Used to watch it back in the 80's. Somebody said to me that it was like American football but with the only protection being a light covering in bruises !. Watched a grand final once where the entire teams got involved is a massive punch up at the start. Also one of them, unfortunately can't remember his name was getting dogs abuse from the stand. He jumped the barrier and lumped this gezzer so hard he flew over backwards flashing the soles of his shoes in the process. Player had a massive moustache if I remember correctly. Anybody knows who this might have been?.
That Grand Final sounds like 1989, Hawthorn v Geelong, which was one of the best I've seen (although the four West Coast wins top that ). The Hawks' CHF Dermott Brereton was cleaned up at the opening bounce (resulting in broken ribs and internal bleeding) and that sparked, ahem, "wild scenes" as everyone piled in.
Hawthorn's Robert DiPierdominico ("Dipper") ended with broken ribs, bruised kidney and a punctured lung - not that he knew he had a punctured lung until after the game. Dipper was one of those players with a massive 'tache and was just the sort of bloke who'd carry on like that with the crowd!
Round 5 of the 2024 season begins on Thursday morning when the Demons and Lions face off at the 'G. At this stage there are still 7 sides with 100% records: GWS, Carlton and Geelong have won every game; Adelaide, Hawthorn, North Melbourne and West Coast have lost every match (although West Coast can take some pride in winning their first quarter of the season against the Swannies last week in a closer-than-expected loss, only 26 points, and still had a sniff in the final term).
Collingwood and Sydney have the week off so only eight matches are being played this weekend.
Fri 12 Apr Western Bulldogs (8th, 2-2) v Essendon (12th, 2-2) Docklands, 10:40am
Sat 13 Apr GWS (1st, 4-0) v St Kilda (9th, 2-2) Manuka Oval, 4:45am Carlton (4th, 4-1) v Adelaide (15th, 0-4) Docklands, 7:35am Gold Coast (10th, 2-2) v Hawthorn (16th, 0-4), Carrara Stadium, 10:30am Port Adelaide (6th, 3-1) v Fremantle (7th, (3-1) Adelaide Oval, 10:30am
Sun 14 Apr Geelong (5th, 4-0) v North Melbourne (17th, 0-4) Kardinia Park, 4:00am West Coast (18th, 0-4) v Richmond (14th, 1-4) Perth Stadium, 7:00am
I've picked Richmond but, as always when tipping against the Eagles, I'm hoping I'm wrong. It should be one of the closer games that WC have had over the last year or two and they're an outside chance of an upset ... especially if they can actually kick the ball to a blue-and-gold guernsey instead of giving the ball to the Tiggers in dangerous areas.
Last week saw one club lose its first match of the season (Carlton) whilst a couple won their first game (Adelaide and the mighty West Coast - yay! ). The end of this week's fixtures will see only one winless team left in the comp (unless there is the rarity of a draw) as North takes on the Hawks who are 0-5 for the first time in over 50 years.
Round 6 fixtures
Thu 18 Apr St Kilda (12th, 2-3) v Western Bulldogs (11th, 2-3) MCG, 10:30am
Sat 20 Apr Collingwood (13th, 2-3) v Port Adelaide (3rd, 4-1) MCG, 4:45am Carlton (6th, 4-1) v GWS (1st, 5-0) Docklands, 7:35am Brisbane (10th, 2-3) v Geelong (2nd, 5-0) Gabba, 10:30am West Coast (16th, 1-4) v Fremantle (7th, 3-2) Perth Stadium, 11:10am
Sun 21 Apr Sydney (4th, 4-1) v Gold Coast (8th, 3-2) SCG, 4:05am North Melbourne (18th, 0-5) v Hawthorn (17th, 0-5) Docklands, 7:05am
Melbourne and Richmond have a bye this week and return to action against each other next Wednesday to start ANZAC Round with their now-traditional ANZAC Eve clash.
Another tough game for Carlton. Last week was a bit unlucky but for a while now we have been scraping by with single digit wins. Been lucky that most have ended up in our favour but if we can't establish good leads in games we are always vulnerable
With all teams having played six matches there are now only two clubs with a 100% record: Geelong (six wins) and North Melbourne (six defeats). West Coast had a massive Western Derby victory over Freo (and would have been even bigger if the Eagles hadn't put the cue in the rack in the final term) which was quite amazing to watch with the No 1 pick in last year's draft, West Coast's Harley Reid, putting in a Chris Judd-esque performance in just his 6th game of AFL football, taking a Mark of the Year contender to go with his Rising Star nomination last week. My tipping left a bit to be desired with the first six matches of the last round being wrong before redeeming myself with the last two.
It's now Round Seven: ANZAC Round.
Proceedings kick off on Wednesday morning with the Tigers and Demons before the main game of the round on ANZAC Day itself, Essendon v Collingwood. Both of those will probably be played in front of 90,000+ crowds.
I think the Mark Of The Year competition has been settled with 16 rounds of footy left in the season: Jamie Elliott's hanger in the Anzac Day draw is the clubhouse leader and it's going to take something special to beat this:
Ben McKay, the human step-ladder, is listed as 2.02m tall which is 6' 7½" in old money ... and Elliott leapt onto his shoulders with ease and then caught the ball at almost full stretch above his head.
This week it's a round of local derbies, traditional rivalries, a meeting of two of the oldest professional football clubs in the world (any code) ... and some matches that don't seem to have a great deal on them.
Thursday night sees the Showdown - Adelaide v Port Adelaide - taking centre stage for once with traditional foes Carlton and Collingwood coming together on Friday night. Saturday's big matches start with the 'Battle of the Bridge' Sydney derby followed by the AFL's two oldest clubs (both founded in 1859), Melbourne and Geelong, and a real I-can't-stand-you clash between West Coast and Essendon, a rivalry that goes back to the early 1990s and legendary Bombers coach Kevin Sheedy indulging in dirty tricks like tying down the wind sock at Windy Hill (Essendon's former home ground). The round comes to a conclusion with Brisbane and Gold Coast meeting in the Queensland derby, the 'Q Clash'.
Thu 2 May Adelaide (12th, 2-5) v Port Adelaide (5th, 5-2) Adelaide Oval, 10:30am
Fri 3 May Carlton (6th, 5-2) v Collingwood (10th, 3-3-1) MCG, 10:40am
Sat 4 May Sydney (2nd, 6-1) v GWS (3rd, 6-1) SCG, 4:45am St Kilda (14th, 2-5) v North Melbourne (18th, 0-7) Docklands, 7:35am Melbourne (4th, 5-2) v Geelong (1st, 7-0) MCG, 10:30 West Coast (15th, 2-5) v Essendon (7th, 4-2-1) Perth Stadium, 11:10am
Sun 5 May Richmond (16th, 1-6) v Fremantle (8th, 4-3) MCG, 4:00am Western Bulldogs (11th, 3-4) v Hawthorn (17th, 1-6) Docklands, 7:00am Brisbane (13th, 2-5) v Gold Coast (9th, 4-3) Gabba, 10:10am
Went to the Hawthorne Hawks v Sydney Swans game at the MCG on Sunday. Like idiots we supported the Hawks. They lost 118 to 42 and I thought our defence was crap this season 😅
The 2024 AFL Home and Away season is finished and the Finals series starts tomorrow leading to the Grand Final on Saturday 28th September.
It has been one of the weirdest, wildest and craziest seasons I've ever seen in the 40+ years I've been watching the VFL/AFL.
Sydney started like a house on fire and by the mid-point of the season were so far ahead of the pack in terms of quality it was just a case of who they would beat on the last Saturday in September. Then they got some injuries, lost a bit of form, started losing matches - including a complete and utter destroyation (to borrow a Rex Hunt favourite phrase) against Port Adelaide when they lost by 112 (one hundred and twelve) points. The Swans picked up a bit in the closing week or two and finished as minor premiers.
With eight weeks of the season left the AFL was rubbing its hand in glee as the Big Three of Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon were occupying the other places in the top four: that would have guaranteed a number of bumper Finals matches at the MCG with 90k+ crowds ...
... and then the wheels on the bus fell off - big style.
Collingwood suffered plenty of injuries and the Colliwobbles and dropped down to miss finals completely, the third reigning premiers to fail to qualify for finals the next year in the last four years (the only one to make it was Melbourne in 2022 - and they got dumped out in straight sets) ...
Essendon did Essendon-type things and missed out completely ...
Carlton collapsed and by the final match of the regular season were hanging by a thread in the top eight needing the result to go their way to squeeze into September action ...
Fremantle had been in the top four with about five weeks to go but started to lose matches ... and they lost ... and they lost ... and they had a final chance to squeeze into the eight in the final match of the season as long as they defeated Port Adelaide in Perth. The Dockers conceded the last three goals of the game in the final few minutes to lose and thus reprieve the Blues.
Brisbane, last year's losing Grand Finalists, had an indifferent start to the season although that wasn't helped by losing four key players to season-ending ACL injuries. They managed to drag themselves back into the top four and in the middle of Sydney's wobbles were being touted as Premiership favourites ... until they started losing matches because they couldn't kick straight for goal.
Hawthorn, continuing their rebuild under Sam Mitchell, opened the season with a loss. Followed by another one. And another. Five losses to start the campaign isn't always a good sign of success but something clicked and they've become one of - if not THE - form side in the league and reached the finals for the first time in six years.
Thursday 5 Sep Second Qualifying Final Port Adelaide v Geelong ... Adelaide Oval 10:40am
Friday 6 Sep Second Elimination Final Western Bulldogs v Hawthorn ... MCG 10:40am
Saturday 7 Sep First Qualifying Final Sydney v GWS ... SCG 6:20am
First Elimination Final Brisbane v Carlton ... Gabba 10:30am
The current Finals format (top four in Qualifying Finals, 5-8 in Elimination Finals) was introduced in 2000. Since then only one side outside the top four has won the Premiership: the Doggies (finishing 7th) in 2016 (the year of the underdog following Leicester's Premier League triumph a few months earlier).
Sydney has secured its 10th minor Premiership: on the previous nine occasions it's made the Grand Final.
Only one team in VFL/AFL has won the flag after copping a 100+ point hiding during the season ... and you have to go back to Carlton in 1946.
Pity the poor Doggies: they play their home matches at Docklands and earned a home final by finishing 6th ... but as it's the only match in Week One in Melbourne it's being played at the MCG to maximise the crowd. Where do their opponents, Hawthorn, play their home matches? The MCG.
Port play Geelong in a home Qualifying Final for the third time in five years ... and haven't lost to them yet (wins in 2020 and 2021). They also beat the Cats quite comfortably at Kardinia Park earlier in the season.
A favourite analysis thing on Fox Footy is the "Premiership Window": all of the last 19 premiers have been top-six in the league for defence (points conceded) and 17 of the last 19 have been top-six for points scored. Top six in both categories puts you in that "Premiership Window". Only three teams in this year's finals are in that window ... and none of them are in the top four: Lions, Dogs, Hawks.
Great recap @Briston_Addick ! I used to live in Melbourne and followed it with great interest, but in Auckland it's not the same as no cares even slightly about AFL. I had no idea that the season had been this wild. I only really check out for St Kilda results (been terrible for the last 14 years).
I do always watch the Grand Final, but that's pretty much the only game I watch per season these days, apart from the odd Anzac Day clash (Collingwood v Essendon).
Also lovely to see that Collingwood didn't make it to the finals. Gawd, Collingwood...they're so easy to hate.
Collingwood - where the female supporters have more tattoos than teeth.
Port Adelaide 7.12 (54) GEELONG 20.18 (138) Att: 50,342
A tight first quarter ended with the Cats holding a three-point lead and by half time had stretched that to 20 points having taken more control as the game went on. In the opening minutes Jeremy Cameron kicked what would be a serious contender for Goal Of The Year if nominations were allowed after the regular season. The second half was a complete masterclass with the power being embarrassed and, in the words of one pundit, "dismembered". The 84-point defeat was Port's fourth successive finals defeat and following last year's straight-sets exit another one looms this year if they don't recover from this battering.
Western Bulldogs 9.8 (62) HAWTHORN 14.15 (99) Att: 97,828
The Dogs made the better start, leading by an even two goals at quarter time, but the Hawks came back in the second term to go in at half-time up by eleven. The second half was a completely different story as the young Hawks ran riot, thoroughly enjoying themselves in front of the biggest Elimination Final crowd ever. Bye bye Doggies for 2024.
SYDNEY SWANS 13.10 (88) GWS 12.10 (82) Att: 43,189
Sydney took the lead with a rushed behind after three minutes. Ninety seconds later GWS kicked a goal to go in front. Sydney re-gained the lead at the 31-minute mark of the final quarter and held on for the final four minutes. In between those moments the Giants had led the contest for over 120 minutes of game time, getting out to a 28-point margin at one point in the third quarter. The Swannies kicked the last three goals of the game in the last few minutes, Isaac Heeney had a day out with 30 disposals, three goals (including the game-tying goal kicked from inside the centre square) and took a sky-scraping mark that can't win Mark Of The Year because it's not in the Home and Away season.
BRISBANE 14.15 (99) Carlton 11.5 (71) Att: 35,660
If Port were "dismembered" in the Second Qualifying Final then Carlton were putrid in the First Elimination Final. An hour into the contest the score was 9.6 (60) - 0.0 (0) ... and it sounded like Carlton were lucky to be that close (I was only listening to the radio commentary as I was driving down to the Rotherham game). The stats men were rushing to their record books to see when a team last went into half-time pointless in a finals match (1904, apparently ... and that was Carlton!) and were a bit filthy when the Blues pissed on their parade by getting the last two goals of the half. Brisbane's wayward kicking let Carlton back into it in the second half but did enough to snuff out the Blues' season.
Sydney and Geelong progress to the Preliminary Finals and have a week off; the Western Bulldogs and Carlton can start preparing for 2025. The remaining four do battle in the semi-finals this weekend.
From here on in it's knock-out footy: two are eliminated this weekend, two more the following weekend and then we're left with the Grand Finalists.
First, we've got the Second Semi-Final on Friday and secondly we have the First Semi-Final on Saturday
Friday 13 Sep Second Semi-Final Port Adelaide v Hawthorn ... Adelaide Oval, 10:40am
Hawthorn are on a roll, beating up teams for fun. That they're even considered a chance in this game considering where they're supposed to be in their rebuild and their horror start to the season is testament to how they've been playing over the last four months. Port on the other hand needs to put last week's shellacking out of their minds otherwise they'll be dumped out in straight sets for the second year in a row ... and that would almost certainly mean the end for their coach, Ken Hinkley.
Saturday 14 Sep First Semi-Final GWS v Brisbane ... Sydney Showgrounds, 10:40am
This is a tough one to call, much closer than the other match. GWS, whilst gutted by the manner of their defeat to Sydney in the Qualifying Final, will take an awful lot of positives from how they took the game to the Swans and it took a super-human effort from Isaac Heeney, who brought a couple of his midfield partners along for the ride in the fourth quarter, to deny them a famous victory. Brisbane, despite their comfortable win over Carlton in the Elimination Final, have more questions to answer with their ability to see out matches when they have a decent lead and some wayward kicking in front of goal (they led GWS by 30 points last time they played against each other but conceded 13 of the last 17 goals to lose by 18 points despite having 24 scoring shots to 17).
Sydney and Geelong have the week off so they can sit back and watch their prospective opponents knock seven bells out of each other.
Just finished watching it ... had to hit pause during the pre-game show because of work meetings, then taking the cat to the vet, more work crap getting in the way this arvo.
Port led for most of the game but whenever they threatened to blow it wide open (the biggest lead of the match was 22 points in the second quarter) the Hawks would drag themselves back into it, even holding a narrow lead themselves during the third quarter. The young visitors kept the result in doubt until the dying seconds and their old skipper, who'd come up from his defensive role in the final term, had a chance to win the game in the final minute but his shot hit the post to leave the Brown-And-Gold agonisingly short. The drama didn't end on the final siren as there was a war of words between the Port coach and one of the gobby Hawk forwards who'd posted some crap on social media earlier in the week that Port Adelaide deemed disrespectful. The Power live to fight another week, the Hawks fly back to their nest until next season.
Who says lightning doesn't strike twice? After coughing up a 28-point lead against Sydney in the Qualifying Final to lose it in the dying minutes (GWS in front for c120 mins, Swans c6 mins) the Giants went one better in the Semi Final by throwing away a 44-point lead at the 18-minute mark of the third quarter against the Lions to concede the winning goal with 2:26 remaining. They led this game even longer than the first one, c129 minutes. For long periods of the game it looked like Brisbane's inaccuracy in front of goal was going to cost it yet again having kicked 4.12 but then turned it around in spectacular fashion booting 11.3 in the final quarter-and-a-half to send GWS crashing out of the finals in straight sets.
GWS has now lost its last three finals matches by a combined score of two goals:
2023 Preliminary Final v Collingwood - 1pt 2024 Qualifying Final v Sydney - 6pts 2024 Semi Final v Brisbane - 5 pts
It'll be interesting to see how they bounce back next year.
This week: Preliminary Finals.
Friday 20 Sep First Preliminary Final Sydney v Port Adelaide ... SCG 10:40am
Sydney will be the favourites for this 1st v 2nd clash although Port will have the belief they can win having annihilated the Swans by 112 points a few weeks ago, albeit at the Adelaide Oval. The Swans should be refreshed after having a week off last week and on cloud nine after their epic come-from-behind win against GWS in the QF whilst Port will be banged up having had a tough game against the Hawks last week and were humiliated at home by the Cats in their QF.
Saturday 21 Sep Second Preliminary Final Geelong v Brisbane ... MCG 8:15am
Geelong is the team that defies logic. The AFL is geared around equalisation with the aim that clubs don't spend too long at the bottom or too long at the top through draft picks and fixture composition (with a 23-game regular season you have six "double ups" i.e. teams you play twice in the season. A couple of those will be traditional rivalries which are set every year but the league ensures that if you finished in the top section of the table one year you play more teams in that top section twice than teams at the bottom; conversely, if you finish in the bottom six you'll play more doubles against the bottom six than the top six). In spite of this the Cats have played finals in 18 of the last 21 seasons and the Preliminary Final 13 times in 18 years, reaching the Grand Final six times, winning four. It's an unreal level of sustained success.
Brisbane, on the other hand, have had a rather lean spell since their all-conquering side of 2001-02-03. They've been in the finals for the last five years but always fall short (including a couple of straight sets exits) and last year were within a kick of toppling Collingwood in the Grand Final. They don't have a good record against the Cats in finals though ... and not too flash at the 'G either so not much going in their favour!
If the last couple of weeks are anything to go by this weekend should be a corker.
Sydney 14.11 (95) Port Adelaide 8.11 (59) Att: 44,053
The Swans won by 6 goals in what was, to be frank, a bloody awful game to watch. The Red and White were never really troubled by a poor Port side and marched on to their second Grand Final in three years. Not a lot else to say about it really.
Oh boy! Wowee! This is absolutely nuts! If the first prelim was dire the second more than made up for it. After last week's heroics of overturning a 44-point deficit against the Giants the Lions came back from 25 points down in the early stages of the second half to win by 10 points ... and that's not even a fraction of the drama.
Brisbane's ruckman dislocated his shoulder in the first quarter and came off the pitch in world of pain ... but after having it put back in place and then strapped up he re-emerged in the second quarter (I hope the Blackpool players take a look at that and realise what pathetic wussies they were on Saturday!) ... only to dislocate it again in the third quarter, this time ending his day and his season.
Geelong even had time to regain the lead in the dying minutes but Brisbane struck back to claim a famous win and return to the Grand Final for the second successive season.
Earlier today Carlton's Patrick Cripps won his second Brownlow Medal, the highest individual award in the AFL (after every game in the regular season the umpires award votes on a 3-2-1 basis to the three players they consider to be the best-and-fairest in that match and you are ineligible to win the award if you've been suspended in the season).
Hi did it with a record number of votes: 45. Collingwood's Nick Daicos came second with 38 votes, which is also higher than the previous record total (36).
As part of the evening's festivities the Mark of the Year was awarded to the Magpies' Bobby Hill and the Goal of the Year went to West Coast's wunderkind Harley Reid.
I certainly am. Wifey was born in Queensland so why not? And I’ve never liked Sydney anyway (that’s the city as well).
Obviously the correct order in choosing who to cheer on is:
1 - St Kilda 2 - Brisbane 3 - any non Victoria or Sydney teams 4 - any non Victoria team 5 - anyone but Collingwood or Carlton
The correct order is:
1. West Coast
2-5. Brisbane/GWS/Adelaide/Gold Coast
6. Sydney (although occasionally I relegate them to 8th spot given that they're "Victorian-lite") 7. Port Adelaide 8. Fremantle
9. Hawthorn 10. Geelong 11/12. Western Bulldogs/St Kilda (no real order for these two) 13. Melbourne 14. Richmond 15. North Melbourne (irrational dislike of a non-entity club although been really p155ed with their constant pleas for help from the AFL in recent years ... they've had more than enough help, they're just shit!)
{then an awful lot of daylight before we get to ...}
I certainly am. Wifey was born in Queensland so why not? And I’ve never liked Sydney anyway (that’s the city as well).
Obviously the correct order in choosing who to cheer on is:
1 - St Kilda 2 - Brisbane 3 - any non Victoria or Sydney teams 4 - any non Victoria team 5 - anyone but Collingwood or Carlton
You are so right about especially Collingwood. Within a year of living in Melbourne I truly understood why they are disliked so much (got plenty of Collingwood supporting friends though).
We're down to the last two teams in the last match of the season: the 2024 Minor Premiers and 2022 losing Grand Finalist, Sydney, up against the 5th-place side and 2023 losing Grand Finalist, Brisbane, in front of an expected crowd of 100,000+.
The Swans come into the Grand Final as the slight favourites but there's a lot of backing for the Lions especially on the back of their performances over the last two weeks running down both GWS and Geelong.
Both these teams lost their previous appearance in the Granny but the results were miles apart: Sydney copped an absolute belting from Geelong two years ago (80+ points) whilst Brisbane lost in heart-breaking fashion to Collingwood last year, four points being the margin and were a very dodgy umpiring decision away from having a shot at goal in the final minute to win it.
Sydney has made the Grand Final six times in the last 20 years but only have two flags to show for it (2005, 2012); Brisbane's appearance last season was the first since the end of their dominant period when they played in four successive Grand Finals (2001-02-03-04) winning the first three.
If I was putting money on the outcome I'd say Brisbane by 2 goals and wouldn't be at all surprised if the Swans' Isaac Heeney or Chad Warner won the Norm Smith Medal for best afield ... and it's very rare for the Norm Smith Medal to go to someone on the losing side (only four times since the medal was first awarded in the 1979 Grand Final, the last being Chris Judd for West Coast in their nail-biting defeat to the Swans in 2005).
Comments
Dipper, thats the fella. Hard as nails. Thanks.
Collingwood and Sydney have the week off so only eight matches are being played this weekend.
Thu 11 Apr
Melbourne (2nd, 4-1) v Brisbane (13th, 1-4) MCG, 10:30am
Fri 12 Apr
Western Bulldogs (8th, 2-2) v Essendon (12th, 2-2) Docklands, 10:40am
Sat 13 Apr
GWS (1st, 4-0) v St Kilda (9th, 2-2) Manuka Oval, 4:45am
Carlton (4th, 4-1) v Adelaide (15th, 0-4) Docklands, 7:35am
Gold Coast (10th, 2-2) v Hawthorn (16th, 0-4), Carrara Stadium, 10:30am
Port Adelaide (6th, 3-1) v Fremantle (7th, (3-1) Adelaide Oval, 10:30am
Sun 14 Apr
Geelong (5th, 4-0) v North Melbourne (17th, 0-4) Kardinia Park, 4:00am
West Coast (18th, 0-4) v Richmond (14th, 1-4) Perth Stadium, 7:00am
I've picked Richmond but, as always when tipping against the Eagles, I'm hoping I'm wrong. It should be one of the closer games that WC have had over the last year or two and they're an outside chance of an upset ... especially if they can actually kick the ball to a blue-and-gold guernsey instead of giving the ball to the Tiggers in dangerous areas.
Round 6 fixtures
Thu 18 Apr
St Kilda (12th, 2-3) v Western Bulldogs (11th, 2-3) MCG, 10:30am
Fri 19 Apr
Adelaide (14th, 1-4) v Essendon (9th, 3-2) Adelaide Oval, 10:40am
Sat 20 Apr
Collingwood (13th, 2-3) v Port Adelaide (3rd, 4-1) MCG, 4:45am
Carlton (6th, 4-1) v GWS (1st, 5-0) Docklands, 7:35am
Brisbane (10th, 2-3) v Geelong (2nd, 5-0) Gabba, 10:30am
West Coast (16th, 1-4) v Fremantle (7th, 3-2) Perth Stadium, 11:10am
Sun 21 Apr
Sydney (4th, 4-1) v Gold Coast (8th, 3-2) SCG, 4:05am
North Melbourne (18th, 0-5) v Hawthorn (17th, 0-5) Docklands, 7:05am
Melbourne and Richmond have a bye this week and return to action against each other next Wednesday to start ANZAC Round with their now-traditional ANZAC Eve clash.
It's now Round Seven: ANZAC Round.
Proceedings kick off on Wednesday morning with the Tigers and Demons before the main game of the round on ANZAC Day itself, Essendon v Collingwood. Both of those will probably be played in front of 90,000+ crowds.
Wed 24 Apr
Richmond (16th, 1-5) v Melbourne (6th, 4-2) MCG, 10:25am
Thu 25 Apr
Essendon (7th, 4-2) v Collingwood (10th, 3-3) MCG, 6:20am
GWS (3rd, 5-1) v Brisbane (12th, 2-4) Manuka Oval, 10:35am
Fri 26 Apr
Port Adelaide (5th, 4-2) v St Kilda (13th, 2-4) Adelaide Oval, 10:40am
Sat 27 Apr
North Melbourne (18th, 0-6) v Adelaide (15th, 1-5) Bellerive Oval, 4:45am
Geelong (1st, 6-0) v Carlton (4th, 5-1) MCG, 7:35am
Fremantle (9th, 3-3) v Western Bulldogs (8th, 3-3) Perth Stadium, 10:40am
Sun 28 Apr
Gold Coast (11th, 3-3) v West Coast (14th Nosebleed territory! 2-4) 4:00am
Hawthorn (17th, 1-5) v Sydney (2nd, 5-1) MCG 7:00am
Ben McKay, the human step-ladder, is listed as 2.02m tall which is 6' 7½" in old money ... and Elliott leapt onto his shoulders with ease and then caught the ball at almost full stretch above his head.
This week it's a round of local derbies, traditional rivalries, a meeting of two of the oldest professional football clubs in the world (any code) ... and some matches that don't seem to have a great deal on them.
Thursday night sees the Showdown - Adelaide v Port Adelaide - taking centre stage for once with traditional foes Carlton and Collingwood coming together on Friday night. Saturday's big matches start with the 'Battle of the Bridge' Sydney derby followed by the AFL's two oldest clubs (both founded in 1859), Melbourne and Geelong, and a real I-can't-stand-you clash between West Coast and Essendon, a rivalry that goes back to the early 1990s and legendary Bombers coach Kevin Sheedy indulging in dirty tricks like tying down the wind sock at Windy Hill (Essendon's former home ground). The round comes to a conclusion with Brisbane and Gold Coast meeting in the Queensland derby, the 'Q Clash'.
Thu 2 May
Adelaide (12th, 2-5) v Port Adelaide (5th, 5-2) Adelaide Oval, 10:30am
Fri 3 May
Carlton (6th, 5-2) v Collingwood (10th, 3-3-1) MCG, 10:40am
Sat 4 May
Sydney (2nd, 6-1) v GWS (3rd, 6-1) SCG, 4:45am
St Kilda (14th, 2-5) v North Melbourne (18th, 0-7) Docklands, 7:35am
Melbourne (4th, 5-2) v Geelong (1st, 7-0) MCG, 10:30
West Coast (15th, 2-5) v Essendon (7th, 4-2-1) Perth Stadium, 11:10am
Sun 5 May
Richmond (16th, 1-6) v Fremantle (8th, 4-3) MCG, 4:00am
Western Bulldogs (11th, 3-4) v Hawthorn (17th, 1-6) Docklands, 7:00am
Brisbane (13th, 2-5) v Gold Coast (9th, 4-3) Gabba, 10:10am
It has been one of the weirdest, wildest and craziest seasons I've ever seen in the 40+ years I've been watching the VFL/AFL.
Sydney started like a house on fire and by the mid-point of the season were so far ahead of the pack in terms of quality it was just a case of who they would beat on the last Saturday in September. Then they got some injuries, lost a bit of form, started losing matches - including a complete and utter destroyation (to borrow a Rex Hunt favourite phrase) against Port Adelaide when they lost by 112 (one hundred and twelve) points. The Swans picked up a bit in the closing week or two and finished as minor premiers.
With eight weeks of the season left the AFL was rubbing its hand in glee as the Big Three of Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon were occupying the other places in the top four: that would have guaranteed a number of bumper Finals matches at the MCG with 90k+ crowds ...
... and then the wheels on the bus fell off - big style.
Collingwood suffered plenty of injuries and the Colliwobbles and dropped down to miss finals completely, the third reigning premiers to fail to qualify for finals the next year in the last four years (the only one to make it was Melbourne in 2022 - and they got dumped out in straight sets) ...
Essendon did Essendon-type things and missed out completely ...
Carlton collapsed and by the final match of the regular season were hanging by a thread in the top eight needing the result to go their way to squeeze into September action ...
Fremantle had been in the top four with about five weeks to go but started to lose matches ... and they lost ... and they lost ... and they had a final chance to squeeze into the eight in the final match of the season as long as they defeated Port Adelaide in Perth. The Dockers conceded the last three goals of the game in the final few minutes to lose and thus reprieve the Blues.
Brisbane, last year's losing Grand Finalists, had an indifferent start to the season although that wasn't helped by losing four key players to season-ending ACL injuries. They managed to drag themselves back into the top four and in the middle of Sydney's wobbles were being touted as Premiership favourites ... until they started losing matches because they couldn't kick straight for goal.
Hawthorn, continuing their rebuild under Sam Mitchell, opened the season with a loss. Followed by another one. And another. Five losses to start the campaign isn't always a good sign of success but something clicked and they've become one of - if not THE - form side in the league and reached the finals for the first time in six years.
Final ladder:
1. Sydney (17-6) ... 68pts
2. Port Adelaide (16-7) ... 64pts
3. Geelong (15-8) ...60pts
4. GWS (15-8) ... 60pts
5. Brisbane (14-8-1) ... 58pts
6. Western Bulldogs (14-9) ... 56pts
7. Hawthorn (14-9) ... 56pts
8. Carlton (13-10) ... 52pts
-------------------------------
9. Collingwood (12-9-2) ... 52pts
10. Fremantle (12-10-1) ... 50pts
11. Essendon (11-11-1) ... 46pts
12. St Kilda (11-12) ... 44pts
13. Gold Coast (11-12) ... 44pts
14. Melbourne (11-12) ... 44pts
15. Adelaide (8-14-1) ... 34pts
16. West Coast (5-18) ... 20pts
17. North Melbourne (3-20) ... 12pts
18. Richmond (2-21) ... 8pts
Finals fixtures Week One
Thursday 5 Sep
Second Qualifying Final
Port Adelaide v Geelong ... Adelaide Oval 10:40am
Friday 6 Sep
Second Elimination Final
Western Bulldogs v Hawthorn ... MCG 10:40am
Saturday 7 Sep
First Qualifying Final
Sydney v GWS ... SCG 6:20am
First Elimination Final
Brisbane v Carlton ... Gabba 10:30am
The current Finals format (top four in Qualifying Finals, 5-8 in Elimination Finals) was introduced in 2000. Since then only one side outside the top four has won the Premiership: the Doggies (finishing 7th) in 2016 (the year of the underdog following Leicester's Premier League triumph a few months earlier).
Sydney has secured its 10th minor Premiership: on the previous nine occasions it's made the Grand Final.
Only one team in VFL/AFL has won the flag after copping a 100+ point hiding during the season ... and you have to go back to Carlton in 1946.
Pity the poor Doggies: they play their home matches at Docklands and earned a home final by finishing 6th ... but as it's the only match in Week One in Melbourne it's being played at the MCG to maximise the crowd. Where do their opponents, Hawthorn, play their home matches? The MCG.
Port play Geelong in a home Qualifying Final for the third time in five years ... and haven't lost to them yet (wins in 2020 and 2021). They also beat the Cats quite comfortably at Kardinia Park earlier in the season.
A favourite analysis thing on Fox Footy is the "Premiership Window": all of the last 19 premiers have been top-six in the league for defence (points conceded) and 17 of the last 19 have been top-six for points scored. Top six in both categories puts you in that "Premiership Window". Only three teams in this year's finals are in that window ... and none of them are in the top four: Lions, Dogs, Hawks.
It's going to be an interesting weekend ...
Well, that's one way of putting it.
Port Adelaide 7.12 (54) GEELONG 20.18 (138) Att: 50,342
A tight first quarter ended with the Cats holding a three-point lead and by half time had stretched that to 20 points having taken more control as the game went on. In the opening minutes Jeremy Cameron kicked what would be a serious contender for Goal Of The Year if nominations were allowed after the regular season. The second half was a complete masterclass with the power being embarrassed and, in the words of one pundit, "dismembered". The 84-point defeat was Port's fourth successive finals defeat and following last year's straight-sets exit another one looms this year if they don't recover from this battering.
Western Bulldogs 9.8 (62) HAWTHORN 14.15 (99) Att: 97,828
The Dogs made the better start, leading by an even two goals at quarter time, but the Hawks came back in the second term to go in at half-time up by eleven. The second half was a completely different story as the young Hawks ran riot, thoroughly enjoying themselves in front of the biggest Elimination Final crowd ever. Bye bye Doggies for 2024.
SYDNEY SWANS 13.10 (88) GWS 12.10 (82) Att: 43,189
Sydney took the lead with a rushed behind after three minutes. Ninety seconds later GWS kicked a goal to go in front. Sydney re-gained the lead at the 31-minute mark of the final quarter and held on for the final four minutes. In between those moments the Giants had led the contest for over 120 minutes of game time, getting out to a 28-point margin at one point in the third quarter. The Swannies kicked the last three goals of the game in the last few minutes, Isaac Heeney had a day out with 30 disposals, three goals (including the game-tying goal kicked from inside the centre square) and took a sky-scraping mark that can't win Mark Of The Year because it's not in the Home and Away season.
BRISBANE 14.15 (99) Carlton 11.5 (71) Att: 35,660
If Port were "dismembered" in the Second Qualifying Final then Carlton were putrid in the First Elimination Final. An hour into the contest the score was 9.6 (60) - 0.0 (0) ... and it sounded like Carlton were lucky to be that close (I was only listening to the radio commentary as I was driving down to the Rotherham game). The stats men were rushing to their record books to see when a team last went into half-time pointless in a finals match (1904, apparently ... and that was Carlton!) and were a bit filthy when the Blues pissed on their parade by getting the last two goals of the half. Brisbane's wayward kicking let Carlton back into it in the second half but did enough to snuff out the Blues' season.
Sydney and Geelong progress to the Preliminary Finals and have a week off; the Western Bulldogs and Carlton can start preparing for 2025. The remaining four do battle in the semi-finals this weekend.
From here on in it's knock-out footy: two are eliminated this weekend, two more the following weekend and then we're left with the Grand Finalists.
First, we've got the Second Semi-Final on Friday and secondly we have the First Semi-Final on Saturday
Friday 13 Sep
Second Semi-Final
Port Adelaide v Hawthorn ... Adelaide Oval, 10:40am
Hawthorn are on a roll, beating up teams for fun. That they're even considered a chance in this game considering where they're supposed to be in their rebuild and their horror start to the season is testament to how they've been playing over the last four months. Port on the other hand needs to put last week's shellacking out of their minds otherwise they'll be dumped out in straight sets for the second year in a row ... and that would almost certainly mean the end for their coach, Ken Hinkley.
Saturday 14 Sep
First Semi-Final
GWS v Brisbane ... Sydney Showgrounds, 10:40am
This is a tough one to call, much closer than the other match. GWS, whilst gutted by the manner of their defeat to Sydney in the Qualifying Final, will take an awful lot of positives from how they took the game to the Swans and it took a super-human effort from Isaac Heeney, who brought a couple of his midfield partners along for the ride in the fourth quarter, to deny them a famous victory. Brisbane, despite their comfortable win over Carlton in the Elimination Final, have more questions to answer with their ability to see out matches when they have a decent lead and some wayward kicking in front of goal (they led GWS by 30 points last time they played against each other but conceded 13 of the last 17 goals to lose by 18 points despite having 24 scoring shots to 17).
Sydney and Geelong have the week off so they can sit back and watch their prospective opponents knock seven bells out of each other.
That was a pretty good game!
Made the Port-Hawks game yesterday seem quite dull.
Port Adelaide 11.9 (75) Hawthorn 11.6 (72)
Port led for most of the game but whenever they threatened to blow it wide open (the biggest lead of the match was 22 points in the second quarter) the Hawks would drag themselves back into it, even holding a narrow lead themselves during the third quarter. The young visitors kept the result in doubt until the dying seconds and their old skipper, who'd come up from his defensive role in the final term, had a chance to win the game in the final minute but his shot hit the post to leave the Brown-And-Gold agonisingly short. The drama didn't end on the final siren as there was a war of words between the Port coach and one of the gobby Hawk forwards who'd posted some crap on social media earlier in the week that Port Adelaide deemed disrespectful. The Power live to fight another week, the Hawks fly back to their nest until next season.
GWS 15.10 (100) Brisbane 15.15 (105)
Who says lightning doesn't strike twice? After coughing up a 28-point lead against Sydney in the Qualifying Final to lose it in the dying minutes (GWS in front for c120 mins, Swans c6 mins) the Giants went one better in the Semi Final by throwing away a 44-point lead at the 18-minute mark of the third quarter against the Lions to concede the winning goal with 2:26 remaining. They led this game even longer than the first one, c129 minutes.
For long periods of the game it looked like Brisbane's inaccuracy in front of goal was going to cost it yet again having kicked 4.12 but then turned it around in spectacular fashion booting 11.3 in the final quarter-and-a-half to send GWS crashing out of the finals in straight sets.
GWS has now lost its last three finals matches by a combined score of two goals:
2023 Preliminary Final v Collingwood - 1pt
2024 Qualifying Final v Sydney - 6pts
2024 Semi Final v Brisbane - 5 pts
It'll be interesting to see how they bounce back next year.
This week: Preliminary Finals.
Friday 20 Sep
First Preliminary Final
Sydney v Port Adelaide ... SCG 10:40am
Sydney will be the favourites for this 1st v 2nd clash although Port will have the belief they can win having annihilated the Swans by 112 points a few weeks ago, albeit at the Adelaide Oval. The Swans should be refreshed after having a week off last week and on cloud nine after their epic come-from-behind win against GWS in the QF whilst Port will be banged up having had a tough game against the Hawks last week and were humiliated at home by the Cats in their QF.
Saturday 21 Sep
Second Preliminary Final
Geelong v Brisbane ... MCG 8:15am
Geelong is the team that defies logic. The AFL is geared around equalisation with the aim that clubs don't spend too long at the bottom or too long at the top through draft picks and fixture composition (with a 23-game regular season you have six "double ups" i.e. teams you play twice in the season. A couple of those will be traditional rivalries which are set every year but the league ensures that if you finished in the top section of the table one year you play more teams in that top section twice than teams at the bottom; conversely, if you finish in the bottom six you'll play more doubles against the bottom six than the top six). In spite of this the Cats have played finals in 18 of the last 21 seasons and the Preliminary Final 13 times in 18 years, reaching the Grand Final six times, winning four. It's an unreal level of sustained success.
Brisbane, on the other hand, have had a rather lean spell since their all-conquering side of 2001-02-03. They've been in the finals for the last five years but always fall short (including a couple of straight sets exits) and last year were within a kick of toppling Collingwood in the Grand Final. They don't have a good record against the Cats in finals though ... and not too flash at the 'G either so not much going in their favour!
If the last couple of weeks are anything to go by this weekend should be a corker.
Sydney 14.11 (95) Port Adelaide 8.11 (59) Att: 44,053
The Swans won by 6 goals in what was, to be frank, a bloody awful game to watch. The Red and White were never really troubled by a poor Port side and marched on to their second Grand Final in three years. Not a lot else to say about it really.
Second Preliminary Final
Geelong 12.13 (85) Brisbane 14.11 (95) Att: 93,066
Oh boy! Wowee! This is absolutely nuts! If the first prelim was dire the second more than made up for it. After last week's heroics of overturning a 44-point deficit against the Giants the Lions came back from 25 points down in the early stages of the second half to win by 10 points ... and that's not even a fraction of the drama.
Brisbane's ruckman dislocated his shoulder in the first quarter and came off the pitch in world of pain ... but after having it put back in place and then strapped up he re-emerged in the second quarter (I hope the Blackpool players take a look at that and realise what pathetic wussies they were on Saturday!) ... only to dislocate it again in the third quarter, this time ending his day and his season.
Geelong even had time to regain the lead in the dying minutes but Brisbane struck back to claim a famous win and return to the Grand Final for the second successive season.
Earlier today Carlton's Patrick Cripps won his second Brownlow Medal, the highest individual award in the AFL (after every game in the regular season the umpires award votes on a 3-2-1 basis to the three players they consider to be the best-and-fairest in that match and you are ineligible to win the award if you've been suspended in the season).
Hi did it with a record number of votes: 45. Collingwood's Nick Daicos came second with 38 votes, which is also higher than the previous record total (36).
As part of the evening's festivities the Mark of the Year was awarded to the Magpies' Bobby Hill and the Goal of the Year went to West Coast's wunderkind Harley Reid.
1 - St Kilda
2 - Brisbane
3 - any non Victoria or Sydney teams
4 - any non Victoria team
5 - anyone but Collingwood or Carlton
1. West Coast
2-5. Brisbane/GWS/Adelaide/Gold Coast
6. Sydney (although occasionally I relegate them to 8th spot given that they're "Victorian-lite")
7. Port Adelaide
8. Fremantle
9. Hawthorn
10. Geelong
11/12. Western Bulldogs/St Kilda (no real order for these two)
13. Melbourne
14. Richmond
15. North Melbourne (irrational dislike of a non-entity club although been really p155ed with their constant pleas for help from the AFL in recent years ... they've had more than enough help, they're just shit!)
{then an awful lot of daylight before we get to ...}
16. Carlton
17. Essenscum
18. Collingwood
You are so right about especially Collingwood. Within a year of living in Melbourne I truly understood why they are disliked so much (got plenty of Collingwood supporting friends though).
Sydney Swans v Brisbane Lions ... MCG 5:30am
We're down to the last two teams in the last match of the season: the 2024 Minor Premiers and 2022 losing Grand Finalist, Sydney, up against the 5th-place side and 2023 losing Grand Finalist, Brisbane, in front of an expected crowd of 100,000+.
The Swans come into the Grand Final as the slight favourites but there's a lot of backing for the Lions especially on the back of their performances over the last two weeks running down both GWS and Geelong.
Both these teams lost their previous appearance in the Granny but the results were miles apart: Sydney copped an absolute belting from Geelong two years ago (80+ points) whilst Brisbane lost in heart-breaking fashion to Collingwood last year, four points being the margin and were a very dodgy umpiring decision away from having a shot at goal in the final minute to win it.
Sydney has made the Grand Final six times in the last 20 years but only have two flags to show for it (2005, 2012); Brisbane's appearance last season was the first since the end of their dominant period when they played in four successive Grand Finals (2001-02-03-04) winning the first three.
If I was putting money on the outcome I'd say Brisbane by 2 goals and wouldn't be at all surprised if the Swans' Isaac Heeney or Chad Warner won the Norm Smith Medal for best afield ... and it's very rare for the Norm Smith Medal to go to someone on the losing side (only four times since the medal was first awarded in the 1979 Grand Final, the last being Chris Judd for West Coast in their nail-biting defeat to the Swans in 2005).