Grinners

Carlton

Finally, a win! Despite still lacking Marc Murphy, the Blues pulled it off against Collingwood. Let’s just hope they don’t react the same way as they did last time, only winning a couple more games.

West Coast

Sneaking their way home against North saw them level up once more with Collingwood, and their superior percentage thanks to their dominance out west will help them in the chase for a home final.

St Kilda

If they can continue to execute like that, despite the loss of Jack Steven next week, then they’re sure to make the eight. The question is whether they can continue to execute.

The chase for finals

Six teams are within a win of the top four, and five teams sit a win or less outside the eight. Going through the ladder predictor on the AFL website is a heck of a task, as there are many, many games over the next eight weeks which are genuine 50-50 propositions.

Hawthorn

A genuine two-win effort with that percentage boost.

Moaners

The MRP

A ‘5-year clean record’ for a guy who’s only been in the system 4 years and only played 75 games is a joke. Sharrod Wellingham’s hit on Kade Simpson is one of the worst there has been in a long time, and for him to get away with a 3-week suspension is an indictment on an AFL which is theoretically trying to do everything to ‘protect the head’. Simpson ended up concussed and with a broken jaw, while Wellingham comes back in half the time.

The Video Review

This should give you a better idea of what a farce it was. Worse is that the incidents in Melbourne v Richmond weren’t the only ones of the weekend.

Anyone watching Melbourne v Richmond

There are better skills in the local under-12s competition.

GWS

That’s more of what was expected pre-season, and while Toby Greene did well, it’s going to be a hard slog for the Giants, particularly with the loss of some of their big bodies come the end of the season.

The related problem is that all the top teams now need the percentage boost in order to compete for the finals, because the teams at the top end all have boosted percentage. The result will be that teams won’t take their foot off the pedal, instead opting to execute both GWS and Gold Coast for their own finals chances. Sides aren’t just going for the win, they’re making them suffer.

Gold Coast

They’re getting closer, to the point where they’ll knock off a team that isn’t GWS at Metricon sooner rather than later.