The Roar’s AFL expert tips and predictions: Round 10

It’s a bit of an odd week of footy this one, with two teams having a bye and the ‘match of the round’ being off-off-broadway in Alice Springs.

That match is of course Melbourne vs Adelaide which will see Jake Lever play his first game against the Crows in rather inauspicious circumstances.

It feels a little funny to be agreeing with Kane Cornes about something, but it does seem strange that the opportunity wasn’t taken to play a game like this at Adelaide Oval.

At any rate, although Adelaide are probably the better team, I suspect at a neutral venue Melbourne will be able to capitalise on the Crows’ personnel crisis for a win.

Brisbane hosting Sydney at the Gabba is a game I’ve had pencilled in as a potential upset for a while now, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see the Lions notch two in a row.

That said I reckon it might be hard for a young side to maintain the rage after last week’s breakthrough, and I’ll be tipping the Swans.

The Giants and the Dons on Saturday night is potentially a promising match – you might remember it as Brendon Goddard’s infamous pretzel game last year.

I can’t see Essendon playing as well as they did last week two weeks in a row, and with Josh Kelly likely to return, GWS can get a win here.

It’s sort of a shame that Hawthorn vs West Coast isn’t at the MCG on Sunday – after last week I reckon we’d all love to see how the Eagles would go against a relatively strong team there.

Instead it’s at Etihad Stadium where I expect the Eagles to get a win.

The round closes with Fremantle hosting North in a match that is a little tricky to predict. The Dockers have been good at home this year, but their record there is mostly against mediocre sides.

North are many things, but not mediocre – if Ben Jacobs can do a solid shutdown job on Nat Fyfe then I expect the Roos to keep rolling on.

Collingwood, Richmond and Geelong all seem like fairly straightforward tips, even if only one of those three sides is coming off a win last week.

For a lock of the week, I’ll go Richmond to inflict some pain on St Kilda at the MCG on Saturday. The league’s worst scoring side against a top-four defense… ouch.

Adrian Polykandrites
Collingwood, Richmond, Sydney, Geelong, GWS, West Coast, Melbourne, Fremantle

Poor St Kilda. They’re in for a hiding from the Tigers at the MCG.

I still don’t know what the Swans are, but they’ll win a close one at the Gabba. Things can click quickly for young teams though, and that win over the Hawks might be a game-changer for the Lions.

The Cats shouldn’t have any trouble with the Blues at home and the Giants will do it almost as easily against the Bombers at Spotless.

The Eagles should get the job done at Etihad against the Hawks in the game of the round.

Melbourne would much rather face the undermanned Crows at the MCG, but I don’t think they’ll have too much trouble getting the four points in Alice Springs.

The Dockers are a different team at home, where they should be too good for the Roos, but North have shown time and time again they are not to be underestimated.

TomC
Collingwood, Richmond, Sydney, Geelong, GWS, West Coast, Adelaide, Fremantle

Collingwood might question why they’re playing a Friday night footy home game at Docklands against the Dogs. The venue makes this more interesting, but I’ll still back the better form of the Pies.

Brisbane had a rousing win last weekend playing up-tempo footy, but the Swans, with their professionalism and capacity to force the game to played on their own terms, are likely to bring them back to earth.

GWS are having all kinds of problems, while the Bombers may have just emerged from theirs.

Nevertheless, I’m reluctant to trust Essendon just yet, and the Giants frankly have a better team and get to play this one at home.

If they can’t win this, it has serious ramifications not just for their season but for the success of the franchise’s overall strategy.

Hawthorn’s disappointing effort last week shouldn’t distract us from their strong form overall. They’ll welcome back James Frawley and Jaeger O’Meara and get to host the Eagles in a city where the West Australians notoriously struggle.

All the same, while I don’t expect West Coast to quite reach their Perth form in these games, they’ll surely find enough of it to put out strong performances. At the MCG I might back the Hawks but at Docklands I’ll narrowly tip the form team in West Coast.

Melbourne have inflicted big losses on Gold Coast and Carlton in recent weeks. Adelaide might have a couple of players out but they are still many levels above the Demons’ recent opponents, and indeed above the overrated Demons. The Crows to win reasonably comfortably.

The Dockers are another team with a big divergence in their home and away form, and in general they’ve looked really good at the new Perth stadium.

On their performances in recent weeks it looks a tight call but when in doubt pick the home team and I can’t see a strong reason to do otherwise here.

Elsewhere, Richmond to restrict St Kilda and Geelong to maul the Blues.