Excitement is building ahead of the Round 21 clash between Port Melbourne and Geelong this weekend, when the top four will be decided. Kate Withers previews the crucial final round Channel 7 game.
Port Melbourne sits in fifth position on the ladder, and needs a win in the last home and away game of the season against the Cats at VU Whitten Oval in order to secure a double chance for finals.
A game behind in sixth, Geelong is aiming to end the double-chance hopes of the Borough, and take winning form into the finals. Both teams will return to the VFL Legendairy Final Series in 2016, after finishing outside of the top 8 in 2015.
The sides haven’t met since Round 6 last year, when Port Melbourne fended off Geelong in the goal-for-goal shootout to win by five points.
Jordan Lisle and Hugh Sandilands were instrumental up forward for Port in Round 6 last year, and stand as its leading goal-kickers for 2016 with 20 and 18 respectively.
Likewise, Timm House and Mitchell Clark have been solid for Geelong up forward this year, both sitting on 17 goals for the season.
Geelong has stamped itself as the best goalkicking team in the competition this year, recording a scoring accuracy of 61.9%.
The Cats again kicked their way out of trouble last week against Casey, running out 11-point winners with a five goal to nil final term.
Port was too strong for Frankston last week, running out 46-point victors. Billy Hogan scored four, while Blake Pearson and Jordan Lisle bagged three each.
Tom Atkins has featured in the best players roll ten times this season, and will likely wreak havoc in the midfield again this week.
Port’s Toby Pinwill will also attract a lot of attention from the Cats on Sunday, matching Atkins with ten appearances on the best on ground list for season 2016.
Port Melbourne take on Geelong this Sunday, August 28 at 11:40am at VU Whitten Oval.
Last Modified on 27/08/2016 23:48
