HAWTHORN and West Coast Eagles are the popular tips to play off in this year’s Grand Final, according to several Melbourne players.
More than a dozen players were asked by Dee TV who they thought would win the 2015 premiership, with the Hawks and Eagles coming out on top.
Powerhouse forward Jesse Hogan said he thought Hawthorn would win over his native state teams.
“I’d love to say the two Western Australian teams, but I think Hawthorn will be a bit too strong,” he said.
Jack Viney, who finished second in the 2015 best and fairest, thinks Hawthorn will go “back-to-back-to-back” and last year’s runner-up in the club champion, Dom Tyson, also believes the Hawks “will make it three in a row”.
Youngster Billy Stretch is another who is adamant Hawthorn will win because “they’ll be hard to stop”, but midfielder Angus Brayshaw believes Hawthorn will win “but only just”.
Defender Colin Garland, a keen student of the game, is backing a Hawthorn and West Coast Grand Final. But he is thinks the locals will win “because it’s at the MCG”. Fellow backman Neville Jetta says the Hawks are “a superior team” that should win three in succession.
Heritier Lumumba, a member of the 2010 Collingwood premiership, is tipping a West Coast and Fremantle Grand Final.
“I think West Coast will win. The reason why West Coast will win is because of the way they’re able to defend as a team and they’ve built a system over the last three or four years and they’ll peak at the right time,” he said.
“A key factor will be Nic Naitanui and we’ll see a new side of him this finals series.”
Forward Dean Kent is also backing both teams from his native state to play off in October.
“I reckon West Coast will make it and I’m going to be biased but I reckon Freo will make it, being a WA boy. Hawthorn has won too many and the Victorian teams have won too many, so I’ll put those two in there,” he said with a smile.
“But I reckon West Coast will come out and get the choccies.”
South Australian and first-year Demon Alex Neal-Bullen also thinks it will be an all-Western Australian Grand Final.
“I love how they (West Coast) play their footy and they’ve been really exciting this year,” he said.
“I’d love to be able to see them win. I saw them first hand in Darwin, so you learn a lot off their game style. They just ran and they attacked, so I’d like to see West Coast get up.”
Goalsneak Jeff Garlett suggested a different Grand Final scenario with qualifying final teams Fremantle and Sydney Swans to meet again in the Grand Final. And he thinks the result might change next time around.
“It’s a pretty interesting one, but I think Fremantle and Sydney [will play in the Grand Final],” he said.
“I think Sydney will win it. It’d be good for a WA team to win it, but I reckon Sydney will be too strong.”
And two players – ruckman Max Gawn and key defender Tom McDonald – have tipped Adelaide to win this year’s flag.
