Round 22 had it all.

Elements of romance in David Mundy’s club record-equalling 353rd match, elements of shin splints as the Roos felt agonisingly short and elements of euphoria as the Bombers appear on track to make the eight again.

Read on for my key takeaways from the latest round of the AFL season.

18. Carlton Blues (down three)
Nineteen goals in a row from the Port Adelaide Power has turned what appeared to be a potential upset into a mauling. In what became a whimpering celebration for Marc Murphy’s 300th and last match, the Blues failed to fire a shot for their former captain.

The Blues led by as much as 23 points mid-way through the second quarter, yet the list of inactives and injuries was too much as the Power went on a merry jaunt with 19 goals in a row to win by a massive 95 points.

Adam Saad was emblematic of the insipid Carlton performance, coming off in tears with the feckless performance in the fourth quarter after conceding a 50-metre penalty to Zak Butters after engaging in fisticuffs. The Blues’ season mercifully ends next week with a game against the finals-bound Giants.

17. Collingwood Magpies (no change)
Yuck. There’s not much I can say about the horrendous loss of the Collingwood Magpies against the Brisbane Lions. I had to really stretch to come up with a highlight that I could point towards, and all I really could point to be the continued improvement of the Magpies’ youth.

Robert Harvey continues to get a solid number of games into them at the selection table and they reward him with reasonable performances. The Pies now face the Bombers at the ‘G to end the season where they’ll be hoping to play spoiler for the Bombers’ finals campaign.

16. Gold Coast Suns (down three)
The Suns are playing Katy Perry footy. They’re hot then they’re cold, they’re up then they’re down, they’re in then they’re out. Perry’s seminal hit ‘Hot ‘N’ Cold’ is a pretty good representation of the Suns’ season, and they were very very cold on Sunday afternoon.

The one solace they can take into the end of the season is that it’s over and they can begin loading up for a prolonged run at the eight.

15. Adelaide Crows (up three)
The only reason they’re up is because the other three sides below them were atrocious. They have also begun showing what life after Taylor Walker could be like with Darcy Fogarty kicking three goals, one behind in a solid display from his 12 disposals.

Meanwhile, Rory Sloane put in a workmanlike performance with 25 disposals and nine tackles. The Crows did well to get within nine points, kicking four of the first five goals of the second half but they couldn’t go with the heavily fancied Melbourne outfit.

The Crows’ season will end next season with the Jason Horne-Francis cup against fellow cellar dweller the North Melbourne Kangaroos.

14. North Melbourne Kangaroos (up two)
The Kangas are one of the best wooden-spoon sides ever. They lost the game, yes, but they would be ecstatic to cement their grasp on the vaunted first draft pick and the vaunted talents of Jason Horne-Francis.

They would also be thanking their lucky stars that Fabian Francis didn’t play 12 more games for Port Adelaide, enabling Horne-Francis to qualify as a father-son.

North are getting games into their valued youth. David Noble clearly has the respect of the young players and the optimist in me believes North can even challenge the bottom reaches of the eight as soon as next year.

13. Hawthorn Hawks (up one)
The remarkable reverse tank continues as Alastair Clarkson recorded the third consecutive win as he continues to show how the Hawks erred in moving him on so quickly.

It was the younger stalwarts of the Hawks that put their best foot forward, leaving the Hawks’ faithful present in Tasmania eagerly anticipating what is to come in future.

Daniel Howe (34 disposals, one goal), Jai Newcombe (18 disposals, 11 tackles) and Lachie Bramble (18 disposals) continue to play prominent roles in the re-invigorated Hawthorn line-up.

12. St Kilda (down one)
Heading into the match the Saints were distant chances of making the eight. The Saints would be reasonably contented by the honourable loss they put forward.

They forced the Cats to fight for every goal as their own forwards put on a clinic with Tim Membrey, Max King and Cooper Sharman combining for seven goals. The Saints would be disappointed that they were unable to parlay their early dominance into victory, however the Saints have largely stopped the bleeding from their early-season losses.

They have attained a holding pattern when compared with last year, and aside from the decline of Bradley Hill the Saints would be extremely happy with the return on investment from Zak Jones (18 disposals, one goal) and Brad Crouch (24 disposals, two goals) both featuring among the best on the weekend.

11. West Coast Eagles (down one)
Much like the Arsenal fan-base it would not surprise me to hear cries of ‘Adam Simpson out’ from the West Coast faithful. His game style has been found out and they started from way too far back to win the game.

The Eagles dominated hitouts (+11) and inside 50s (+15) but they failed to convert the domination in these stats into a victory. The Eagles now need to smash the Brisbane Lions away from home to stand any chance of making the top eight, and we can safely say that the Eagles’ season is over.

10. Richmond Tigers (down one)
That was not their worst loss of the year, but it was very close. There were a few junk-time goals in the last quarter to obfuscate the deeper problems for the Tigers, that problem being their inability to develop viable replacements for the players who’ve gone out.

However, with players like Shai Bolton (17 disposals, two goals), Jayden Short (32 disposals), and Sydney Stack (19 disposals), I unfortunately doubt that the Tigers will be down for long. These players will be the ones to lead the Tigers out of the doldrums they currently find themselves in.

9. Fremantle Dockers (up three)
Anthony Hudson should have got more praise for his silky ‘Serong seright’ pun. The Dockers metaphorically punched the Eagles in the face with a massive eight-goal first quarter including three to Matt Taberner.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned Caleb Serong was huge with two goals and 31 disposals in a well-earned Ross Glenndenning medal, and potentially the first of many. The Dockers were able to finally arrest the decline of 11 straight derbies lost and finally got one over the Eagles.

8. Essendon Bombers (no change)
The Bombers have one hand on eighth position. They still need to beat the Collingwood Magpies to be assured of a finals spot, but they did their chances no disservice by smashing the Suns by 68 points.

Jake Stringer’s back half of the year has put him as a viable challenger to Darcy Parish as the outright favourite for the Critchon Medal.

The win has left the Bombers with some difficult decisions to make at the end of the year with Tom Cutler, Sam Durham, and Dylan Clarke all putting in extremely solid performances for the Bombers to finalise the year.

7. Greater Western Sydney (down one)
The Giants have scored a final-eight position with a magnificent win over a deflated Richmond outfit. It was a juxtaposition of the magnificent pressure at the coal face and absolutely sublime ball use on the outside.

Leon Cameron is putting together a performance worthy of the coach of the year. He has been missing some of his best 22 players for such a large chunk of the year and has experienced long-term list churn.

The performance of Tim Taranto (four goals) and Josh Kelly (32 disposals) is making the Giants a fearsome opposition to face in the finals, particularly when you consider their ability to make the big dance from outside the top four.

The Giants now face a woeful Carlton outfit before loading up for an unlikely finals charge when you consider the 0-3 start to the season.

6. Sydney Swans (down two)
This game was closer than it had any right to be. The Swans have appeared like flag smokeys, however the last two weeks have left the Swans’ form appearing like a mirage on the horizon.

It wasn’t the older heads of the Bloods that got them over the line this week but the mid-tier players that did so. Players like George Hewett (28 disposals), Harry Cunningham (26 disposals) and Will Hayward (three goals) are all putting forward good performances to continue to build form towards the finals.

The Swans are still a difficult match-up come the finals, but they’re still a few steps off challenging for a flag.

5. Western Bulldogs (down three)
That was awful from the Bulldogs. My Bombers softened up the Bulldogs for the Hawks. It is worrying that on the eve of finals they have had such a precipitous decline.

The optimist in me perhaps believes the Bulldogs are attempting to lure the footy punditocracy into a false sense of security.

However, the performance the Bulldogs brought was atrocious and given wins to Geelong and Port it could cost them the double chance. The Bulldogs now face Port Adelaide in a match that is sure to shape the top four.

4. Brisbane Lions (up three)
That was ominous from the Lions. For the last two weeks they are ahead of their opponents 260-111. They appear to have got over the injuries of Eric Hipwood and Cam Rayner as Joe Daniher, Dan McStay and Charlie Cameron are playing as a pseudo key forward and they combined for 12 goals.

The Lions dominated through the guts as they gave the Pies a lot of different looks, and the Magpies could not go with them. The win gives them an outside chance of making the top four as they closed the gap between them and the Bulldogs in points and percentage.

3. Port Adelaide Power (up three)
Port smashed the Blues. They played the villain in Marc Murphy’s 300th and last game. They did so and roared into contention for a top-four spot at the end of the season.

Yes, the big criticism of the Power has been their ability to pummel poor teams, and falter against the solid sides. However when you smash a side as comprehensively as the Power beat the Blues you’re going to go up these rankings.

2. Geelong Cats (up one)
The Cats won that game, and they won the game while kicking more goals than points, so they’ve addressed a couple of questions surrounding their game plan.

However, something was missing as the Cats were forced to really earn the four points. Like most of the Cats’ victories this year, it was built on the back of their domination of possession (+104).

However, the absence of Tom Stewart from their defence will be difficult to replace as the game was close despite the domination of the inside 50 count. The Cats now play the Melbourne Demons in a match that is sure to be a nightmare for these power rankings.

1. Melbourne Demons (no change)
The Demons look set to earn their first McLelland Trophy since 1964. This is a far more auspicious sign for their premiership chances rather than the usual karmic jinx that it appears to be for all other sides.

Bailey Fritsch also continues to be spectacular, putting his name up with Toby Greene and Charlie Cameron as that pseudo key forward that kicks bags with seven goals, taking his total to 46 for the year.

The Demons have put the middling form of the past month behind them and are loading up for a solid charge at the ultimate prize.