The Sydney Swans and the Collingwood Magpies will open Round 3 on Friday night at the SCG, with both of them looking to get their first win of the 2017 AFL season.
Nobody expected Sydney to be 0-2 at this point in the year – their first-round loss to Port Adelaide was a major upset and was made worse by Dane Rampe injuring himself in the week that followed
The Swans named three debutants to take on the Western Bulldogs in the grand final rematch last week, an indication of their limited depth, and they ultimately fell short of a win despite a strong effort.
They picked up another injury in that match, making their situation all the more worrying, with Kurt Tippett going down early.
Collingwood on the other hand played well in a loss to the Western Bulldogs in Round 1, and then kicked themselves out of the match last week against the Richmond Tigers.
The Magpies should’ve had that game won by half time, but their inaccuracy allowed Richmond to work their way into the match and ultimately take the points.
Both of these sides are now having serious questions about them, the question is, who will it be that silences the doubters on Friday night?
Collingwood have a great record playing Sydney in New South Wales thanks largely to their dominance over the Swans at ANZ Stadium.
However that ground is no longer used by the Swans for the home-and-away, and so the two sides will meet at the SCG, where Sydney have won two in a row against Collingwood.
Despite their injuries Sydney still look like a better team on paper than Collingwood and a strong defensive unit should account for Collingwood’s struggling forward line.
With Tippett out though the Swans will probably not win by a big margin. Sydney at $1.30 to win isn’t great value, but $2.10 for the Swans to win by 1-39 points is a real chance.