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Opinion
Thursday night’s game between Geelong and Brisbane showed that when they put their minds to it, as they did in the third quarter, the Cats’ quality quartet can match it with the best.
Patrick Dangerfield’s 100th game for Geelong showed that he can combine with Tom Hawkins and Gary Ablett for many more than the 1007 goals they have scored for Geelong already.
Although he played 54 more games for Adelaide than Geelong and failed to score a goal this weekend, he has already scored more than half his goals at Geelong and has developed his game to a new level.
Geelong are playing well enough to ensure a fifth straight year in the finals.
Despite their defeat, Brisbane showed that Lachie Neale and Dayne Zorko can match it with the top teams and the developing understudies led by Charlie Cameron and the Maccas are talented enough for the Lions to also book a finals berth.
Friday night’s game saw two impressive debutants for the Magpies and highlighted Hawthorn’s inability to put a winning score on the board – particularly with Luke Breust missing – so the Pies, who seem to monster the mid-ladder clubs but fall down against the top clubs, should make the eight if they can keep their nest clean.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Saturday’s results were disappointing for the two wannabe clubs in St Kilda and the Gold Coast Suns, but kept alive the aspirations of both Fremantle and Melbourne.
Essendon and the West Coast Eagles both did what was required to be done and seem likely to see some finals action.
Richmond slogged it out in the heavy rain to dispose of Sydney with a depleted list. Sydney lost captain and inspiration Josh Kennedy early and appear to lack enough talent to be a serious contender.
On Sunday, Carlton caused a minor upset in the way that they disposed of the Bulldogs and Port Adelaide proved they mean business by being alone on top of the ladder again. The ladder squeezed up a bit further with second-placed Geelong being only two wins ahead of 17th-placed Sydney.
Round 7 kicks off next week with the Cats playing the Magpies on Thursday night in the first match of the WA hub.
The AFL top 100 goal kickers list limped along with the two current player bookends both being DNPs along with Adelaide’s Taylor Walker.
Carlton’s Eddie Betts did best with four goals, which took him past Richmond’s Michael Roach and into 32nd place, but Gary Ablett’s two goals saw him rapidly rise up the ladder past fellow Geelong player Bill Brownless and Eagle Mark LeCras to be equal with Jimmy Freake (Fitzroy), Dick Reynolds (Essendon) and Alan Ruthven (Fitzroy) inside the top 80 AFL goal scorers of all time.
Meanwhile, among the game players, numero uno current player – Hawthorn’s Shaun Burgoyne – was rested, Greater Western Sydney’s Heath Shaw passed uncle Tony to gain bragging rights as the greatest AFL game player in the Shaw family and Scott Pendlebury eclipsed former Magpie Gordon Coventry and others and joined Essendon’s Tim Watson on 307 games.
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