Five teams to watch for the rest of the AFL season

With the AFL season nearing towards a potential end, some teams are looking towards finals and some towards rebuilding.

The big question is, though, who can push to be a premiership contender.

Here’s who I think are teams that fans should keep an eye on these next couple of weeks

Collingwood
The Pies have been hot this year, especially recently. Having defeated teams such as Geelong and St Kilda and unluckily drawn against Richmond, they will face a slightly easier schedule in Fremantle, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne but will still face the Eagles this weekend at Optus Stadium.

If they win four out of five of those fixtures and when they get stars such as Jeremy Howe, Levi Greenwood, Steele Sidebottom and Tom Langdon back, then those games and games in the future with the Pies should be fun to watch, especially for Collingwood fans.

St Kilda
The Saints are yet another team in good form, winning three of their last four games and four ever since their heartbreaking loss against North Melbourne back in March. And they have a tough schedule these next few weeks, facing teams such as Port Adelaide, Gold Coast at Metricon, Geelong and Essendon, but still have an easy fixture against Sydney.

If Brad Hill can manage to get himself into slightly better form and their stars this season such as Jack Steele, Zak Jones, Jack Billings and Dougal Howard can continue their good form, then the Saints could even be a top-four contender.

(Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

Carlton
Some may say this is an interesting choice, but I think (partially as a Carlton supporter) that it isn’t, really. They continue to improve game by game, while also becoming stronger, and should have a pretty easy fixture too having already faced strong teams such as Richmond, Port Adelaide, Geelong, St Kilda, Western Bulldogs and Essendon.

They also only face five teams that were or currently are in the top eight this season (West Coast, GWS, Collingwood, Brisbane, Hawthorn and Gold Coast). However they still have stars such as Matthew Kreuzer, Caleb Marchbank and Jack Silvagni to come back, with these players most likely boosting Carlton and making them a chance to entertain more.

Gold Coast
This team just gets more and more exciting as the weeks go by. And everyone thought they’d be in the bottom four. Think again. Yes they’ve had some easy fixtures and they’ve not really moved anywhere, but they still are super fun and exciting to watch, even with their star Matt Rowell on the sidelines.

They do face some challenges, though, these next few weeks, taking on teams such as Richmond, GWS, St Kilda and Essendon. But with a team at near full strength and with talent and stars such as Jack Lukosius, Touk Miller, Hugh Greenwood, Brandon Ellis and Izak Rankine up their sleeves, they could still be a very fun team to watch.

Western Bulldogs
And finally, the sons of the west of Melbourne are another team that keep on improving this season. Having won four of their last five and their last two (including a ripper on Thursday night against the Suns) after a thrashing against the Blues, they are a team who are a threat to anyone around them.

They do have a tough next three rounds though, going up against Richmond, Port Adelaide and Brisbane, before facing basically a bye (Adelaide) in Round 12 while also facing two teams who’ve been in the top eight this year (Geelong and Hawthorn). If they win one of those three games and lose only one the last week, then they’ll be back to their 2016 best.