FINALS football has landed, with the competition's top eight sides to open their campaigns in the race to the premiership – starting with the Western Bulldogs and Hawthorn at the MCG on Friday night.
But they will end for two teams after Adelaide hosts Collingwood on Saturday and the Roos head north to meet the Sydney Swans in the weekend's two elimination finals.
Then it's minor premier Geelong against St Kilda, who stole fourth place at the death-knock to set up an intriguing qualifying final on Sunday.
afl.com.au will provide complete coverage from Friday's first bounce until Sunday's final siren.
Hawthorn v Western Bulldogs at the MCG
Friday, September 5 – 7.50pm AEST
Both sides knew they'd meet after round 18, giving them plenty of time to prepare, but injuries to key players have been the focus of the recent build-up.
Hawthorn utility Campbell Brown and Bulldogs ruckman Ben Hudson are under the biggest clouds and, though both have been named to play, it is still uncertain whether they will take their places.
Despite the Bulldogs only winning one match in the last month, Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson isn't reading too much into their form.
"The home-and-away season is run over 22 rounds and both Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs have won enough games to qualify to play in this game, so it's really who applies themselves the best tomorrow night who's going to win the game of footy," Clarkson said on Thursday.
Dogs coach Rodney Eade indicated that Dale Morris is poised to get first crack at Hawthorn spearhead Lance Franklin.
"I think Dale (Morris) is probably our best defender, so he's more than likely to get the gig," he said. "But then you've got (Jarryd) Roughhead and you've got other players as well.
"But Dale's probably more likely to start on him."
Adelaide v Collingwood at AAMI Stadium
Saturday, September 6 – 2pm ACST
Last weekend's results meant the Crows and Pies both missed fourth spot and a qualifying final against Geelong, though Adelaide held it for a day until St Kilda struck.
Saturday afternoon's elimination final will provide a lively contest and, despite having to travel to Adelaide, Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse is not worried about the trip.
"Does it really matter? After the game last week it was just a matter of picking up the pencil and drawing in who we potentially could play and start going through their sides, whether it be Adelaide in Adelaide – we've played particularly well in Adelaide – [or] St Kilda," Malthouse said on Tuesday.
Adelaide is expecting Collingwood to rebound strongly from last week's surprise loss to Fremantle and will be prepared for anything that comes their way, according to captain Simon Goodwin.
"Every time we’ve been faced with a challenge, whether it be losing five games in a row, winning up in Sydney or playing the Western Bulldogs here to get a home final [we’ve overcome it] and those type of results build confidence and belief within the playing group," Goodwin said earlier this week.
Sydney Swans v North Melbourne at ANZ Stadium
Saturday, September 6 – 7.30pm AEST
After losing to Port Adelaide last week, North Melbourne is looking for a better performance against the Swans in Saturday night's second elimination final.
Assistant coach Darren Crocker believes that last week's poor performance, which cost them fourth spot, was a one-off.
"We’re obviously hopeful it was an aberration. We hadn’t played that poorly, basically for the year and we think that the guys have focused in well – now that they’ve got the home-and-away season out of the way – for a finals series," he said.
The Swans, coming off a resounding win over the Brisbane Lions, are hoping their final experiences proves an advantage.
"Experience is something you can't buy and (in finals footy) the game changes, intensity lifts and most of us have played it and hopefully that holds us in good stead," the returning Ryan O’Keefe said on Thursday.
Geelong v St Kilda at the MCG
Sunday, September 7 – 2.40pm AEST
After thrashing Essendon last week to snatch the second chance, St Kilda faces a huge task to overcome Geelong, who has only lost one game this season.
"There’s no bigger challenge in footy at the moment and to come up against them in the first week is going to be a tough test for us. But we’ve played some good footy so we go in there with a bit of confidence," said midfielder Lenny Hayes.
Geelong, who made light work of 15th-placed West Coast last weekend, faces selection dilemmas with nearly a whole list to choose from – including premiership players Andrew Mackie, Max Rooke and David Wojcinski, who were added to Thursday night's squad.
"I don’t think that there are four guys that deserve to be out of the team, it’ll just make selection a very difficult process," coach Mark Thompson said early in the week, with the fourth player James Kelly – who is likely to earn a recall for Geelong's next encounter.
