Teams story: Wakelin's flag dream alive -- sportal.com.au And from that teams story, highlights among the selections (in addition to Port Adelaide rushing Daryl Wakelin back from injury to play against North Melbourne): North Melbourne is unchanged, even though casey Green is available again to feature in the Kangaroos' back line after a suspension. Also unchanged is Geelong, not surprisingly after the week off following the 106-point demolition of North Melbourne a fortnight ago. Coach Mark Thompson's decision means that former captain Steven King has been left on the outer, relegated to Geelong's VFL side's grand final hopes, as both Brad Ottens and Mark Blake are preferred on form. Speaking of ruckmen, Josh Fraser will start for Collingwood, although he may be underdone against Ottens and Blake, after having missed four of the Pies' last five games. AFL preliminary finals line-ups -- sportal.com.au
One Grand Final participant is now known. At the MCG on Friday night, in front of a crowd of 98,002 fans, Geelong v Collingwood: [result]Geelong 13.14 (92) Collingwood 13.9 (87) Geelong's in the Grand Final for the first time since 1995, and looking for its first flag since 1963. The midfield did its usual job of maintaining possession -- 31 touches each for Gary Ablett, Jr. and Jimmy Bartel, and 30 possessions for the underrated Joel Corey -- but Brad Ottens' ruck work made all the difference.[/result]
And now, so is the other. At AAMI Stadium, on Saturday night, Port Adelaide v North Melbourne: [result]Port Adelaide 20.13 (133) North Melbourne 5.16 (46) Surely, Glenn Archer deserved a better exit than what the final margin suggests. But all things considered, Port Adelaide were unstoppable on the night in a good team effort that will push Geelong every step of the way next Saturday at the MCG in the 2007 AFL Grand Final.[/result]
I couldn't lose this weekend. I actually wanted both of my tips to be wrong. Either I'd get a point for the tip, or the team I wanted to win would win. Maybe, with there only being one game left, we should tip for the margin as well as the win, just in case of a tie at the top. Mind you, that could lead to a rash of "tactical tipping", with people tipping the score that'd give them the win, even if they didn't think it the most likely outcome. I just hope I can find a pub in Prague for next weekend that'll open early and show it.
Here it is... Myself and ScouseCat were the only ones to get both tips right. Everyone else taking part only got one. So here's the updated ladder, with just the Grand Final to go... ScouseCat -- 7 babytiger2001 -- 6 RichardL -- 6 Heathmyhero -- 6 mrsbabytiger2001 -- 5 Spartacus -- 4 bcwildcatjohn -- 4