Australian Football

Multicultural Round

Premiership Season 2014 - Multicultural Round Review

Total Crowd 307,029 (Avg 34,114)

Round 18 was long-lasting but full of highlights and upsets, leaving the race for top spot, the top four, the top eight and even the wooden spoon wide open. Four of the nine games were decided by 10 points or fewer and, incredibly, the five games decided by larger margins were all won by non-favourites.

Carlton was the first underdog to win, beating Jekyll and Hyde side North Melbourne by 23 points on Friday night at the MCG. The Blues got the early break on the Kangaroos before a string third quarter saw North trailing by just three points at the last change and looking ready to run over the top of Carlton. But it was the Blues who stood firm and ran away with the game in the last quarter, kicking six goals to two to stop North's run towards a place in the top four.

The biggest upset of the round, if not the entire season, came at Docklands stadium where bottom-placed St Kilda jumped Fremantle with a four-goal-to-one first quarter. The 16,594 fans at the ground all expected a response from the Dockers in the second or third quarter but none eventuated. The Saints kicked five goals to two in the second term and six goals to two in the third to lead by a massive 68 points at the final change before coasting home to win by 58.

Saturday night saw another near upset as the GWS Giants were competitive in the first half at the Sydney Showground before Geelong got on top in the third quarter to take a 23-point lead into the last change. But the Giants came with a rush in the last quarter and were within six points of the Cats with a couple of minutes to play. A late behind from Stevie Johnson saw Geelong sneak home by seven points.

Port Adelaide hoped to send off retiring ex-captain Dom Cassisi in style with a big win over Melbourne at the Adelaide Oval but a tenacious Demons outfit would not let the Power off the chain at any stage of the match. Melbourne held the lead late in the match before a brilliant late goal from the boundary line by Jay Schulz saw Port snatch a three-point win.

Sunday saw another close game at Docklands where the Western Bulldogs overcame a tardy start to lead Essendon by seven points at the long break. The Dogs excelled in the early stages of the third quarter to extend that margin to 21 late in the third term before the Bombers began to turn things around. The Dons, led by eight goals from Jake Carlisle, got on top in the last term and held the Dogs out to win by seven points and keep seventh place on the ladder.

On  the second Friday night of the round, very wet weather greeted West Coast and Richmond at Subiaco. The Tigers adapted better to the conditions and recorded their fourth win in a row, keeping alive the faintest of top eight hopes. But the win was marred by an ugly second-quarter incident which saw Eagle ruckman Dean Cox concussed after a round-arm knock from Richmond's Ty Vickery.

With a top-eight place on the line, the Gold Coast Suns had an inexplicably shocking first quarter against Brisbane at the Gabba on Saturday, the Lions kicking 7.7 to 1.2 to effectively kill the match by quarter time. The Lions also won the second and third terms, with a two-point advantage to Gold Coast in the last quarter of little solace to Suns coach Guy McKenna as Brisbane cruised to a 54-point thrashing.

The game of the round and arguably the season so far was played at the MCG on Saturday night between Hawthorn and Sydney. In a potential Grand Final preview, the Swans got on top early in the third quarter, after a dour first half, to lead by 23 points before the Hawks turned the game on its head to lead by nine points at the last change. Hawthorn then kicked the first two majors of the last quarter before holding out the Swans to record a 10-point win.

Collingwood and Adelaide brought the round to an end with a close encounter at the MCG on Sunday. The Crows dominated early but their poor kicking kept Collingwood in the game. After even second and third terms, the Pies clicked into gear and snatched a six-point lead in the early stages of the last quarter before a run of goals saw the Crows regain control of the match and win by 16 points to take the Magpies' place in the top eight.

R-18, Ladder