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Opinion
In this topsy turvy season, it is going to be difficult to differentiate between where teams are at on any given day with the fixtures now spread continuously over many days but incorporating byes as well.
We have already had some taste of it with Essendon and Melbourne running one game behind the other teams in a year where an additional four points could result in a sudden rise up the ladder. With Rounds 9, 10 and 11 starting on different days, tipsters are going to need to be on the ball to ensure they get their tips in on time.
It has been an exciting season for a number of reasons, one of which is that the shorter quarters have contributed to lower scores and therefore generally closer games. Only two teams so far have not been involved in a game where the final margin was less than ten points.
In close games it can be argued that the result may have been different had not vital occurrences during the game favoured one team over the other. Over half of Carlton’s games to date have been decided by small margins with a 50/50 win-loss ratio so it could be also argued that it all evens out in the long run, but St Kilda, whose ratio is 0-2, may beg to differ.
Already this round we have had a close one with Western Bulldogs being slightly more accurate than Gold Coast to win by five points and show they are likely to be finals contenders while Gold Coast remain in the hunt but may find the rise from wooden spooners to finalists in one year a challenge too great.
This year they have improved on the three victories they were able to achieve last year and break their duck against Adelaide. Their next challenge is to end the record sequence of wins that six clubs currently hold against them (although Melbourne and Port Adelaide were able to extend their runs this year).
For the Suns, Alex Sexton kicked three goals while the Western Bulldogs goals were kicked by seven different players, the most significant one being Mitch Wallis, the son of Steven, whose goal took him past the total scored by Merv Laffey (1945-1952) and Graham Ion (1958-1965) and level with former teammate and premiership player Matthew Boyd.
Callum Porter played his first game for the Bulldogs, adding to the list of over 80 players wearing new colours this year, an indication of the desire of all clubs to build up their playing lists in a year where there may be as little as four days between games.
Greater Western Sydney’s victory over Richmond was significant also, although the Tigers were depleted by stay at homes and injuries. In a dark day for the backline at least Dylan Grimes had some personal milestones to celebrate by passing Donald Don, a brilliant rover who played in two premierships and headed Richmond’s goalkicking twice over 100 years ago.
Grimes is now level with Ray Martin (who was christened John Raymond Martin) and also played in two premierships and Neil Balme, a rough and tough player from Subiaco, who is now a key administrator at the Tigers.
Nick Vlastuin also moved up the Tigers’ top 100 game players list, drawing level with Bill “Polly” Perkins, an Englishman who starred in both the 1943 and 1944 grand finals, and George Smeaton, the “Brown Bomber” who Jack Dyer described as the toughest player he ever played with.
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