Roar Guru
Sunday’s only game takes us to the ‘G, as traditional rivals Collingwood and Carlton do battle. Join The Roar for live commentary and scores from 3:20pm AEST.
Well, this looks to be the most one-sided contest of the weekend. It’s probably just as well it’s exclusively being aired on pay-TV.
My negativity aside, there’s plenty of interesting sub-plots to be looking at as this one progresses: first and foremost, how Carlton reacts to last week’s deplorable effort against Freo.
Collingwood hasn’t played in two weeks, but they’ll be happy for the refresh. Their last victory: a dominant win over the similarly-placed Melbourne side, but that win aside they’ve won eight of their past ten. This looks to be an all-important percentage booster for the finals smokies.
The Blues? They’ve won one game this season, and their last outing was perhaps their worst.
They’ll be wanting to put that to the back of their mind, though, because they cannot afford to get complacent against the Pies.
If Freo (a team not at all known for offensive prowess) can do what they did against the Blues, imagine what Collingwood can do.
In some good news for the Blues, Charlie Curnow resigned with the club late in the week, and that man may become important in the forward line up against an in-form Collingwood defence.
Expect Collingwood’s midfield to overshadow the Blues’ group, though, whilst their prolific forwards might be to much to handle for the Blues fragile defensive unit.
A few changes for both sides today. Unfortunately for the Pies, they’ve lost Daniel Wells to injury, and they’ve decided to include Flynn Appleby in this afternoon’s squad.
Carlton’s made a few more. Sam Kerridge and youngster Pat Kerr are injured, while Nick Graham and Darcy Lang have been omitted.
Aaron Mullett, Jarrod Garlett, Cameron Polson and Matthew Kennedy have all rejoined the squad.
Prediction
Oh, Carlton have next to no chance here. They might put in a much more competitive effort than last week, but Collingwood are far too strong and are in vasty better form. They’ll win by plenty.
Collingwood by 56 points
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 3:20pm AEST.