AFL Power List: Round 20 (or it’s all up for grabs)

Another excellent round of footy, capped off with a great game on Sunday evening seeing the Bombers win over the Saints which pretty much kills off Port’s hopes for the finals. With Melbourne’s win over Fremantle despite them having beaten Port last week, and Richmond’s pathetic display over Collingwood I’ve decided all three are equal 14th. In any given week they’re a chance to be the worst team ever to have played the game.

But now let’s break down the jostling for the last spot in the Top 8:

Essendon play Fremantle (W) and the Hawks (?), which puts them on 10 1/2 wins and 1 “maybe”.

Port plays Brisbane (L) and North (W), which puts them on 10 wins Sydney play Collingwood (L) and Brisbane (L), which leaves them on 8 wins.

Hawks play Richmond (W) and Essendon (?). Which puts them on 9 wins and 1 maybe.

Port are no chance unless they beat the Lions this week. It looks almost certain to come down to who wins out of the Bombers and Hawks in the last round.

For the top 4:

Collingwood play Sydney (W) and Bulldogs (?), which puts them on 15 wins and 1 “maybe” – safe for third.

Bulldogs plays Geelong (?) and Collingwood (?), which puts them on 13 wins and 2 “maybes”.

Carlton plays Melbourne (W) and the Crows (?), which puts them on 13 wins and 1 “maybe”

Crows play the Eagles (W) and Carlton (?), which puts them on 13 wins and 1 “maybe”.

Brisbane plays Port (W) and Sydney (W), which puts them on 13 1/2 wins.

The Pies are safe for third, my prediction is that fourth will come down to the Carlton-Crows game - whoever wins that will come fourth, whoever loses will come or 7th, and Brisbane to finish 5th, and the Bulldogs, 6th. (Though it all gets mucked up if the Bulldogs win either of their matches.)

	Rank	LW	Team	Record	Comment
Safe
	1	1↔	St Kilda	19-1	Riewoldt had the chance to keep the unbeaten streak alive and his kicked wasn’t even close.
	2	2↔	Geelong	17-3	They weren’t great, but they won’t lose many games when Ablett get 44 touches.
	3	3↔	Collingwood	14-6	Beating the Tigers means nothing.
	4	4↔	Adelaide	12-8	After quarter time the Crows kicked 12.14 to the Hawks 4.10.
	5	5↔	Bulldogs	13-7	Lions fans booing Ackermanis obviously learned nothing from watching him being booed while playing for them for 12 years.
	6	7↑	Carlton	12-8	The Blues did it well, and now get to play the Demons coming off a win.
	7	6↓	Brisbane	11-1-8	A big loss that puts paid to their top 4 hopes.
Need	some	wins
	8	8↔	Essendon	9-1-10	A great win by the Bombers despite not kicking a goal in the last quarter.
	9	10↑	Hawthorn	8-12	After quarter time the Hawks only kicked 4 goals, and Buddy kicked all of them.
	10	9↓	Port Adelaide	9-11	Port blew their hopes of being the worst team ever to make the finals.
No	chance
	11	11↔	Sydney	8-12	Another close loss to a top team. The Swans will miss the finals, but things aren’t too dire in the harbour city
	12	12↔	West Coast	7-13	A good win at home – though the umpiring in the last quarter helped them at tad.
	13	14↔	North Melbourne	5-1-14	North get to be the first team to play the Saints coming off a loss.
	14	15↔	Fremantle	5-15	Fremantle showed Melbourne how a team really tanks.
	14	13↓	Richmond	5-1-14	The Tigers were a joke – on that performance they deserve to be relegated to the VFL.
	14	16↔	Melbourne	4-16	A weird feeling for the Demons fans, but with Carlton and the Saints to go, they should still get the priority pick.