The two titans of the league’s opening decade face-off in the business end of the season yet again.
But the gap between them has never been this stark before. The Defenestrators are coming in off wins against 1st, 2nd and 4th. They are the hot team in the league, peaking at the perfect time.
The Chiefs are playing finals when they had no intention of doing so. The Vipers started horribly and couldn’t make up ground, and Threat Level Midnight kept tripping over themselves. The Chiefs won the spoils as a result, and their reward is the chance to pull off an almighty upset.
FORM GUIDE
Doesn’t bode well for the Chiefs.
But what’s that? Round 18 is awfully interesting. That offers some hope!
Indeed the first three rounds of this trend offer some hope for the Chiefs. The Defenestrators have been sublime over the last 3 weeks. But before that they had some rough weeks. They can be got.
Last time they met…
The Defenestrators emerged victorious by 114 points, with Nic Newman, Jack Sinclair and Sam Walsh all scoring above 130 points – helping to cancel out the four sub-50 scores they also had on the field that weekend.
The Chiefs got great scores from Blakey, Ainsworth and Marshall – of course – but it wasn’t enough. Especially with 5 scores of their own below 50.
It was the 5th straight win for the Defenestrators over the Chiefs, and they hold a handy lead historically as a result of that streak, with 13 wins to 7.
Path to Victory
This game is the Defenestrators’ to lose. And they shouldn’t.
Newly minted DangerGawn Medallist Rowan Marshall came home like a freight train in that race, and and you can bet hopes will be pinned on the St Kilda ruck this weekend. He needs to be best on ground.
The Giants play Brisbane up at the Gabba, and as it stands the Defenestrators look likely to field at least 6 of them this weekend. A low scoring encounter would be a massive help to their Chiefs’ cause.
It only takes a donut or unexpected subbing to make things interesting real quick. This Defenestrators outfit isn’t dissimilar to the one that dropped a 1569 back in round 18. Gawn is back and that obviously helps a lot, but the rest of the 22 isn’t all that different. They didn’t have a single player hit triple figures that weekend. Point is – disasters happen (believe me!), and you can’t predict when. It would be a bold person to predict the Chiefs advancing here. But some people are awfully bold.
Not me though I’m tipping the Defenestrators.