2020 AFL season: Round 18 preview
Adelaide Crows vs RichmondWhile the Tigers are widely expected to win, the Crows have won their last three games to give themselves a chance to avoid the wooden spoon.
In recent weeks, Matthew Nicks’ men have beaten Hawthorn, the Giants and Carlton to join North on three wins for the season, and could yet finish in 17th place should North Melbourne upset West Coast on Thursday night.
Otherwise, the Crows would have to thrash Richmond by a large margin – and that too is dependent on how much the Roos lose to the Eagles by – to avoid the embarrassment of finishing last in their 30th AFL season.
Realistically though, the Tigers will be looking to wrap up third place, with the expectation that they’ll be fourth on game day as the Eagles will start favourites to beat the Roos.
A win would then see them either ‘stay home’ and face Brisbane in a qualifying final, which would be a repeat of the corresponding final last year, or face another trip to the Oval to face Port Adelaide, to whom they lost by 21 points in Round 11.
Last week, the Tigers produced a strong defensive effort to restrict Geelong to only one goal in the first three-quarters, eventually winning by 26 points to retain their place in the top four.
Meantime, the Crows produced their best first-half of the season, thrashing Carlton into submission and eventually winning by 16 points to reignite interest in the battle for the wooden spoon.
While the men from West Lakes would love to finish their season on a high, and potentially hand the wooden spoon to the Kangaroos, it would be wise not to predict against the Tigers.
Prediction: Richmond by 14 points.
https://www.theroar.com.au/2020/09/17/2020-afl-season-round-18-preview/
