Opinion
Round 18 did clear up the final eight somewhat, but it still left us with a number of queries.
1. What’s happened to the Saints? Seemingly now on the skids, St Kilda has lost five of their past six games and now have a percentage even worse than Collingwood, Port Adelaide and Gold Coast who all still consider themselves a chance for the finals.
2. Collingwood continue to flatter, but is it a sign of ability or luck when you manage to win games by less than two goals, as the Magpies have now for four weeks in a row?
I am a believer – who has seen many a Collingwood loss – that if the margin in a game is less than 12 points, there has been an element of good fortune involved, be it a poor decision (umpire or player), a bad bounce or a shot that grazed the post.
3. Was Brisbane’s return to form the start of a build to the finals? Still hampered by the loss of a number of first 22 players, the Lions overtook the Giants early and methodically cantered to a decisive win, suggesting they are not going to give up a top four spot easily.
4. Geelong and Carlton both played tough, hard finals-like football and will both be there at the end of the year if Carlton get some of their players back.
5. Fremantle are not quite there yet. They looked to have Sydney’s measure for a good part of the game, but couldn’t hold on despite the raucous support of spectators who know there will be only one WA team there this year.
6. Richmond let another one slip. ”Poor kicking is poor football” was the saying from my younger days, and the Tigers proved this in spades.
The Kangaroos – to their credit – bought the fighting spirit they showed last week against Collingwood to the game and gave “newbie” coach Leigh Adams (younger than some of those still playing AFL!) the opportunity to improve further the replacement coaches win-loss ratio this year.
Noah Cumberland’s first full day on the job showed he is ready for the big time. After a no-show medi sub game first up and a two goal cameo last week, he made the team and did enough to keep his job. He was joined by a new work mate in Tyler Sonsie who showed enough to suggest the work trail should continue.
Ash Johnson played his first game of Collingwood and missed joining the first kick/first goal club by the width of a goal post, but made amends later.
As well as Johnson’s first two goals, the Magpies also celebrated last week’s debutante Josh Carmichael’s maiden goal and Jamie Elliott passing Dane Swan’s goal tally, Lachie Young (North Melbourne) and Ben Miller (Richmond) also scored their first AFL goals.
At a club level, “Buddy” kicked his 450th goal for Sydney, Zurhaar kicked his 100th goal for North Melbourne and Murphy kicked his 50th goal for the Crows.
By the end of Saturday night, Jack Riewoldt had scored two goals and passed tough man Barry Hall who represented St Kilda, Sydney and the Western Bulldogs in a career that extended from 1996 to 2011. Hall kicked over 100 goals at each of his three clubs, but was most productive at Sydney, kicking 467 of his goals for the Swans.
“Tex” Walker’s 5 goals moved him two rungs up the ladder, passing both Michael O’Loughlin (Sydney) and Daniel Bradshaw who played for both Brisbane and Sydney between 1996 and 2010.Jeremy Cameron also moved up one rank, passingEagle Peter Sumich.
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"They're not getting a lot of love from the umpires at the moment, the Blues!"
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