It's remarkable what a Thursday win can do to the perception of the rest of the round. After writing off our finals chances after last Thursday's loss to Richmond, I'm now back to looking at the rest of the round through the prism of how they might effect our finals chances. I mean, currently we're only a game and percentage out of the eight, and that's only likely to creep out to six points by the end of the round. So, surely that's not insurmountable?
Having said that, it's highly unlikely that we'll be able to catch either of tonight's combatants: Brisbane and Melbourne. So, maybe it'd be nice if Brisbane could break their current MCG hoodoo. I mean, if we can't be premiers this year, then I really don't want yet another Victorian side to win the flag, and at the moment, Brisbane and Port are the only non-Victorian sides in the eight.
The first Saturday game is Collingwood hosting Fremantle. Although hosting isn't really the right word for a Collingwood home game, is it? Perhaps it's more like, well yeah, you could come inside if you like, but you might be disturbed by the strange things that occur and the feral nature of the inhabitants. Anyway, I'm hoping that Collingwood crush Fremantle's spirit, prior to us flying over to Perth next week.
Then I suppose I want to see Gold Coast beat St Kilda, as a St Kilda loss will see them very catchable, while I'm not sure if Gold Coast quite have the consistency to make a realistic finals challenge.
Then it would be nice if Port killed off the recent burst of Carlton optimism. I mean, long may they remain a laughing stock.
I suppose I'd prefer a Geelong win over Essendon, as Essendon appear much more likely to fall in a heap.
Then it's Adelaide v GWS. I suspect that a draw might be a good result here, but I can't quite get my aging mind around the permutations.
On Sunday, it would be handy if North beat Hawthorn, to further consolidate our draft picks tied to Hawthorn. Who knows, it may even inspire North to overtake Hawthorn on the ladder.
Then finally it's West Coast hosting Richmond. The betting on the match is $6.70 to $1.11. Which is the closest a West Coast game has been for ages. Which suggests that at least a few optimists think that they can spring an upset. I think it would be very entertaining if they did.
Bookmarks