The finals kick off with two games in Adelaide and two in Launceston. I imagine some Tasmanians will be viewing that as karma for the AFL, for their continual scuppering of plans for a Tasmania based team. Fair enough. Though personally, I miss the good old days, when the home of AFL was Southeast Queensland. Which may be a minority view?
The Friday night match is Port hosting Geelong. I more or less see this as a now or never match for Geelong, since most of their biggest stars are over thirty and there doesn't seem to be a large depth of talent coming up to replace them. Alternately, the Port list has a plethora of up and coming stars. Much like our list, really. So, if the likes of Selwood, Dangerfield, Hawkins and Rohan, don't nab a premiership this year, it's hard to see them doing it next year. Unless their magic pudding salary cap springs a surprise or two in the offseason. Though in the meantime, I would definitely prefer to face a limping Geelong, rather than an angry Port, in week 2, if we get past GWS.
Speaking of which, I'm feeling quite confident of getting past the Giants, in our Launceston showdown. Although that could be because, I've watched the second half of the most recent clash a number of times, but I've no clear idea of what happened in the first half.
It's back to Adelaide on Saturday night, for Melbourne v Brisbane. There's probably two ways that I'll be viewing this. A win against GWS and I'll be keen to appreciate a high quality and intense match. A loss and I might grudgingly check the scores.
Then it's back to Launceston for the Sunday game between the Bulldogs and Essendon. A month ago, the Bulldogs were close to premiership favourites and a pretty good chance to finish first on the home and away ladder. Now, after three losses in a row, they're every chance to crash out in the first week. Of course, none of us here want to see that, do we?
Give me a B! Give me a U! Give me a L! Give me another L! Give me a S! And how about a H!
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