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Collingwood's Harry O'Brien congratulates team mate Steele Sidebottom after the AFL Round 07 match between the Collingwood Magpies and the North Melbourne Kangaroos at the MCG, Melbourne. Slattery Images
If both Collingwood and Geelong can bring something that resembles their A-game tomorrow night – in other words, if they can play like they have the past few weeks – then we’re in for one cracker of a game.
Such is the hype, the MCG have been forced to ditch general admission seating. Channel Seven have been forced to ditch Better Homes & Gardens. And even though it’s hard to get carried away with these two, last week gave the impression that even Travis Cloke and Tom Hawkins have joined in the fun – they’ve managed to conveniently ditch their history of poor form at just the right time.
It’s all very unprecedented.
Not quite at the 14-rounds-in-and-still-both-undefeated level of unprecedented – like last year’s St Kilda-Geelong clash – but bloody exciting all the same.
Now, looking beyond the hype, there are a few question marks over both teams, particularly Collingwood. The Cats have proved a resilient mob so there’s only so much we can really learn about them on Friday.
The Pies, meanwhile, have a “We might actually be genuine” whiff about them this year, which indicates we have much to learn about them on Friday.
What’s changed since Geelong’s 73-point preliminary final win last year?
When they met last September, the midfields of these two teams were light years apart. That night, Scott Pendlebury didn’t play for the Pies and their ruck stocks were thin. But on top of those changes, now they’ve got Darren Jolly and Luke Ball in good touch and have seen some handy improvement from Dayne Beams, Steele Sidebottom and Sharrod Wellingham in the middle, too.
Geelong have had their ins – Josh Hunt and James Podsiadly, anyone? – and even their outs – Brad Ottens and Joel Corey, for example – but the gap has definitely narrowed. Make no mistake about it.
Can the Cats match the Pies depth?
There’s a lot of good talent hiding away in Collingwood’s VFL team and it all points towards one word – depth. The same goes for the Pies’ midfield. Forwards like Leon Davis, Alan Didak and Dale Thomas are all capable of a run in the middle, and a host of midfielders have been moving forward and kicking goals.
Geelong don’t have quite the same set-up. We see Gary Ablett move up and bag a couple every now and then. Paul Chapman is no stranger to the centre bounce. Mathew Stokes and Travis Varcoe do a lot of their damage up the ground, too. But it isn’t comparable to the sheer number of options the Pies have.
Will Collingwood’s key forwards continue on their good form?
When I talked up the Pies as premiership contenders in the pre-season, a few (valid) comments came back at me saying the key forwards would hold them back. Enter, Chris Dawes. The big 22 year-old emerged from nowhere to find seven goals in his first three games for the year. Better still, since his arrival, Cloke has clicked into gear – he booted five last week.
The trouble is that this week they line up against the formidable pairing of Matthew Scarlett and Harry Taylor. Their talls may be in a purple patch, but it’s a good thing the Pies aren’t reliant on big men to kick their goals. They could struggle this week.
Where will the game be won and lost?
Geelong has conceded 53, 59 and 74 points in their last three games. Collingwood’s last three has seen them concede 102, 91 and 97. While the midfield battle has been evened up, and both sides would be happy to boast about their multiple and unpredictable avenues to goal, there has been a discrepancy of late when it comes to restricting the opposition.
That’s not to say it will cost the Pies the game – as Leigh Matthews suggested during the week – because we’ve seen Collingwood defensively strangle Geelong in the past. And they did a pretty good job of it too. But defence could be a real clincher for the side that gets it right.
Is this a grand final preview?
We won’t have this answer until the final siren. After that famous St Kilda-Geelong game last year, there was a real sense that those two sides weren’t done with each other yet. We may get that sense again on Friday night, or we may not.
At the very least, we’ll come out of the game with more of an insight into where these clubs may be headed in 2010.
And with such a huge build up, that’s all we can ask for.