The finals have come early for each Melbourne and Collingwood on Friday night time, with their ladder positions that means that if the finals had been to start this weekend, they’d be contesting a qualifying last on the MCG.
Going into Spherical 21, the Dees and Pies sit in second and third place on the ladder respectively, with the latter having received their previous ten matches in a row to show themselves as the actual deal beneath rookie coach Craig McRae.
Final Saturday afternoon the Pies survived yet one more shut match, edging out Port Adelaide by a purpose on the MCG to shuffle nearer to securing a double likelihood for the third time in 5 years.
It was their fifth straight win by a single-figure margin. They’ve come again from 26 factors all the way down to defeat North Melbourne by seven, survived a scare from the Crows to win by 5 and had Jamie Elliott kick the matchwinning purpose in opposition to Essendon in Spherical 19.
The win over the Bombers very almost didn’t occur, as Harrison Jones had the possibility to finish what would’ve been an epic comeback victory for his facet within the last minute solely to hit the submit, after which the Pies produced the passage of play culminating in Elliott’s winner.
McRae’s efforts in lifting the Pies again into the finals are to be counseled given the mess predecessor Nathan Buckley left behind, with many predicting initially of the 12 months the membership would even fall so far as successful the picket spoon for the primary time since 1999.
(Picture by Michael Willson/AFL Pictures through Getty Photos)
There was additionally the abroad drama involving ahead Jordan De Goey, who sat out their Spherical 15 conflict in opposition to GWS as a way to clear his head.
Their spectacular kind has many declaring them real flag contenders, and there’s the possibility that they might higher their 2018 effort during which they fell simply wanting a record-equaling sixteenth premiership once they misplaced to the West Coast Eagles by simply 5 factors within the grand last.
They’ll fancy their possibilities of an Eleventh-straight win once they come up in opposition to the Dees, who seem to have overcome a tough mid-season patch throughout which they misplaced 5 of 9 matches, together with three in a row on the MCG in Rounds 11 to 13.
For the second time this season Simon Goodwin’s males headed west, again to the scene of their premiership triumph final 12 months, and once more returned east with the factors courtesy of a 46-point win over a disappointing Fremantle facet final Friday night time.
(Picture by Paul Kane/Getty Photos)
There had been some questions raised about their need to defend their flag, particularly with the lure of doing so in entrance of their followers on the MCG, after a kind stoop that had seen them lose to the Dockers, Pies, Sydney Swans, Geelong Cats and Western Bulldogs.
There’s additionally hypothesis surrounding ahead Luke Jackson, who has been linked with a return residence on the finish of the season. If he does depart the membership, it could depart a gap within the Melbourne ahead line.
However they could possibly be beginning to return to high kind with the finals only a month away. This Friday night time’s conflict in opposition to the Pies is the primary of back-to-back residence matches in opposition to big Victorian oppositions earlier than they wrap up with a visit to the Gabba to face the Brisbane Lions.
It would even be the primary time the 2 sides meet on a Friday night time since 2007, at which level the Dees had been about to slip right into a decade-long oblivion whereas the Pies had been 4 years faraway from back-to-back grand last losses to the Lions.
For the Dees a victory shall be paramount to ramping up the strain on the top-placed Geelong Cats, who’ve a really tender run residence and are poised to say the minor premiership for the second time in 4 years.
The stakes are increased for the Pies, as they might have the possibility to maneuver as much as second on the ladder however must pray for an unlikely Cats kind stoop and likewise win their last two matches to complete on high for the primary time since 2011.
They nonetheless should play the Sydney Swans subsequent weekend in a match that might properly resolve which ones finishes increased on the ladder, earlier than a final-round MCG blockbuster in opposition to the Blues within the penultimate match of the common season.
What Craig McRae’s males have achieved this 12 months has definitely not gone unnoticed, however they might emerge because the staff to observe in September ought to they full the double over the Dees this season, which might be a primary since 2009.
As for the Dees, it’s crunch time as their premiership defence begins to ramp up a notch or two.
