Another Friday night double-header awaits, with the ladder-leading Swans hosting Collingwood while the Suns return to TIO Stadium in Darwin to face Port Adelaide.<\/p>\n
Collingwood head into this clash undermanned, with Scott Pendlebury, Darcy Moore, Darcy Cameron and Patrick Lipinski all unavailable.<\/p>\n
While it looks a difficult assignment on paper against the red-hot Swans, Craig McRae\u2019s side has consistently shown an ability to compete when challenged.<\/p>\n
With Pendlebury sidelined, expect Ned Long to spend significantly more time at centre bounce against Sydney.<\/p>\n
The last time Pendlebury missed, Long attended 67% of centre bounces and finished with 22 disposals.<\/p>\n
In his last three games with over 40% centre bounce attendances, Long has recorded exactly 22 disposals each time.<\/p>\n
Even last week, despite attending just 10% of centre bounces, he still found 18 touches, showing he\u2019s tracking the ball well regardless of role.<\/p>\n
Opposition defenders continue to rack up disposals against Collingwood, making this another strong matchup for Callum Mills.<\/p>\n
Mills is averaging 23.9 disposals across his last 20 games and has hit 20+ in 18 of those, including eight of nine this season.<\/p>\n
The Magpies are happy to allow teams to control possession in defensive areas, so expect Mills, Nick Blakey and Matt Roberts to all see plenty of football.<\/p>\n
The Suns have turned TIO Stadium into a fortress in recent seasons, but Port Adelaide remain something of a bogey side for Gold Coast.<\/p>\n
Gold Coast have won their last nine games at TIO Stadium and rightly enter this clash as favourites.<\/p>\n
Still, Port Adelaide have consistently performed well as underdogs this season, covering the line in four of their five games in that role.<\/p>\n
The Power also boast an incredible recent record against the Suns, winning 15 of the last 16 meetings including an upset victory last year.<\/p>\n
Gold Coast should still get the job done at home, but expect a tighter contest than the market suggests.<\/p>\n
The Suns are unlikely to tag Zak Butters, and opposition midfielders have consistently found plenty of football against Gold Coast this season.<\/p>\n
Last week alone, St Kilda midfielders Hugo Garcia, Max Hall and Jack Sinclair all found plenty of the ball against the Suns.<\/p>\n
Butters has now recorded 30+ disposals in eight straight games and had 35 disposals in each of his last two appearances against Gold Coast.<\/p>\n
Everything points towards another monster outing.<\/p>\n