Five things we learned from the weekend’s AFL action

 
David Wiseman Roar Guru

By , 12 May 2009 David Wiseman is a Roar Guru

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Farren Ray of St Kilda evades Sharrod Wellingham of Collingwood during the AFL Round 07 match between the Collingwood Magpies and the St Kilda Saints at the Docklands Stadium. Photo Slattery Images

Farren Ray of St Kilda evades Sharrod Wellingham of Collingwood during the AFL Round 07 match between the Collingwood Magpies and the St Kilda Saints at the Docklands Stadium. Photo Slattery Images

Two undefeated teams, two teams with one win, and twelve teams within one win of each other. It’s turning out to be a strange old season. Geelong and St Kilda now have a three game gap over the rest of the field. Is everyone else playing for third place?

Collingwood were the latest team to feel the wrath of St Kilda.

Before Round 7, Collingwood’s lowest score for the year was 86 points. Against St Kilda, they could only muster 40 points.

St Kilda needn’t have scored a point after half-time and would have still comfortably won. As it was, they only gave their percentage a considerable fourteen-point boost.

Rumours of their death exaggerated
The obituaries of Fremantle and all associated have now been scrapped as the Dockers have won three games in a row.

Hosting a lacklustre Hawthorn this week, they could make it four in a row for the first time since 2006 when they strung nine wins together. Kudos to Fremantle for getting their season back on track when everyone else was running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Over 22 weeks, the season is a rollercoaster ride, and therefore it’s critical that people stay grounded irrespective of whether things are going well or not.

You don’t want to get carried away by success at this stage, nor do you want losses to get you down.

But in this instant gratification world we live in, people expect results all the time. This isn’t realistic.

Not so exaggerated with the Tigers
Richmond have followed their win over North Melbourne with two losses.

To add injury to insult, they’re now without the services of Matthew Richardson for an extended period of time. In the revolving door which is Richmond, Ben Cousins was on hand to make his return to the side. Not only was Richardson Richmond’s best player, but he is their heart and soul, so his loss will be massive for the Tigers.

They need to win at least eleven of their next fifteen games to make it to the finals. Given how unlikely this is, the Punt Road brains trust should be working on their plan of succession.

A well oiled machine
Geelong is like the T-1000 from the Terminator: remove one component and another one simply takes its place.

Gary Ablett Jr may have been missing from the team which systematically dismantled the Swans, so that just meant that Steven Johnson, Joel Corey, Joel Selwood and Jimmy Bartel got more of the football.

There are no discernible weaknesses to this team who are playing some exceptional football. People were excited last year for Geelong-Hawthorn. Geelong-St Kilda can’t come soon enough.

Kicking themselves
Accuracy has been a major issue for some teams this year. North Melbourne made the most of their opportunities, kicking 20.5 to Port’s 18.12. Carlton has lost four games this year, and only in one of them did the opposition have more scoring shots than them.

Brendan Fevola’s 23.17 has hurt Carlton as much as it has helped them. Contrast this with Jarryd Roughead, who has kicked 24.5.

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