Round 22 stuff

From The Guardian Australia






AFL: what to look out for in round 23

Pies’ nod to history; the battle for eighth; Freo v Port; Tigers going down swinging; a game for self-loathers


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Undermanned Collingwood hung on grimly for a gutsy win last weekend against the Giants and though Nathan Buckley is preparing his side for the weekend as though the finals are still a possibility, the likelihood of his side beating second-placed Hawthorn to get there seems remote. The Pies actually looked to the past this week and gloriously so at their ‘Collingwood Forever’ function, with the great upshot for neutrals being this sensational web database that they’ve put together to honour all their past players.

Want your memory jogged as to what Sandy Hyslop looked like? Here you go. Then there’s amazing mullets like Dwayne Griffin’s Toadfish Rebecchi/Danny Southern hybrid, curly flat-tops like that of 1995 one-gamer Nick Hider, biker-style handlebar moustaches as sported by 1983-model Brett Cooper and a quite magnificent reminder of the Collingwood Reserves career of Brad Hardie. I lost a good hour scanning through all of the gold. Collingwood haven’t got it all together on field this year but no one presents their history and the depth of meaning behind representing the club better than the Pies.

Suffice to say that if Buckley’s men win against the Hawks and Sydney beat Richmond, it would be one of the more heroic finals qualification efforts in recent history. My tip? Collingwood will go down fighting but miss the finals for the first time in nine years; all the more time for fans to ponder the career of Athas Hrysoulakis.
The crush for eighth

Getting excited about the late August rush for eighth place always seems a little daft by the second week of September but try telling that to Richmond, Collingwood, West Coast and Adelaide supporters, who all need a win and some favourable results elsewhere this weekend to sneak into the finals. The Eagles are a long-shot: they need to beat the Suns at Metricon Stadium and hope that both the Pies and Tigers lose in order to scrape through. Optimism for them lies in the fact that Gold Coast’s stock of key position players has been drastically reduced through injury so the likes of Kennedy, Darling and McGovern may have a day out.

Adelaide’s task is far more straightforward. They’d have to do something horrific (I’m trying to think of an analogy stronger than Germany losing a game of soccer to American Samoa…) to lose to the wooden spoon-bound Saints but like I said, they’re also reliant on the outcome of other games and don’t really deserve to be there anyway after a disastrous last month. The Saints actually weren’t awful themselves last week against Richmond, with the main source of hope being the Franklin-like moves of Spencer White in his three-goal debut. The most likely outcome will be that by half-time, Saints fans will need to lie down and think of national draft day.
Fremantle’s clash with Port should be captivating

There’s been a lot of love for Ross Lyon’s Fremantle side in the last fortnight, with many pundits convincing themselves that despite being a little weaker than the side that couldn’t overcome the Hawks in last year’s decider, the Dockers are still capable of pulling it off this year. This home game against Port Adelaide is a high stakes affair because the winner will take fourth spot, claim the double chance and console itself in the knowledge that no side has won a flag from fifth position since the present-day finals system was introduced in 2000. That’s a genuine barrier to overcome for the loser.

Ken Hinkley might wish there hadn’t been any more attention drawn to star on-baller Robbie Gray this week but winning the AFL Coaches Association Player of the Year award has put a rather large target on the 26-year-old’s forehead. The question is whether Lyon will set tagging attack dog Ryan Crowley on Gray or another of his midfield colleagues. The resigned look on Gray’s face when he was questioned about the potential match-up this week tended to suggest it will be he who receives the Crowley treatment. All that said, the Dockers are without Nat Fyfe and Michael Barlow so if the battle is to be won in the midfield, maybe the unfancied Power have a shot. It should be the game of the round.
The Tigers dare to believe

It’s that time of year when Richmond supporters invoke the spirit of legendary US sports broadcaster Al Michaels and ask themselves, “Do you believe in miracles?” It’s be a hard-hearted neutral who wasn’t barracking them on this week, because they’re faced with the Herculean task of upsetting ladder-leading Sydney in Sydney to claw their way past Collingwood and claim eighth place. It’s the form side of the season against the form side of the last two months and should be a gripping encounter.

“If we’re good enough we’ll come away with the four points,” said Tigers coach Damien Hardwick on Thursday, “but there’s no better place you’d rather be than having your destiny in your own hands.” Well, being qualified already would probably be better but point taken. There’s some intrigue as to whether Hardwick and his match committee will risk big man Ty Vickery in a do or die scenario after serving his four game suspension for a much-publicised whack to the chops of Dean Cox. But whichever 22 players run out on Saturday afternoon, they will know that only their best will secure a finals spot that seemed impossible a couple of months back.

Personally I’d stick with Ben Griffiths, who has been understatedly excellent in the last month. How brilliantly is this final round looking from a spectator perspective? A team that was 3-10 at the midway point of the season might be playing finals. Glorious.

The best and worst of the rest

Elsewhere there is a little bit of ‘Team that has no hope of making the finals but doesn’t want to disgrace itself’ v ‘Team that has and wants to avoid injuries and suspensions’, a category in which Essendon’s MCG clash with Carlton falls. I maintain that the Bombers can cause an upset in September and this is their final hit-out before they get that chance.

Melbourne face North Melbourne at Etihad stadium on Saturday night. Bearing in mind the Dees’ record at the ground in the last half-decade, that contest brings to mind RC Robertson-Glasgow’s theory that coming up against Jack Hobbs at The Oval was “like bowling to God on concrete”. Given the quality of the playing surface that works on a couple of levels.

Geelong will either gently or violently thump Brisbane at Simmonds Stadium, depending on what level of opponent-humiliation Chris Scott views as ideal finals preparation. The season’s final game between the Bulldogs and Giants, at twilight on Sunday, seems an unfortunate microcosm of the ills of this season’s fixture; ie: one for diehards and self-loathers only.

Finally and sticking with the “worst” theme, the ACCC has had a bit to say about the fact that some general admission club members have been forced to fork out up to an additional $39 on top of their membership fees to attend certain high-profile games this season. Fear not though because the league has thankfully frozen their finals ticket pricing at the disgustingly high levels set in 2013. It’s not all bad.

Collingwood vs Hawthorn
Carlton vs Essendon
Fremantle vs Port Adelaide
Sydney vs Richmond
North Melbourne vs Melbourne
Geelong vs Brisbane
Gold Coast vs West Coast
Adelaide vs St.Kilda
Western Bulldogs vs GWS

Last round always springs a few surprises. Richmond deserve to play finals, would love to see them knock off Sydney.

Hawks
Bombers
Freo
Sydney
Nth Melbourne
Cats
Gold Coast
Crows
Bulldogs

Hawthorn thumped Collingwood by 65 points.

Paul wrote:Hawthorn thumped Collingwood by 65 points.

Yes they were a class above Collingwood, bye bye magpies for season 2014

Carlton and Essendon have drawn

Franklin out of the Sydney team

Fremantle beat Port by 8 points

Richmond up by 13 at half time

Richmond by 5 points at the last change

Richmond won by 3 points.

Final 8 is now set.

North Melbourne beat Melbourne by 30 points
Geelong beat Brisbane by 62 points (Hawkins 7)

West Coast beat Gold Coast easily. WCE kicked 11 goals in the 3rd quarter. Kennedy 8 for the match.
Adelaide beat St.Kilda by 79 points. Betts got 5. Rutten got the last goal.