AFL Week 8 Preview

Friday 17th May

AFC Rangers @ Raiffeisen Vikings - 17:00 GMT

The leagues best and only undefeated team takes to the road to take on the leagues worst and only winless side, there's only ever going to be one winner here. When you look at the stats and see that the Raiffeisen Vikings are averaging 41.5 points per games whilst the AFC Rangers defence are conceding 47.8 points per game, you know the outcome isn't going to be pretty.

© Florian Schellhorn from www.footballpics.info

Anyone who has kept tabs on the AFL throughout the season will know that the Vikings' offence will rip through the weak Ranger defence both on the ground and through the air as Christopher Gross is going to have the pick of his receivers and will face little resistance from the Ranger secondary. When the Rangers have the ball, as always it will be down to Craig Maynard to produce the points, and unlike last week where I could have seen him having a good day against a weak Prague Black Panther defence, I don't think he has a chance against the leagues best defence. If you wanted to bet on a sure thing, this is the matchup to put your money on.

Prediction: The Vikings by 54-0. I would predict more, but I feel as if the backups will come in very early.

Saturday 18th May

Prague Black Panthers @ JCL Graz Giants - 14:00 GMT 

The Giants offence will be hoping for a big showing this weekend.
© Florian Schellhorn from www.footballpics.info

The Black Panthers registered their first win last weekend against the hapless Rangers, but now they run into one of the leagues better teams in the JCL Graz Giants. The Giants on the other hand, are coming off of a big loss to the Swarco Raiders in a result that probably shocked the league a little in just how big of a margin there was between the two sides. 

The Giants will count themselves somewhat lucky in being able to face one of the leagues two teams that are more than likely going to provide an easy win in the Black Panthers. The first league meeting between these two was a 23-7 win for the Giants and despite the fact that the Black Panthers had a little success shutting down Alex Good, there problem was that they clearly couldn't put enough points on the board to take advantage of this.

The more that teams see the Black Panther offence, the easier it has become to defend over the season and I don't see this result going any other way than in the Giants favour as the team from Graz will utilise their option attack and the legs of Good to carry them to a win.

Prediction: Giants win 33-14.

Danube Dragons @ Swarco Raiders - 16:00 GMT

If there is a chance of a upset this weekend, this is the game to look to as the unpredictable but potent Danube Dragon offence will attempt to take down the leagues second hottest team right now in the Raiders. 

The Dragons' last two played games have both come agains the league leading Vikings and have had their offence completely neutered on both occasions, putting some doubt in my mind about what their team can put together when faced with a well prepared and motivated team.

Danube quarterback Jonathan Dally needs to put up a big performance to get his team over the hump.
© Kellner Holly Thomas/Gridiron Photography

The Raiders have been on a tear in recent weeks have shown no mercy towards the Rangers, Panther and Giants in games that finally showed what their offence is capable of producing. Kyle Callahan has been in sensational form at the quarterback position and with the help of running back Andreas Hofbauer the Raiders offence has looked in fine form.

Every time I preview a big game for the Dragons I write that for the team to have a chance, Jonathan Dally needs to have big game to take the pressure off of Tunde Ogun, and so far Dally has been a non-factor in big games. Every team knows that Ogun is the man to shut down when the Dragons take the field and so the only way for the Danube team to start producing results on the big stage is to have both players on song. The Raiders still have some question marks surrounding the play of their secondary and so if there was ever a week for Dally and Ogun to have a big game in conjunction with each other against a top team, this could be the week.

Can Callahan & Co maintain their impressive form?
© Florian Schellhorn from www.footballpics.info

Prediction: The Dragons will manage to put up a couple of scores early to keep pace with the Raiders, but finally the team in black will pull away and record a 48-21 victory.