Expert
Despite some excellent efforts from the Collingwood Magpies, the GWS Giants have come out on top with a 16-point win at the MCG on Saturday.
Final score
Collingwood Magpies 12.7 (79)
GWS Giants 15.5 (95)
The Collingwood Magpies will be hoping for an Easter miracle when they host the GWS Giants at the MCG on Saturday afternoon. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 4:35pm AEDT.
Expectation coming into season 2018 for these two teams was worlds apart and it’s fair to say that, one week in, the form we’ve seen from them so far matches that expectation.
Collingwood after so long out of finals seem to have finally lost the optimism of the AFL at large. For years people have seen them as a side that can bounce up quickly and make finals – but they’ve fallen short time and time again.
They opened their season against Hawthorn in Round 1 and just looked miles off the pace. Their much-vaunted midfield was all swing no ding and their hastily reshuffled forward and back combinations didn’t impress at either end.
Making matters worse ahead of this match is that they’ve lost Mason Cox to suspension and Ben Reid to injury. That leaves them with Lynden Dunn and Darcy Moore as their only recognisable key position players.
The Giants on the other hand are seen by many this year as a premiership threat and their Round 1 form strongly backed up that point of view as they flattened an unimpressive Western Bulldogs side.
There’s just not enough superlatives in the English language to adequately compliment the way they played the game – they were dominant and damaging in every possible aspect.
They’ve got some good news and some bad news on the team selection front. Tom Scully is back in, but they’ve lost Toby Greene. It’s a net loss, but they’re still the stronger side on paper.
The big question for GWS though is can they win on the MCG? They’ve got a horrendous record at the ground and historically not a great record against Collingwood either.
Prediction
Don’t read too much into the history books. The Giants can and will win this game in a canter.
GWS Giants by 36 points.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 4:35pm AEDT.