Schedule Preview & Breakdown
Essendon v Geelong at the MCG, Saturday Twilight Game
What has happened at Essendon this year?
After unexpectedly making the finals last year the Bombers went on an off season shopping spree that resulted in the additions of Stringer, Saad and Devon Smith.
Those 3 along with the expected continued progress of star youngsters Mcgrath, Daniher, Parish and co meant some insiders were expecting the Bombers to be a smoky for the flag this year.
Essendon themselves would of been figuring on being at least a strong contender.
Fast Forward 8 Rounds later to now and the Bombers are the laughing stock of the comp after losing to the winless Blues last Round.
Essendon currently sit 15th on the ladder with just the 2 wins and a lousy percentage of just %83.
Furthermore their star Forward Daniher is out indefinitely with osteitis pubis and the Bombers have been accused of mis managing their star by not diagnosing and resting him sooner.
The Cats on the other hand are purring along nicely.
They are not the unbeatable world beaters that some feared they would be with the Ablett, Danger, Selwood, Duncan Midfield but they sit third on the ladder with a 5 win 3 loss record.
While their top end of players are brilliant, people tend to forgot the Cats have a lot of young players out on the field each week and are arguably doing half a rebuild on the run.
Doing it very successfully I might add as their drafting of players is genius, Kelly in the midfield is almost the recruit of the year.
I expect the Bombers to really want to make a statement this week and they are too good to keep going this badly but they just don't have the weaponry to beat the Cats right now.
Prediction: Geelong by 20 points
Sydney v Fremantle at the SCG, Saturday Night
No Buddy again for the Swans this week as they have ruled him out early with that slow healing heal injury.
The absence of Buddy didn't hurt the Swans last week due to the amazing performance by Forward Pocket Ben Ronke who kicked 7 goals in just his 3rd AFL game!
What a way to announce yourself to the football world and Ronke has all the attributes to be a good old fashioned specialist small Forward.
He applies wonderful pressure, can sniff out a goal in all situations and can take a decent mark for his size.
It will be very interesting to see how he backs up that wonderful performance this week.
Whilst no Buddy as yet the Swans will get some Midfield relief this week with Dan Hannebery a strong chance to resume.
The Dockers may be injury struck at the moment with the continued absence of Walters, Brad Hill and Taberner but a roaring Nat Fyfe papers over a lot of problems.
He is at his brownlow best and was instrumental again in the Dockers withstanding a 2nd half comeback by the Saints to comfortably win by 30 points.
With Fyfe in this sort of form you just always have to give the Dockers a chance but the small ground of SCG does not suit their playing style.
This was evidenced the last time the sides met there in Round 21 last year.
That match saw the Swans run out a massive 104 point winners.
I don't expect we will see a result that big this time but I do think the Swans will be far too strong at their SCG fortress.
Prediction: Swans by 36 points
St Kilda v Collingwood at Etihad Stadium on Saturday Night
Both sides were competitive last week but ultimately lost their matches.
That's about where the similarities between the sides end as the Pies have been great this year overall and are a genuine finals contender.
The Saints on the other hand have been woeful and have not won a game since narrowly getting over the Lions in the first round.
The Saints were horrendous in the first half last week and only scored 11 points to halftime but were a lot better in the 2nd half.
They even gave the Dockers a real scare at one point and looked like they could run over the top.
In the end the loss of Carlisle hurt them and they ran out of gas.
Carlisle suffered a nasty concussion and is in doubt for this week.
He has been one of few Saints who can hold his head high this year and they will be desperate for him to recover in time.
The Pies are not doing too well on the injury front either and suffered 3 more hamstring injuries on the weekend.
Elliott did his again in the VFL, then Moore (again) and Howe suffered strains in the seniors.
None will be available for selection this week and the loss of Howe will really hurt the Pies backline.
The Saints usually match up well against the Pies especially at Etihad and won the last encounter between the two there by 14 points.
The Saints are a lot better team than their 1 win, 1 Draw record suggests and had it not been for maybe the worst case of yips in front of goal by a side I have ever seen, they would of won more games.
If, and its a big if the Saints can rectify their kicking for goal this week I think they are a real chance to cause an upset here.
I am tipping Membrey to fire in the absence of Howe and get his team over the line.
Prediction: Saints to win a thriller by 4 points.
On a final note If you missed part 1/3 for this round just click here to check out the summary :)
Check back tomorrow where I will be covering all of Sundays scheduled games to end the round 9.
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