Port Adelaide vs Melbourne : Round 24 AFL 2011
Port Adelaide has the opportunity to avoid collecting its first ever wooden spoon when it hosts Melbourne at its home-to-be, Adelaide Oval, on Sunday afternoon. The once mighty Power has been entrenched on the bottom of the ladder for the last six weeks, but gets one last chance to lift itself above the Gold Coast, providing it bows to Hawthorn on Saturday, by grabbing a third win, against the struggling Demons. After receiving those record-breaking smashings by Collingwood and the Hawks, Port...
Carlton vs St Kilda : Round 24 AFL 2011
There is much at stake for St Kilda when it takes on Carlton at the MCG on Saturday night. The Saints win and they will host Sydney at Etihad Stadium in their elimination final the following Saturday. Lose - and Sydney beats Brisbane this week - and they will be forced to head to enemy territory for their cut-throat final against the Swans. Currently sitting in sixth position on the ladder, the Saints will go in as slight underdogs against the fifth-placed Blues after going down to them...
West Coast vs Adelaide : Round 24 AFL 2011
West Coast can complete a stunning reversal of fortune in style when it hosts Adelaide at Patersons Stadium on Saturday night. Last year's wooden spooners clinched a top four spot and the double chance for the finals with a hard-fought eight-point win over Brisbane (89-81). And now, with the pressure off, can safely tune up for its qualifying final showdown against Collingwood on home soil against a struggling Crows outfit. Adelaide had looked impressive under caretaker coach Mark Bickley, winning...
Sydney vs Brisbane : Round 24 AFL 2011
Sydney will be playing for a home final when it takes on Brisbane at the SCG in the Saturday twilight clash. And the Lions are sure to try and make the Swans earn it. Sydney currently sits seventh and is guaranteed an elimination final berth against St Kilda. It's just a matter of where the game will be played. The Swans can leapfrog the Saints into sixth and hosting duties if they can beat the Lions and St Kilda bows to Carlton. It's a distinct possibility. But, Brisbane has shown, while its...
Western Bulldogs vs Fremantle : Round 24 AFL 201...
Fremantle will be glad to see the back of the 2011 season. The Dockers are limping to the finish line, with barely 22 fit players to take the field at Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon and will be rank underdogs against the Western Bulldogs, despite the home sitting a few spots below them on the ladder. Fremantle has lost more stars this week, including best and fairest favourite Nat Fyfe, Garrick Ibbotson and Nick Lower, who was its best player in the 80-point loss to Collingwood last week,...
Gold Coast vs Hawthorn : Round 24 AFL 2011
Gold Coast looks set to complete its first season without a win on home soil at Metricon Stadium, with the Suns hosting Hawthorn in the final round on Saturday afternoon. The Hawks will show no mercy on the newbies as they tune up for a finals campaign – and the possibility of grabbing second spot on the ladder from Geelong if they win by a big enough margin and the Cats lose to Collingwood the previous night. A nice little bonus. Hawthorn has won its past seven games, and while there will be...
Collingwood vs Geelong : Round 24 AFL 2011
The AFL got its fixturing right when it scheduled Collingwood to host Geelong in the last round of the season. It’s a mouth-watering match-up on the eve of the finals between the two biggest heavyweights of the season. Though they mightn’t be one and two after this weekend, with the second-placed Cats (72 points) set to be overtaken by the third-placed Hawks (68), who take on Gold Coast. It will matter little to those twoas they will meet in the next week’s qualifying final anyway, but...
Port Adelaide vs Western Bulldogs : Round 22 AFL...
It’s surprising Rodney Eade didn’t want just one more match as coach of the Western Bulldogs ($1.17) – there is every likelihood he would’ve gone out a winner, against Port Adelaide ($5.25) at AAMI Stadium on Sunday afternoon. As disappointing as the side that has contested preliminary finals in the past three seasons have been, there is no sadder story than the Power. Port has now lost its past nine games, and the defeats have only been getting worse. A week after losing the latest...
Collingwood vs Brisbane : Round 22 AFL 2011
Collingwood ($1.01) has lost some key players for its clash with Brisbane ($17) at the MCG on Saturday night, but the Magpies certainly won’t be losing the game or the momentum they are building towards the finals. The ladder-leading Magpies will be without skipper Nick Maxwell, rebounding defender Ben Johnson and midfielder Sharrod Wellingham but it won’t make an ounce of difference against the 15th placed Lions. Brisbane won its last encounter against Collingwood but that was way back in...
North Melbourne vs Fremantle : Round 22 AFL 2011...
Finals have come early for North Melbourne ($1.38) and Fremantle ($3.10) with their clash at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night integral to their hopes of making the eight. For the 10th-placed Kangaroos (32 points), the assignment is straight forward: they must win all of their final three games to have any chance of overtaking eighth-placed Sydney (38 points) and ninth-placed Fremantle (36 points). The Dockers have the chance to leapfrog the Swans this week if they beat North, and the Swans...