Land of the Giants
Premiership Player
Where and when: Blundstone Arena, Sunday June 16, 3.20pm AEST
TV, radio and online: Click here for broadcast guide
What it means for North Melbourne: The Roos are one of only four sides – Geelong, Fremantle and Adelaide are the others – on a multiple-match winning streak. Beat the Giants and an unlikely finals berth is suddenly very realistic.
What it means for GWS: Another chance to prove it can perform on the road. The Giants are 5-0 at home, but 3-4 interstate. North's a strong performer at its home away from home in Hobart, so a GWS victory would be impressive.
The stat: The Kangaroos rank No.1 in points for, points from intercepts, inside 50 differential and time in forward half differential across the past three weeks.
The match-up: Matt De Boer v Ben Cunnington
Cunnington (No.8 in the AFL Player Ratings) is arguably the competition's most in-form midfielder and sits third in the AFL Coaches' Association votes. Waiting for him on Sunday will undoubtedly be the game's best tagger, Giant De Boer (No.156).
It's a big week for: Heath and Rhyce Shaw
The Shaw family rivalry adds a new chapter in this game, when GWS defender Heath faces off with North's caretaker coach Rhyce. The former Collingwood teammates spoke multiple times during the week and will both be desperate to get one up on the other.
Big call: Robbie Tarrant keeps Coleman Medal frontrunner Jeremy Cameron goalless but GWS still prevails
Prediction: Giants by 18 points
Land of the Giants Preview
Another loss on the road to a team we should have beat.
It’s getting a bit hard to justify our lofty ladder position, to be honest (we'll probably be third after the Pies-Demons game tomorrow - and thanks, Big Brother, for knocking off the Eagles today - you're not so bad after all ).
But there have been whispers for some time that we’re not very good at handling pressure. Typical flat track bullies. A few people have their doubts about our premiership credentials, and yesterday in Adelaide showed why.
Those whispers will become raised voices if we cannot beat North Melbourne next Sunday in Hobart. Frankly, after last night, I’m surprised the bookies still have us as favourites for the game. North are on a roll at the moment, winning their last three, and our record against them is pretty poor anyway, regardless of where we play. They seem to match up well on us and they really like playing in Hobart.
We need more consistency and commitment over four quarters. We lost the contested possessions, inside 50s and tackle count against the Crows; either we weren't that hungry or their pressure was putting us off, probably a bit of both. We seem to switch off far too often; last night was essentially lost in the first and last quarter. The last quarter against the Demons a few weeks ago is another example of it.
It looks like we’ll be without Nick Haynes next week, which is a real blow, because he is always so dependable down back. Hopefully that ankle injury is nothing serious. From the sound of things Toby will return, but he seems a shadow of his former self, and has for some time. We don't really have any replacements for either of them and won't until the week after the bye.
It's all a bit concerning, but there is a bright side. At least Justin Powers won’t be umpiring this time…I hope.
Come on Giants. Lift your game and silence the doubters.
Last edited by a moderator: