2007 finals week 1
September, 06th 2007 09:29 AM

 

Well it could have been a great weekend of AFL last week but when Adelaide knocked over Collingwood by 19 points on the Friday night.  All finals slots were sealed with only the order of finish to be defined.

 

When Hawthorn showed a complete flip flop in form going from chocolates to boiled lollies they slipped from the top 4 to 5th and lost the double chance.

 

This week sees the first of finals play with 2 elimination finals and 2 qualifying finals.  Two teams go and 2 get a second chance and 2 will have next week off.

 

Second Qualifying Final – Second Vs Third

 

On Friday night Port Adelaide welcomes the West Coast to AAMI Stadium and a cracker jack game is expected.  Port have been a real surprise packet this year and really deserve their home ground advantage this week.  Last time these two clashed it was the Power in a canter by 91 points and it should also be noted that Port have won 10 of their past 12 games against the Weagles.  With Daniel Kerr out and Chris Judd struggling with injury you would think that Port is over the line.  Their drive will come from the Cornes brother, Chad and Kane who with the other mid fielders will give gun rookie forward Justin Westhoff plenty of chances to bag a big haul of sausage rolls.  Digger says Port Adelaide to get a well deserved week off while West Coast will have to front up again next week.

 

First Elimination Final – Fifth Vs Eighth

 

On Saturday at the Dome, Hawthorn who last week slid to 5th takes on the Adelaide Ravens who filled the final spot in the eight.  Hawthorn were woeful last week after their sparkling performance the week prior against the Western Bulldogs.  The Ravens were 71 point winners when they last meet albeit at AAMI Stadium.  It appears that Hawthorn travel well but play poorly in Melbourne.  Shane Crawford needs to produce a good finals game something he has not done before.  The Hawks also have niggling injuries to key runners.  Andrew McLeod is the key to the Ravens chances and if he has a goodun they win.  Sadly, bye bye Hawks and the Ravens to march on.

 

Second Elimination Final – Collingwood Vs Sydney

 

Another “bird” clash in this one and again we should see a shit hot game.  These teams only meet 2 weeks ago and the Magpies had one of the few late season wins.  In fact, Collingwood has beaten the Sydney lads twice this year.  Can they do it again?  While the black and white faithful believe so, many of the experts with Digger included, believe that the Swans will triumph.  Adam Goodes is in great form and Collingwood’s biggest decision will be does one player run with him or do they maintain a 3 man rotation on him.  Nathan Buckley will be keen to lead his team in this finals campaign because it could be his last year but the Swans will spoil the day and will win and win easily.

 

First Qualifying Final – Geelong Vs Kangaroos

 

Expect fire works in the opening few minutes in the big game between Geelong and the Kangaroos.  The ‘Roos showed a couple of weeks ago that this is the way they believe they can beat Geelong and rough stuff will be the order of the day.  Jimmy Bartel is a great fillup for Geelong and his return is a plus against the minus of Matthew Egan out injured after 54 consecutive games.  The Kangaroos will need Brent Harvey to fire and also Corey Jones  The Kangaroos who were widely picked to finish last year will have a real red hot dip at the Geelong to kick a bag. team but in the end the class of the Cats will shine through and they will get a week off.

 

All the birds in the finals but the Cats still favourite with the bookies and Digger.

 

Digger

 

 

 

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