Australian Football

Round 12

Premiership Season 2016 - Round 12 Review

Total Crowd 322,270 (Avg 35,808)

Another round of AFL football, another week of upheaval in the top half of the ladder. With the top two sides both getting beaten, the premiership race has been thrown even more widely open, if that was at all possible, with any of the top eight sides probably being able to make a case for a place in this year's Grand Final.

Top side North Melbourne was defeated by third-placed Geelong, and could slip as low as fourth next week if it succumbs to fifth-placed Hawthorn on Friday. If the Hawks win by four goals or more, they will overtake the Kangaroos on the ladder. Second-placed Sydney also lost, to its sixth-placed neighbour GWS, and is now also vulnerable. With the Cats taking on the fourth-placed Western Bulldogs next Saturday night, the winner of that match could be on top of the ladder if North loses and Sydney goes down to the improving Melbourne. 

Round 12 kicked off with a whimper rather than a bang, with the Bombers, looking ever-weaker as the season goes on, taking on Hawthorn, a team that's looking stronger as the year progresses. Essendon showed some brief early fight but thereafter the match played out as most expected, with the high-powered Hawks having a night out, treating themselves to a 108-point feast of a win, boosting their percentage from 109 to 119 in the process.

The thriller of the round came on Saturday when the Western Bulldogs, looking to break into the top four, travelled to the Adelaide Oval to take on Port Power, looking to stay in touch with the top eight. The two sides turned on a great spectacle, where the lead changed several times during two hours of hard and tight footy before the Bulldogs fell across the line by just three points. It was a narrow win but meritorious for the fact that the Dogs lost Marcus Adams to injury before the match and Luke Dahlhaus also to injury late in the first term.

At the Gabba, a sadly familiar tale for Brisbane - but a much happier one for Fremantle - played out in Saturday's twilight game. The Lions started like a house on fire, kicking the first three goals but fell of the cliff the moment the Dockers put pressure on them. Scores were level by quarter time and then Fremantle blew the Lions away to record a commanding 83-point win.

Geelong and North Melbourne played a cracking game at Docklands later that night, with the Roos leading by 10 points at the long break before Patrick Dangerfield masterfully led the Cats to a powerful second-half performance that saw them home by 31 points, a margin that would have been greater had not Geelong been so inaccurate and North conversely so accurate. The Cats finished with 15.15, missing many easy shots, to the Kangaroos extremely accurate 12.2.

At Subiaco in the other Saturday night match, the Crows caused a boilover, defeating West Coast by 29 points. While Adelaide's win wasn't a total shock, the manner of it was, with the Crows coming from two goals behind at the last change to dominate the last quarter to the extent that the Eagles were held scoreless in the final term. It was West Coast's first ever quarter without a score a that venue. 

The first of three Sunday games saw two up-and-coming sides face off at Docklands. Carlton, having won six of its last seven, was heavily favoured to defeat an injury-depleted Saints that were coming off a thrashing at the hands of Adelaide. But St Kilda threw the form-guide out the window as Tim Membrey filled the absence of skipper Nick Riewoldt to kick five goals as the Saints romped to a 32-point win.

While the Saints were making short work of the Blues, the Tigers were making hard work of the Gold Coast Suns across town at the MCG. Richmond started well but could not shake the Suns off, who led by 15 points as late as 12 minutes into the last term. But, led by an inspiring Dustin Martin, the Tigers finished off strongly to eke out a 17-point win.

Sunday's final game pitted the two Sydney sides against each other and it was the new kid on the bloke, GWS which emerged the victor to prevent the Swans from taking top spot on the ladder and move ever closer to its own place in the top four. The Giants are only a game away from that rarefied air and a relatively easy run home could see them end the season with a double chance.

In the traditional Queen's Birthday clash, Melbourne broke a pair of hoodoos against Collingwood, beating the Magpies on the holiday Monday for the first time since 2008, giving them two wins for the year against the Pies, something it had not achieved since 1988. The Demons did it in style, a seven-goal-to-one second term allow them to coast to a 46-point win.

Round 13 will be the first of the 'bye' rounds, with six teams set for a week off. The top six sides will all be playing, however, four of those against each other, and any one of the top four could find itself at the head of the ladder by the end of the weekend, depending on how the results fall. And, in all likelihood, nobody will be any surer about who the 2016 premiership team will be.

Leading goalkickers after round 12

43 - Lance Franklin (Syd)
41 - Josh Kennedy (WCo)
39 - Tom Lynch (GCo)
37 - Josh Jenkins (Adel)
33 - Eddie Betts (Adel)
32 - Jack Gunston (Haw)
30 - Jesse Hogan (Melb)
29 - Taylor Walker (Adel), Luke Breust (Haw)
28 - Charlie Dixon (Port)

R-12, Ladder