Adelaide v Richmond & Bulldogs v Port

How the hell did Ginge get two weeks off in the middle of the year?

Not like he's Andy Dimitriou or anything like that!

Discuss....go.

Adelaide v Richmond

So FNF features, for something different, the Tigers. This time though they head to Adelaide to face the Crows at Adelaide Oval in front of what should be a full house. With the Tigger train resembling one of those Indian locomotives you see on crappy www.somethingfunny.com pages, there will be plenty of yellow and black in the streets of Adelaide this weekend.

Adelaide honoured Adam Goodes last week by deciding not to show up to play either. They were woeful early and didn’t get much better after that. Smashed in possessions ( over 120 less ), smashed in clearances ( 40-30 ), I50’s ( 55-46 ) and the worst part, tackles ( 56-38 ). If the opposition get 120 more touches than you do you should be tackling more than them. Adelaide’s coaching staff would have been filthy at just 38 tackles for the night and Mackay, Thompson, Sloane and Hartigan had 21 of them! 7 Crows failed to wrap their loving arms around a Sydney player, 6 of them managed a warm embrace just the once. Not good enough intent for a side who would have fancied their chances when they got on the plane Friday afternoon. It’s hard to be critical of the Adelaide playing group mindset at any time for the remainder of 2015, but that wasn’t a performance any of them would have been proud of.

Richmond, are they flying or what? They’ve shown that they can really match it with the best, they’ve now beaten Fremantle, Sydney and Hawthorn on the “big stage” of FNF. The other top 8 contenders might just hope to catch them in another time slot in the major round, they love the big Friday night clash. They blitzed the Hawks from the outset, they had 3 goal to nothing at ¼ time, kicked the next to open up a 25 point lead. The Hawks kicked the next 5 then the Tigers stopped them again. 5 goals to 2 after half time. So, how did they do it? One was efficiency. 10 Tigers went at 75%+ disposal efficiency. They kept the ball off the Hawks. (They kept the Hawks to their lowest uncontested mark tally of the year) 18 Tigers went at better than 60%. That’s great ball use. They didn’t score heavily, just 10 goals while keeping the Hawks down to 7. It was a top shelf performance from a side who could sneak 4th spot with any luck.

In/Out – Douglas a loss for Adelaide, former skipper van Berlo comes back in, Lloyd dropped for Hampson, Richmond adding some height to counter Jacobs.

So can Adelaide turn around last week’s effort to something capable of matching a side set to play at least one week of finals or are they in for another touch up from a top 4’ish team? I think the Tiggers will be too much for the Crows to handle. Richmond by 29 points.

Bulldogs v Port

The sly little Doggies, they’ve slipped into 5th spot ahead of the media backed Tigers (Who knew?) on the back of 4 wins from their last 5 outings while Port have built some form at the wrong end of the season winning 3 of the last 5 and losing the other two by 10 and 3 points.

The Doggies continue to surprise, it has to be a surprise that they are 5th in August. Nobody would have had them fighting for a top 4 spot with a month to go, not even the most ardent of Dogs fans. While some wins in recent weeks haven’t been much to write home about the total domination of the shot down/up Bombers last week was one that long suffering fans would have loved. 15 goal wins over the big Melbourne clubs haven’t been seen at Whitten Oval for a long, long time. In fact, it might only be Grandma at Xmas time managing to regale stories of former glories in between long necks of VB that remind the young Dogs fans that they did indeed have good times to celebrate. The defence is holding strong, Beverage using his time under Clarkson to implement a similar zone defence where no defender really has a man, they work on the theory of 7 defenders beating 6 forwards whenever the ball comes down. And it’s working.

Port trounced the under manned Saints in Adelaide on Sunday. Mrs. Boon came to her first game of footy, just 22 years after I first asked her to join me. I guess I understand, it’s a bit like her asking me to fix the fly screen on the bathroom window. No need to remind me every 6 months about it, I know it needs doing. She quite enjoyed the two Jim Beam cans for $15, I didn’t really get any feedback about the footy.
Port continued some decent form with Chad Wingard bagging another 4 goals, 8 weeks of 3 goals+ probably ensuring another AA spot for the young gun and putting him well in contention for another B&F, could be 2 of each in his first 4 years at the highest level. At 8-9 finals are a long, long shot but a win here and 9-9 and it’s still season alive. Young bull Ollie Wines popped his shoulder and will miss the remainder of the year which pretty much puts any hopes on a sneaky finals berth out the window.

In/Out – Both sides hurt, Murphy out “sore” and Wines out “sorer”. Jong and Impey come in.

I think both sides will be looking forward to this one. Another challenge for Port in a season of stop/start footy and a good test for the Doggies, a win here will frank the form of the last few weeks for them. Heart says Port are a chance, head agrees, but only an outside chance. Dogs by 14 points in a high scoring affair.

Richmond v Adelaide is a pretty hard game for me to read, I am going to have to go with Richmond at home, but wont be surprised if the Crows bounce back from last week either. Richmond by 19pts.

Port v Bulldogs is another tough one to pick. Despite it being an away match I am going with Port Adelaide to win this one. My reasoning being that I feel that Port are on the upswing and will continue it this week. Port by 14pts.

Always thought Adelaide would win this week, that was until Van Berlo came back in.

Richmond have beaten Port in Adelaide, Freo in Perth, Sydney in Sydney and Brisbane in Brisbane this year plus beaten Adelaide in Adelaide the last 2 years. They can't keep winning on the road, surely? Should be a good game. Sticking with Adelaide by 9 points.

Think Port might win too. Port by 27

Agree Prowler.

He's obviously been down on confidence this year, but the run in the SANFL looks to have done him the world of good judging by his performance on Friday night.

I think Adelaide are quietly flying under the radar at the moment. Last week against Sydney was very disappointing, but Sydney were always going to be up and about after the Goodes saga.

Putting that game aside, I believe they are playing with real confidence at the moment IMO. Their defensive press is improving by the game, and they are taking the game on. Yes their skills need improving, but they thrashed one of the form sides (and best travellers) of the comp on Friday night.

There seems to be some good depth finally as well. The SANFL team is winning, and players are coming into the AFL side and making an immediate impact. Riley Knight the perfect example, he was outstanding Friday night in just his 3rd game.

Looking at the draws of our fellow bottom eight contenders it will be a close run thing - but I think we can make finals this year, and then some even.

You'll beat Essendon, beat Brisbane, lost to West Coast and the Geelong game will be the decider......you also want Port to beat the Giants this week and knock out another potential final 8 contender.

The North v Richmond game in the final round might seal your fate any way. My ladder predictor has a North win in that game making it very hard for Adelaide to play finals.

I actually think we'll beat Geelong and even give WC a shake at home.

I can see something. I don't know what it is. Perhaps the recent tragedy has steeled their resolve, I don't know. They just seem to be responding really well to the challenges put in front of them.

To win Friday night's game in such a comprehensive fashion after the poor showing of the previous week show's real character.

Further to that, to continue the fight for a finals berth after the Walsh tragedy also shows real character when they could've just as easily thrown in the towel and no one would begrudge them for it.

I feel like the Club is finally finding an identity again. There's some character, some strength, some resolve in what they're doing and where they are heading.

For a while it has been a bit tough to be proud of my football team. Regardless of how the rest of the season pans out, I will be this year.

i actually think Richmond had a let down after beating Hawthorn the week before, looking forward to the games mentioned above & i think GN is right about the Geelong match but the West Coast match i believe he is wrong, they wont get close to West Coast