Semi-Final Preview: 1 Down, 3 to Go

To glory that is.

Of course it won't be easy, but we go into Saturday night's game full of confidence. Our form is great: we have won 4 of our past 5 games. We absolutely obliterated a Jolly-less Magpies team in Round 22. The Pies, on the other hand, have lost 3 of their last 4 with their only win coming against a lame duck Bombers outfit in Round 23 and they barely won.

Of course, it's at the MCG, where we have traditionally struggled (we lost both games there this year) and the Pies have the additions of Jolly and Krakouer since our last meeting.You would imagine we wouldn't be able to dominate the ruck contest/clearance situation like we did in Round 22.

However, we should take confidence from the fact that the game we lost to Collingwood earlier in the year at the G was really anybody's game. We held our own at a time when Collingwood had won 8 in a row. To my surprise, the midfield really played well against the (fat) stars of the Pies. A bounce here or there and that foolish freak Joffa would've burned his ridiculous gold jacket in disgust.

Collingwood
B: Chris Tarrant, Heritier O'Brien, Nathan Brown
HB: Ben Johnson, Ben Reid, Tyson Goldsack
C: Sharrod Wellingham, Dane Swan, Alan Toovey
HF: Scott Pendlebury, Chris Dawes, Heath Shaw
F: Dale Thomas, Travis Cloke, Jamie Elliott
Foll: Darren Jolly, Steele Sidebottom, Dayne Beams
I/C: Alan Didak, Jarryd Blair, Andrew Krakouer, Alex Fasolo
Emg: Martin Clarke, Ben Sinclair, Paul Seedsman
In: Tyson Goldsack, Jamie Elliott
Out: Nick Maxwell (Suspension), Ben Sinclair

West Coast Eagles
B: Jacob Brennan, Darren Glass, Adam Selwood
HB: Shannon Hurn, Eric Mackenzie, Will Schofield
C: Daniel Kerr, Matthew Priddis, Matthew Rosa
HF: Quinten Lynch, Jack Darling, Chris Masten
F: Andrew Embley, Josh Kennedy, Nic Naitanui
Foll: Dean Cox, Scott Selwood, Luke Shuey
I/C: Sam Butler, Patrick McGinnity, Andrew Gaff, Josh Hill
Emg: Mitch Brown, Lewis Stevenson, Andrew Strijk
In: Matthew Rosa
Out: Beau Waters (Foot)

The Waters loss is huge but the Rosa addition is handy. I really think this game is winnable and I think we will prevail. The Pies have clearly lost something this year. Call it Malthouse, Swan's ability to stay off the grog for 10 minutes (and Big Macs of course), or Cloke's sense of 'team',  but they don't have the same swagger this year. 

To win a final against Collingwood at the MCG would be epic. I still haven't forgotten the terrible pain caused by their victory in overtime against us in the 07 Semi. 

We went out of the finals in straight sets. Time to repay the favour.

GO EAGLES GOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! 

P.S Plus, imagine McGuire's face when they lose. Priceless.