PMBangers
@Headless approved!
- Moderator
- #1
Welcome one and all to what could be our most exciting game of the year. We're on the road to a ground we haven't played at since the 2019 Preliminary Final, where the Grand Final was unfortunately cancelled and VICBIAS saw the cup go to Richmond. The positive? We beat Collingwood in that final game in a nail biting finish, a true show of guts and determination from a GIANTS group ravished by injuries to key players, and a suspension for the biggest key player. Can we repeat this miracle? or will we find ourselves 0-4 and staring at a bottom 3 finish?
Form
Collingwood come into this game fresh off a disappointing loss to Brisbane, where a goal after the siren would prove the difference. Prior to that, the Pies had been beaten by the Bulldogs in Round 1, and defeated GWS Reserves (Carlton) in Round 2. What's evident is that they're beating teams worse than them, and struggling against the teams they should be at the same level of, seeing them come in sitting 10th on the ladder!
Looking at GWS, well, you know the story, 3 losses on the trot to an injury plagued St Kilda, injury plagued Fremantle, and relatively healthy and inform Melbourne. It hasn't been great, we don't have to go into specifics but the line 'worst 3 games in club history' has been thrown about, not by me.
Injuries
The Pies are coming into this contest Healthy as, with only Trent Bianco (yet to debut) and Jamie Elliott (not a bad player admittedly) expected to be unavailable for selection
GWS have a nice little cricket team building in the rehab group. Tom Hucthesson, Adam Kennedy, Daniel Lloyd, Braydon Preuss, Sam Reid, Lachie Whitfield, Stephen Coniglio, Matt De Boer and Phil Davis are unlikely to be available for selection, quite a few best 22 players involved in that group makes us look light on, especially in defensive 50 with the ever reliable Davis gone.
The subplot
There's a couple of things to look at in our subplots here. First off, this is a 'season back on track' game, whichever club loses here is going to be open slather for the media and rightfully so, at best, we're both 1-3, at worst we're clearly on the level of North Melbourne and in an almost impossible position to make finals.
Second off, these are always good games with a fair bit of intensity given we have a few ex-players there, and we've come up against each other in a couple of good finals games, I'm hoping this continues, with us winning, but a good contest where the aggressiveness and relentlessness from both sides is on full display.
Thirdly and finally, my favourite area of AFL, we currently hold Collingwoods 2021 First Rounder, it's in our best interest to be smacking them about and demoralising them to get ourselves the best possible pick out of them
Prediction
It's just one of those games that, despite the form, could genuinely go either way. We as a club have come up against worst odds and put on some really good displays, but we also just as easily go into our shells and let teams walk over us in the face of the slightest hardship. I have no value for my creditability as a results predictor though, so I'll go with GWS by 13 points to get our season on track
Form
Collingwood come into this game fresh off a disappointing loss to Brisbane, where a goal after the siren would prove the difference. Prior to that, the Pies had been beaten by the Bulldogs in Round 1, and defeated GWS Reserves (Carlton) in Round 2. What's evident is that they're beating teams worse than them, and struggling against the teams they should be at the same level of, seeing them come in sitting 10th on the ladder!
Looking at GWS, well, you know the story, 3 losses on the trot to an injury plagued St Kilda, injury plagued Fremantle, and relatively healthy and inform Melbourne. It hasn't been great, we don't have to go into specifics but the line 'worst 3 games in club history' has been thrown about, not by me.
Injuries
The Pies are coming into this contest Healthy as, with only Trent Bianco (yet to debut) and Jamie Elliott (not a bad player admittedly) expected to be unavailable for selection
GWS have a nice little cricket team building in the rehab group. Tom Hucthesson, Adam Kennedy, Daniel Lloyd, Braydon Preuss, Sam Reid, Lachie Whitfield, Stephen Coniglio, Matt De Boer and Phil Davis are unlikely to be available for selection, quite a few best 22 players involved in that group makes us look light on, especially in defensive 50 with the ever reliable Davis gone.
The subplot
There's a couple of things to look at in our subplots here. First off, this is a 'season back on track' game, whichever club loses here is going to be open slather for the media and rightfully so, at best, we're both 1-3, at worst we're clearly on the level of North Melbourne and in an almost impossible position to make finals.
Second off, these are always good games with a fair bit of intensity given we have a few ex-players there, and we've come up against each other in a couple of good finals games, I'm hoping this continues, with us winning, but a good contest where the aggressiveness and relentlessness from both sides is on full display.
Thirdly and finally, my favourite area of AFL, we currently hold Collingwoods 2021 First Rounder, it's in our best interest to be smacking them about and demoralising them to get ourselves the best possible pick out of them
Prediction
It's just one of those games that, despite the form, could genuinely go either way. We as a club have come up against worst odds and put on some really good displays, but we also just as easily go into our shells and let teams walk over us in the face of the slightest hardship. I have no value for my creditability as a results predictor though, so I'll go with GWS by 13 points to get our season on track
