Round 17 kicks off tonight with Adelaide taking on Hawthorn at the Adelaide Oval. The Hawks are without Norm Smith medallist Brian Lake who was, earlier this week, rubbed out for four matches for a controversial tackle on Kangaroo Drew Petrie last week, where he appeared to put the forward in a ‘choker hold’.
On Saturday, Melbourne takes on Geelong, North Melbourne travels to Hobart to host St Kilda, Brisbane will battle it out with West Coast and Sydney should be too strong when it hosts Carlton at the SCG.
Melbourne will want to bounce back against the Cats after suffering a 63 point drubbing against the Dockers last week in Darwin. Despite murmurs around footy circles that the Cats’ reign at the top is over, they sit in fifth spot, shy of second position on percentage alone, and will be looking to use this opportunity to make their charge toward yet another top-four finish.
North Melbourne, on the other hand, will be hoping that it can iron out its inconsistencies and defeat a hapless St Kilda at its new second home in Hobart. Over a span of two rounds the Kangaroos have lost a nail biter to cellar-dwellers Brisbane, and then completely outplayed reigning premiers Hawthorn at Etihad Stadium. St Kilda is going out to break a 10 game losing streak.
Last week Gold Coast dug deep, showing signs that it is coming of age, against a poor Collingwood side which could not overcome a bench-less Suns side. The Suns had no-one left on the bench by the end of the game when they lost captain Gary Ablett to a dislocated shoulder, Charlie Dixon to a calf injury, Trent McKenzie to a hamstring strain and Sean Lemmens to concussion. The Suns will be without their champion skipper for the rest of the season after opting for reconstructive surgery on that dislocated shoulder. They will be looking to continue their good work against a brave but unlucky Western Bulldogs side, whose wayward kicking cost it last week, in a 13 point loss to Geelong at Simonds Stadium.
West Coast will hope to keep its slim finals hopes alive when it is hosted by Brisbane at the Gabba. West Coast sits in 11th spot, three games out of the top eight, but has a reasonably healthy percentage of 107, for where it finds itself.
Sydney and Carlton will also feature on Saturday, and the obvious question beckons: who is going to stop the Swans? Multi-million dollar recruit Lance Franklin cannot be contained, and sits third on the 2014 goal kicking list. Midfielder Josh Kennedy is second in the league for disposals, trailing Gary Ablett who (as mentioned) won’t feature again this season and the Swans are now on an 11 game winning streak. Carlton will be bolstered by its huge win over the Saints last week, but after a disappointing season is unlikely to hold the white-hot Swans.
Sunday will see Richmond take on Port Adelaide, Essendon host Collingwood and the round will finish off with Fremantle and Greater Western Sydney in Perth.
Port Adelaide will be desperate to snap its two-game losing streak when it is hosted by Richmond at Etihad Stadium. The Power suffered a shock loss against Essendon last week in Adelaide, which capped off on an emotionally charged week for the Bombers.
Essendon will be without its reigning best-and-fairest winner Brendon Goddard, in its blockbuster game against Collingwood. Goddard was handed a two-
match ban which was reduced to one after he took an early plea for a rough conduct against Port Adelaide’s Kane Cornes.
Collingwood has lost three of its past four games, including shock losses to the Western Bulldogs and the Gold Coast Suns, and will be hoping to get its season, and its top-four aspirations, back on track when it faces the Bombers. Greek Australian Collingwood listed player Patrick Karnezis was a strong showing last week in its VFL side, booting four goals.
And the final game of the round will feature in Perth, where Fremantle will host the Greater Western Sydney Giants.
Fremantle will be boosted by news that champion forward, and skipper, Matthew Pavlich signed on for a 16th AFL season. He was the first player to reach the 300 game milestone for a West Australian AFL club.
He said that he had to weigh up the decision according to his body.
“Clearly, when you get to this age, it’s a mind and body decision,” he said.
“I spoke to (coach) Ross (Lyon) and our medicos, and then I had a good chat with (wife) Lauren.
“It was more about whether or not I could keep playing my role for the team and keep playing at a reasonably high standard. That was important in the decision making process.”