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The Geelong Cats and Sydney Swans, two minor premiership contenders, go head-to-head in a Friday Night blockbuster. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 7:50pm (AEST).
Geelong have surged back towards the top of the ladder after a disappointing 2015 season and currently sit in second place atop a logjam of six teams with a 10-4 record.
Their last six outing have been confusing. The Cats claimed the scalps of GWS, North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs, while also faltering to Collingwood, Carlton and St Kilda.
Geelong have won all four games at Simonds Stadium this season by an average of 61 points, and Chris Scott would be after another dominant display on their impenetrable home deck.
Sydney, on the other hand, are also in the top four with that common 10-4 record, but are just starting to falter at a very inopportune time.
A heartbreaking loss to the Bulldogs last week, their second this season from the last kick of the game, made it two losses in three outings for the Swans as they struggle to deal with the serious injury to key ruckman/forward Kurt Tippett.
With Geelong and Hawthorn in successive weeks, Sydney face the very real prospect of falling all the way to eighth given the tightness of this season’s finals race.
They’ll need to dig very, very deep to get a win away to Geelong.
After having their record home winning streak snapped by the Swans in 2011, the Cats have reasserted their dominance at the ground, winning their last three home games against Sydney by an average of 37 points.
The home team was won six of the last eight contests between these sides.
Prediction
While Geelong have been poor against lesser sides in 2016, they’ve been very effective against fellow contenders. Kardinia Park is once again one of the hardest places to travel to in football, and so the Cats deservedly start favourites in this one.
Cats by 14 points
Be sure to join The Roar from 7:50pm (AEST) to follow all of the action in this clash between two of the AFL’s genuine contenders.