The AFL finals are here!
The matchups are set and the premier will be decided in the next month.
David King has given his flinch thoughts on all eight finalists heading into September.
Essendon
“They’ve got a great understanding of who they are. They’ve tailored a game that suits all parties,” King told SEN’s Whateley.
“Their midfield is on fire. Jake Stringer could have five moments in this game that all go on the scoreboard and could separate the game.
“He’s the number one centre bounce player in the competition right now and if you don’t design to deny Jake, you’ll pay a price.
“He could contribute to five goals from centre bounce himself. That’s the threat this guy is now.”
GWS Giants
“Another team that’s shifted their identity over the last 12 to 18 months.”
“They’re no longer a ball team. They’ve never been a great defensive team in terms of denying you moving the ball.
“They’ve got one of the best defensive 50s in the competition right now. Sam Taylor is a superstar. He defeats the best the opposition has got in the forward half and then continues to intercept the ball. They just hold up defensively and it’s all D50.
“You can move the ball against the Giants, but scoring is the end point and they stop you at the final hurdle.
“Then they’ve got Toby Greene at centre half-forward who could do absolutely anything.
“They’ve got a midfield led by Callan Ward, who’s in serious form now. He plays a brutal brand of footy and challenges Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper to come with him.
“They’re going to bash the Swans. Whether it’s enough, I don’t know. Whether they can score enough, I don’t know.”
Sydney
“The Swans do it on ball movement. The Giants don’t really defend ball movement. So they’ll be able to move the ball, it’s just when they get (inside 50) near the Taylor zone and can you get through him.”
“If you’re a believer in the beautiful game and ball movement and denying ball movement, they’re a great pressure team.
“They’re the old Sydney Swans in some of their mannerisms now and their traits. They’re high pressure, always in your face, they take the energy out of you and the will out of you to run.
“They’ve lost Callum Mills and Josh Kennedy out of that midfield and they’ve lost Nick Blakey off half-back.
“It’s the end of a really good campaign for me. They might win week one, I can’t see them getting beyond week two, but what we’ve seen this year makes me think next year is going to be quite special.”
Western Bulldogs
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Brisbane
“It might just be one of those stories that we look back on and go ‘they were gone, they were out of the four, you can’t win it from out of the four’.”
“They’re a bit of a mix. They’re the sum of all parts if you like. They’re a good clearance team. They’re not dominant, they’re top four or five in the comp.
“They’re a very good ball movement team. There’s a guy at half-back, Daniel Rich, if you let him run he will take the game away from you. He’s been allowed some scope lately.
“I don’t think he’ll get that freedom next week to deliver the ball virtually wherever he wants inside 50.
“They are a slow back-half. If you can get the ball moving against them, you can have some fun.
“They’re not great at defending the opposition’s ball movement because of their lack of speed, but what they do with the ball is pretty bloody good.”
Geelong
“They’re the unique beast of the lot. They disarm you. ‘We’re happy for the game to live in contest because we’ve got the big bodies and we’re going to bash you’.”
“The game stops and they reload Patrick Dangerfield and they crank him up again and he bursts from stoppage and if he doesn’t get you then Joel Selwood does and if he doesn’t then Cam Guthrie does.
“I don’t know where they’re at with Mitch Duncan and whether he makes an appearance or not, but let’s just say he doesn’t.
“That midfield is super strong. Super tough. And we saw it in the first half on Saturday night.
“Then they slow the game down. They get their hands on the ball and slow down. No cost on turnover.
“60 plus per cent of scoring comes from turnover. They say ‘you’re not going to get 10 goals’. The max you’re going to get is five.
“Melbourne scored five goals from turnover on them. Five goals. It’s meant to be 60 per cent of your scoring.
“They just don’t allow you to score the normal way. In a lot of ways, they make you write left handed.”
Port Adelaide
“They’re an awkward one to get a read on. Their team has been all over the place through injury, not form. The key components have been pretty good all year.”
“Their forward line is interesting. They went small, then they went tall and now we’re starting to see what it can look like.
“I worry if they get stuck in their back half how they will move the ball. The strategy of kicking out every time to the wing line of the centre square will be worked out by the better teams and the better coaches, you won’t get away with that.
“Can they move the ball when they lose momentum, that’s a scare for me. Again when the game stops, Ollie Wines is the biggest midfielder we’ve got and he is in some serious form.
“They’ve got Karl Amon who I think is going to be a superstar and these strike forwards back.
“I’m worried probably about their ball movement, I think you can move the ball against them.
“It’s a bad matchup for Aliir Aliir this week versus Jeremy Cameron, we’ve seen that movie and Jeremy runs a lot better than Aliir. He won’t be able to stand and deliver intercept mark the way Geelong plays.”
Melbourne
“The Dees, the great deniers. They just don’t let you do anything.”
“They would have been horrified in that five minutes where they coughed up four goals in the second quarter on Saturday night.
“To be able to regather and have your leaders go crazy, Clayton Oliver could be the Brownlow Medallist, Christian Petracca had a poor game and they still found a way.
“When their clearance game is on, they can handle being outnumbered through that brutality.
“I don’t know whether James Harmes and Jack Viney together in that midfield is one too many of that type of player. There’s a balance issue there.
“Their whole game is designed around making it difficult for you to play against them and I like that.”