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The three Sunday games this weekend feature two surprise undefeated teams (Western Bulldogs and St Kilda), three teams with a 50-50 ratio (Gold Coast, Hawthorn and Fremantle) and one team that is staring down a 0-3 start to the season.
The first game of the day is between the undefeated Bulldogs and Gold Coast who lost in Round 1 by a point.
The game is at Docklands, the Bulldogs home ground. Although the Bulldogs only got away from Hawthorn when they seized the momentum in the final quarter, they have played some impressive football so far and are short-priced favourites to continue their winning streak.
Will the retirement of Liam Picken who has worn the number 42 jumper with distinction in more games than anyone except Robert Walls (who started his career at Carlton at 16, kicking a goal with his first kick in League football) be an incentive to his teammate s or a distraction? Only time will tell.
Liam Picken (AAP Image/Julian Smith)
At the Western Bulldogs, Jim Thoms and Arthur Edwards – were equalled by Jack Macrae. This week, they will be tied by Tom Liberatore.
Thoms, who was an Australian Table Tennis champion and brother of Test cricketer George Thoms, started a ten-year career at the Bulldogs in 1937 and kicked over 100 goals.
Edwards was the second generation of a family that now has had four generations of players who have represented five different AFL clubs.
He was a tall ruckman who played his first game just after his 17th birthday and was a member of the first Bulldogs premiership in 1954.
Hawthorn and North Melbourne face off at the MCG and Hawthorn’s Liam Shiels will miss because of injury.
This will mean Luke Breust – who started his league career two years after Shiels, will equal Shiels’ 188 games and share top 40 games played for the Hawks status with him.
For North Melbourne, Scott Thompson will move into the top 20 game players at the Kangaroos by tie the tallies of Ross Smith, John Blakey and Andrew Swallow.
Ross Smith remained in football in various coaching positions after his retirement from the Kangaroos in 1996. John Blakey had already played 135 games for Fitzroy before he crossed to North Melbourne in 1993.
He was a total professional and could be used in a variety of roles. Recently, he was passed by Shaun Burgoyne and slipped to 12th place on the AFL’s top 100 game players.
Andrew Swallow only retired from league football in 2017 after a twelve-year career that included three Best and Fairest and five years as captain of the Kangaroos.
The final (late) game of the round is between Fremantle and St Kilda in Perth.
Nat Fyfe continues his rise to be one of the Dockers all-time champions by equalling the game tally of Nick Suban and joining him in 17th place on the club’s all-time top 100 game players.
For the Saints, Jack Newnes also continues his rise, this week matching the games played of Glen Elliott, the Yea recruit who won the Saint’s Best and fairest in 1974.
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