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AFL Round 3: Early contenders, rivalries ignite, statements begin · WCBH

• 0:44
  Joining me once again to talk AFL is Jono. Jono, round three this weekend.
• 0:50
  Round three this weekend, Cam, and I suppose we don't find it hard to believe.
• 0:55
  We've still got a couple of teams having a bye this weekend,
• 0:57
  so we've only got another seven games.
• 0:59
  But yes, that's another story. It just does not feel like the footy season's
• 1:03
  really kicked into gear thus far.
• 1:05
  Before we get into last weekend's results, let's just talk about those byes.
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  In rugby league when you have a bye and
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  we get two points for a win in rugby league
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  when you have a bye you get two points yes do you get any points in afl no once
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  upon a time when boys were probably more so common when there was obviously
• 1:28
  an odd number of teams or local footy an odd number of teams you would get the two points,
• 1:35
  as you would with a draw. But, no, sorry, you get four points, counts as a win.
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  But now, yeah, zero. So.
• 1:44
  I find that very confusing that you don't get any points for a buy and then
• 1:48
  you've got to sort of factor in how many buys have you had, et cetera.
• 1:52
  And this is, when you sit the ladder, you have to look at how many teams,
• 1:57
  how many games teams have played to determine where they actually should be on the ladder.
• 2:01
  So it is a bit confusing. It's not until later on in the season and when everyone's
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  completed all their buys, it might be up to around 14 or 15 thereabouts where
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  everyone's played the same amount
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  of games and actually it looks normal or what we know as being normal.
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  So it is a bit confusing. It is. Let's go through last weekend's results.
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  The Hawks over the Swans.
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  Yeah, Hawks defeated the Swans by 17 points at the G. Jack Gunston, the veteran.
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  All Australian last year, which was phenomenal. He kicked four and Dylan Moore kicked three.
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  The Hawks were just a bit too strong in the end for the Swans.
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  And, yeah, they might have their season clicking into gear.
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  The Bulldogs travelled to Adelaide and were six-point winners over the Crows.
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  Great win from the Doggies. And they're right up there with your Suns' premiership
• 2:47
  favourites at the moment.
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  The Crows, who I did mention last week, were my pick.
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  I actually picked them to beat the Dogs, and they're also my pick for the flag.
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  They were close, but they just couldn't get it done towards the end.
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  Marcus Bontopelli, again, sensational with 30 possessions and a goal.
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  The Suns, they had a big win, 68-point winners over the Tigers.
• 3:06
  That was up on the Gold Coast.
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  No, at the MCG camp, they won six. Oh, was it? At Ben King, your big key forward,
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  kick seven, and young fella Ethan Reid, four.
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  But the big talking point out of that game was your man, Christian Petrarca,
• 3:20
  who tore his hamstring and he'll miss the next four to six weeks.
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  And we did make mention last week, he's probably sitting on six Brownlow votes
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  after the first two rounds. So it's a big loss for the Suns, the new recruit.
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  Well, two things there. That is, one, a massive injury. But number two,
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  the Suns proving that they can travel to the G and win and win well.
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  Yeah, that is a big tick. And I think I might have been incorrect in saying
• 3:44
  that I thought the Tigers might have caused an upset, but that was far from happening, wasn't it?
• 3:49
  It's still early rounds. It's really difficult to pick at this stage. How about this one?
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  St Kilda finally get on the board this season, a four-point victory over GWS.
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  Yeah, they've got the train running in the right direction over the Giants by four points.
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  Lockie Ash, 39 possessions. and the talking point coming out of this one,
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  Cam, the time clock stopped at one stage during the second quarter and it actually
• 4:14
  cost the game 29 seconds.
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  Now, the Giants coach has come out and said that it didn't have a bearing or
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  an impact on the game, but I'm sure the Giants would have loved another 29 seconds
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  at the end of the game when it was four points to the margin.
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  Oh, I did see the end of that game and the ball was in possession with GWS and
• 4:34
  they were bringing it down the field, an extra 29 seconds, they might have got away with that one.
• 4:39
  Most definitely. But, yeah, I think he was right in saying, well,
• 4:44
  they had plenty of time throughout the match to get the win and that was the difference in the end.
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  Isn't that nice to hear a coach actually just be circumspect and diplomatic about it rather than...
• 4:56
  Yeah, and blame the time clock for all the errors that they made during the
• 5:00
  game. Exactly. Dockers 118 over the Demons 17?
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  Yeah, they did it comfortably in the end for our home. They're going to be a
• 5:07
  force over in Perth this year, up to Stadium.
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  Josh Tracy kicked four, Isaiah Dudley three.
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  And the Demons, they chose to tag Caleb Sorong, and they kept him to a very
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  quiet evening of 16 possessions. But as a consequence, Angus Brayshaw got off
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  the leash He had 39 possessions. He was a dominant player on the ground.
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  So that poses another question of clubs, do they tag a star player to take them
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  out of the game to let others off the leash?
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  Yeah, it's a coaching tactic that we'll follow closely this year, I think.
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  The power they clicked, and they clicked well against the Bombers, 133 over the Bombers 70.
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  They certainly did, 63-point margin after their debacle in round one against the Kangas.
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  They did bounce back. Big question mark over the Bombers. Two or consecutive
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  10-goal losses to open their season.
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  Jason Orman-Francis kicked three goals in the first quarter to sort of set up the game.
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  He actually then dropped a mark. He could have kicked four on the trot in the first quarter.
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  But, yeah, she was all over it quarter time on Sunday for the poor old Bombers.
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  And, yeah, I just can't see.
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  They play North, which we'll talk about shortly, but I'm not sure where their
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  first win is going to come from, the Bombers.
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  Yeah, languishing at the bottom of the table. at the moment as the Bombers and to speak of North,
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  I back them to travel to the West and get a win but it wasn't to be you picked
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  it from the previous week with the strong showing of the Eagles against the
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  Suns they picked up their first win against the Kangaroos.
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  Well halfway through the second quarter Cam I was eating my words because the
• 6:44
  Kangaroos were five goals up and.
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  There's a 10-goal turnaround in this game. And then I turned the...
• 6:50
  I didn't watch a lot of it, but I turned the tally back on an hour or so later
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  and West Coast had five goals up.
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  And I'm like, what has gone on here? But anyway...
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  The Kangas came back, kicked a couple late, and the margin was 17 points in
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  the end with the new captain of the Roos, Nick Larkey, kicking six.
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  So sitting on the pine last weekend, the Lions, the Blues, the Magpies, and your cats.
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  Yes, and my cats are on tonight, which we'll talk about now.
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  We will. So having a look at the ladder, Suns up the top.
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  What have we got? Suns and Bulldogs are both undefeated, and right down the
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  bottom of the ladder, teams yet to record a win, the Lions, the Tigers, and the Bombers.
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  Let's get into round three. Who opens the round for us tonight?
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  We've got the Cats and the Crows at Canina Park. And interesting enough,
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  the Crows haven't won here in Geelong in 23 years.
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  So in saying that, there's a
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  couple of years they probably didn't travel here, but that's a long time.
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  Geelong are very difficult to win or to defeat on their home ground.
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  A couple of changes for tonight's game. Cam, Brock Close, who,
• 7:57
  for the Cats, he's played 53 straight games since his debut has been dropped,
• 8:02
  and he'll go back to the twos.
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  And Patrick Dangerfield, the captain, also misses a calf injury.
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  But there's four big key outs for the Crows.
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  Rory Laird's done a calf. Their captain, Dawson, has done a calf.
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  Taylor Walker's being managed, the old bones. They're not bringing him down
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  to Geelong for the evening. And Callum Archie, the new recruit from Brisbane, did a hammy last week.
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  So I would have thrown Adelaide in the mix to beach along down here tonight.
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  It's actually raining and cold. It's wintry conditions.
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  But now with those four missing for the Crows, they're four key players.
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  I'm going to have to tip the Cats at home.
• 8:38
  Yeah, I'm going to back your Cats in on that one there. Magpies up against GWS.
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  Magpies, they had the bye last weekend. GWS, they had a loss.
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  How are you seeing this one?
• 8:48
  I think the Pies win. It's at Marvel Stadium, which is...
• 8:53
  You know, there's a lot that are being thrown at Collingwood because they play
• 8:56
  probably 75% of their games at the MCG and they don't travel all that far too often.
• 9:02
  But they're playing at Marvel Stadium, which is just down the road.
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  So it would seem as though it's a little bit of an away game for the Pies.
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  They're fortunate to have Captain Darcy Moore back and Jeremy Howe,
• 9:13
  another key defender, which they've been lacking the last few weeks with Tulls in defence.
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  So that'll really strengthen up their back half.
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  And purely on the back of those two veterans coming back into the side,
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  I'm going to tip the Pies to beat the Giants.
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  And the Giants, they'll be in trouble if they drop this game.
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  They certainly will. I'm going to tip the Magpies there as well.
• 9:35
  Paco was pretty happy last weekend because St Kilda got a win.
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  And this time, this week, they take on the Lions, who are yet to record a win.
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  Yeah, the Lions are yet to record a win. And they are favourites going into
• 9:47
  this game at this stage. The teams aren't out as yet. They were missing some key players last week.
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  So it'll be interesting to see what side they field. But have the Saints clicked
• 9:59
  into gear? We'll soon find out once they take on the Lions.
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  I don't know who this one can. If the Lions have their key players back in, I'd have to say them.
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  But the Saints showed enough against the Giants that maybe they're just starting
• 10:12
  to get their season rolling.
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  Yeah, I think the Lions will come good in this one. Frio up against the Tigers?
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  Yeah, the poor old Tigers. Unfortunately, they suffered a couple of key injuries
• 10:25
  last week in Tom Lynch, the big key forward, doing a hammy, and he'll be out for four to six weeks.
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  And Ruckman and captain Nankervis, he's out for six to eight weeks with the
• 10:35
  hamstring. So two big key outs for the Tigers.
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  And the way Freo have started their season, you couldn't see the Tigers,
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  poor old Tigers getting within 10 goals of Freo.
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  Yeah, and it's been played over there in Perth at Optus Stadium.
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  And this one that I'm really looking forward to, Bombers up against the Kangaroos.
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  I missed the tip last week because of the Kangaroos over the Eagles.
• 10:58
  But this week I'm pretty confident that the Kangaroos will get a win against the Bombers.
• 11:03
  Yeah, I'm with you on this one, Cam. I just can't see what we've seen in two
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  weeks from Essendon then turning their form on its head to beat North,
• 11:12
  who have been impressive in patches in the first couple of weeks. So I'll tip North to win.
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  Funnily enough, this is the second game,
• 11:19
  Marvel Stadium is hosting on Saturday, the first game being the Saints and the
• 11:23
  Lions at 12.35, and then they'll empty the stadium out, give it a clean,
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  and the Bombers and North are on at 7.35.
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  Hang on a sec. So doubleheader.
• 11:33
  I'm not against a doubleheader. That's fine. But why wouldn't you play them
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  back-to-back and allow the person who bought a ticket for the first game to
• 11:41
  enjoy the second game and entice the person who wants to go see the second game
• 11:45
  to come in a bit earlier and see the first game?
• 11:49
  Yeah, that's a fair call you make. And considering the MCG is sitting there
• 11:52
  vacant, so interesting scheduling by the AFL, but I'm sure they have their reasons of why they do things.
• 12:00
  You know, I'm going so bad in the tips, Jono, by so strongly tipping the kangaroos,
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  they've probably just sealed a loss for them then.
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  Oh, well, stranger things have happened, Cam.
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  Power and the Eagles. Can the Eagles get two in a row, or will the power just
• 12:16
  be too strong? I think the pair will be too strong purely at home.
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  I think if they were traveling over west and playing the Eagles over there,
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  it would make it a little bit more competitive.
• 12:27
  Unfortunately for Port, Captain Connor Rosey will miss the majority of the season
• 12:33
  tearing a hammy tendon off the bone last week.
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  So that's a massive loss for Port because he is a genuine superstar.
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  But in saying that, I think Port will still have enough firepower around the
• 12:46
  ground to beat the Eagles at home.
• 12:48
  Blues and the Demons, 15 up against 11.
• 12:52
  This is interesting, this one. I think Melbourne, if they produce their best,
• 12:56
  can certainly beat Carlton.
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  And if Carlton play to how the potential that they should be playing to,
• 13:02
  they will beat Melbourne.
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  So this is a little bit of a toss of the coin. It all depends on who turns up
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  on the day with this one, Cam.
• 13:08
  But I think based on Melbourne travelling back from Perth last week,
• 13:15
  I'm going to tip the Blues, and considering they had a week off last week as
• 13:18
  well, so they'll be fresh.
• 13:19
  Is the travel that much of a factor, travelling back from Perth?
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  Professional footballers, they don't have to go to work during the day.
• 13:29
  Their whole week is built around their recovery and preparation.
• 13:32
  Surely they can get over that.
• 13:35
  Yeah, correct. and what you said there is absolutely spot on.
• 13:39
  But I do know, I remember once upon a time, it was extremely difficult for sides.
• 13:45
  Victorian sides in particular, to come back from Perth and win the next week.
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  And it took several years for football clubs and medical staff and the like
• 13:53
  to, and high performance to work the weeks out of what the players need to do
• 13:59
  to recover effectively to play the next week.
• 14:01
  So it'll be interesting to see, but I think maybe I'm just a little bit old
• 14:05
  school on that and that's what I'm basing my tipper in.
• 14:09
  Fair enough. And four teams yet again sitting on the pine, the Hawks,
• 14:12
  the Swans, the Dogs and the Suns.
• 14:14
  Yeah. So let's get this week over with and get back to nine games.
• 14:18
  So from next week, we've got the full card.
• 14:21
  Full card as of round four.
• 14:24
  This has been a debacle. I just, I can't make sense of it. No,
• 14:29
  it just doesn't feel like the season's kicked into gear yet.
• 14:33
  Certainly not. All right, Jono. Well, thanks very much for that.
• 14:36
  We'll talk to you again next week on Tuesday possibly and we'll see how our
• 14:40
  tips go this week because we're not doing too well with the tipping.
• 14:44
  No, I don't think I can go any worse. Hopefully I'll turn things around this weekend.