Expert
The GWS Giants have scored a big win on Thursday night, defeating the Collingwood Magpies by ten goals.
Final score
GWS Giants 14.12 (96)
Collingwood Magpies 5.6 (36)
The GWS Giants and Collingwood Magpies will both get in their first appearance of the JLT Community Series when they go head to head on Thursday night in Canberra. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 7:10pm AEDT.
These are two sides that have been on very differing trajectories over the last little while. GWS have gone from being the new kids on the block to playing in two preliminary finals over the past two seasons, albeit losing both of them.
Collingwood in the same time span have gone from being the premiers of 2010 to something of a laughing stock, and have gone backwards every year since Nathan Buckley took over the club in 2012.
Can 2018 be the year where the Giants finally go one step further and make a maiden appearance in the grand final? Can it be the year where Buckley halts Collingwood’s slide down the ladder and they start to rise again?
Early signs aren’t good for the Giants who, in addition to losing players to other clubs over the offseason, have now lost both Zac Williams and Will Setterfield for the entire season due to ACL injuries.
They also lost Shane Mumford to an early retirement, and his replacement Rory Lobb is expected to have a delayed start to the season.
As for Collingwood the waters are a bit more murky. There will always be those who believe the club is just on the verge of turning things around and shooting back into finals contention, but ask them why they think that and the reasoning may not inspire much confidence.
We probably won’t learn a whole lot about either club in tonight’s match as both are sending in squads that are a bit understrength. GWS in addition to their injured players are missing regulars like Toby Greene, Tom Scully, Jacob Hopper, Nick Haynes and Brett Deledio.
The Pies will have no Daniel Wells, Adam Treloar, Jamie Elliott, Darcy Moore, Jeremy Howe or Alex Fasolo – and of course Jordan De Goey is unavailable under the terms of his club-imposed penalty for drink driving.
For the Giants it will be interesting to see what Dawson Simpson can do as the No.1 ruck because they’re probably going to have to use him in that role a few times this year, also former Collingwood player Lachie Keefe will get a chance to impress.
As for Collingwood, No.6 draft pick Jaidyn Stephenson will be the headline act, and they will have a few other fresh faces making appearances as well.
Prediction
With the home ground advantage and what looks like a stronger team overall, expect GWS to come away the comfortable victors in this match.
GWS Giants by 42 points.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 7:10pm AEDT.