them a favour. Unfortunately, there's every likelihood that Collingwood will disappoint all those Pies for a day.
Since the round ends with a whimper, with the North v Adelaide game, it's probably worth mentioning, that this could be the final AFL home and away game of the covid era. That is, by March next year, the nation should have a high enough vaccination rate, to enable the season the proceed in something like a normal manner. No more games in empty stadiums. No more fake crowd noise. No longer will teams have to make frantic dashes to airports. No more searching You Tube for a VFL game, only to find that the round's been cancelled. No more not knowing where your team will be playing next week. Well, here's hoping.
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