GWS v Collingwood
SKODA Stadium – Saturday 28 July – 4:40PM
Collingwood will be after a vital percentage boost when they travel to SKODA Stadium to take on GWS.
Possessing the weakest percentage of the top four contenders, the Pies will be desperate to capitalise on the competitions free hit in the Giants.
The Pies were crushed last week at the hands of fellow premiership contender Hawthorn, which only highlighted the hard work still needed to be done by Collingwood.
The Giants on the other hand has lost its last five games by an average margin of 110 points, a situation that is making a mockery of the sport’s most elite competition.
Collingwood will also take the opportunity to rest some of its star players with Steele Sidebottom, Harry O’Brien, Dale Thomas and Darren Jolly all missing this week. The outs provide Marty Clarke, Ben Sinclair, Simon Buckley and Cameron Wood with an opportunity to stake a claim in the finals bound Collingwood team.
GWS continue to routinely make mass changes to its line up in order to balance the workload of its younger players with Jeremy Cameron, Jonathon Patton and Chad Cornes amongst others all coming back in to the side to provide a much needed boost.
Travis Cloke has been in the headlines this week after Collingwood announced it would be ceasing contract negotiations until the end of the season. This game provides Cloke with the platform to regain some much needed form and shift focus away from his contract and back to producing quality football.
Sadly for football, the only things of interest in this game is the extent of the Collingwood’s victory, the attendance from the Sydney crowd, any Collingwood injuries and the form of Travis Cloke.
The sooner GWS become competitive, the better.
Prediction: Collingwood by 128 points
Teams
GWS Giants
B: Luke Power, Chad Cornes, Tomas Bugg
HB: Curtly Hampton, Phil Davis, Sam Frost
C: Adam Treloar, Callan Ward, WIlliam Hoskin-Elliott
HF: Rhys Palmer, Jeremy Cameron, Jacob Townsend
F: Devon Smith, Jonathon Patton, Nick Haynes
Foll: Jonathan Giles, Tom Scully, Toby Greene
I/C: Shaun Edwards, Israel Folau, Anthony Miles, Taylor Adams
Emg: Josh Bruce, Dean Brogan, Adam Kennedy
In: Jeremy Cameron, Shaun Edwards, Jonathon Patton, Taylor Adams, Devon Smith, Chad Cornes
Out: Kurt Aylett, Josh Bruce, Steve Clifton, Gerald Ugle, Mark Whiley, Nathan Wilson
Collingwood
B: Tom Young, Nathan Brown, Chris Tarrant
HB: Nick Maxwell, Ben Reid, Alan Toovey
C: Caolan Mooney, Alex Fasolo, Jarryd Blair
HF: Scott Pendlebury, Chris Dawes, Heath Shaw
F: Ben Sinclair, Travis Cloke, Tyson Goldsack
Foll: Cameron Wood, Dane Swan, Dayne Beams
I/C: Martin Clarke, Simon Buckley, Paul Seedsman, Jamie Elliott
Emg: Luke Rounds, Jarrod Witts, Jackson Paine
In: Martin Clarke, Cameron Wood, Ben Sinclair, Simon Buckley
Out: Heritier O’Brien (Groin), Dale Thomas (Ankle), Steele Sidebottom (Quad), Darren Jolly (Soreness)
