It’s that time of year again and Grand Final glory awaits either Geelong or Hawthorn this Saturday afternoon.

While I would prefer to be out there playing rather than watching it with a few mates at a local watering hole I think I will enjoy what I expect to be a game full of hard running, hard play and plenty of hard ball gets.

As I gaze further into the crystal ball I think the Cats will come out on top by between 20-30 points in a high scoring game, especially in the first half. Hopefully I am right because last year’s Grand Final was a fizzer with Geelong up by 80 or 100 or whatever it was at halftime.

At the same time I am not sure who I will be cheering for, as I believe a Hawthorn premiership would be really good for the game in general.

Plenty has been said about how Buddy Franklin could be the match winner for the Hawks and he is certainly a favourite for many fans to watch. I don’t mind watching Buddy go around but I actually prefer watching some of my own teammates like Leon Davis and Alan Didak.

Of course the talk about Geelong seems to be focusing on the impending news regarding Paul Chapman and whether he will play or not. I think he will.

As Leigh Matthews said today, when it comes to Grand Finals you have to take emotion out of your selections and pick your best 22. Chapman is well and truly ensconced in that 22 at the Cats.

Unfortunately a return from Chappy will mean someone has to get the tap on the shoulder from their coach, Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson. Bomber made the call last year and cut a shattered Mark Blake in favour of Steven King.

As a player I don’t know how you would take it. You would be shattered but still cheering your mates on and I would say there would be a few Geelong players having some restless nights of late as they wonder if they will miss out.

At different times this week the names of David Wojcinski, Tom Lonergan, James Kelly and Travis Varcoe have all been mentioned. If Varcoe were to be the unlucky one then you would have to feel for him after he played one of the best games of his career last weekend against the Western Bulldogs.

Here at Collingwood we have had our own sad moment with the news that our captain Scott Burns has retired, joining  St Kilda legend Robert Harvey as one of the better players to retire at the end of 2008.

Speaking of the Saints, they were the team who ended our season and it was a huge disappointment for us to go out the way we did. We headed into the game with plenty of confidence after knocking the Saints off twice in the regular season but we couldn’t produce a winning effort.

Someone who did produce a winning effort this week was the Western Bulldogs Adam Cooney as he took home the Brownlow. I watched the Brownlow at home with my mum and my girlfriend as I didn’t receive an invite.

Watching it, it really came down to the favourites and while some people saw Cooney winning as an upset I don’t think it was a huge one. He did have a ripper season and only just pipped, Gary Ablett, Simon Black and Matthew Richardson.

As for not attending I have mixed feelings. If you are going to be in contention then of course you want to go but if you are not, as I wasn’t, then all it becomes is a night out where the dress for your girl burns a hole in your pocket.

This week has been a big one and I have had something on every day from Tuesday when I was at Federation Square for Telstra, then Crown Casino for a cook off which I actually won.

I’m back on ‘The Footy Show’ panel tonight, off to the races tomorrow night and then appearing on ‘Before the Game’ on Saturday. Hopefully I don’t receive ‘tool of the week’ again, after my appearance for the ‘Welcome to my blog’ video.

Once all that is over I’m looking forward to a surfing trip to The Maldives. A few of my mates and I decided to head over for this trip sometime in May and I’m keen to recharge before coming back to pre-season training.

Dale