Australian Football

Finals Week 2

2SF

1SF

Premiership Season 2014 - Finals Week 2 Review

Total Crowd 108,301 (Avg 54,151)

After the first week of the finals went according to the script, the two Semi Finals did anything but as Geelong became the first team since 2007 to be bundled out in straight sets and then the Fremantle Dockers became the second just 24 hours later. The Semi Finals Port Adelaide and Geelong both trailing by 24 points at the long break, with both of them mounting second-half comebacks, one of which would be successful and the other falling agonisingly short.

The seemingly misnamed Second Semi Final was played first, pitting Geelong and North against each other at the MCG on Friday night. The Kangaroos started like a house on fire, a Lindsay Thomas goal within the first 18 seconds of the match setting off a burst of seven Kangaroos goals that saw North leading by 30 points at the 30-minute mark of the first term. Incredibly, though, Geelong kicked three goals after that and at the first break trailed by just 12 points. A dour second term saw just two goals kicked, both by North Melbourne and the Kangaroos' half-time lead of four goals was probably a fair reflection of their dominance. The third quarter could not have been more even, both sides trading goals and each finishing the term with 3.3, leaving North still 24 points ahead at the last change. The Roos extended that margin top 32 points half way through the last quarter but, just as Geelong's season looked over, Tom Hawkins and co staged one final mighty effort. The Cats kicked four goals over the next 15 minutes to North's nil and were deep in attack and looking to level up the match when the final siren sounded, giving the Kangaroos a thrilling six-point win and their first Preliminary Final berth since 2007.

A day later Port Adelaide, which had finished fifth after heading the ladder for parts of the season and being in the top four for most of it, headed to Subiaco to take on Fremantle, the Dockers eager to bounce back from their loss to Sydney a week earlier. Fremantle had the better of the first term and led nine points at quarter time, then dominated much of the second quarter but was wasteful in front of goal. The Dockers had kicked 3.6 to 0.3 for the term to lead by 30 points late in the quarter but a Chad Wingard goal just before the half-time siren cut the margin at the long break, giving the Power hope for the second half. They seized on that hope as soon as the third quarter began, goaling the first minute and then adding another five for the term while restricting the Dockers to just two to take a two-point lead into the last. Fremantle seized control back with the first two goals of the last quarter but when Ollie Wines kicked two in two minutes to restore the lead to the Power it sparked a further four from Port, with the Dockers kicking just one in return. When the final siren sounded, Port was 22 points ti the good of the Dockers and, like North, into its first Preliminary Final since 2007.

So two of the top four sides have been knocked out in "straight sets" the first time that's happened under the current top eight system that's been in place since 2000. The Kangaroos will now meet Sydney in Sydney next Friday night while the Power will take on Hawthorn at the MCG on Saturday evening. Sydney and Hawthorn will start favourites in those games, but both will go into the respective matches not having beaten their opponents in 2014. The Swans met North in round four at the SCG, going down by 43 points, while Hawthorn were pipped by the Power in round 10 at the Adelaide Oval.

Two fascinating matches await us on Preliminary Final weekend, with the winners to play off for the ultimate prize the following week.

R-23, Ladder