WHEN & WHERE: Sunday afternoon, Skilled Stadium.
COVERAGE: Channel 9 - Melbourne (1pm), Adelaide (12.30pm), Perth (11am), Sydney (1pm), Brisbane (1pm).
HEAD TO HEAD: Played 196. Sydney 90, Geelong 106.
LAST TIME: Sydney 10.13 (73) d Geelong 10.7 (67), round three, 2004, at the SCG. After two beltings in a row, the second of them to Carlton, Geelong showed it was not far away from opening its account by leading by 14 points at the final change as it pushed Sydney all the way. The Swans dominated the final quarter with 11 shots at goal to just one from the Cats, but even though they managed only 3.8, it was enough to sneak home. The Boltons, Jude and Craig, were best for the winners, while James Kelly and Darren Milburn led the way for the visitors.
WORRIES: Life is pretty good for Geelong coach Mark Thompson and his players at the moment, after they finished off Collingwood's season, kept their top four hopes alive, and return to the comforts of their home ground, which is again becoming one of the more difficult venues to travel to in the competition. Defender Matthew Scarlett faces a holiday courtesy of the Tribunal though. Injury-wise, Corey Enright (shoulder) and David Johnson (groin) are ready to return, with David Loats (knee) and Jarad Rooke (shin) to be tested, but Brent Moloney has just undergone finger surgery and the season is over for James Kelly (broken leg) and Will Slade (osteitis pubis). Sydney has been a long way from its best form in the past few weeks, but importantly continues to win, with coach Paul Roos surely hopeful that a big lift in performance is just around the corner. The team this week may be boosted significantly, with Nick Davis (ankle), Ben Fixter (hamstring), Amon Buchanan (hamstring), Nic Fosdike (groin) and Rowan Warfe (calf) all to face fitness tests, but Lewis Roberts-Thomson (Achilles) is at least a fortnight from resuming and Jason Saddington (knee) is gone for 2004.
THE WHITEBOARD: With Scarlett in doubt because of his kneeing charge, Tom Harley looks to be the man set to mark key Swan Barry Hall. Leo Barry will mark Kent Kingsley at the other end, and Ben Graham can expect to be manned up by Adam Goodes. In the midfield, Brett Kirk will possibly lock on to Cameron Ling, who could be trying to do the same thing to Paul Williams. David Wojcinski could also be used in a tagging capacity on Jude Bolton. The ruck battle between a firing Steven King and Jason Ball and Stephen Doyle will also be a highlight.
AND THE WINNER IS…..Geelong: The Cats have not been beaten at home this year, and though they went down last time to the Swans, both teams have experienced different fortunes since then, with Geelong overcoming its horror 1-4 start. This game has huge importance for both teams, as they try and stay within striking distance of the top four, but even if Hall kicks a big bag of goals - which he could very well do if Scarlett misses - it's still hard to see the hosts going down Geelong by 28 points.
