One week closer to the finals and the race for the top 8 is now down to 10 teams as Richmond and Essendon lost big games and can now look forward to next year along with so many others.
Geelong defeated Melbourne by 116 points
The Football game is 150 years and this was suppose to be a celebration but with the AFL officials rather going to the boring Olympics this game turned into a major flop. Demons did not score at all in the first quarter, although their one highlight was Paul Johnsons goal.
Geelong run home: Sydney (away), Kangaroos and West Coast
Carlton defeated Port Adelaide by 66 points
Carlton kept their final 8 chances alive with a demolition of Port Adelaide who is too worried about recruiting Didak next year and have put their cue back in the rack.
What was best about this win for Carlton was that they had more than 10 individual goal kickers and not just relying on Fev. Walker kicked 3 and could be a handy inclusion come the push for the final 8 as they have a tough run home to play two top 4 sides in Kangaroos and Hawthorn.
Carltons run home: Kangaroos, Brisbane (away) & Hawthorn.
Hawthorn defeated Brisbane by 69 points
Brisbane really needs to pull their finger out, if Brown and Bradshaw do not fire, neither do they. J Brown is an awesome player but if he wants a 5 year deal and be the premier big man of the competition, he needs to kick bags of goals week in – week out. Brisbane has another tough run home with 3 games against other top 8 wannabe sides.
Hawthorn looks like they will grab 2nd spot of the Bulldogs but that really is not important as they will play each other and although Hawks look the only team to challenge Geelong, Bulldogs would fancy themselves against the Hawks.
Hawthorns run home: Richmond, West Coast (away) & Carlton.
Brisbanes run home: Bulldogs, Carlton & Sydney (away).
Collingwood defeated St Kilda by 14 points
We learnt two things this week:
- Collingwood does have a culture problem and not just their drinking but also the fact that they can only get up when they are the underdogs or struggling. Why they wont win a Grand Final under Malthouse.
- St Kilda had us fooled by defeating Hawthorn a few weeks ago, they really do suck. They sucked and lost against teams they should have won in West Coast and Collingwood and only won due to Port tanking last week.
Collingwoods run home: Port (away), Sydney & Fremantle (away).
St Kilda’s run home: Fremantle (away), Adelaide & Essendon.
Sydney defeated Fremantle by 4 points
Lets get this right. Sydney won but only because Fremantle handed them the game. Yes Goodes kicked 8 and I think he would be a good key position player in the mold of Pavlich but with Freo 16 odd points up in the last quarter and missing two shots one 20m out by serial-misser/ chocker Pavlich and a post hit in the goal square, Freo lost and Sydney hold onto 4th spot with percentage over the Kangaroos.
Sydneys run home: Geelong, Collingwood (away) & Brisbane.
Kangaroos defeated Bulldogs by 20 points
Bulldogs while are in no danger of loosing 3rd spot need to be careful as you need to be in form come finals time and they are not. They have struggled in the last few weeks and at the moment will loose in straight sets to be knocked out of the finals. I have said it again and will say it again, they need a key forward to help provide a 2nd game plan of kicking it long when under pressure.
Kangaroos are the most under rated team in the competition. Last year they finished 4th and this year they look to be around the same, just out of the top 4 on percentage. B Harvey the little cheaky knipper also looks to get under the Gary Ablett Brownlow band wagon and may just pinch it.
Kangaroos run home: Carlton, Geelong (away) & Port.
Bulldogs run home: Brisbane (away), Essendon & Adelaide (away).
Adelaide defeated Richmond by 63 points
Look on the bright side Richmond supporters. You wont finish 9th 
Adelaide are starting to hit some form and maybe a few weeks ago they went through their hard training that Neil Craig is so stern about (even though its made them loose countless final series). A good sprad of goal kickers will also put a smile to the coaches face with lesser known big boys of Gill, Stevens and Moran kicking goals.
Adelaides run home: Essendon (away), St Kilda (away) & Bulldogs.
West Coast defeated Essendon by 10 points
West Coast has had a better second half of the season with some solid form. Worsfold has tried some things which has payed off in the last few weeks with Lynch and Staker playing midfield and again Lynch starred with 11 inside 50s. McKinley also has risen to be an important goal kicker with a career high 7 goals (against Fletcher), however what has been better is his pressure in the forward line.
Next week West Coast play Melbourne and if West Coast wins, they loose on their extra draft pick with more than 4.5 wins…
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August 11th, 2008 at 11:05 am
I disagree that the Dogs still need a tall forward, one would be handy but the problem yesterday against the Kangaroos had nothing to do with the forward line, they kicked the goals and could’ve easily won the game had they not started as slowly as they did, but the commentators noted that the problem the bulldogs have at this point in time is with their backline. they were kicking plenty of goals but couldn’t quites stop the Roos kicking them as well, and our backline in suffering somewhat without Williams and Wight in the side. as well as those two we are severly missing Higgins, West and Hudson who didnt play yesterday, the combination of those 5 key injuries and the out of Form Akermanis is why we’re not playing nearly as well as we could be. A forward is probably the least of our worries at the moment.
August 11th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Looks like they need to recruit more tall key players then if you think you also struggle down back…
In talking about key position players, thing I have noticed is that the best are not top draft picks (except Buddy) but either rookie listed (Cox, Sandilands, Hudson etc) or lower picks (Goodes, Llyod etc).