AFL Round 20 (to COB Sunday); AFL Round 21 tips

Three matches today, comments on two of them, both as close as you can get; the third as lop-sided as yesterday's.


Brisbane's Lions reached 100 points within 15min of the last. The urban-myth is that first to 100 wins the match. But not today! And weren't Crows' fans ecstatic! That has new / caretaker Mark Bickley batting 1.000 for his coaching career!
Brisbane 5.1 11.6 14.7 16.9 (105)
Adelaide 6.3 9.5 10.11 16.14 (110)
Brisbane
Cornelius 4.2; McGrath 3.0; Karnezis, Clark 2.0; Rockliff, Polkinghorn 1.1; Leuenberger, Banfield, Hanley 1.0; Dyson 0.2; Redden, Raines, rushed 0.1
356 Possessions: Rockliff 34; Black 26; Raines 23; Redden 22
79 Tackles: Stiller 8; Redden, Buchanan, McGrath, Leuenberger 7; Black 6
45 Hitouts: Leuenberger 31
12 Frees: McGrath, Leuenberger 2
Adelaide
Walker 4.1; Gunston 3.3; Wright, van Berlo, Johncock 2.0; Jacobs 1.1; Riley, Henderson 1.0; rushed 0.3; Petrenko, Reilly, Dangerfield, Sloane, Thompson, Vince 0.1

76 Tackles:  van Berlo 8; Thompson 7; Reilly, Wright, Riley 5

43 Hitouts: Jacobs 30; Maric 13 

26 Frees: Jacobs, Thompson 3; van Berlo, Wright, Talia 2

Full ¼-by-¼ stats at http://j.mp/p3EgZg

Hawthorn and North went toe-to-toe at Launnie this arv with an unexpected result. OK, it was expected that Hawthorn would win, being a top-4 side against a bottom-8 side, but not the way it went! North were actually leading with not-very-long to go: Matt Campbell booted 5 (4 in the last quarter) and had the Roos' noses just ahead. But with just seconds to go, bang bang - one from Smith and one from Buddy sealed the Roos' fate and the four points for Hawthorn. 

Hawthorn 2.1 6.6 9.8 15.13 (103)

North 3.7 5.7 9.7 13.8 (86)

Hawthorn

Franklin 3.2; Smith 3.1; Breust 2.0; Rioli 1.2; Hale, Ladson 1.1; Whitecross, Lewis, Sewel, Burgoyne 1.0; rushed 0.3; Hodge, Suckling, Shiels 0.1  

340 Possessions: Mitchell 31; Suckling 26; Sewell 25; Hodge 24 

76 Tackles: Shiels 10; Mitchell, Breust 7; Guerra, Whitecross, Ladson 6; Franklin 5

62 Hitouts: Bailey 26; Birchall 23

26 Frees: Lewis 4; Sewell, Birchall 3 

North

Campbell 5.1; Petrie 2.0; Petersen, Harvey 1.1; Goldstein, Ziebel, Wells, Richardson 1.0; rushed 0.3; Harper, Garlett 0.1  

301 Possessions: McMahon 29; Ziebell 27; Harvey 26  

78 Tackles: McMahon, Garlett, Petrie, Thomas 6; Ziebell, Rawlings, Goldstein, Swallow 5

48 Hitouts: Goldstein 37

27 Frees: McMahon 5; Goldstein 4; Petrie 3 

Full ¼-by-¼ stats at http://j.mp/pcm6Z7

So, in a nutshell

• St Kilda def Fremantle 113-72
• Geelong def Gold Coast 188-38
• Carlton def Melbourne 134-58
• Essendon def Sydney 100-99 (Actually, it was Adam Goodes who lost the game for the Swans with the very last kick)
• Port def by Collingwood 21-159
• Brisbane def by Adelaide 105-110
• Hawthorn def North 103-86
• Eagles def Richmond 147-90

Ladder is at http://www.afl.com.au/ladder/tabid/74/default.aspx although there is a round-by-round ladder somewhere else...


Next week we have (my tips):

#AFLSaintsPies

#AFLHawksPort

#AFLFreoBlues

#AFLDogsDons - tough call 

#AFLLionsSuns - I called it the other way around last time ... won't happen again

#AFLDeesEagles

#AFLTigersSwans

#AFLCrowsCats

#AFLNorthBye

Buenos noches

#AFLBluesLions - Report and Results

Carlton were the favourites in this contest and, from quarter-to-quarter, were ahead the whole time, and we get to hear The Song for the eighth time this year!!

The Brisbane side are a shadow of their former selves; half the side that once caned us by more than 100 points during the reign of Denis Pagan. What will it take for those who make such decisions to call it on Vossie’s tenure? Maybe they don’t have someone to fill those shoes, and it’s the devil they know versus those they don’t...

Any which way you look at it, the end results at Etihad Stadium this afternoon were:

Carlton 4.4 8.8 13.9 19.10 (124)

Brisbane 2.3 3.5 4.8 9.9 (63)

Scorers for Carlton

 1 Andrew Walker 5.0

19 Edward Betts 3.0

38 Jeff Garlett 2.2

46 David Ellard 2.1

 3 Marc Murphy 2.0

23 Lachlan Henderson 1.2

44 Andrew Carrazzo 1.0

 2 Jordan Russell 1.0

22 Shaun Hampson 1.0

42 Zach Tuhoy 1.0 – his first goal in AFL football

 6 Kade Simpson 0.2

 5 Chris Judd 0.1

Rushed behinds 0.1

Scorers for Brisbane

16 Jonathan Brown 3.1

 9 Ashley McGrath 2. 2

 1 Mitchell Clark 2. 0

10 Daniel Rich    1. 1

18 Todd Banfield 0.2

20 Simon Black  0. 1

31 James Polkinghorne  0.1

Rushed behinds 0.1

Next week, Carlton (now 3rd) has Sydney back here next Sunday (#AFLBluesSwans) – there’s still the Carlton-Sydney hoodoo but Carlton have the edge this year, and should take the four points. Brisbane (still 15th) have Richmond at home on Saturday night (#AFLLionsTiges), which should be a win for the Tigers.