The Geelong Cats and the GWS Giants will go head to head in the most crucial match of the round, and it’s hard to split.
The winner of this match either way can lock in a top-two finish and a home qualifying final, which is about as good a prize as you’ll find.
The loser will finish either third or fourth and certainly will need to travel in the first week of finals. That’s tough.
The Giants are going into this one with plenty of confidence as they’ve been in good solid winning form lately.
But, they have a pretty poor record against the best sides away from home. They’ve never beaten Geelong at Simonds Stadium.
Geelong have a problem of their own going into this one – they’re missing their captain Joel Selwood.
Now, that hasn’t cost them wins against Richmond or Collingwood in the past fortnight, but GWS are a different class of challenge.
Which of these two concerns is going to be the one that decides the match? Hard to say, but the team which overcomes its trials will get a fitting reward.
The Cats have Tom Hawkins, Mark Blicavs and Brandan Parfitt all back into the side this week. Sam Simpson, Jackson Thurlow and Zach Guthrie have all been dropped.
GWS have brought in Rory Lobb and Steve Johnson, and dropped Harrison Himmelberg and Matt de Boer. The injury crisis is officially over and just in time, too.
The Giants have a single win over Geelong in their history, in Canberra last year. The other results read five wins to the Cats and a draw earlier this year.
That draw is telling – these teams really can’t be split. In that case, I say go with the home ground advantage – Geelong to win by 1-39 for $2.40.
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