Nine questions to come from Round 22

At long last things are finally starting to take shape.

The penultimate round promised plenty and left us salivating at the prospect of the finals series in store for us. Seasons officially ended, spoons were handed out and, as always, plenty of questions arose.

What golden opportunity did the AFL miss? What does the end of season postmortem look like for Port Adelaide, North Melbourne and Ross Lyon? Which rivalry had its moment? And who should we never, ever doubt?

1. Did the AFL miss a golden opportunity not penalising Devon Smith further?
It’s been an interesting year for the AFL on the match review front, and it’s been an even more intense few weeks following the Andrew Gaff and Nathan Brown suspensions for punches and late off-the-ball hits.

While Devon Smith was sanctioned for attempting to strike, just imagine the outcome had he connected with Kamdyn McIntosh. A swinging clenched fist missing by not much? The AFL missed a trick here. Here lied another perfect chance to stamp out punching and attempted punching from the game completely.

Smith’s action is worse than Jeremy Cameron on Harris Andrews, which was a suspendable offence, but it was in the same line, a pure footballing act with both players contesting the ball. Devon Smith is the luckiest man in football this week.

(Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

2. What happens this off-season for Port Adelaide?
Well, who would have thought that at the start of the year that there wouldn’t be a team from South Australia in the finals? I don’t think many would have. Compared to their off-season recruiting spree and preseason expectations, season 2018 has been somewhat of a failure for Port Adelaide following their second straight capitulation, this time against the rampaging Collingwood.

It will only lead to more soul searching from Ken Hinkley’s men, who no doubt will be getting frustrated at the lack of direction of this football club. Testing times indeed.

3. Should Ross Lyon be nervous?
Let’s have a look at Fremantle. A rebuilding team, yet they remain one of the real middle-of-the-road squads of the competition, capable on their day but pitiful and insipid when they are not switched on.

The Dockers have the same amount of wins as they did last year, and against similar oppositions too, give or take a couple of different sides. They have quickly gone from a side contending to a side rebuilding, yet you want to look for improvement, and while they are building a great young core, how quickly are they improving?

Then there is the coach who maybe – just maybe – is starting to have the game pass him by as the heavy losses in recent years continue to pile up.

4. Why do we ever doubt them?
They’re arguably the most professional club in the game. They keep giving us a look at why they may fall off their perch yet, they keep on reminding us all why they are such a remarkable football club. Of course we are talking about the Sydney Swans, who will play finals for the 16th time in 17 seasons.

The Swans bring their young kids into the system in a way that would be the envy of most other clubs in the competition, and when they are ready to contribute in the senior team, they do it in a big way.

Their established stars are in the top flight of the competition. Oh, and they have one of the greatest players of the last 20 years in their forward line and looking extremely dangerous.

(Brett Hemmings/AFL Media/Getty Images)

5. Did the QClash just have its demolition derby moment?
Nick Robertson’s comments were out of line, but it was the perfect catalyst to potentially set up the QClash for years to come. It wasn’t a game for the time capsule, but it sure was one to mark down as the point when the rivalry took off – at least the AFL hopes it is.

Neither team really disgraced itself in a scrappy but fiery and spiteful contest all night, from the first bounce until after the final siren. We might look back at this match thinking that Nick Robertson’s throwaway line is what sparks a Queensland local footy rivalry into one that can be genuinely looked forward to.

6. Who is Hawthorn’s Mr Fix-It?
Alastair Clarkson has solved many different problems throughout his decorated coaching career, but if there were one thing he is yet to do, it would be figuring out how to properly clone players. If he did, he would probably clone Jack Gunston.

Gunston’s development this year has seen him become one of the most important, if not the most important, Hawthorn player – he’s pivotal up forward, pivotal when he rolls down back and penetrating even on the wing. We all wondered why he was being persisted with, in the quarterback role down in defence last year; we now know why, proving that players who can add different strings to their bows are extremely useful commodities in the game.

7. What does 2019 hold for the Dogs?
Like any other team that has been decimated by injuries this year, there is no doubt the Dogs have enjoyed the benefit of minimal changes in the past three weeks, ultimately resulting in three wins, putting a positive stamp on the end of a rather disappointing year.

Their midfield engine room is starting to fire up again and show their class, with the likes of Marcus Bontempelli, Jack Macrae, Lachie Hunter, Josh Dunkley and Caleb Daniel all firing late in the year. They have finally got their ruck balance right, with the mobile Jackson Trengove in good form and promising youngsters Aaron Naughton, Ed Richards and Billy Gowers all standing up in their first seasons at the club.

It would be remiss of me to not mention Hayden Crozier’s impact and form in his first year at the Kennel. Providing they all stay fit, 2019 could be another great ride for the Bulldogs.

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8. Will that slip-up cost two Perth finals?
The road to September and beyond just got that bit more interesting for the Eagles. Suspensions and injuries are playing a role here too, but at the end of the day Sunday’s loss to the Demons could prove to be extremely costly.

West Coast now play Brisbane – who are no pushovers, especially at home – and could now face the prospect of slipping out of the top two should other results fall that way. Melbourne was fantastic and deserved to win, but the Eagles will be wondering how they let such a golden opportunity slip.

9. And the surprise packet of the year award goes too…
While they just missed out on the finals, North Melbourne certainly didn’t lose any admirers as the season wore on. Widely tipped to finish last and to not have a hope, they just missed the finals by a whisker.

The Kangaroos have been one of the stories of the year, adding a significant amount to the evenness of the competition in 2018. They have great young talent coming through and a more than capable core of older players who have played together for a long time. The kids will need to replace the ageing stars quickly, but there appears to be good times on the horizon for North fans.

The question now is: can they finally land a big name to build on all of this?