Richmond v St Kilda

Richmond were terrific last week against Port Adelaide and really showed some fighting spirit to be the victors by 47 points in trying conditions, to notch up their first win of the season.

Jack Riewoldt is a future star forward and has continued to accumulate the goals this year kicking 4 to add to his total of 29 goals for the season.

Dustin Martin is another young Tiger that has been tearing up, averaging close to 20 possessions a game and had 11 clearances to go with his 21 disposals last week.

The Tiges will need everything going their way though if they are to beat the Saints, who in the end were able to shake off the persistent Crows by 47 points.

Leigh Montagna lead the way huge figures of 38 possessions and five goals to show that even without a key forward, the St Kilda midfield can definitely lift to add that extra bite in attack.

Richmond have a pretty poor record against the Saints and it’s been a long time between drinks, trying to remember the last time the Tigers came up trumps against St Kilda.

There’s a lot of good, promising signs for the Tigers and Hardwick is getting the job done, but being realistic St Kilda won’t be too troubled by a young Richmond squad.

St Kilda by 36 points

Carlton v Melbourne

Carlton had a return to form after their disappointing loss to the Hawks two weeks ago, to resoundingly beat the Eagles by 29 points.

The score does a lot to flatter the losers West Coast as the Blues should put the team from the West to bed by a bigger margin.

Bryce Gibbs must of had a rocket up his backside as he finished with an astonishing 45 possessions and Setanta O’hAilpin bounced back to kick 3 goals.

Melbourne took on Geelong last week and the result was to be expected as the Cats gave the young Dees a football lesson to the tune of 54 points.

But this week looms as a danger match for Carlton as Melbourne have both Jack Trengove and Tom Scully to come back into the team after a week’s rest.

If Carlton can maintain the tackling and defensive pressure that was so evident last week the rest will take care of itself, but Melbourne play the MCG very well and must be considered a smoky for this game, especially against the Blues.

Carlton by 8 points

Adelaide v Fremantle

The Crows are a sinking ship at the moment that players are desperately trying to jump off with retirements happening left, right and centre.

Adelaide have suffered from a myriad of injuries that will see them miss the finals for the first time under coach Neil Craig.

While the heat will continue to be on the coach, they put up a good fight against St Kilda last week with the game all square at half time and it took a superb effort from Saints in the last quarter to get over the line.

Tyson Edwards announced his retirement suddenly but will get his farewell match against the Dockers in front of a home crowd….could this be enough to lift the Crows to victory?

Fremantle jumped into 2nd spot with a terrific 61 point win over North Melbourne at Subiaco last week.

I was impressed with the defensive pressure that the Dockers applied in their forward 50 to force the inexperienced Kangaroos into submission.

For a first year player Nat Fyfe has ounces of maturity in his game and backed up his Rising Star nomination with a 27 possession – 3 goal game.

Fremantle may have the worst club theme song in the competition but at least are playing some harmonious football.

Fremantle by 3 points

North Melbourne v Brisbane Lions

North Melbourne suffered another huge loss this time to Fremantle by 61 points and without a lot of seniors players stepping up, it was left to the younger Roos who could not stop the rot.

Lets face it Brent Harvey is a champion and long suffering player for the Kangaroos – but he is one player and that does not make a team.

Ryan Bastinac seems to be the only shining light for the Shinboners in his rookie year averaging 20 possessions, but it is again a case of too little, too few for the Roos.

Brisbane had a remarkable 8 point win over Collingwood in a welcome return to form for the Lions to get their season back on track.

Brendan Fevola and Jonathan Brown both lifted to kick 4 goals a piece but it was definitely a team effort from Brisbane with a number of their players getting the better of their opposite number.

Jared Brennan has been named in the Lion’s team and Daniel Wells is an important in for the North Melbourne lineup.

Brisbane have shown in their match against Collingwood that they still have a quality lineup that can trouble the better teams, while the Roos last week had a tall forward line but failed to use this to their advantage.

Brisbane by 15 points

West Coast Eagles v Geelong Cats

West Coast Eagles were outclassed against Carlton last week and as a result the axe has fallen on players Quinten Lynch and Mark Nicoski.

Defensively the Eagles have been insipid with 22 fewer tackles than the Blues and are ranked 14th in the league when in comes to least Opponent Tackles Per Game.

The Eagles dominate hit-outs being ranked number 1 in the AFL but have a B grade midfield at best, and this weekend will face the benchmark midfield of the AFL in recent years Geelong.

The Cats gave Melbourne a football lesson and again James Podsiadly showed his liking for the home ground with a 5 goal display but away from Kardinya Park  J-Pod hasn’t reached the same highs, so it will be interesting to see how he goes this weekend.

The question is not whether the Cats will win against a developing team like the Eagles, but but how much they will beat them by.

Geelong by 42 points

Sydney Swans v Essendon

Sydney Swans sit just in the top 8 of the AFL ladder after a close defeat at the hands of the Hawks last week to the tune of just 2 points.

For the Swans it is their 4th loss in a row and Paul Roos will be desperately seeking to turning around his team’s fortunes against an in form Bombers lineup.

With injuries to important players Craig Bolton, Daniel Bradshaw, Tadhg Kennelly, Ben McGlynn and Mark Seaby, coach Roos will have to pull the rabbit out of the hat in this game if the Swans are to take the 4 points.

Essendon have proven that their high risk running game-plan can be sustainable enough to beat more fancied opponents St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs.

They have now won 3 matches in a row after out-gunning the Bulldogs by 9 points with promising forward Scott Gumbleton adding another 3 goal game to his total.

Last time these teams met was at the SCG in Round 15 last year and Essendon were the victors.

While Sydney play their home ground so well, the small size of the ground actually suits the Bomber’s style of play with Essendon being ranked number 1 in tackles and 5th in handballs this year.

Essendon by 9 points

Hawthorn v Port Adelaide

Hawthorn had an uplifting 2 point victory over Sydney last week and have now strung together 3 straight wins to be the in form team going into their clash against Port Adelaide.

The downside of last week’s victory are the injuries to Campbell Brown and Rhan Hooper and the suspension to Lance Franklin.

Maybe ‘Buddy’ should shelve his clumsy attempts at the hip and shoulder bump, as another stint on the sideline only hinders his improving form and that of his teams’.

Port Adelaide had a shock loss to Richmond but they weren’t helped by mother nature who made conditions very tough.

But just like the weather the Power went to water when it came to doing the football basics and ended up resoundingly beaten by 47 points, to give Richmond their first win of the season.

The Power did struggle to kick goals with literally only a handful of players being able to kick 1 each.

It is hard to gauge with the Power if it was a combination of their trip to the top end and compounded with the weather, but they now have 3 straight losses.

Port have some handy players to come back into their team ( Davenport, D.Motlop, Brogan ) which could make the game a lot more closer than last week’s result.

Hawthorn by 11 points

Collingwood v Western Bulldogs

Collingwood has suffered its 2nd loss in as many weeks as they let second spot slip out of their hands with a 8 point defeat against the Lions up in Brisbane.

Again the forward setup for the Pies failed and another alarming stat was that Brisbane had 54 more marks than Collingwood ( 143-89 ).

Travis Cloke had a very quiet game and although a few of their players liked Dale Thomas and Alan Didak were handy contributors they didn’t add much to the scoreboard in terms of goals.

As a result Collingwood has added Leon Davis,  Josh Fraser, Leigh Brown, Paul Medhurst and Tarkyn Lockyer as a list of possible ins to bolster their attacking options.

The Western Bulldogs have had a week to forget starting with a loss to underdogs Essendon and during the week going into damage control as Jason Akermanis opened a can of worms with his attempt at an opinionated piece of journalism.

Trying to tell the Ginger Ninja in denial to keep quiet is like trying to get a kid to go to the dentist, near impossible.

But back at the game at hand and the Western Bulldogs seem just as distracted on the field as they are off it.

Against Essendon, Rodney Eade admits they were wasteful with their kicks and suffered under the defensive pressure applied by Essendon’s tacklers.

At the moment the Bulldogs aren’t firing on all cylinders and just need to find the right formula for everything to click.

Collingwood by 16 points

Your Round 11 Tips & Observations

So what are your tips & observations for round 11 of the 2010 AFL season? Do you agree with Johnnytruent? If yes or no please post your tips and observations about the round in the comments section.

We will keep a running tally of the tips throughout the year, so make sure you get your tips in on time & you never know there could be a prize for the winner. If you have not added your tips yet that is ok, please feel free to add them and what your ongoing tally is.