At a 6-10 record Collingwood’s season is very much over, but they get a chance on Sunday to play the role of the spoiler against 9-7 West Coast.
The Pies haven’t had a great year and while that might be expected by most, it’s not what their fans and media hypers would’ve liked to see.
With only a month and a half left to go it looks all but certain that Nathan Buckley will get the axe at the end of the year.
That makes this final six weeks a bit weird and awkward for all involved – nothing to play for this year, and not much of a chance to focus on the future either.
The only motivation they can have to win is to give their fans a good time – and ruin the day of the oppostion.
West Coast were outside the eight this time last week but amazingly they could still finish top four in this topsy turvy year.
They’re only one win and percentage behind Port Adelaide in fourth at the moment with six weeks left to go – anything could happen.
It’s often said that they’re an average team in Victoria, but this game is at Etihad Stadium, where they actually have a pretty decent record.
The big news ahead of this one is that Pies skipper Scott Pendlebury is going to miss the match with a finger injury.
They’ve also dropped Matthew Scharenberg, with Rupert Wills and Levi Greenwood the inclusions for Collingwood.
The Eagles have Elliot Yeo returning from injury and Thomas Cole in the side – they’ve dropped Chris Masten and are resting Sam Mitchell.
The Pies knocked off the Eagles late last year, but West Coast had three straight wins in a row over them before then.
Collingwood are actually going in as betting favourites which seems mad with no Pendlebury. West Coast at $1.97 to win looks very good.
If you feel like a flyer, $7 for West Coast to win by 40+ feels like something that could easily happen.
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