Collingwood Magpies v Carlton Blues
AFL Aussie Rules : Australia : AFL Premiership
Venue : Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Melbourne
Saturday, 31st July 2010 - Start 14:10 AEST

---

This is critical for both sides. The Pies need a win to stay on top of the table and the Blues want to find some from and consolidate a spot in the lower end of the top 8.

On form this is easy to predict and given the game is at the MCG it appears likely that the Pies will get a win. However this is the biggest and longest running rivalry in the AFL and the Blues will be fired up.

Collingwood Magpies (1st, 13-3-1)

The Pies have been lighting up the competition with their high scoring fast paced nature of play. On their favourite surface, the MCG, the Pies play the ball wide and really wear teams out.

Collingwood's ball use is as good as anyone in the league and with a good coach they appear to have the goods to go all the way this season. A game like this should not concern the Pies and it will be an indicator of how good they are.

The defensive side of the Magpies defence can be linked with two players. Simon Prestigiacomo is a veteran who is still at the very top of his game and his ability to stick to forwards like glue makes their days very tough. Ben Reid is the other, and he has come along rapidly this season after failing as a forward and is know a respected back in the league.

The offensive defenders are aplenty for Collingwood too. Harry O’Brien and Alan Toovey use the ball exceptionally well and their ferocious attacks on the ball mean not too much gets past them.

The Pies biggest strength is clearly their centreline. With only a couple of proper midfielders in Dane Swan and Scott Pendlebury, Collingwood is complemented by the rotations such as Jarryd Blair, Dayne Beams, Dale Thomas and Luke Ball just to name a few.

The benefit of these names is that they can all go forward and kick goals and have done some many times this season. With a few names in the reserves or injured the fight for a spot in the Magpies best 22 is so fierce that you can expect nothing less than 100 percent every week from now on in.

Up forward the Pies are without Travis Cloke for another week through suspension but I don’t think it will concern them too much. The big targets are Chris Dawes and Leigh Brown. Brown was much maligned at his old club, and I still don’t respect him but as a player for the Pies he is certainly getting the job done this year. The smaller guys such as Steele Sidebottom and Alan Didak will also be influential inside the 50m arc and if they kick multiples you know the Pies are really on top.

Carlton Blues (7th, 9-8)

The Blues went across to Perth needing a win and they achieved their
mission even though they failed to impress before half time. This week sees a much greater challenge but a similar aim is set by the Blues as they attempt to cause a serious upset against their bitter rivals, Collingwood. The biggest problem will be curbing the scoring of the Pies and because of this I feel Carlton will really struggle.

Down back the Carlton side have a defence that does not appear able to stop many teams from scoring 100 points let alone Collingwood, who have been putting 120 on teams for fun in recent weeks. Michael Jamison and Paul Bower will have very difficult tasks as the ball comes in so cleanly from the Pie midfield that the defenders don’t get much of a chance to stop the goals.

I really see Carlton's defense struggling this week and this is the main basis for the bet. The contrast between the Collingwood attack and Carlton defence is at least 6-8 goals.

The midfield was good for Carlton following half time last week in Perth. Led by Marc Murphy and Chris Judd the Blues dominated the clearances and used the ball very well. The challenge will be great on Saturday when they face a Pie midfield that refuses to tire and can dominate a game for 120 minutes. Murphy and Judd will need some serious assistance this week from the likes of Andrew Walker and Shaun Grigg if they are to get anywhere near the Pies.

Last week it was Jeff Garlett and Eddie Betts that chimed in with 3 each and this week they must repeat the dose. There does not appear to be many other options for the Blues who have struggled going into 50 the last few weeks. Even though they came better last week we must consider the poor defence they played against. This week the Blues face a strong defence and it is hard to see them posting a score above 85 or thereabouts.

The Betting Tip

Pies to win this and stay at the top of the table

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Collingwood to win by 16 or over on the Tribet at Centrebet. Odds are 1.41

(High Stakes - Bet of the Week)