Hello, Roarers, and welcome to another week of expert tips! The begins with the one of the most anticipated home-and-away fixtures of the season – Patrick Dangerfield’s first match against former team the Adelaide Crows.
Dangerfield wouldn’t be feeling any misgivings at the moment about his decision to join Geelong, given the Cats are 6-1 and second on the ladder with the highest percentage in the competition by a significant margin.
However, the Crows themselves aren’t travelling too badly either – their 4-3 record belies the fact that they’ve been performing very well, with their losses all being in close affairs against quality sides.
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The match is played at Adelaide Oval which could prove to be the deciding advantage. All three of the Crows losses have been away this year and they’ve been excellent at home, while Geelong’s only loss for the year so far came when they travelled interstate to face the Giants.
I’m tipping the Crows to get up on Friday night, but it could easily go either way, and my tip might well be reversed if it was at Simonds Stadium instead.
Another match that’s hard to pick this week and where a home ground advantage could come into play is the fixture between Brisbane and Collingwood.
The match could well see youngster James Aish come up against his old side for the first time – though it also may not, given he’s not in great form and wouldn’t be guaranteed a spot in the team.
Neither team has been in superb form lately, with Brisbane copping a thumping from Port Adelaide last week and Collingwood recording a demoralising loss to old enemies Carlton.
So who comes out on top? The Lions have played their best footy at home this year and for that reason I think they will get up here.
Sunday looks like an intriguing day of football with matches between Carlton and Port Adelaide, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs, and West Coast and St Kilda. Port, the Bulldogs and West Coast look to be the favourites, but there is plenty of upset potential in all three.
I reckon at least one of those three matches will see a surprise sprung, but I’m not quite bold enough to predict which one it is, so I’m tipping the favourites in all three.
North Melbourne look in a good position to go 8-0 with a win over Essendon although they will have to work around the loss of Shaun Higgins. Greater Western Sydney should continue their strong recent run of form with a home win over Gold Coast, and Sydney you’d expect will be too good for the Tigers – though Richmond are likely to get Alex Rance and Trent Cotchin back and looked alright last Friday, so maybe the door’s open just a little.
And lastly, Hawthorn over Fremantle comes in as my Lock of the Week. Honestly, I may tip against the Dockers every week now after hearing Ross Lyon say the season is no longer about winnning. The Hawks on the other hand I hear are quite fond of winning.
Michael di Fabrizio
On Friday night, Geelong will be the first current top eight team to beat another top eight side interstate (yes, that’s a fact. Also a fact, only once this season has a top eight side lost to any opponent when being the home team. That was the Western Bulldogs’ three-point loss to Hawthorn).
The Cats in my mind have the strongest form in the comp. A side that used to pass on winning the clearance battle now has the fourth-best differential. They’ve turned a big weakness into a strength and, as sad as it may be to Crows fans, an extra A-grader in the midfield has been key to the turnaround.
I don’t expect the return of Dangerfield to Adelaide Oval to have a drastic impact, either in terms of Dangerfield being thrown off or Crows players feeding off fans.
Brisbane have looked too good at home this season for even the idea of tipping Collingwood to cross my mind.
The Lions are a bit unlucky to have just the one win to their name. The Pies right now offer the perfect chance to change that.
BJ Conkey
If Friday night’s game was at Geelong I’d be tipping the Cats, but it’s hard to ignore Adelaide’s record at Adelaide Oval. The game within a game will of course be how Dangerfield goes against his former team. 50,000 people at fever pitch should give the Crows the lift they need to win a close one.
I give up predicting what Collingwood will do. They could well win this game but you can have no confidence in what they’ll bring after the last few weeks of football. Going to the Gabba is always tough as the Swans found out a few weeks ago. Dayne Beams could be the one to inflict more pain on his former team.
Carlton’s been doing enough to get the win in recent weeks. It hasn’t been pretty but you don’t get points for attractive football. In saying that they’ll need to improve their woeful record of centre clearances to get their fourth win in a row against Port.
Despite the Power being favourites by the bookies, the Blues should lift for the milestones of Michael Jamison and Kade Simpson who are playing their 150th and 250th games respectively.
| Round 8 | BJ Conkey | Michael | Josh | The Crowd |
| ADL v GEE | ADL | GEE | ADL | ADL |
| ESS v NTM | NTM | NTM | NTM | NTM |
| HAW v FRE | HAW | HAW | HAW | HAW |
| GWS v GCS | GWS | GWS | GWS | GWS |
| BL v COL | BL | BL | BL | BL |
| RIC v SYD | SYD | SYD | SYD | SYD |
| CAR v PA | CAR | PA | PA | PA |
| MEL v WB | WB | WB | WB | WB |
| WCE v STK | WCE | WCE | WCE | WCE |
| Last round | 6 | 8 | 7 | 6 |
| Total | 45 | 44 | 44 | 44 |
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