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Nine questions to come from Round 17

Nic Naitanui (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
Roar Guru
15th July, 2018
8

As the gap widens at the bottom, it’s only getting tighter at the top. Just as it did last year, the run to the finish line is only getting tighter which means dropping any game has huge ramifications on where you will most likely finish up.

Six weeks to go and no shortage of big questions. Will a team’s selection merry go round come back to haunt them? Who might have just blown their chance? Who has their mojo back? And who passed their ultimate test?

1) What is the biggest test Geelong face?
We have marvelled at Geelong and their ability to find great young talent from everywhere. the fact that they make their debut and look comfortable at the top level is equally remarkable.

While it is one of their great strengths, it could prove to get them unstuck as they jostle for a position in the final eight. on Thursday night there were six Geelong players that had played under 20 games. Virtually unheard of for a team like Geelong which has been so sound for so long.

With players due back in the next couple of weeks from VFL and injury, the biggest challenge for Geelong appears to be settling their line-up before it becomes too late.

2) How much wider will it get?
Not the gap between Richmond and everyone else, but the gap at the bottom as Carlton continually put up performances that prove that they are far and away the worst team in the competition.

Losing to the then 17th and 15th ranked team in the competition by a combined 129 points, coupled with the lack of effort, the gap between Carlton and rest of the competition is getting frighteningly big.

The only team they look like getting within 10 goals of at the moment is probably the Gold Coast Suns.

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3) Did the Hawks just blow it?
Last week we wrote that Hawthorn was the biggest contender in the race home due to their favourable draw. This week, they may have blown a golden opportunity to cement their position by succumbing to a rampaging Lions side.

The loss leaves them back in the pack scrambling for the last two spots in the 8 which could very well come down to percentage again.

With nearly every game next week affecting positions in the top 8, the Hawks would want to bounce back in a big way and put a couple of hundred points past Carlton next week.

Alastair Clarkson

(Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Media/Getty Images)

4) Who is the biggest mover of the week?
If two weeks ago was the typical Melbourne performance, the second half especially was the “don’t you forget about us” performance from Melbourne.

Max Gawn led from the front in what is sure to be another three-vote game and Jesse Hogan found himself back into some imperious form.

Their young stars in Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca are continuing to grow into the season as the business end approaches.

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It was the performance that the Melbourne supporters wanted to see and they got it in spades in that second half as the Demons reminded everybody just how potent they can be.

Their concerns remain with Jack Viney and how they will manage his latest setback.

5) Do the Bombers still have a sniff?
They are one of the form teams in the competition and they are coming home hard to really try and shake things up.

Currently sitting 12th on the ladder, a game and significant percentage out of the finals race but are positioning themselves quite nicely.

Did what they had to do in go up to the Gold Coast, get the points and go home, but more too it, they are playing a brand of football which is allowing their better players to impact on games.

6) Who are the sleeping Giants in the Premiership race?
The Ferrari might just be starting its engine. The Giants claimed their biggest win for the season on Saturday night and may have just announced themselves as the sleeping giants among the contenders for this week’s flag.

Their engine room is starting to motor with the likes of Josh Kelly, Dylan Shiel, Lachie Whitfield, Callan Ward, Stephen Coniglio and Tim Taranto all coming into form together.

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Toby Greene made a successful return to the AFL side and we all know what he brings. Brett Deledio made a successful return in the NEAFL collecting 35 disposals and Jeremy Cameron is due to return from suspension in a couple of weeks.

So barring another injury mishap to a key player, the Giants September assault is setting itself up nicely.

Toby Greene

(Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

7) Is that the test passed?
It was flagged as their biggest stumbling block to winning the Premiership. Not only did they win on the MCG, they did It against a fellow premiership contender.

The Eagles proved many people in the Victorian media wrong today and proved that they indeed can hang with the big boys on the big stage.

So it would seem as the test passed, but it looks that a bigger test is yet to come. They face the rest of the season now without their biggest star in Nic Naitanui.

While Scott Lycett held his own against Brodie Grundy, he now faces the most pivotal six weeks of his career.

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A Restricted Free Agent, he’s getting as big a chance as any to audition to the Eagles and potential suitors.

8) What is the best type of Footy story?
Football is littered with stories of perseverance and greatness. Resilience and hardships and ultimately shattering the glass ceiling and winning everyone over by playing good football.

Aliir Aliir and Majak Daw. Both converts to our game and both lit up Etihad Stadium in what was another very entertaining game of football.

While Aliir is busy forging his own career, the career of Majak Daw has fascinated punters and football fans for a long time.

Yet in season 2018, much like Liam Jones last year, it is finally starting to come together for Majak.

A positional switch up, a change of role and with that comes a complete change of confidence and a new degree of importance to this Kangaroos team.

Seeing players pick themselves up off the football scrapheap and turn themselves into genuine playmakers and key players in their team and squads will always remain as some of the greatest types of football stories.

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9) What will 2018 ultimately be remembered for?
It wasn’t a game to remember for Port Adelaide at Optus Stadium, but what led to their downfall was the absence of two of their most important players.

While Fremantle was the better team on the day, I cannot help but think that season 2018 will go down as the year of the injury.

Across the competition before round 17, a whopping 2,026 games have been lost due to injury. That’s not including the mounting toll out of this rounds matches too.

It is an epidemic that has swept the competition and has left us wanting more from the best players that we are missing out on seeing week to week.

If last year was any indication, we all know how important a clean bill of health will be, come September.

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