Is the winner of the Melbourne-Sydney Qualifying Final in the box seat to make the Grand Final?
Not only will they host a home Preliminary Final, they will likely dodge Geelong, Richmond and Brisbane on their side of the bracket.
Assuming the Cats knock off the Magpies, they will likely take on the Pies, Dockers or Bulldogs.
David King believes it’s potentially the easier path to the Grand Final.
“This will be a cracking game (Melbourne versus Sydney). I think the winner of this makes the Granny because they’ll wrap around and get the softer side of the draw,” King told SEN’s Whateley.
“The loser usually wraps around and plays the winner of Geelong and Collingwood.
“I have no idea who makes it. This is the beauty of absolutely 50-50 games.”
King expects this game to be decided by who controls contests around the ground, adding he is excited to see the Swans in the spotlight.
“Can you believe Melbourne are 0-4 against top four teams this year?” he said.
“Melbourne have still got these absolute weapons, haven’t they? Finals weapons.
“The game becomes more contested, the rolling spotlight, Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca live in the rolling spotlight. Max Gawn is that player.
“But so to is Chad Warner, so to is Luke Parker – what we’ve seen from Paddy McCartin down back, what we’ve seen from Nick Blakey off half back, Tom Papley, they want the moment.
“What happened last time might not happen again, but there’s no doubt it’s a great reference point to see if there’s anything you can learn from it.
“I think this one is going to be contest versus contest. We can get a good line on this game.”
Gerard Whateley is also excited to see Sydney in a Qualifying Final.
“The question for Sydney for me is ‘are they ready for this?’. I feel like they are running ahead of schedule,” Whateley added.
“How far can you stretch the imagination with them because I feel like they’ll be a better team next year than they are this year.”