What day is this?
Who’s playing?
Where am I?
In case you’re wondering its Round 10 of the AFL.
We’re nine games through this 20-day feast of football with 15 days remaining.
Round 10 will take place from Monday to Friday.
West Coast, Carton, Freo and Hawthorn have a bye.
Are you still with me?
We’ve previewed all seven matches this week and found some serious value plays as this feast of football keeps on keeping on.
The “round” kicks off with Port hosting the Dogs at Adelaide Oval tonight, with both teams coming off a very quick turnaround in matches.
For the Bulldogs, they’ll have an extra 24 hours to lick their wounds after they were easily disposed of by Richmond to the tune of 41 points.
They welcome young-gun/cult hero Cody Weightman, plus Josh Dunkley and Roake Smith back in the side for tonight’s game and will need to rely on more than just Jack Macrae who was a shining light for them with 37 disposals to his name last week.
How they will respond to playing Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval will give us a real indication as to where this team is at.
The Power easily accounted for Melbourne, making the Dees look like witches hats with a dominant 51 point win over them at the Gabba last Thursday night.
Travis Boak, Karl Amon and Ollie Wines had 25 disposals each and the efforts of Tom Rockliff’s 10 tackles simply cannot be ignored.
One major chink in Port’s amour this season has been their inability to beat premiership contenders on a regular basis.
They do have scalps such as West Coast and the Giants already this season but if they can get the job done over the Dogs tonight, it’ll be a big statement as to the Power’s intentions this season.
Port should be too good for the Dogs and the Power to lead at every quarter is a good value betting play.
With both sides in excellent form, the Richmond v Brisbane clash is set to be the game of the round/week/day.
It looks like Richmond have found their mojo again and absolutely dominated last Wednesday night when they went in as underdogs against the Western Bulldogs winning by a convincing 41 points.
Dustin Martin reminded everyone why he is still the best player in the competition with 26 disposals, booting 3 goals and was was credited with 9 scoring involvements in what was easily his best game of season 2020.
The Tigers are also starting to look quite good down back with youngster Noah Balta earning high praise from Coach Damien Hardwick post-game and David Astbury having a big influence with 15 disposals and four marks.
The Brisbane Lions (proudly sponsored by Neds) couldn’t of been more impressive last Friday night against Essendon.
It’s an incredibly quick turnaround backing it up from Friday night to Tuesday and will be the second match they play in an eight-day period.
Brisbane has no doubt been thinking about playing Richmond since last years qualifying final.
They have lost their past 14 against the Tigers and if they are going to break that losing streak, now is the time to do it.
Richmond is still missing six of their best players and in the past month or so, Brisbane has been far more impressive with the ladder reflecting that form.
This game is a hard one to tip and the way the market is framed reflects that.
Expect this one to be close.
Either team at 15.5 looks like good value, even though it is sitting on the fence.
Don’t ever let that stop you from backing value though.
The Gabba plays host to Geelong and North Melbourne at the sexy new time of 5:40 on a Wednesday afternoon because this is 2020.
This is the complete opposite of a blockbuster but don’t let that stop you from watching it.
North Melbourne will take plenty of confidence from their 69 point smashing of the Adelaide Crows on Saturday arvo but don’t let that fool you thinking they’ve got a chance.
Majak Daw’s return and when he kicked a goal were some of the most feel-good moments that this horrible year has had to offer.
Perhaps there’s some value to be found in big Maj booting another goal this Wednesday.
Geelong will be hurting from their loss to the Eagles last Saturday night.
The Cats didn’t lose any admirers and proved they’ll very much be in the mix whenever the business end of the season is.
On paper, Geelong will be simply too good for North in the Cameron Mooney Cup.
They’ll easily beat the line -15.5 set in this market.
If you barrack for the Dees, you’ll be sh*ting yourself going into this game against the 0-9 Crows at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday night.
Melbourne was woeful last week.
Even the club president let rip.
Just when you think Melbourne is back in the mix, they produce a performance like what was displayed against the Power at the Gabba last Thursday night booting a pitiful final score of 4-8 (32)
There’s plenty of talent in the Melbourne side but an awful lot of passengers.
The Dees go into this game the favourite but the doubt is setting in, not just in their long-suffering fans but the team as well.
Adelaide is at rock-bottom.
0-9, a 69 point loss to 17th on the ladder North Melbourne and Monday marked 365 days – an entire calendar year since they last won a match.
Coach Matthew Nicks joins an exclusive club with the likes of Brett Ratten, Damien Hardwick and Mark Neeld who started their coaching careers with a 0-9 record.
All of them won their 10th game in charge.
He’ll be hoping that trend continues this Wednesday night.
If the Crows are going to win a game, it’s going to be this one.
It would be the most on-brand Melbourne Demons thing to lose to the Adelaide Crows.
Not on the form, but instinct – we’re backing the Crows to finally chalk up their first win this Wednesday night.
From being a team that was in the premiership mix, things have turned quickly for Collingwood sitting 109th on the ladder with a 4-4-1 record.
Their shock loss to Fremantle on Sunday night will mean they simply cannot underestimate the Sydney Swans.
The Magpies also have a few off-field distractions happening along with missing the likes of Scott Pendlebury, Jeremy Howe and Jordan De Goey on field.
After a very disappointing loss, Collingwood should breathe a sigh of relief that they are facing the Sydney Swans who are clearly one of the weaker teams in the competition.
The Swans were belted by St Kilda last weekend and never looked in the contest.
Unlike the Demons, you can somewhat trust the Magpies will somehow bounce back.
The line has been set at -14.5 and Collingwood should easily beat it.
How about those Sainters?
They attack, are quite sold solid at the back with quick ball movement and have a focus on high scoring football.
St Kilda sits third on the ladder and are more than worthy of being in the mix of premiership contenders.
If you want to watch any team in the AFL (that’s not yours or the mighty Brisbane Lions proudly sponsored by Neds) it simply has to be St Kilda.
Apart from a fade out against the Roos wayyyyyy back in Round 1 and Freo a few weeks ago this is a highly impressive unit and could very much be on top of the ladder.
Gold Coast is still no easy beats.
They will make St Kilda work for it and the prospect of watching the King twins go up against each other will be something to really look forward to in this match.
The last three meetings between the Suns and Saints have been close – all decided by a total of seven points.
I can’t see that being the case this Thursday night and St Kilda should be able to beat the -10.5 line set for this match.
No team is more middle of the road than Essendon.
If it’s a team below them on the ladder, they tend to go quite well but when its one above them – as was displayed last week against Brisbane they are well, crap.
Granted, some of their best players are missing but recent defeats to the Western Bulldogs and Brisbane has exposed that Essendon is more midstrength than XXXX Gold.
GWS go into this game with two solid wins under their belt and were methodical in getting the job done over the Gold Coast to the tune of 26 points.
While Toby Greene and Matt De Boer returning to the Giants injury list is cause for concern this team should be simply too good for Essendon.
The Bombers are seriously lacking in depth and class – especially in the midfield and up forward where the likes of Jeremy Cameron and Lachie Witfield can do some serious damage.