It feels odd to be saying it about sixth versus second but Sydney to defeat Geelong seems like an incredibly straightforward tip on form.
The Swans have had the wood over Geelong for a long time regardless of playing home or away and tore the Cats apart in the opening quarter in an MCG final last year.
The Cats simply don’t inspire any confidence at the moment, while Sydney delivered the most complete performance of any team last week.
As for GWS and West Coast, both have concerns, and the Tigers will be licking their lips knowing that their preliminary final opponent comes from this pairing.
GWS have ruled out both Shane Mumford and Jeremy Cameron for the season after injuries last week which is about as big a nail in the coffin as you could come up with for this club.
West Coast on the other hand, with all due respect to them achieving more than was expected, have only narrowly scraped by and you get the feeling they’ve already played and won their grand final.
The Giants will be fired up after a poor performance last week and regardless of the absence of Mumford and Cameron should blow the Eagles away – but book your grand final tickets Richmond fans, because GWS are no chance against the Tigers next week.
(Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
Cameron Rose
Sydney, GWS
By now we all know Geelong’s recent unflattering record in finals, their struggles at the MCG, and their poor record against Sydney. It’s simply to hard to see the Cats turning all of that around to win this match.
The Swans are firing on all cylinders at the moment. The only thing Geelong has in their favour is that we might see a psychological spike from an under fire playing group, similar to what they did in Round 21 against Richmond when going in underdogs.
This one should be brutally physical early, but can the Cats sustain it, and perform under it? I can’t see it.
West Coast travel to Spotless Stadium under a wave of momentum after a last gasp win over Port, which followed on from a last gasp entry into finals in the first place.
They have a good record against GWS, but we have to expect better from the Giants than what we saw in Adelaide.
Jeremy McGovern will be a key again, but it’s up to GWS to get their running game going, and beat the Eagles on the outside. I think they will.
| Semi-finals | Josh Elliott | Maddy Friend | Tim Lane | Cam Rose | The Crowd |
| GEE vs SYD | SYD | SYD | SYD | SYD | SYD |
| GWS vs WCE | GWS | GWS | GWS | GWS | GWS |
| Last week | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Total | 117 | 120 | 124 | 129 | 125 |
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