While the first bye round sees a few less games, some of those games are likely to be intense and exciting affairs. Tonight's match, which sees Bevo's Free Kick Factory hosting the Corio Bay Retirement Village, should be one of them. Ten years ago, when Bob Murphy was still running around, I definitely would have been barracking for the Bulldogs. However, there seems to be so many reasons to dislike the modern Bulldogs, that I'll definitely be going for the Cats.

When I said that there's some quality games this weekend, the first Saturday game is unlikely to be one of them. It sees the Crows, who have lost their last five games, enter the game as short priced $1.11 favourites, to beat the team claiming to be the West Coast Eagles, who have lost their last seven. Some people will already be feeling sorry for Eagles fans, but personally, it will take at least another seven, before I even start to consider that emotion. And of course, if you have to consider an emotion, is it really an emotion?

Next is the other unlikely to be quality game: Suns v Kangaroos. On recent form, the Suns should win this easily. But hey, if that's the case, then at least checking out the Darwin crowd is usually entertaining. While I do enjoy a packed MCG, there's something appealing about playing AFL on a ground that looks sort of suburban, in front of a crowd that's more ethnically diverse than pretty well every Australian suburb. There's also a vague chance that the Suns will be in the eight by the end of the round, but that would involve something like them winning by over 100, the Dogs losing by over 50 and Collingwood losing.

Now it's back to quality, with us taking on the Demons on Saturday. Reckon we have a reasonable chance.

The first Sunday game is the Hawks and Magpies. This might also be an intense affair. For the Hawks, it's almost season over if they lose, while the Magpies will be buoyed by being only one game out of the eight. And while I said that I quite like the Darwin crowd, there's also something appealing to me, about a brutalist stadium that's packed with two sets of rabid fans, who give every indication that they really don't like each other.

The final game is the Dockers hosting the Lions. I was just going to type that after their win over the Demons, the Dockers are clear favourites for this, but there appears to be a recent plunge on the Lions and they're now at $1.87 to the Dockers $1.97. Which seems about right, as the Dockers have some big outs, in Walters and Taberner. Still, should be an excellent game, that will go some way to sorting out which team is a genuine contender.