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This Mother’s Day weekend was dominated by some absolutely sublime football from a rampaging Collingwood outfit, more questions are asked of a struggling Carlton side lacking in confidence, while Essendon face questions after their fourth consecutive loss to top four hopefuls Brisbane.
Injuries have gone from bad to completely and utterly catastrophic for West Coast – it’s like they all collectively looked the wrong way at some black cats while walking under a ladder, such is their misfortune.
I am of course referring to injuries to Jack Darling (broken wrist) and Jamaine Jones (broken nose) as the Eagles ran out of legs to lose to Gold Coast by 70 points. Now there was some things that the Eagles were able to do to place the Suns under some pressure, particularly in the first and third quarters as they were brutally efficient inside 50. Adam Simpson added some creativity in the midfield, moving Jake Petruccelle to provide some creative run and carry at centre bounces.
The Eagles are heavily struggling as they firm as favourites for the prize number one pick and rights to Harley Reid – if things get much worse, the AFL will desperately need to provide assistance to their WAFL team as well, who went down 141-52.
It was a slaughterhouse for the Kangas down in Tassie as North Melbourne became the walking wounded, with injuries to Luke Davies-Uniacke, Darcy Tucker (both hamstrings), Flynn Perez (concussion), Paul Curtis (corkie), and Jack Mahony (shoulder).
In what was expected to be an exceptionally spite-fueled contest the Kangaroos could not even resist as the Power ran rampant putting their memories of an acrimonious trade for Jason Horne-Francis behind them.
North are in a lot of trouble as they firm as one of three favourites for the number one pick this year, and it’s practically becoming a gimme game for opposition sides. Making matters worse the Kangas ran out on average with an older side than their opposition in Port – though part of this may be to do with Todd Goldstein single-handedly increasing the average age.
The Hawks looked like a deer caught in the headlights as the Demons rampaged on their way to a 54-point win. Outside of a five-goal third term, there were precious few things for the Hawks to be able to write home about.
The Hawks do appear to have the bare bones of a structure that they can deploy going forward, yet with the youngest list in the competition it will be hard for the Hawks to easily win many games from here. Will Day, James Worpel and Jai Newcombe all attempted to breath life into the Hawks as they battled manfully for 26, 29, and 26 disposals respectively.
This year was always going to be exceptionally tough for the Giants, as they’ve thrown the majority of their salary cap behind too few players. They would be ecstatic with the return they’ve gotten from Jesse Hogan, but concerningly, are not getting enough out of number one draft pick Aaron Cadman, who was held to one behind from seven disposals against Collingwood.
This is a transitional year for the Giants as they continue to adjust to a new coach and a new gamestyle, but unlike other under-performing clubs, they are subject to the fickle fans of Sydney so need to be successful quickly.
The Swans have dropped to 3-6 as their former fortress in the SCG fell to a solid Dockers outfit.
The Swans poor form is fueled by injuries to key personnel, yet I can’t help but believe there is a deeper rot to them as the Swans of old would not let something like that dictate their poor performances. If any side can turn around this malaise, I have little doubt that they can – they’ve done it before in 2017, when they began 0-6.
Lance Franklin of the Swans speaks to his teammates. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/AFL Photos/Getty Images)
Sadly, ‘Flagendon’ is looking less and less likely as injuries steadily take their toll on the Bombers. Concussions to Jordan Ridley and Josh Kelly left their defence severely undermanned against Brisbane, needing to rely on the performance of the raw Kane Baldwin and the increasingly solid Brandon Zerk-Thatcher ,who has been a rock against considerably larger opposition, often giving up size and weight on key forwards.
The performance of Andy McGrath was absolutely brilliant: shutting down the ever-dangerous Charlie Cameron while still providing his characteristic run and carry from behind the ball, in a performance reminiscent of his 2017 Rising Star year.
For the side that contains the reigning Brownlow Medallist in Patrick Cripps and the two previous Coleman Medallists in Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow the Blues should not be as bad as they are. They have a team of champions but have never been able to be more than the sum of their parts, their latest loss to the Western Bulldogs seeing them fall outside the eight and providing yet more frustration for Blues fans.
It places even more pressure on their already embattled coach, with Michael Voss looking at an ill-fated return to the senior coaching ranks.
This was the biggest win by the Suns outside Queensland in their short lacklustre history, smashing West Coast by 70 points. It was a nearly perfect game from Matt Rowell, the pocket dynamo explosive at stoppages with 29 disposals, a goal and 17 tackles (three short of the AFL record set by Rory Laird).
The Suns now face the in-form Brisbane at the Gabba for the QClash in what is sure to be a curious clash, with the Lions coming off six consecutive wins.
Away from home and out of form, the Dockers had their backs against the wall, but delivered a commanding performance to run out 17-point winners against Sydney.
It was the gargantuan Sean Darcy who delivered a impetuous performance in the midfield, dragging his side over the edge with 18 disposals (14 contested), 44 hitouts and nine clearances. He was ably assisted by Luke Jackson’s best performance in purple as he begins to become more comfortable with the key forward tag, with three goals and seven marks from his 17 disposals.
The Dockers now have the faintest of hopes of making finals, but they will need to continue to win their games in front of them and win them well.
Write Richmond off at your peril – I may have put them here as a joke last week, but maybe I am clairvoyant, as the Tigers ran out 24 point winners against the reigning premiers Geelong.
It was a dual-pronged strategy from the Tigers: they instituted a high press against the elderly Cats, forcing turnovers before they were brutally efficient with their own entries inside 50.
The Tigers now go into a very important clash with the Bombers in their annual Dreamtime at the G clash in Sir Doug Nicholls Round.
Trent Cotchin celebrates a goal. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
This was disappointing for the Saints. For a side that prides itself on the effort and hard running of its players they were unable to go with the explosive Crows, as their hard-running game style was found out by the astute coaching of Matthew Nicks.
I’m not writing the Saints off yet – I just believe they’ve always been a bottom half of the eight team, and will be thereabouts come the end of the season.
The Cats were missing nine of their best 22 against Richmond, with the absence of Patrick Dangerfield keenly felt with the midfield unable to deal with the frenetic pressure of the Tigers.
I do have questions about the Cats’ depth – without the leadership of Dangerfield they were punch drunk in the face of the Tigers running in waves with a six goal first quarter.
Inaccuracy left the Dogs with an almighty fright against the polarising Carlton, as the Blues narrowed the margin to eight points at 3QT. It was a curious match as Luke Beveridge threw the magnets around playing Rory Lobb as an oversized winger to raise the marking power of the Bulldogs around the ground, while clogging up the leading lanes for Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay.
The Bulldogs will more than likely finish in the bottom half of the eight this year, but I think the season to date has been disappointing.
The Crows were marvellous against the typically dour Ross Lyon-led St Kilda, putting the Saints to the sword.
Taylor Walker is seeming to become an ageless wonder with another five goal performance (a season high) as the Crows looked to earn some R and R – and by that I mean the explosiveness of Josh Rachele and Izak Rankine, combining for 35 disposals, 3 goals and 9 score involvements in a forward-midfield role.
The Crows have developed one of the best forward lines in the game, and if they can make finals at the end of this year will surprise some teams.
Six wins on the trot for the Power as they ran out comfortable 70-point winners against a meek North Melbourne outfit down in sunny Tasmania.
There was a heavy focus on Jason Horne-Francis heading into this game, yet despite that there was hardly a peep out of the North players as he gathered 15 disposals (seven contested).
With 14 goalkickers, the Power have gained a valuable experience winning down in Tasmania; however, it remains to be seen if they can find the same level against more consequential opposition.
The Gabbatoir is back as six goals from Smokin’ Joe Daniher makes six wins on the trot for the Lions, running out comfortable winners against a severely depleted Essendon.
It was a massive second half turnaround for the Lions as they turned a 10-point deficit into a 42-point victory.
I don’t think there are many accurate conclusions that can be drawn from this match, as the Bombers were severely undermanned – if anything, the Lions should have won by considerably more given their domination of territory.
This was a perfunctory win for the Demons, and aside from concerns about Christian Petracca’ s the Demons had a near perfect time against Hawthorn at the G.
With twelve individual goal kickers, including a major each from Max Gawn and Brodie Grundy to validate the decision to manufacture the partnership of Gawndy, the Dees did what they needed to do in the first half, then went on cruise control. A bigger challenge awaits this week against Port Adelaide.
Mason Cox is the only Collingwood player I like, and with two goals from his 19 disposals and nine marks in a best on ground performance for the in-form Pies, he was crucial as the Giants were unable to go with the form team of the competition.
Nick Daicos of the Magpies celebrates a goal. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Craig McRae has his players playing with a rare dash and dare that sees them as premiership favourites and league-leaders.
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