St Kilda's Sean Dempster and Adelaide's Andrew McLeod in action during the AFL Round 16 match between the St Kilda Saints and the Adelaide Crows at the Docklands Stadium. The Slattery Media Group
Could St Kilda finish the season 22-0? They are in scintillating form and playing some impressive football. Can any team beat them this year?
Adelaide were being touted as a contender and there was hardly anything between the two after the first quarter of their Round 16 game.
Adelaide couldn’t keep it up though as St Kilda kicked on with 11 goals to three over the final three quarters.
In the final six weeks of the season, St Kilda meet the Bulldogs, Swans, Hawks, Bombers, Kangaroos and Demons. Should they get past the Bulldogs and then the Swans in Sydney finishing the home and away season undefeated is definitely achievable.
Hawks going down without a fight
Hawthorn aren’t letting their hopes of a premiership defence simply evaporate. A good comeback against North Melbourne was followed by a rousing win over Collingwood and now the Hawks are perched at a salvageable 8-8.
The one problem they face is having to play against both St Kilda and Geelong, but games against both Adelaide sides, Richmond and Essendon are all winnable.
Finishing at 12-10 could be good enough for them to make the eight. While they aren’t the same side they were last year, should they make the finals, anything is possible.
Like kissing your sister
What is one to make of the Tigers? They blew a seven goal lead against the Kangaroos to find themselves a goal down with just a minute left in the game. Suddenly they came to life scoring a goal in 15 seconds.
It was only their second goal of the half. The game finished as the first draw of 2009, but the Tigers will definitely be feeling as though they missed an opportunity.
If Nathan Buckley was choosing which of these two sides he would prefer to coach, based on the evidence of this match he would be better off choosing the Kangaroos.
They displayed far more backbone than the Tigers and surely a player of Buckley’s ilk would find the Tigers’ lack of skills and decision making very frustrating.
Carlton give Swans the Blues
Carlton have been up and down all season, and now would be an up after their win over Sydney. Nine goals to none in the final quarter blew the Swans out of the water and gave the Blues their first win over Sydney since 2000.
Carlton have now won three games in a row and would love to make it four on Friday night against Collingwood. Should they win, the Blues are a great chance of making it to September for the first time since 2001.
Bombers grounded
Essendon’s game against the Bulldogs was a litmus test for them and as such they will be disappointed that the Bulldogs ran over the top of them. They are in the eight – just – on percentage.
In their final six games they have to play the Tigers, Lions, Saints and Hawks as well as twice having to go to Subiaco. A young side, they haven’t been to the finals since 2004 and will have to play well to break the drought.
You have to go as far back as 1984 to the last time all three of the big Victorian clubs made the finals.
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