Adelaide Crows and West Coast Eagles meet this evening in the NAB Cup Final, appropriately going into the game as the only two undefeated teams in the series. Join us for live scores and minute by minute commentary from the first bounce at 7.40pm AEDT.
While the pre-season competition is generally viewed as a series of glorified practice matches by many pundits, over the past decade there has been a surprising correlation between the two finalists and their finals prospects in that year and the succeeding year (with the exception of Carlton’s two wins).
Adelaide and West Coast head into this evening’s final with the prospect of making a statement about their intentions this season.
We already know a fair bit about the Eagles, who won the wooden spoon two years ago but came back strongly last season to jump into the top four and give it a good shake in the preliminary final.
It’s not too hard to understand why with the Eagles having the very best ruck combination in the game: Dean Cox as a stand out tap ruckman, and Nic Naitanui as the stand out go-anywhere-do-anything player of the comp.
The Eagles have a string of players carrying niggly injuries, including Andrew Embley, Luke Shuey, Andrew Gaff, Quinten Lynch, Darren Glass, Shannon Hurn and Josh Kennedy.
Glass and Hurn have been named in the last line of defence, having been rested last week, while Embley has been named on the wing, with Gaff on the bench.
There were also some doubts about whether Cox would be rested for the game, but he has been named at full forward, presumably swapping with Naitanui, which should add a fair bit of excitement to the game.
Alongside Cox is former Bulldogs livewire Josh Hill, who ran into a patch of inconsistent form the past two season and he will be keen to resurrect his career.
The Crows have been a revelation under new coach Brenton Sanderson, with strong team efforts through the NAB Cup series, culminating in very strong wins against Brisbane and Collingwood.
Crows to have shined during the pre-season competition include, Jason Porplyzia, Taylor Walker, Patrick Dangerfield and Nathan van Berlo.
Hopes in the forward line rest with key position forward, Kurt Tippett, who is ready for a big game.
This could be one of the best NAB Cup finals we’ve seen for a while, with both coaches keen to start the season on the right foot and both teams having displayed terrific pre-season form so far.
I look forward to seeing the Crows challenge the Eagles and stay with them well into the contest, especically since they are at home, but the ruck combo of Cox and Naitanui looks irresistible.
It’s the Eagles by three goals.
Who lifts the preseason silverware tonight? It’s the last real hitout before the AFL season kicks off next Saturday night and we’ll be covering it all with live scores and commentary from the kick-off at 7.40pm AEDT. If you’re reading, be sure to leave us a comment on your thoughts of the action.
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