Photo: Caspar McLeod.
And then there were four. "Wow" is all that can be said after the previous weeks' games. St. Kilda’s Finals return was short lived, and Geelong embarrassed Collingwood.
Now, we have 2 more massive games to come.
Port Adelaide v Richmond
Friday night (7:50pm AEDT) sees Richmond travel to the Adelaide Oval.
Port Adelaide are coming off a week’s break - something often debated whether it is beneficial. Does the extra week help with rest or does it reduce sharpness? No doubt though, at home Port Adelaide will be confident they can triumph. The last time Port Adelaide met Richmond came out 21-point victors in a game where they were wastefully scoring 13 goals and 15 behinds.
Port Adelaide will need to be careful, as another wasteful performance could be costly.
Richmond will be extremely confident after a solid win over St. Kilda by 31 points - where they took the lead early and maintained until the final whistle. Bachar Houli rolled back the years having an impressive 32 disposals, 25 of which were uncontested! And Shai Bolton was also impressively scoring 3 goals. The return of Tom Lynch overall scored 2 goals and 5 behinds.
However, Richmond will need to improve on their centre clearances. The last time these two-faced, Port Adelaide dominated winning 20 of the 25 in the game, something they have excelled at all year.
PREDICTION: With a very loud Port Adelaide crowd the home team will come at 8 point winners in a preliminary final classic.
Brisbane Lions v Geelong Cats
7:40pm (AEDT) Saturday Night, we see the high-flying Geelong facing Brisbane.
Brisbane are the other team coming off the week break, beating Richmond in the first week of finals. Good news kept on coming for Brisbane fans, with them being linked with Joe Daniher of Essendon. This would bolster an already extremely dangerous forward line consisting of stars like Eric Hipwood, Cam Raynor and Charlie Cameron.
Geelong are one of the few teams who beat Brisbane this year winning by 27 points, but Brisbane will be more confident being at home this time. When they played earlier in the season it was on mutual territory at the SCG in Sydney.
Geelong are coming off one of the most dominant final performances in recent memory, smashing Collingwood by 68 points. They dominated Collingwood from start to finish, allowing them only seven points in the first half, killing the game off basically by half time! Patrick Dangerfield and Tom Hawkins did most of the damage by piling on four goals each. Geelong should be cautious however, as mentioned earlier, Brisbane have a number of dangerous forwards all of which are capable of kicking many goals. And if they can get going and be accurate, something Brisbane have struggled with massively with this year, then Geelong could be in trouble.
PREDICTION: Brisbane have shown just how strong they are at home this year, winning every single game at the Gabba. Therefore, they will be too strong for Geelong winning by 17 points.
The teams that finished top four in the home and away season have proved they are truly the strongest teams in the competition. But only two will book a spot in the Grand Final, this is going to be entertaining!
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