This season has felt like the AFL circa 2015: the quality of play has been poor, but the ladder is going to be close enough in the end for the league to spin it as ‘healthy competition’
This was a big weekend for that close finish, though, with three games between top nine sides.
Here’s one takeaway from each.
Fremantle v Brisbane: Fraudmantle is real
Heading into Friday night against the Lions at a packed Optus stadium, Fremantle had won five in a row and three of them by less than three goals.
They were in some form, even if they needed some miracles to win.
But then they came up against the champ, who showed them that, like in the Drake v Kendrick beef, there’s levels to this.
The Dockers were timid in the first quarter and got jumped heading into quarter time down 20-5.
But in the second quarter, the Dockers responded, they came out in what looked like a genuine man on man to try and slow down Brisbane’s uncontested marking game.
It worked.
The Lions took 45(!) marks in the first term to 33 in the second and the Dockers got themselves back into the game and kept the ball in their front half, they just struggled to convert.
But like the champions they are, the Lions adapted.
In the third term, they got to work on freeing Dayne Zorko up.
He was clamped down on in the second term, but in the third Zorko had 7 kicks and 2 score involvements launching every Brisbane attack with his hyper aggressive kicking to changed Brisbane leading patterns up the ground, to start getting through that Fremantle defence and ultimately driving the pile on at the end of the game.
It became clear that Brisbane, with their ability to cycle through styles and see what works, was just at a different level to a Fremantle team content to make one change but unwilling or unable to make any more.
The defensive example is just one thing.
Fremantle also spent the vast majority of the game on the wings chipping around while Brisbane looked into the corridor at every opportunity.
They looked at their best freeing up their most talented runners to move quickly with handball through the guts, but only seemed to do it by accident.
Fremantle is just not like Brisbane.
Gold Coast v GWS: Rumours of GWS’ demise were premature
I’ll come out on front street, I do not think GWS can win the premiership.
Their best is elite, but they have not prioritised the right things, at the expense of kicking orange tsunami goals.
They habitually leave their defence too exposed while also somehow only being better than West Coast, North Melbourne, Richmond and Essendon at time in forward half.
It’s no way to live.
But on Saturday against Gold Coast, I saw some changes.
The Giants were about 50/50 with the Suns and have won time in forward half three out of the last four weeks other than the Dogs debacle.
But truly, even if they are terrible at time in forward half, they’ve scored over 100 points in seven of eight games because they’re so potent.
The bigger issue was how exposed they leave their defence.
That was particularly clear against the Dogs in Round 21, where Sam Taylor was abused by Sam Darcy and Leek Aleer was simply not strong enough to go with Aaron Naughton.
Yet, despite the abuse, the Giants backs got no help.
Well against Gold Coast, admittedly against far worse forward personnel, the Giants seemed to consistently be able to manufacture themselves a loose man behind the ball.
They stopped treating their backs like Tom Hanks in Castaway forced to throw home made spears through key forwards backs so they can survive.
They gave themselves a little more cover, especially as they wait for Jack Buckley to return.
And in the process, they started to make life a little easier on their hyper talented defence.
Adelaide v Collingwood: Adelaide can do it
As a Victorian resident, I am tempted to write about Collingwood because of VicBias.
But the story here is Adelaide, they can do it.
I would make them third favourites behind Geelong and Brisbane, because they don’t have the scar tissue of finals experience and tough finals losses in the recent past while those teams are Nate Diaz.
But they can do it.
We all know about their forward line, and their midfield outside of Dawson is serviceable but not brilliant, but the back line has been a mortgage bond.
It’s a prime product made up of subprime parts.
Last night, that group stood up.
The Crows lost the clearances by 14 to a Pies team who clearly knew their best and only chance of winning the game was to play keepings off from Riley Thilthorpe and the rest of the Crows forwards.
It pretty much worked, the Crows had their worst front half game for the season, and lost the inside 50s by 34.
Yet, such was the stoutness of Adelaide’s defence, they won the expected score by 5 points.
Part of that is Collingwood’s impotence ahead of the ball with a parade of, generously, second and third bananas trying to be difference makers ahead of the ball.
But this is about Adelaide.
Mark Keane and Josh Worrell had 25 intercepts between them and might be prime products.
At the same time, the Crows entire defensive system pushed Collingwood wide and forced bad shots whenever they actually took shots, and in general the flood and slingshot worked for a young and athletic Crows outfit against the geriatric Pies.
I hope they don’t adopt that defensive posture come finals and this was more a case of Collingwood dictating with Adelaide doing the Billy Beane adapt or die, but that was a finals-type win against a desperate opponent.
In a strange year, the Crows could do it 12 months before they probably should.