AFL Round 20 (to COB Saturday)

A round of surprise results. Many of the lop-sided games were top 8-vs-bottom 8 but not all!


Take Saints v Freo for example. Fremantle are a top-8 side (although their recent form has them sliding out) and St Kilda are top-8 contenders (in the same vein as Collingwood in David Williamson's The Club). Freo's last quarter was abysmal, showing them and us, at the wrong time of the year, that they're no closer to their first flag than they've ever been:
St Kilda 3.8 7.11 10.13 16.17 (113)
Fremantle 1.1 7.7 10.10 10.11 (71)
St Kilda
Milne 4.4; Koschitzke, dal Santo, Schneider 2.0; Gram, Goddard 1.1; Ray, Fisher, Armitage, McEvoy 1.0; rushed 0.5; Steven, Riewoldt, Peake 0.2
412 Possessions: Jones 29; Blake 27; dal Santo 25; Gram, Fisher 24; Montagna 23; Scheider 21
60 Tackles: dal Santo 8; McEvoy 6; Gram, Koschitzke, Ray 4
54 Hit-Outs: McEvoy 29; Koschitzke 21
22 Frees: Dempster, Milne 3
Fremantle 
Mayne, McPhee 2.1; Ibbotson, Barlow, Johnson, Grover, Mzungu, Suban 1.0; rushed 0.6; Pavlich, Pearce, Hill 0.1
328 Possessions: Mzungu 30; Barlow 26; Lower 22; Pavlich 21

78 Tackles: Barlow 8; Lower, Ibbotson 7; Duffield, Pearce 6; Mzungu, Pavlich, Pearce 5

38 Hit-Outs: Mayne 26

17 Frees: Barlow, Lower, Johnson, Clarke, Ballantyne 2

Full ¼-by-¼ stats (except ¼-time) at http://j.mp/punupl

Carlton v Melbourne went as expected, but when I turned it on, the Dees were ahead by 25 to 19. But that was the end of the rot. Jeff "Jeffie" Garlett, then Bret "T-Bird" Thornton kicked successive goals, and that was the end of the rot: Melbourne only scored another 3 points for the rest of the half, but were allowed to salvage some dignity in the second. If the Blues play like that for their next three matches, they can kiss their finals-win dream goodbye!

Carlton 6.1 14.2 18.7 21.8 (134)

Melbourne 3.7 3.10 6.12 7.16 (58)

Carlton

Ellard 3.1; Garlett 2.2; Judd, Gibbs 2. 1; Walker, Scotland 2.0; Robinson, Kreuzer, Thornton, Betts, Joseph, McLean, Warnock, Henderson 1.0; rushed 0.2; Simpson 0.1

371 Possessions: Scotland 32; Judd, Murphy 31; Gibbs 27; Simpson 22; Robinson 21

62 Tackles: Yarran 8; Judd 6; Robinson, Betts, Kreuzer 5

42 Hit-Outs: Warnock 36 

20 Frees: Betts 3; Scotland, Judd, Murphy, Gibbs 2

Melbourne

Dunn 2.2; Watts 2.1; Green 1.2; Davey 1.1; Howe 1.0; rushed 0.3; Bate, Scully 0.2; Martin, Gysberts, Trengove 0.1  

333 Possessions: Trengove 24; Gysberts 22; Moloney, Jones, Garland, Watts 21

74 Tackles: Trengove 9; Moloney, McKenzie 8; Dunn 7; Scully 6; Gysberts, Macdonald 5

30 Hit-Outs: Martin 15; Gawn 10

21 Frees: Trengove 3; Gysberts, Macdonald, Jones 2

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

Collingwood and Geelong proved why they're at the top and why Port and Gold Coast are at the bottom. Both top-sides absolutely crushed both bottom-sides, with calls for Tredders' resignation in the same vein as Craig's earlier this month (before it comes to being pushed like Bailey earlier this week)

Port Adelaide 0.1 1.2 2.2 3.3 (21)

Collingwood 6.5 12.12 16.16 23.21 (159)

Port
Banner 2.0; Stewart 1.0; rushed 0.3

314 Possessions: Boak 31; Pearce 26; Cassisi 23; Banner 21

64 Tackles: Banner 8; Hartlett 6; Salter 5

35 Hit-Outs: Lobbe 27

13 Frees: Banner, Boak, Gray, Pettigrew 2

Pies

Blair 4.1; Cloke 3.6 (that's more like we'd expect; Swan, Beams 3.1; Brown 2.2; Krakouer 2.1; Fasolo 1.3; Pendlebury, Ball, Sidebottom, Rounds, Jolly 1.0; rushed 0.4; Davis 0.2

425 Possessions: Swan 37; Beams 32; Pendlebury 31; Blair, Ball 25; Davis, Thomas 23; Sidebottom 22; Johnson 21

98 Tackles!!!: Pendlebury 9; Ball, Davis, Rounds 7; Swan, Maxwell, Wood 6

55 Hit-Outs: Wood 33; Jolly 22

15 Frees: Jolly, Cloke, Fasolo, Brown 2

Geelong 8.1 18.4 21.8 29.14 (188)

Gold Coast 3.0 3.0 6.1 6.2 (38)

Cats

Johnson 6.1; Podsiadly 5.1; Mooney 3.3; J Selwood 3.0; Christensen 2.3; Chapman, Bartel 2.0; Stokes 1.1;  Wojcinski, Milburn, Ling 1.0; rushed 0.3; Varcoe 0.2

466 Possessions: Varcoe, J Selwood 33; Johnson 31; Chapman 30; Christensen 28; Wojcinski 26; Milburn, Duncan 25

61 Tackles: Chapman, West 6; J Selwood, Kelly, Ling, Corey 4

36 Hit-Outs: West 29

24 Frees: Chapman 4; J Selwood, Christensen 3

Suns

Bennell 2.1; Stanley 2.0; McKenzie, Fraser 1.0; rushed 0.1

331 Possessions: Bock 27; Harbrow 23; Rischitelli 22; Brennan, Bennell 21

54 Tackles: Weller, Brown 2

33 Hit-Outs: Smith 17; Fraser 14

14 Frees: Lynch, Weller 2

Full ¼-by-¼ stats (except ¼-time) at http://j.mp/pb9fVs

#AFLFreoDons Results and Report

What. The. Hell.

OK, Essendon and Fremantle were 7th and 8th coming into this contest, and feeling was that the Bombers would come away with the points. But rumblings on Twitter during the first quarter were that the visitors had a lot of work to do to even look like making a fist of it, with a score-line of 1.1 to 6.3 at the first break.

The rest of the game appears to have run the same course, with the Dons kicking 1.5, 3.1, and 4.3 in the next three quarters, in answer to the Dockers' 3.1, 4.2, 2.2. The final scores

Fremantle 6.3 9.4 13.6 15.8 (98)
Essendon 1.1 2.6 5.7 9.10 (64)

Scorers for the Dockers
M.Pavlich 3.1
H.Ballentine 2.2
M.Johnson 2.1
R.Crowley, T.Mzungu 2.0
K.Bradley 1.1
J.Griffin, C.Mayne, N.Fyfe 1.0
P.Duffield, Z.Clarke 0.1
rushed behinds 0.1

Scorers for the Dons
P.Ryder 4.0
L.Jetta 2.0
M.Hurley, T.Colyer 1.1
N.Lovett-Murray 1.0
D.Hille, H.Slattery, D.Myers, B.Howlett 0.1
rushed behinds 0.4

Next week, Fremantle (7th) has the Demons (currently 9th but facing the Pies tomorrow) in Melbourne, which could really go either way but I'll be backing the Ds. Essendon (now 8th) has North (now 12th) which by all rights they should win, but with all that seems to be going on, they probably won't. My tip'll be with the Kangas.

So what is happening at Windy Hill?! Up until Round 9 I considered them a contender for the top 4 with Carlton, the Cats, and the Pies, and think I've tweeted as much. Essendon have come up against a mixed-bag until then, facing
R1 Bulldogs 55pt win
R2 Swans 5pt loss
R3 Saints 52pt win
R4 Blues draw
R5 Pies 30pt loss
R6 Suns 139pt win
R7 Eagles 16pt win
R8 Lions 36pt win

But, for mine, the slide began in R9 with their 16 point loss to Richmond. You can read all the whats and whyfors in the paper: I didn't see it, but after the bye, they faced, and lost to, Melbourne by 33 points. The Dockers were an either-or proposition, and proved to be an or with this loss.

Can Hirdy pull something dramatic out of the fire, or is he, like Vossy, going to be looking for a new gig next year? Time will tell.