The final team heading to the business end of the 2015 AFL season could be decided in Round 22 with the eighth-placed Adelaide Crows and ninth-placed Geelong Cats both playing crucial games.
As they have been each and every round of the season, The Roar‘s expert tipsters are here once again to share their tips and predictions for the weekend’s action.
Fancy yourself a handy tipper? Be sure to submit your tips in the form below and help The Crowd out-tip the experts!
Cam Rose
Collingwood, GWS, Hawthorn, Bulldogs, Richmond, Port Adelaide, West Coast, Sydney, Fremantle
Geelong vs Collingwood: The Cats with everything to play for, the Pies with little. Yet this time of year can throw up peculiar results, as we’ve seen in recent weeks. Collingwood by 8 points.
GWS vs Carlton: The Blues have had their last win for the season, the Giants should bounce back after last weeks horror show. GWS by 35 points.
Hawthorn vs Brisbane: The Hawks get a soft kill at the right time. Hawthorn by 82 points.
North vs Western Bulldogs: The Dogs got their wake-up call last week, while the Roos haven’t lost for nigh on two months. Tough game to call, and we could be seeing a repeat of it at the same venue in an elimination final soon enough. Bulldogs by 15 points.
Essendon vs Richmond: The Dons might give some cheek, but the Tigers have been on a roll, and should have too much momentum and class. Richmond by 33 points.
Gold Coast vs Port: Should be a free-flowing game. The Suns have been hard to topple in Queensland in recent times, while the Power have been playing good attacking footy. Port by 13 points.
Adelaide vs West Coast: The Crows are running hot over the last few weeks, and the Eagles defence faces another stern test, but they usually pass with flying colours. West Coast by 19 points.
St Kilda vs Sydney: The Saints can give anyone a fright on their day, particularly at Etihad. The Swans wouldn’t want to be off their game. Sydney by 23 points.
Fremantle vs Melbourne: The only intrigue here lies with how many players Freo will rest, and how many of those will be late withdrawals. Fremantle by 55 points.
Sean Lee
Geelong, GWS, Hawthorn, Western Bulldogs, Richmond, Port Adelaide, West Coast, Sydney, Fremantle
Geelong to defeat Collingwood: Geelong’s run to the finals had a hiccup last week when they drew with St Kilda. They’ll win this weekend and set up a showdown with Adelaide next week which could decide eighth spot.
GWS to defeat Carlton: GWS are tired and they were dismantled last weekend by their nearest neighbours, Sydney. Carlton were good in beating Melbourne but it must be remembered that it was only a battle between 14th and 18th. GWS have at least one more win in them.
Hawthorn to defeat Brisbane: Are the Hawks the best team in the competition or not? They’ll beat Brisbane this weekend and Carlton in the last round, but we won’t really know how they are travelling until we reach the finals.
Western Bulldogs to defeat North Melbourne: Wow, what a game! The exciting Bulldog Pups versus a rampant North Melbourne. Both teams are equal on points and an outside chance to sneak into the top four and both will want to take momentum into the finals. This could be one of the matches of the season!
Richmond to defeat Essendon: The Tigers look to be peaking at the right time although their opponents were poor last weekend. They’ll continue to build confidence with a comprehensive victory over the hapless Bombers.
Port Adelaide to defeat Gold Coast: Port are finally showing us the type of football that they are capable of playing. Unfortunately for them it is too late. They’ll win well this week though and set up an intriguing battle against Fremantle in the last round.
West Coast to defeat Adelaide: Another smashing game. Adelaide need to win to guarantee their finals position and West Coast need to win if they want any chance of sneaking into top spot by the end of next week’s final round. The Eagles haven’t put a foot wrong this year though so I’ll stick with them this week.
Sydney to defeat St Kilda: This won’t be the easiest game for the Swans, who, despite their big win last week, are nowhere near their best at the moment. They should win though and keep their shaky hold on fourth position.
Fremantle to defeat Melbourne: Freo’s second half of the year hasn’t been quite as dominant as their first but they should have little trouble defeating a lacklustre Melbourne line up. Their final round clash against Port Adelaide next week, when they could be fighting to hang onto top position, will be more intriguing.
Will the Bulldogs confidence take another hit this week against the ‘Roos? (Photo by AFL Media)
Ryan Buckland
Geelong, Giants, Hawthorn, North Melbourne, Richmond, Port Adelaide, West Coast, Sydney, Fremantle
After a couple of blah weeks on paper, this weekend’s footy looks chock full of action. We could know our finalists after Friday night, but the battle is still well and truly on for positions in the eight. Would you believe it’s still mathematically possible, albeit very, very unlikely, for Hawthorn or Sydney to finish in seventh spot? Such is the logjam across every position.
It’s an elimination final for Geelong, while Collingwood will be playing for pride, given they can’t move any lower than they are currently placed on the ladder. I think it’ll be a tight one, but the Cats should keep their chances alive. Come back tomorrow for the full take.
Let’s get this one out of the way. Hawks by how ever many you want in the second early game. Let’s see how many don’t make the trip to Tassie for the brown and gold.
The Giants oh-so-promising season has frittered away to merely another season of improvement, and, well, Carlton have a new head coach. Not a lot to get excited about here either. It’s ok, it gets good soon, I promise. GWS will win this one, but it may not be an easy one for them with Blues players looking to impress their new mentor.
Twilight delivers again! Is this not the best slot in the AFL schedule? Maybe that’s just me as a west coaster. The Dogs and the ‘Roos could end up in the top four should they win this by the requisite number of points; one of them will most certainly set themselves up for a home elimination final though. The Dogs are the season’s good news story that keeps on rolling – notwithstanding a last quarter obliteration at the hands of the Eagles – and the Kangas are coming off their best win of the year. This one will be a battle fought in North Melbourne’s front half. I’m a believer in the ‘Roos, so will back them in here, but the Dogs are in with a very good shot.
The Saturday night games don’t mean a great deal in the context of the season, but do present some interesting match ups.
It took just less than a week without James Hird for Essendon to play like a real football team again. Their near-win against the Suns was not the best from a skills perspective, but for the first time in a while you can’t fault their endeavour. The Tigers completely obliterated Collingwood in the last quarter of their game, proving that they perhaps aren’t just a defensive powerhouse after all. Its got to be Richmond if you’re tipping, but a plucky Essendon will put up a fight.
Gold Coast and Port Adelaide are two teams that would have been expecting to be jostling for top eight positions at this point in the season, and through injury and regression they haven’t delivered on that front. The Power have been one the league’s most offensive (scoring, guys, c’mon, that’s harsh) sides since we reached the half way point of the season, putting up 100 points a game. Gold Coast are going to be oh so much better in 2016 for the games they’re getting into their second stringers this season. Has anyone called this the Charlie Dixon Cup yet? Lets not call it that. Port should get up in this one, but it could be one of those wonky games that starts out high-scoring but ends in a defensive scrap. First half will be crucial.
The game of the round is undoubtedly the early Sunday game, and like last week it kicks of a WA-double header, all on Fox. We better get used to WA-double headers everyone.
The Crows will be playing to avoid an elimination final at Geelong in Round 23, presuming the Cats take care of Collingwood on Friday night. If they don’t this one becomes a little bit less spicey. West Coast are probably the best team in the AFL right now – hey, I can say that, didn’t you see me come clean last week? Adelaide are amongst the league’s most damaging sides on their home deck, amassing a percentage of 132.9 at the Adelaide Oval this year. That would be the second-best mark in the league if maintained over all venues. Like the Dogs tried last week, Adelaide may give balls-to-the-wall a go and hope to outgun the Eagles. We all saw how that worked out. West Coast will win this one, and I’d expect the total points to get over 200.
Is it possible that this is a danger game for the Swans? Sydney are limping towards September, and have fallen out of most pundits (including my own) flag calculations. The Saints pushed Geelong to the brink, and if it weren’t for an off night in front of the sticks, they’d have probably won. I’m not quite game enough to tip the Saints, because Sydney have runs on the board, but if you’re looking to pick up a game on your opponents this one is a sneaky chance.
Sunday twilight should see Fremantle take a claw hammer to Melbourne, given a win could lock up top spot (if West Coast lose) and result in ‘A Full Ross’ against Port Adelaide in Round 23. Number seven won’t be playing for the Dockers, and he may be joined on the sidelines by a couple of others before bounce down.
| Round 22 | Watch | Cam | Ryan | Sean | The Crowd |
| GEE v COL | On Foxtel | COL | GEE | GEE | GEE |
| GWS v CAR | On Foxtel | GWS | GWS | GWS | GWS |
| HAW v BL | On Foxtel | HAW | HAW | HAW | HAW |
| NMFC v WB | On Foxtel | WB | NM | WB | NM |
| ESS v RICH | On Foxtel | RIC | RIC | RIC | RIC |
| GC v PA | On Foxtel | PA | PA | PA | PA |
| ADL v WC | On Foxtel | WC | WC | WC | WC |
| STK v SYD | On Foxtel | SYD | SYD | SYD | SYD |
| FRE v MEL | On Foxtel | FRE | FRE | FRE | FRE |
| LAST ROUND | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | |
| OVERALL | 120 | 117 | 126 | 129 |
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