Like every other round of footy, there was good and bad news.
There were plenty of positives and negatives for each team. Find out what they were.
Crows
Pros
The Crouch brothers and Rory Sloane continued their good form. The three midfielders didn’t just get plenty of the ball, but they each hit the scoreboard.
Tom Lynch provided a target up forward, taking eight marks and would have kicked more than two goals if he had shot accurately.
The Crows may have lost the game, but they had 18 more tackles than the Cats, which shows that the endeavour was there.
Cons
The Cats had 33 more contested possessions than the Crows.
Despite having one more scoring shot than Geelong at quarter time, Adelaide trailed by 14 points, which can be extremely deflating for a team that has had opportunities and failed to capitalise on them.
That proved to be the case with the Crows capitulating and losing the game by four goals.
Cats
Pros
The Cats had their third win in a row to remain undefeated this season, which indicates that their first two wins of the season weren’t an aberration, but possibly a sign of good things to come.
Patrick Dangerfield was prolific, which is no surprise, and youngster Gryan Miers kicked three goals to provide another option in the forward 50. Rhys Stanley has been a revelation this season, taking the No.1 ruck mantle and Round 3 was no exception. The former Saint finished with 32 hit-outs.
Cons
The Crows won the clearances by seven and had more tackles and contested possessions than the Cats.
Demons
Pros
The Dees had the same amount of clearances than the Bombers and just three less contested possessions than the Bombers.
Angus Brayshaw was a shining light with 34 possessions, but it wasn’t only Brayshaw’s statistical output that shone through.
He showed great endeavour and tried everything conceivable to help the Demons get the four points.
Cons
Melbourne had eight less scoring shots than the Bombers.
It was a disappointing night for the Demons with few positives to speak of.
Bombers
Pros
Devon Smith was outstanding for the Bombers. Smith finished the contest with nine tackles and two goals.
The Dons finished the game with eight more scoring shots than the Dees.
Cons
Essendon trailed Melbourne at half time, despite having three more scoring shots.
Max Gawn controlled the ruck battle with Tom Bellchambers, doubling the hit-outs.
Blues
Pros
The Blues won the clearances by seven.
Sam Walsh has been a revelation this season and Round 3 was no exception. The talented youngster should win the Rising Star Award this season barring injury.
(Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)
Ed Curnow embraced his role as a forward, kicking four goals.
Cons
The Blues had one more scoring shot than the Swans, but Carlton were wasteful.
Swans
Pros
The Swans controlled the tempo of the game.
They had 107 more disposals than the Blues.
Isaac Heeney was in good form for the Swans, finishing the contest with four goals.
Cons
Sydney didn’t win the game by more, given they had much more of the ball than the Blues had.
Giants
Pros
Lachie Whitfield was outstanding for the Giants with 42 possessions, while Jeremy Cameron kicked seven goals and Jeremy Finlayson kicked five goals in a new attacking role.
Cons
Tommy Sheridan injured his calf.
Tigers
Pros
Tom Lynch kicked four goals.
Kane Lambert and Dion Prestia had a total of 67 disposals between them.
The Tigers narrowly lost the clearances and contested possessions stats.
Cons
Richmond were thoroughly outplayed after quarter time.
Incredibly, the Tigers led on the scoreboard at quarter time, but lost the game by 49 points.
Lions
Pros
Lachie Neale was outstanding for the Lions once again.
Eric Hipwood showed what he is capable of at AFL level, kicking six goals.
Cons
Despite winning the game, the Lions lost the contested possessions and clearances stats.
Power
Pros
Youngster Connor Rozee was exceptional with five goals, while Travis Boak was prolific once again, as he continues his stellar form this season.
Cons
Port allowed Josh Walker to do as he pleased, with the Lion taking 16 marks for the game, which is unacceptable from a Power perspective.
Magpies
Pros
The Magpies led on the scoreboard at quarter time.
Collingwood had eight more contested possessions than the Eagles.
Cons
Andrew Gaff did as he pleased with 35 disposals, which indicates a lack of accountability by the Magpies midfielders.
Collingwood kicked more inaccurately than the Eagles, so the result may have been different had the Pies kicked straight.
Eagles
Pros
It was great to see Andrew Gaff back in the team and showing why he could be the best player in the competition.
(Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
Jamie Cripps and Dom Sheed combined for a total of seven goals.
Cons
Brodie Grundy controlled the ruck battle with more than double the amount of hit-outs than Nathan Vardy and Tom Hickey put together.
Bulldogs
Pros
Jack Macrae and Tom Liberatore worked hard, winning plenty of the ball and finishing with nine tackles each.
The Bulldogs won the clearances and contested possessions stats.
Matthew Suckling used the ball extremely efficiently, going at 90 per cent.
Cons
The Dogs lost the game, even though they had the same number of shots on target as the Suns.
Suns
Pros
Jarrod Witts was an instrumental part of the Suns win. The ruckman finished with more than triple the hit-outs of Bulldogs ruckman Tim English.
Cons
The Bulldogs won most of the key stats apart from hit-outs and the most important stat of all: the scoreboard.
The Suns can consider themselves lucky to win the game and shows that they have a few areas of their game to work to work on.
Hawks
Pros
Luke Breust and Ben McEvoy kicked seven goals between them.
James Worpel and Jaeger O’Meara combined for 59 disposals.
Cons
The Hawks only had six different goal-kickers.
Kangaroos
Pros
The Kangaroos led on the scoreboard at quarter time and half time.
Cons
North kicked more behinds than goals.
For the second week in a row, the Kangaroos lost a game that they had a chance of winning so they have plenty of work ahead of them on the training track.
Dockers
Pros
The Dockers won the game even though they had five less scoring shots than the Saints.
Michael Walters, Matt Taberner and Brandon Matera combined for seven goals between them.
The Dockers won the game without their captain, Nat Fyfe, for a portion of the game due to concussion.
Luke Ryan was outstanding for the Dockers. The talented defender finished with 32 possessions.
Cons
The Saints had more shots at goal than the Dockers, despite the fact that the Dockers controlled most of the other stats, including the scoreboard.
Saints
Pros
Rowan Marshall controlled his ruck duel with Rory Lobb, at least from a hit-out and tackling perspective.
Jack Billings was exceptional with 32 possessions and two goals.
Cons
The Saints lost a game they should have won.
The Saints could have been undefeated from their first three games. Instead they lost their first game of the season and miss out on the momentum a win would have given them.
Macca
Roar Rookie
So Darren lets just jay we come out kick 15 plus goals play really good footy but get done by a point with a shot after the siren – what then? Do we sack the coach? Sack SOS? What? I am as desperate for a win than anyone and this is one of our best chances for the year but if it doesn’t come this week I am not going to lose faith in what we are building. Remember the Lions went 0-9 last year but then won 5 of 13 on the way home and built some momentum to take into this year. The wins will come, the plan is sound it is just a matter of time.
Darren
Guest
Let’s get serious we can’t keep losing and ‘playing well’. I like the fact that fitness has improved, physically they are competing and there has been improvement with a number of the 3-4 year players. But they need some pride and to find a way to win - continual losses is just not on.
Macca
Roar Rookie
Sydney really lifted their work rate last week more than a 30% increase in tackles shows that. A win this week would be great and we should be confident, but if we lost but play well it won't be the end of the world.
Darren
Guest
Agree Just frustrating- Sydney are not that good. Just outsmarted us. I think they need to beat GCS this week- we should be more developed than they are so no excuses.
Macca
Roar Rookie
Hopefully every game our young players are getting better at making the adjustments. I wonder if the no runners rule is impacting our ability to adapt during quarters? There is a lot to like, we are have been able to come back from significant deficits, have been able to score quickly at times look more composed down back, just need to tidy up a few things and the wins will come.
Darren
Guest
It’s probably improvement in both with ball and without. I just don’t feel like we look in control of games or respond to opposition tactics within games very well. Maybe it will come from winning a few games and having confidence in what works. The positive is we are in games and don’t look like we are off the std like we did last year.
Macca
Roar Rookie
Darren - we are crying out for a quality small forward (hopefully Cuningham isn't far away) who can be dangerous around goal and create some forward 50 stoppages but I wasn't too upset to see the Swans chipping the ball around a lot as I saw it as a result of our defensive structure working. The Swans had more than 100 possessions more than the blues yet they had the exact same number of inside 50's and 1 less scoring shot. That is a good win for the Blues. Every extra possession is an extra opportunity for a mistake (especially against less well drilled sides) and extra time for our defenders to set up. I don't think we need to worry too much about what is happening when the opposiotn have the ball but more when we have it, use the ball better (our disposal efficiency has been poor) and make better decisions, know when to take the game on and when to play the control game.
Darren
Guest
Macca- I think the easy misses you have to wear. Some weeks you’ll be more accurate than others- obviously keep practicing and hopefully results will come. From what I saw the concern is team defence - particularly in the fwd half. Carlton did this well in 1st and last quarters - yep a couple more goals would have been nice. But why did they let the Swans exit their defence so easily in 2nd and 3rd quarters by chipping the ball around? They need to address this (4 quarter effort and adjusting in games when the opposition change approach) if they want to start winning games. We just seem to be outsmarted rather than beaten on skill/strength at the moment.
Macca
Roar Rookie
Not sure you can read to much into the extra possessions the Swans had, the blues defensive structure was pretty good at forcing them to go slow and chip the ball around. The bigger stat for the Swans was the tackle count, against Adelaide in round 2 they had 52, against the Blues they had 70. On the blues they should really be looking at this as one that got away 11 shot on goal in the first quarter yielded just 5.4 while the Swans had 7 for 6.1 while from late in the 3rd to the end of the game the blues kicked 4.6 to the Swans 3.0. The blues really need to make more of their time in ascendancy and put more scoreboard pressure on their opponents.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
It's hard to know why the Saints "should have" won that game. Freo dominated. The score was close...ish but that was despite Saints kicking 2 in the closing stages when the game was unwinable and despite McCarthy taking a chest mark 20 metres out just before the siren that was inexplicably disallowed. Saints were always scrambling to catch up.
Doran Smith
Roar Guru
The Crows lost the contested possessions.
Cat
Roar Guru
Adelaide Cons The Cats had 33 more contested possessions than the Crows. Geelong Cons The Crows won the clearances by seven and had more tackles and contested possessions than the Cats. Crows and Cats both lost contested possessions?