Tiger champ Dustin Martin marks despite the efforts of Mark Blicavs in last year’s preliminary final. Photo: AFL MEDIA

ST KILDA v WEST COAST (Gabba, Thursday 7.10pm local time)
If a week is a long time in football, as the old saying goes, then a fortnight must be an eternity – just ask West Coast. After their eighth win in a row against GWS in round 13, the Eagles were the hottest team in the AFL and installed as flag favourites by the bookies. Fast forward to round 17, and Adam Simpson’s side is in a rut again, as it was the last time it entered the Queensland hub. West Coast has lost two of its past three games, and it was made to earn its one victory in that period by Essendon. Compounding things for the fifth-placed Eagles are the losses of Dom Sheed (hamstring), Jack Redden (thumb), Brendon Ah Chee (finger), Lewis Jetta (calf) and Mark Hutchings (hamstring) to injury while Luke Shuey (hamstring), Elliot Yeo (groin) and Jamie Cripps (birth of child) remain unavailable. They do regain Nic Naitanui, Shannon Hurn and the forgotten speed machine Jack Petruccelle, but that is still a lot of key players missing – especially in such a crucial game against the sixth-placed Saints who could overtake West Coast with a win in this game. And win they should. St Kilda hasn’t been in sparkling form recently, but they pushed the Lions and Dees all the way before beating Hawthorn last round and with Max King, Tim Membrey and Nick Hind all back, the Saints are much closer to full strength than the Eagles are. This is a golden opportunity for Brett Ratten’s side.
RONNY’S TIP: St Kilda by 15 points.
ROCO’S TIP: St Kilda by 6 points.

GEELONG v RICHMOND (Metricon Stadium, Friday 7.50pm local time)
Whenever the top two favourites for the premiership, according to the bookmakers, meet each other so late in the home-and-away season, it’s always a special occasion. And this match promises to be no exception as the Cats and Tigers lock horns in a match-of-the-year contender, never mind match-of-the-round. This is also a crucial game for both clubs as the loser runs the risk of missing out on a top-four spot – especially Richmond, which is more vulnerable to being overtaken by the Eagles than is Geelong. There are so many mouth-watering individual match-ups in this clash, but the one we all want to see is Patrick Dangerfield v Dustin Martin head-to-head in the middle of the ground – wouldn’t that be something? Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see what kind of impact Richmond’s latest off-field drama will have on the team after Sydney Stack and Callum Coleman-Jones were both suspended for 10 games and kicked out of the Queensland hub for the most outrageous COVID protocol breaches the AFL has seen to date. The Tigers have managed to insulate their on-field performances from the circus their club has become this year, but for how long will they be able to do that? In better news, though, Dylan Grimes (hamstring) and Kane Lambert (hip) should both be available for selection, while Josh Caddy (hamstring) is an outside chance, too. Meanwhile the Cats are hoping to regain key trio Joel Selwood (knee), Zach Tuohy (chest) and Rhys Stanley (groin). As its percentage of 145.1 suggests, Geelong is the hottest team in the competition – it’s not just beating teams, it’s beating them up. The Cats have won their last six games by an average of 43 points, and while the Tigers have won their last four, they struggled to eventually overcome lowly Gold Coast, Essendon and Fremantle – although, they did beat West Coast impressively in that period. This is such a hard game in which to pick a winner, and although the Cats are going about their business in more ruthless fashion, this writer humbly believes Richmond is the best team in the competition. Coupled with its impressive recent record of four wins from its past five games against the Cats, you can expect it to rise to the challenge.
RONNY’S TIP: Richmond by 8 points.
ROCO’S TIP: Richmond by 10 points.

NORTH MELBOURNE v FREMANTLE (Metricon Stadium, Saturday 2.10pm local time)
You can’t accuse the Kangaroos of not having a crack last round against Port Adelaide, but in the end they just got overwhelmed and outclassed by a far superior team. Putting three or four quarters together has been North’s biggest challenge this year, and that’s why it has now lost 12 of its last 13 games and sits just a game clear of bottom-placed Adelaide. It’s an issue that will count against them this week as well. Fremantle has been one of the stories of the season, with rookie coach Justin Longmuir being viewed already as one of the coaches of the year. From their 0-4 start, the Dockers have now won six of their last 11 games and have the chance to draw level with Melbourne and/or Carlton by the end of the round. It’s been a hell of a turnaround. Freo play such a disciplined and structured game style under Longmuir, and with so many talented youngsters such as Adam Cerra, Andrew Brayshaw and Caleb Serong, a well-drilled backline and a superstar in Nat Fyfe to boot, they’ll be hard to stop.
RONNY’S TIP: Fremantle by 22 points.
ROCO’S TIP: Fremantle by 18 points.

PORT ADELAIDE v ESSENDON (Adelaide Oval, Saturday 4.35pm local time)
If it wasn’t already abundantly clear, then last Sunday’s insipid performance against Geelong put beyond any doubt that Essendon has well and truly put the cue in the rack. There haven’t been too many worse performances produced in 2020, and the sight of the Bombers all laughing and cracking jokes at half-time while trailing by 10 goals really tells you all you need to know about where they’re at mentally. Everything about their effort was embarrassing, and unfortunately for them, they now run into another flag fancy in ladder-leading Port Adelaide. With just one win from its last eight games, and its biggest scalp of the year to date being Collingwood, whichever way you look at it, it’s basically impossible to make a case for Essendon this week. The Power are one of the top teams in the competition and their tough, talent-laden midfield could make a mess of the Bombers’ engine room. Making matters worse for Essendon is that Port Adelaide is basically full strength, Zak Butters (suspension) and Ryan Burton (quad) aside. It all points towards another dirty day for the Bombers in yet another forgettable season.
RONNY’S TIP: Port Adelaide by 50 points.
ROCO’S TIP: Port Adelaide by 42 points.

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GWS v MELBOURNE (Gabba, Saturday 7.40pm local time)
Do either of these teams actually want to play finals footy? Their recent performances would certainly suggest not. Just a month after a shock loss to Sydney, the Giants (eighth) outdid themselves in round 16 when they lost to bottom-placed Adelaide – and let’s not forget, they also lost to North Melbourne in round two. Meanwhile, the Demons (10th) had a top-eight spot at their mercy last week, but in their last two games have lost to bottom-six sides Sydney and Fremantle. Suffice to say there’s a real Steven Bradbury feel to the race for eighth spot. Picking a winner in this game is absolute guesswork, but the Giants will be hoping to regain Josh Kelly (concussion) and while this is their first game at the Gabba for the year, they have won their last five at the venue, including one of the young club’s best wins in last year’s semi-final against Brisbane. So perhaps returning to a place with such great memories might spark something inside the misfiring, lacklustre, but very talented Giants, in what could turn out to be an unofficial elimination final. But this is a real flip-of-the-coin job, and Melbourne could easily pull out a performance out of nowhere akin to the one against St Kilda recently.
RONNY’S TIP: GWS by 7 points.
ROCO’S TIP: GWS by 16 points.

CARLTON v ADELAIDE (Metricon Stadium, Sunday 1.05pm local time)
After going over 12 months without a win, all of a sudden the Crows have strung together back-to-back victories against Hawthorn and GWS and the world doesn’t seem so bad anymore out at West Lakes. The next step for Matthew Nicks’ bottom team is to try and snaffle a win away from its home ground, and that might be a task too difficult to achieve at this point, especially coming up against a side still alive in the finals race. The Blues are becoming the close-game specialists, with their record in games decided by less than a goal this year improving to 4-2 after their fantastic come-from-behind victory over Sydney. The road to October remains treacherous for the Blues, but they still have a pulse, and where there’s life, there’s hope. And after the manner in which they capitulated recently to Collingwood and GWS with their finals hopes on the line, you’d think they would want to avoid a similar fate against the Crows – especially when you consider how close they came to repeating the dose against Sydney. The absence of Jack Martin (calf) is a blow for Carlton, but it’s been almost 14 months since Adelaide triumphed away from home, and that drought will probably continue this week despite its recent upturn in form.
RONNY’S TIP: Carlton by 21 points.
ROCO’S TIP: Carlton by 14 points.

HAWTHORN v WESTERN BULLDOGS (Adelaide Oval, Sunday 3.05pm local time)
The Hawks were better last week but still fell short against the Saints, and they’ve now lost 10 of their last 11 games, including their last six in a row, something they haven’t done in the same season for 10 years. The loss of James Worpel (AC joint) just adds salt to Hawthorn’s wound as its injury list continues to swell. So having said all that, the Doggies have no excuses here. Not only are they a superior team to Hawthorn, but with Easton Wood (hamstring) pressing for a return, they’re basically at full strength. Luke Beveridge’s side was gallant in victory against West Coast last round, and if it produces a first quarter similar to the one it did against Geelong a couple of games ago, the Hawks will stand little chance of stopping the Dogs from beating them twice in a row for the first time in a decade.
RONNY’S TIP: Western Bulldogs by 30 points.
ROCO’S TIP: Western Bulldogs by 32 points.

SYDNEY v BRISBANE (Cairns, Sunday 6.10pm local time)
The Swans are defying their huge injury list to finish the season positively, with wins over GWS and Melbourne in recent times particularly commendable. However, the young side had to swallow a bitter pill earlier this week as it squandered a 39-point lead to lose to Carlton in a thriller. It was a golden opportunity for one last win for 2020 but the Swans blew it, and with the Lions and Cats to come, John Longmire’s side will almost certainly finish up on five victories. After chugging along in recent weeks despite still winning, Brisbane returned to its best on Wednesday night to claim Q-Clash 19 in emphatic fashion against the Suns to extend its winning streak to five games. The second-placed Lions are playing for a top-two spot, a double chance and two home finals (which could become three if they make the grand final) – an enormous luxury in a year like this given so many other teams have had to play on the road for most of the season. You can expect Sydney to have a crack, but its efforts will be in vain against one of the premiership threats, which has only dropped three games so far this year.
RONNY’S TIP: Brisbane by 22 points.
ROCO’S TIP: Brisbane by 30 points.

COLLINGWOOD v GOLD COAST (Gabba, Monday 7.10pm local time)
After scoring the fourth-biggest win in their history against North Melbourne in round 14, the Suns came back to earth with a thud thanks to Brisbane, as yet another season which started with so much promise looks set to end in familiar fashion. The expansion club has only won one of its last eight matches, and while you’d have to say season 2020 has been a pass mark for Stuart Dew’s team given where it’s come from, it would probably like to win more than five games. The Suns could snag a sixth victory against Hawthorn in round 18, but they’d be less likely to do so against Collingwood. Despite battling a huge injury toll all year, the Magpies have done a reasonably good job of holding things together and staying inside the top eight. But they’re only two points clear of the ninth-placed Western Bulldogs with two games to go, so a finals spot is still far from secured. Collingwood simply must beat Gold Coast otherwise it runs the risk of slipping out of the top eight at the final hurdle, with Port Adelaide its final opponent. And despite still being undermanned, the Magpies, with a 10-day break compared to Gold Coast’s five-day break, are still more than capable of getting the job done.
RONNY’S TIP: Collingwood by 11 points.
ROCO’S TIP: Collingwood by 28 points.

RONNY’S SEASON TOTAL: 90
ROCO’S SEASON TOTAL: 95