You know that feeling.
You’re at Sizzler.
You’ve gone back and forth to the salad bar and kept loading up that plate.
More cheese bread, more pasta, more potato skins, more potato bake, getting around some of that pupkin soup and yes, just a bit more of that cheese bread.
You can’t stop.
You won’t stop.
The sign said ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT and you firmly believe in the concept of ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT.
Now think of the current 20 days feast of football just like you would a trip to Sizzler.
This is ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT footy.
You’re two-thirds of your way through it.
You might be starting to feel full, but you’ve come prepared; worn track pants and ready to go back and really gorge yourself at the dessert bar – the highlight of your trip.
This is exactly what Round 12 is.
The final third of this feast and you’re going to finish it off in style.
If you’ve lost track of what day it is, whos playing who, where, what and how – don’t worry, we’ve done all the preparation and research for you ahead of this final stretch/dessert/AFL Round 12.
“The Battle of the Bridge” heads out West and by that, we don’t mean Homebush or Blacktown, we mean as West of Western Sydney as it gets – Perth.
The Giants are looking to continue on their winning ways after a come from behind win against the Dons on Friday night.
Sydney was gallant in their defeat to Collingwood at the Gabba last week but was ultimately outclassed to the tune of a 9-point loss.
The Sydney Swans are sitting 17th on the ladder.
They are missing their three best players in Heeney, Kennedy and Franklin but Tom Papley and Jake Lloyd have been a delight for them.
What’s interesting about Sydney is that while they are 17th on the ladder, they are very good at bringing good teams down to their level when they play them.
This is not a sledge.
This is very much a compliment on what a team in the Swans position should be doing.
GWS are coming off their third win in a row and are starting to very much look like a team that made the Grand Final last year.
Their injury list is an all-star list featuring the likes of Toby Greene, Matt de Boer and Phil Davis who will not feature this week.
This still shouldn’t phase the Giants who have won their past four against the Swans and should be able to easily account for them in this match.
Not since the 2007 Grand Final has a match between the Cats and Port Adelaide been this highly anticipated.
Only Geelong fans will be after a similar result to the 2007 Grand Final, but I for one cannot see that taking place.
These two teams head into this game with plenty of confidence.
Port Adelaide won the game of the year against the Tigers last Saturday and have had a decent spell.
Geelong had to back it up four days after beating the Saints to the tune of 59 points.
The match is a Geelong “home” game but this will actually be the first time the Cats have graced the hallowed turf of Metricon Stadium.
This will be Port’s fifth game there for the season and they’ve won all four played there this year.
Can the Cats back it up from such a short turnaround?
Don’t bet on it. Literally.
Back the Power to beat the line.
The head to head market (at time of publish) says it all.
North Melbourne – $5.25
Brisbane Lions (Proudly sponsored by Neds) – $1.17
This isn’t about who is going to win this game, but how the Brisbane Lions are going to win this game.
Prior to last Saturday’s 24 point win against the Dogs, Eric Hipwood kicked 10 goals for the season and jagged five sausage rolls for the game.
Brisbane’s midfield is nothing short of elite.
Last week, Lachie Neale had 36 disposals and 12 clearances, Jarred Lyons had 26 disposals and eight clearances and Dayne Zorko 24 disposals and nine clearances.
All three are a must if you’re going to have a multi on this game to find some value.
The season can’t end soon enough for poor old North Melbourne who is about to participate in a Brisbane Lions Auskick clinic this Saturday afternoon.
Lions by plenty.
The game that’s usually played on the Queens Birthday will now be played in Queens-land as Melbourne hosts Collingwood at the Gabba.
It’s actually a long weekend in Brisbane, so there’s still some creature comforts.
This clash between the Dees and Pies is a real head-scratcher as to who to tip.
Melbourne actually hasn’t been that bad of recent.
They’ve won convincingly against the teams they really should win convincingly against – North and the Crows.
Prior to that, Port belted them but they came close to pipping the Brisbane Lions.
Despite the doom and gloom, it actually hasn’t been that bad a month for Melbourne.
Collingwood, on the other hand, has won the games they should win but I wouldn’t see it’s been inspirational let alone convincing.
However, a win is a win.
The Magpies have been quite a low scoring, sluggish and ugly team to watch.
Melbourne, once they get going, can play with a bit of dare.
With the extra 48 hours rest for the Dees, I think they should be too good for Collingwood and happy to take them to beat the line (+1.5)
Freo and Carlton on Saturday night at Optus Stadium is set to be a cracking contest.
The Dockers have three out of their past five matches, including their past two and despite sitting 14th on the ladder have Lloyd Christmas aspirations of making the finals – there’s a chance.
Carlton also has a chance, sitting 13th on the ladder with the same 4/6 win/loss ratio.
There’s a lot to like about Freo’s young-guns.
Andrew Brayshaw and Adam Cerra combining for 59 disposals each in the Dockers 16 point win over Hawthorn last week was impressive.
Nat Fyfe just keeps on keeping on and the matchup between the reigning Brownlow medalist and a future one in Patrick Cripps is something to really look forward to in this game.
Despite a 22 point loss to the Eagles, Carlton had plenty of positives to take out from last week.
Fighting it out for the majority of the game, the Blues amassed 77 tackles for the match – the most for any team this season.
They just couldn’t match it with the Eagles elite midfield which ultimately outclassed them.
At time of publish, the Blues open the head to head betting favourite but this is a hard game to tip.
The golden rule is if it’s a hard game to tip – always back the home team, especially if the game is in Perth.
A vocal Freo crowd and the Dockers with plenty of confidence should get them home in this one.
SPOILER ALERT – The Western Bulldogs will win this game.
Big call, I know.
The Adelaide Crows go into this game 0-11 and are very much on the verge of making 2020 a winless season.
Adelaide found themselves nine points up at half-time against Collingwood on Tuesday night but a five-goal blitz to one in the third quarter in favour of the Magpies put the game beyond doubt.
It just gets even bleaker for the once Pride of South Australia with injuries to Tom Lynch and Tom Doedee.
The Western Bulldogs have had a rough couple of weeks against three of the AFL’s top teams.
They will welcome the prospect of playing Adelaide who very much resembles witches hats.
The Dogs have found themselves to be very hit and miss and quite patchy at the best of time.
This marks a brilliant opportunity to get back some form and consistency.
Jack Macrae is a ball-magnet and had one of the great individual performances on Saturday night against the Lions with 40 disposals – the first player to do that this season which with shorter quarters is even more impressive.
Mitch Wallis move up forward has also been a highlight, had it not been for a blood-rule send off he’d have a few more goals to his name.
So if you’re looking at having a multi in this game, it’s best to consider the likes of Macrae, Wallis and a big margin the way of the Western Bulldogs.
The Adelaide Crows are a lot like how everyone feels about the state of the world, 2020 can’t end soon enough.
The Saints v Dons clash at the Gabba is set to be a fascinating encounter.
Essendon has four days to turn it around from an epic, heart-stopping draw against the Gold Coast Suns.
St Kilda, on the other hand, has had the good part of a week to reflect on what went wrong in their 59 point loss to the Cats in what was easily their worst performance of the 2020 season, including a goalless second half.
It’s important that the Saints use this game to make a statement.
With the exception of last Monday night, St Kilda has been pretty good this season and a good performance on Sunday should show people it was just a bad night.
Essendon will be desperate to get a win, after a close loss and a draw in less than a week.
The non-stop, quick turnaround period of football every club is facing does catch up with teams and I think this will be the Bombers turn.
The Saints should win this and win it comfortably.
The Eagles are flying and absolutely dominating with a nice stretch of games on their home deck.
Hawthorn, are not flying and have basically decided to play the kids to see out the year.
This Sunday night presents a golden opportunity for the Eagles to make it seven wins on the trot and make themselves comfortable in the top four.
There is absolutely no chance that some Clarko Brilliance will occur resulting in an upset this Sunday night.
None.
Fremantle absolutely smashed Hawthorn in the midfield last week, can you imagine what this current crop of Eagles will do to them?
This will be grim viewing for anyone who bleeds brown and gold, but probably enjoyable for those who can’t stand them.
After going down to Port Adelaide in one of the games of the season, Richmond have had nine days to regroup and a chance to get back on the winners list against the Gold Coast Suns at the Gabba.
There was no shame in the reigning premiers performance last week, who were dominated everywhere on the stats sheet but still managed to remain in the contest making the most of what they’ve got.
Watching the Gold Coast Suns has been a delight this season.
Everyone’s second favourite team has produced some highly entertaining contests of recent with some near losses to the Bulldogs and Saints by less than a kick and an epic draw over the Bombers on Wednesday night.
They are most certainly no longer an easybeat.
There’s a lot of upside to the Suns and they have a bright future ahead of them.
However, something tells me that this young side is due for a belting.
While I’m not expecting it to be similar scenes to Richmond’s 92 point win when these two met last time, the Tigers coming off a 10-day break and some decent players like Bachar Houli and skipper Trent Cotchin coming back into the team, they will be ruthless.
Tigers 40+ is a good value play in this one.