Bulldog skipper Marcus Bontempelli wheels away from Swan Luke Parker in the Dogs’ Round 3 win. Photo: GETTY IMAGES

GEELONG v MELBOURNE (Kardinia Park, Thursday 7.20pm local time)
There is more than a sense of deja vu about this contest. A top-of-the-table clash between Melbourne and Geelong down at the Cattery. And like their Round 23 encounter last year, the Demons are first, and the Cats are second. Does that mean Max Gawn will kick the winning goal after the siren again? Well, there’s a chance of that happening too because the Melbourne captain will return from his ankle injury, along with protege Luke Jackson (knee). Geelong has also regained a pair of key players in Joel Selwood and Sam De Koning. This promises to be an epic game with mouth-watering individual match-ups all over the park – May and Lever v Hawkins and Cameron, Petracca and Oliver v Selwood and Dangerfield, De Koning and Henry v Ben Brown and Fritsch, the list goes on and on. Geelong heads into this clash on the back of a six-game winning streak, highlighted by its memorable win over Richmond, while Melbourne appears to be back on track after its mid-season wobble with back-to-back wins, including a smashing of fellow heavyweight Brisbane. Importantly for the Demons, in the past fortnight their attacking potency is back, as is their defensive stinginess. And it’s no coincidence that those two areas have both sharply improved since May returned. The band is back together for Melbourne, and while Geelong is a worthy adversary, the Demons are returning to full power at the right time of the year.
RONNY’S TIP: Melbourne by 10 points.
ROCO’S TIP: Geelong by 2 points.

SYDNEY v WESTERN BULLDOGS (SCG, Friday 7.50pm local time)
Two of the most frustrating teams of 2022 fittingly go head-to-head in a mid-ladder scrap as they attempt to strengthen their respective footholds in the finals race. With wins over Melbourne, Geelong, Richmond and St Kilda this year, the Swans have looked like premiership contenders, but they’ve undone a lot of their good work with disappointing losses to Port Adelaide, Gold Coast and, most recently, the bottom-three Bombers. Similarly, the Dogs have occasionally suggested they look like the legitimate article with wins over Sydney and Collingwood, but losses to Adelaide and Port Adelaide have been deflating. The Dogs’ inability to take down a top side has also conspired against them, with losses to Melbourne, Geelong, Brisbane, Carlton, and even Richmond, providing clear evidence that they just aren’t a legitimate flag threat this year. However, they are only a game behind eighth-placed Sydney, so still have finals footy in their sights. The returns of Tim English and Ed Richards from concussion will serve as a huge boost. Both of these teams have a terrible habit of leaking big clumps of goals to the opposition, but at the SCG, where the Swans have a much better record this year (5-2), the Dogs are going to find it tough.
RONNY’S TIP: Sydney by 14 points.
ROCO’S TIP: Sydney by 10 points.

COLLINGWOOD v NORTH MELBOURNE (MCG, Saturday 1.45pm local time)
The Magpies are shaping up as the story of the year. While Fremantle and Carlton have definitely taken the AFL by surprise, there were always suggestions throughout the summer that both teams had the tools at their disposal to mount a push up the ladder. Whereas with the Pies, nobody gave them any hope of playing finals this year. Yet here they are, riding a six-game winning streak under rookie coach Craig McRae to sit sixth on the ladder, and that stretch could easily extend to 10 matches with bottom-10 sides North Melbourne, Adelaide, Essendon and Port Adelaide to come in their next four weeks. Collingwood has all but guaranteed itself a spot in the top eight considering it probably only needs two more victories. And McRae’s men will get a nice percentage booster this week against a team that has lost its last 13 games by an average of 63 points. Make no mistake, the Kangaroos are in the conversation with 1996 Fitzroy as the worst VFL/AFL team of all time. They’re a mess both on and off field and stand no chance against the exuberant Magpies.
RONNY’S TIP: Collingwood by 55 points.
ROCO’S TIP: Collingwood by 60 points.

GOLD COAST v RICHMOND (Metricon Stadium, Saturday 4.35pm local time)
How different this game could’ve been had the Suns franked their impressive form turnaround by pinching at least one of their last two games. But alas, they lost to the Power and Magpies by a combined seven points, all but ending their finals hopes. The last game against Collingwood was particularly gut-wrenching – they should never have lost that after they found themselves 14 points up in the final quarter of what was a low-scoring match. And now they’re up against a Richmond outfit desperate to tighten its grip on a top-eight spot. The Tigers should welcome back Dion Prestia (concussion) while the Suns copped another blow to their backline with Connor Budarick rupturing his ACL for the second time. Gold Coast has proven it is no pushover anymore, but Richmond surely won’t drop this one.
RONNY’S TIP: Richmond by 19 points.
ROCO’S TIP: Richmond by 6 points.

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ST KILDA v FREMANTLE (Marvel Stadium, Saturday 7.25pm local time)
The Saints breathed new life into their season last week with an unexpected and gutsy victory over top-four chasing Carlton. It was a timely result given they had lost their previous three matches and looked destined to drop down the ladder like a stone. But the result came at a cost with defenders Dougal Howard (knee) and Hunter Clark (nose) both ruled out this week. Fremantle still finds itself inside the top four on the back of a solid five-week period, but returns to the scene of its very disappointing performance against Carlton a few weeks ago. The Dockers had been so good and reliable for majority of the season up until that point, they certainly have something to prove this time around by righting the wrongs of that loss to the Blues at this very stadium. They’re still nutting out life with Nat Fyfe back in the line-up, and narrowly avoided a disastrous come-from-behind loss to Port Adelaide last week. The Saints’ pressure and stoppage work was fantastic last week, but was it a one-off or is it here to stay? That is the question. Fremantle has been a bit wobbly recently, but its form line has been a lot more stable.
RONNY’S TIP: Fremantle by 8 points.
ROCO’S TIP: St Kilda by 4 points.

PORT ADELAIDE v GWS (Adelaide Oval, Saturday 7pm local time)
Like the Suns, the Power’s finals hopes have probably been dealt a blow from which they won’t be able to recover. However, they’re still playing good footy and, as Sydney found out a couple of weeks ago, travelling to Adelaide to beat them is no easy feat. And when you’re a team that has only managed five wins to this stage of the year, that task is even greater. The Giants’ victories have all been against teams below or around them in 2022, so mounting a case for them to upset Port Adelaide on its home deck is hard to do. And with Zak Butters (knee), Dan Houston (leg), Xavier Duursma (quad) and Trent Dumont (calf) all potentially available this weekend, the Power should be too strong.
RONNY’S TIP: Port Adelaide by 27 points.
ROCO’S TIP: Port Adelaide by 22 points.

BRISBANE v ESSENDON (Gabba, Sunday 1.10pm local time)
Perhaps unburdened without the pressure of being in the finals mix, the Bombers have definitely looked like a sharper team in the last three weeks. Their pressure and their quick ball movement have been features and it finally looks as though the coaching staff is allowing the team to play its natural game by accentuating its strengths. Having said all of that, they now face their biggest challenge since the opening stages of the year when they copped Geelong, Brisbane and Melbourne all in the space of three weeks. The Lions at the Gabba is one of the toughest road trips in footy, and even though Dayne Zorko and Daniel Rich are both unavailable due to hamstring issues, they will still have more than enough firepower to deal with Essendon.
RONNY’S TIP: Brisbane by 33 points.
ROCO’S TIP: Brisbane by 32 points.

HAWTHORN v ADELAIDE (Marvel Stadium, Sunday 3.20pm local time)
After showing promise in the first half of the year, the Hawks’ season is spiralling out of control now with five losses on the trot sinking them into the bottom four. But they have a real opportunity in the next three weeks to add some respectability to their 4-11 scoreline with games against Adelaide, West Coast and North Melbourne. The Crows were impressive against Melbourne last week, but just lacked enough polish and class to cause an upset. Hawthorn was competitive against GWS, but fell away in the second half. This might seem like a golden opportunity for the Hawks to nab a rare victory, but the same can easily be said for the Crows whose recent form hasn’t been too shabby.
RONNY’S TIP: Adelaide by 4 points.
ROCO’S TIP: Adelaide by 8 points.

WEST COAST v CARLTON (Optus Stadium, Sunday 2.40pm local time)
Despite losing to Richmond last week by six goals in the end, West Coast again showed for decent portions of the game that it will be a vastly different team from now on to the one that was atrocious in the first half of the year. The Eagles have put together their best month of footy this year, and are averaging 100 points in their past two games. But as is customary for them in 2022, they’ve copped yet another injury, and this time Elliot Yeo heads back to the sidelines with a hamstring injury. After making a blistering 8-2 start to the year, the Blues are now experiencing a rough patch with only two wins from their past three games ensuring they find themselves in a real battle for a top-four spot. But with Jacob Weitering (shoulder), Jack Martin (calf) and Matt Owies (calf) all potentially returning this week, Carlton should be able to leave Perth with the four points.
RONNY’S TIP: Carlton by 22 points.
ROCO’S TIP: Carlton by 16 points.

RONNY’S SEASON TOTAL: 93
ROCO’S SEASON TOTAL: 96