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The grand final preview will be held next Saturday night at the Melbourne Cricket Ground between the Swans and Hawthorn. That’s the only assumption you can make after what happened over the weekend.
Like many who follow the AFL, I had begun climbing aboard the bandwagon which was suggesting the Swans and the Fremantle Dockers were headed towards a late September showdown at the G.
Clearly the form sides of the competition, both appeared only to be getting stronger, and finding true weaknesses in either was becoming a task.
Well that was the thinking up until Saturday. Then… What happened?
A thrashing was predicted for the St Kilda versus Fremantle match. Having won their previous eight by an average of seven goals, the Dockers were certainties (well they looked it), but a 58-point thumping, a battering to their percentage, and some serious questions were the luggage Fremantle took home on Saturday night.
Was this merely a glitch or has the purple machine blown a gasket?
Coach Ross Lyon, a dour personality at the best of times, declared there were no excuses. I’m sure he and their fans wish there were. OK, Aaron Sandilands was missing, but one man does not a team make, and the big guy missed 15 games last year and Freo made the grand final.
The Dockers were beaten all over the park, and what was concerning was not just the scoreboard but the intent and ferocity at the contest. A team renowned for those attributes, maybe the Dockers left them in Perth.
A few hours later, we saw another top-two aspirant, Geelong, cough and splutter their way to a narrow win over a plucky Greater Western Sydney Giants outfit. On Sunday we saw Port end their losing streak, but hardly give anyone massive confidence for the rest of the season, with a three-point win over Melbourne.
Am I missing something? I know they have Indigenous round, and women’s round, was this take pity on your lowly ranked rival round?
Credit to the Saints, Giants and Demons for their performances, but if Geelong, Fremantle and Port are premiership contenders, those results should have been vastly different.
The Cats in particular should have buried the Giants when they raced away to a six-goal lead early in the final quarter. Instead they gave their fans and coach moments of palpitations, and a few reasons for concern.
Some may also say it was simply a glitch for Geelong, and means nothing anyway as they got the four competition points. Plus, thanks to Freo, the Cats sit second on the ladder with a top-two berth theirs to lose. But there needs to be a substantial improvement between now and September.
Still, having peeked ahead at the closing five rounds after the completion of this split round next weekend, the Cats might snatch that top-two spot, along with the Swans.
In their remaining five matches Geelong play Fremantle and Brisbane at home, the unpredictable North and Carlton, and old foe Hawthorn away – albeit still all in Melbourne. For no specific reason I have the Cats winning four of those and finishing second.
I have Sydney winning all of their remaining matches and heading into the finals as hot favourites.
I have the Hawks winning four of their remaining games to take third spot, and for the other top four berth, I have both Fremantle and Port winning three of their next four, before the Dockers snatch fourth in the final match of the regular season at home against Port.
But as Saturday’s Fremantle-Saints game so clearly showed, never think you know how things in football will turn out.
Tune in next week after some more unpredictable results to see which two teams I then think will finish top two.
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