The week’s rest would of done a lot of players some good. Most of the players from last week’s Hall of Fame Tribute match came out relatively unscathed.

St Kilda v Collingwood

St Kilda barely squeezed out a victory against the Tigers last round and continually fail to convince me that they are genuine contenders. Collingwood on the other hand were’nt too bad against the Hawks who are a definite top two team. Both teams will be without big names for this game. St. Kilda are missing Nick Riewoldt while the Magpies will be without Josh Frasier. I think Collingwood’s hard working team should grind out a victory against the enigmatic Saints.

Collingwood win.

Hawthorn v Port Adelaide

This game is at Aurora Stadium so hopefully there are no time keeping issues. But I can’t see this game being close enough for there to be any troubles. Port Adelaide had a win against an injury ravaged Essendon which isn’t saying much. Hawthorn has an impeccable record in Tasmania and the way they are playing, should keep that record in tact.

Hawthorn win.

Richmond v Geelong

Richmond are looking competitive but Geelong will be too polished for the Tigers. Interesting to note that most of the Geelong players and coaching staff believe they can still improve on their performances and are only playing at 60% capacity, to quote one Geelong player. I wonder how they play at 100%.

Geelong win.

Carlton v Brisbane

Carlton had a solid win over in W.A against the West Coast Eagles in round 7. What impressed me the most was that a few of the Blue’s lesser lights stood up to the challenge. When Chris Judd was getting plenty of attention, players like Andrew Carrazzo and Nick Stevens stood strong. Brisbane will be looking to bounce back from their loss in round 7 but I can’t see them knocking Carlton off this week.

Carlton win.

Kangaroos v West Coast

With this game being played on the Gold Coast and the Kangaroos public snubbing of a move up north, will any banana benders show interest in it? An estimated 1000 people might turn up and I think a similiar number will be watching on t.v. This is definitely one for the die hard fans.

I was impressed with the Eagles showing a bit of heart in their game last round against Carlton. But they did play the worst quarter of football I have seen by any AFL team in a long time. ( with the exception of the Dockers ). Kangaroos should win, with Brent Harvey and the rest of the midfield running riot against the poor skills of the Eagles.

Kangaroos win.

Adelaide v Melbourne

Adelaide have a superior record against the Demons and overall Melbourne haven’t won a game in South Australia since 2001. The combination of Brett Burton and Simon Goodwin up front has somehow worked to make the Crows very potent in goal kicking. Adelaide’s back line will be further strengthened by the return of Ben Rutten.

Adelaide win.

Sydney v Essendon

Sydney should win this game against the injury ravaged Bombers. Coach Matthew Knights must be looking at his injury list of Adam Ramanauskas, Scott Lucas, Alwyn Davey, among others and thinking of the season that might of been. It doesn’t help team morale either when you have a certain Essendon Board member making public, their opinion on players and the team.

The only interest I see from this game is Sydney’s inclusion of Nick Malceski, who injured his ACL ligament earlier this year. He had radical surgery and has apparently made a full recovery. If his return is successful, it could revolutionize the way knee injuries are operated on.

Sydney win.

Fremantle v Western Bulldogs

The game is at Subiaco and Fremantle do perform strongly at home, but we have to take into consideration last round’s performance by the Dockers. It can be no exaggeration, to call the Docker’s come from in front loss as the worst performance by an AFL team this year. If you are up by 50 odd points at half time, you shouldn’t lose. Fremantle are in danger of developing a very bad club culture, but I believe Mark Harvey can change this and a mass clear out of older players would help too.

The Bulldogs are at polar opposites to their counterparts. I like their brand of fast, flowing football and best of all they have that never-say-die attitude back. You can tell a side is very settled when they have an unchanged line up going into a match.

Western Bulldog win.

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