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First up are Carlton and St. Kilda at Etihad Stadium, where St. Kilda seem to play every bloody week. Carlton are starting to make a genuine finals push and survived a real test against the spirited Lions at the Gabba on the back of eight Brendan Fevola goals. However you'd have to say that the St. Kilda backline is a very different proposition to a Brisbane backline missing Patfull and Merret. St. Kilda are looking very determined and frankly scary. It's a testament to how mature and hard their bodies are that when North attempted to play them at their own game last week North ended up with 17 fit players. The Saints should win this game by plenty and Kosi and Riewoldt should enjoy some fine winter skiing.
Next up is the Bulldogs taking on Port Adelaide at TIO Stadium all the way up north in Darwin, which is where I guess you have to go to get a decent stadium deal these days. The Bulldogs are looking genuinely like the third best side in the competition at the moment, while Port Adelaide seem to be confused about whether they're coming or going. However, Port have a pretty good record against the Doggies up in Darwin and seem to be hitting something approaching form so this could really be an interesting affair. I still have a feeling the Bullies will a bit too much class for Port who I think will be an infuriating team to try and tip for the entire season.
The other Saturday night game (there are no games during the day on either Saturday of the split round, awesome) is Richmond vs West Coast coming from Etihad Stadium again (do they ever play footy at the G anymore?). This is arguably the worst game of the round and therefore is a lock to be on free to air TV. It's also a total cunt to tip. Richmond are obviously an abject shit heap, but West Coast are smack bang in the middle of a rebuilding phase, and young teams on the road are generally a no go. Adding more spice to the mix is that Richmond have a new coach and have just lost a former captain in Kane Johnson. The flip side of that is that Richmond apparently have no real passion whatsoever, having lost their farewell game to Terry Wallace against his former club by eleven goals and not putting up a yelp after half time. This is a fair old fifty fifty this game.
The early Sunday game this week is Hawthorn taking on Brisbane down at Aurora Stadium in Launceston. Hawthorn were a Barry Hall brain snap away from losing to Sydney last weekend, while Brisbane got very close to a Fev inspired Carlton, but despite all this I really can't see any reason not to tip Hawthorn here. Brisbane are missing both of their key position defenders to long term injuries and word has it that Hawthorn have a couple of tall forwards who are handy. Admittedly Brisbane have some talls who are more than capable themselves and Hawthorn are in a similar defensive position (ie; decimated by injury), but I really can't see the Brisbane midfield managing to overpower Hawthorn. They've been struggling in the clearances lately and clearances are super important against Hawthorn who zone very well. I'm really struggling to see anything but a Hawthorn win. Franklin is due for a break out week as well, this could be it for him. I think one of he or Roughead will kick plenty, although Aurora Stadium doesn't seem to lend itself to big scores. It'll be interesting to see how the loss of Cyril Rioli affects their forward structure though.
The last game of the first week of the split round sees red hot Adelaide taking on North who are definitely not red hot. Adelaide were just super impressive last week, their forward line set up really gelled and they looked like a really good cohesive unit. North tried really hard early against St. Kilda but just weren't good enough to get over the line. They really pushed the Saints hard and then lost a whole bunch of players to injury in the second half which really hurt them and basically insured they were stuffed. I honestly can't really see much chance for North in this game, their main strength I feel is their remarkably tall forward line, but I'd imagine that will be nullified by Rutten and Bock. Their midfield is absolutely stuffed and I think their season may be over already. The Crows, however, seem to be flying, and it looks like they could figure in September action at this rate.
Vent Your ANGER!@#! Footy 2009 - Login
Originally Posted by Agent Provocateur 
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