AFL Power Rankings Round 5: An Easter miracle as Tigers become carrion for Crows

Welcome back to my weekly column on the power rankings of each side.

In this piece I will go through every side and rank them according to their performance this round in the context of their season to date.

This round had explosive offence, surprising upsets and controversy abounding with many calling for the immediate removal of North Melbourne from their annual Good Friday clash.

Read on for my power rankings.

18. North Melbourne Kangaroos (down one)
North Melbourne have struggled this season, nearly dropping games to the West Coast Eagles and being utterly obliterated by the Western Bulldogs.

They have shown no signs that they’ve improved and they’re firming as the first team to earn consecutive wooden spoons since the Giants nine years ago.

The lone bright spot has been the performance of Nick Larkey, who kicked another four goals to surge up the Coleman leaderboard as the Roos went down to a fast finishing Western Bulldogs outfit.

(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

17. West Coast Eagles (down three)
The West Coast Eagles do have an extremely solid senior core of players however they rushed back too many players and it showed with their inability to score at all until midway through the second quarter.

The one consolation for the Eagles was the performance of hard-running midfielder Patrick Naish who was unlikely to be signed until days before the closing of the supplementary selection period.

With 26 disposals including 16 in the first half, Naish worked hard to get to every contest and shapes up as a player of the future once the Eagles have worked their way out of this troublesome period.

16. Essendon Bombers (down three)
The Bombers were absolutely woeful in the second half of Sunday afternoon’s game against Fremantle. As a Bombers fan I was absolutely seething at the complete and utter capitulation that took place in the second half.

Had they not won a game I would have had them 18th. The Bombers allowed Fremantle to play their brand of footy and dominate the Bombers in a third-quarter demolition with ten goals in that quarter.

I am left questioning the efficacy of the Bombers’ midfield as they win hitouts and get smashed by bigger bodied midfielders at the stoppage followed by an inability to control the transition. Put simply the Bombers cannot play without the ball.

15. Port Adelaide Power (up three)
It was the comeback that never was. The Power were down by 49 points heading into the half and were completely bereft of all confidence and forward momentum.

The Power will rue their inaccuracy as people want to do in matches such as this one where near enough was not quite good enough.

It was a surprise performance for Sam Powell-Pepper who was electric in the forward line with two goals, and a vintage performance from Robbie Gray with three goals as he nearly pulled off a remarkable comeback through sheer force of will.

(Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

14. Greater Western Sydney (up two)
It might seem strange to have the Giants up after being smashed by the Demons. However, counterpoint: the Dees are easily the best side in the competition and were it not for their aggressive system, the Giants would be in that game.

The Giants simply butchered the ball winning the ball at clearance (+8) but were unable to get through the Melbourne web.

The Giants need to improve but they will have their talismanic captain Toby Greene come back next week after serving a long suspension but the damage may be too severe for even his mercurial talents.

13. Gold Coast Suns (down two)
The Suns could not get their hands on the ball against an in-form Saints outfit as they went -68 in overall disposals and were dominated at clearance as the Saints won by +18.

Despite that they were able to win the positional battle through their inside 50 count (+3). The Suns need more out of their midfield as Touk Miller (32 disposals at 68.8 per cent efficiency), Noah Anderson (25 disposals at 76 per cent efficiency) and Matt Rowell had to contend with multiple players hanging off him at the stoppage.

The Suns need to take greater advantage of the dominance of Jarrod Witts who is objectively a top-three ruck in the competition.

12. Richmond Tigers (down six)
The Tigers are consistently inconsistent this year. They win one and they lose one and have been prone to wild swings of momentum against them.

The key defenders they’ve recruited have failed to fire. Part of this could be attributed to the absence of Dylan Grimes, however the aged Robbie Tarrant has not worked, leaving more pressure on Josh Gibcus.

The Tigers are acutely feeling the absences this year with Dustin Martin uncertain to comeback at all and they may struggle to be a fixture in September.

(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

11. Adelaide Crows (up four)
The Crows are carrion no longer. They turned the tables on an insipid Tigers outfit as the big men of the Crows came to the fore with Taylor Walker and Elliott Himmelberg combining for nine of the Crows’ 15 goals.

Rory Sloane’s ACL notwithstanding, this was a considerably better performance from the Crows, who are going to surprise some teams this year with early-season Rising Star favourite Josh Rachele being a constant up forward.

10. Collingwood Magpies (up two)
The Magpies are not a bad football team this year. While David King and Leigh Montagna do raise questions about the age demographics of the list, they do have some gun players developing in the twos.

They have stalwarts such as Jack Crisp (36 disposals and eight tackles) and Darcy Moore (17 disposals and two goals) in a surprise performance as a swingman.

The question remains: did the Pies go too tall as they were largely impotent offensively with Mason Cox struggling to impact and spending large periods of time on the bench.

9. Carlton Blues (down two)
They won but it was the most unconvincing win, particularly when you consider the fact they were 50 points up midway through the piece.

It forms a worrying trend for Michael Voss who has seen his side completely unable to run out games in multiple weeks, particularly in the Western Bulldogs game and the Hawthorn game where they were lucky to fall over the line at the end.

(Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

8. Hawthorn Hawks (up two)
It was another Easter Monday classic between the two great rivals. There were wild swings in momentum as the match was relatively uncertain well into the fourth quarter.

The Hawks have built a solid young core with Jai Newcombe gathering 31 disposals to go with his seven marks in a prototypical performance of an outside midfielder. James Sicily was a wall down back with 15 marks of his own and four intercept marks in the first quarter.

It was the youth on show for Hawthorn as they surprised the punditocracy with their ability to get the W against the more heavily credentialed Geelong outfit.

7. Western Bulldogs (up two)
The big criticism of the Bulldogs recently has been their inaccuracy. They managed to rectify that against a woeful North Melbourne side but you can only beat the side that’s in front of you.

Luke Beveridge was able to exploit the glut of midfielders at his disposal by swinging Marcus Bontempelli forward for three goals as he ably assisted Cody Weightman (five goals) and Aaron Naughton (five goals).

The Bulldogs do have some concerns about their bookends with their key defenders still struggling to contain good key forwards. However their win against a woeful North Melbourne outfit will be valuable if only for the percentage boost.

6. Geelong Cats (down four)
The Cats are by no means a bad side however the performance against the Hawks is concerning as they allowed the midfield of the Hawks to dominate contested possession (+26) and move more towards a forward-half turn-over game.

The Cats would be happy with their key forwards, kicking six of their 11 goals. However, the fact that their behinds tallied more than their goals would be a concern as in a game as close as this one, it cost them the four points.

(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

5. Fremantle Dockers (up three)
The Matt Taberner show was in town on Sunday as he kicked a career-high seven goals straight from all parts of the inside 50.

It was a display of how exuberant youth can make a massive difference to a side as the Dockers ran out with nine players under the age of 22.

The game was decided in a dominant third-quarter performance putting the result beyond doubt as the spread and speed of the Dockers left the insipid Bombers grasping in their wake.

The Dockers are in the top four of the league, however they’ve yet to beat any side of consequence so it remains to be seen how highly they will feature in September.

4. St Kilda (up one)
St Kilda easily came into this competition as the side with the most to prove and going by the first five weeks they’re certainly well on their way to showing the competition that they were wrong to doubt them.

It was the best of the inside bulls with Jack Steele and Brad Crouch gathering 54 disposals together. Jade Gresham put forward a solid case for the comeback player of the year with another 25 disposals and two goals playing in a half forward-midfield role.

3. Brisbane Lions (no change)
The Lions are in good form. I just think there are sides that are in better form and their inability to well and truly put sides away is a concern.

Joe Daniher leaped into All Australian contention this week with yet another stellar performance up front, showing that he has put to bed his accuracy issues that plagued the earlier parts of his career.

Lachie Neale is close to the best form of his career with another 33 disposals and a goal. The Lions will almost certainly be at the pointy end of the season.

(Photo by Russell Freeman/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

2. Sydney Swans (up two)
The Swans are never down for long and while it may be infuriating as a long-suffering Bombers fan, it is to their credit. They have continued their good form of last year.

In particular, a way forward without Lance Franklin is becoming more and more clear as Logan McDonald and Isaac Heeney both fill the void left by Franklin, both in the forward line and with his exemplary field kicking.

I expect that the Swans will feature in the finals this year unless they have cataclysmic injuries or something similar to the crucible that the West Coast Eagles have been put through.

1. Melbourne Demons (no change)
The Demons are certainly the presumptive side to go back to back. Until a side can show they can stack up to the well drilled form of the Dees, I would not be able to tip against them.

A ten-goal-to-two third quarter shaped this game as the Dees dominated the game through a variety of means with ten individual goal kickers across this quarter alone.

The Dees have shown they’re able to win in a variety of ways and have become an efficient system-based side. Their performance this week sees them remain on top of the power rankings this week.

There you have it folks. Sorry I was a little late submitting them this week. But what do you all think? Leave your thoughts in the comments below and I will do my best to respond.