Roar Guru
The Sydney Swans are back in action, taking their second win in a row with a 42-point smashing of North Melbourne.
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Final score
North Melbourne Kangaroos 11.12.78
Sydney Swans 18.12.120
North Melbourne Kangaroos will host the Sydney Swans with both coming into this game off a win in what should be an entertaining match under the roof of Etihad Stadium. Join The Roar for commentary and live scores from 4:40pm AEST.
These sides have struggled this year, but in recent times have shown the form that had them in the finals last season.
The Kangaroos surprised many with a ten-goal opening quarter blitz against the premiership favourites in Adelaide last week, however the man who did much of the damage in Jarrad Waite will be missing this week through suspension.
For the Swans they got their first win of the season against a hapless Brisbane side who still have more down weeks than up weeks.
Sydney were able to get some form into their key players, and if they are going to feature in September this year they need to continue that form this week.
The midfield battle in this game will be one that should interest the mutual pundits in this game with Ben Cunnington, Jack Ziebell and Shaun Higgins looking to lead the way against the Swans midfield of Josh Kennedy, Dan Hannebery and Luke Parker.
The last time these two sides met it was Sydney who came away with a narrow nine-point win in Tasmania, and recent history has the Swans winning four of their last five against the Kangaroos, with their most recent match against each other in Melbourne a win for Sydney in 2016.
Despite their slow start the Kangaroos have been in most of the games they have played this season, and are averaging 95 points per game, kicking 100-plus points in the last two games. Last week was the first week the Swans have scored 100 points.
For me this game comes down to which side can make the most of their power forwards. We know how good Lance Franklin is, but the Kangaroos have a tall in Ben Brown who is perhaps underrated from a mutual stand point, if he can boot a couple for North today they will be well on their way to winning this game.
Prediction
The Swans hit some form this week and despite the Kangaroos good recent form the Swans should have too much class here.
Swans by 10.