Australian Football

Round 15

Premiership Season 2016 - Round 15 Review

Total Crowd 203,712 (Avg 33,952)

It seems that with each passing round, identifying this year's potential premiership sides becomes harder and harder. With the bye rounds now completed and all sides having played 14 matches, only two games separates Hawthorn, first with 11 wins, from West Coast, eighth with nine wins, with an incredible seven sides in between all equal on 10 wins.

With eight home and away rounds remaining, every team in the top eight could end up in any other of the top eight places with even Hawthorn no certainty of a place in the top four and the Eagles by no means out of top four - and even top two - calculations. The waters were muddied further at the SCG on Saturday when the Western Bulldogs upset Sydney own their own turf, the first time the Swans have been beaten at home this year.

In recent weeks, the Bulldogs had begun to drift from the forefront of the minds of many, in terms of being a premiership contender, but Saturday's heroic and thrilling win has changed most of those minds.

For the second week running, the round kicked off on a Thursday night, with bottom team Essendon travelling to Perth to take on West Coast at Subiaco. As expected, the Dons didn't trouble the Eagles for long, leading at quarter time but falling away quickly after that as West Coast went on to record an emphatic 78-point win and stay in the hunt for a top four place. 

The following night saw another home side record a comfortable win, with Port Adelaide blowing Richmond away with a withering second-quarter burst and then coasting to a 38-point win. The result keeps the Power's slim finals hopes alive, but effectively has ended those of the Tigers, who are now three games adrift of the eighth-placed Eagles.

St Kilda took a trip to the Gold Coast on Saturday and exemplified perfectly the inconsistencies that can characterise a young, developing side. Having played brilliant a week earlier in knocking Geelong off the top of the ladder, the Saints fell to earth with a thud, crashing to a 40-point loss against the Suns, a team that had lost its past 10 matches. The Suns have certainly improved in recent weeks but, nevertheless, St Kilda's form away from Victoria is certainly a concern.

Saturday's twilight match pitted Sydney against the Western Bulldogs at the SCG, the first time the sides had met since their thrilling encounter at the same venue last year, which the Dogs won by four points in a thriller to "announce" renaissance. It seemed a bit much to expect a reprise of that great game, but that's exactly what the two sides gave us, another enthralling, blow-for-blow struggle producing the same result, right down to the four-point margin.

The match after that, traditionally a blockbuster, was a stark contrast. The once-great Collingwood and Carlton fought out a dour, uninspiring contest that produced just 14 goals between them, with the Pies prevailing by two goals. The match had few highlights, but one was the debut of Jack Silvagni, son of Steve and grandson of Serge. Young Jack showed enough to suggest that the third generation of Silvagnis will do the family proud.

Melbourne and Adelaide met at the MCG to close out the round on Sunday and produced a highly entertaining and high-scoring affair. The match see-sawed throughout, with one side and then another taking control. An eight-goal second term had the Demons in front by a whisker bit a withering burst early in the third term saw the Crows establish a lead that they were able to defend for the rest of the match. In the end it was Adelaide by 22 points, a result which kept the Crows' top-four chances well alive and all but ended the top-eight ones of the Demons. 

With eight rounds to play before the finals, there would appear to be no prospect of a change to the teams that make up the top eight. The final order of those eight teams, though, could perhaps best be described as a raffle. Only 12 of the remaining 72 matches will pit teams within the top eight against each other. Two of those will be in round 16, with Friday night's Geelong-Sydney match and Sunday's Eagles-North clash sure to see another manic reshuffle of most positions in the top eight.

A most fascinating season is showing no signs of becoming any less interesting.

Leading goalkickers after round 15

52 - Lance Franklin (Syd)
49 - Josh Kennedy (WCo)
43 - Tom Lynch (GCo)
40 - Josh Jenkins (Adel)
38 - Eddie Betts (Adel)
35 - Jack Riewoldt (Rich)
34 - Taylor Walker (Adel), Jesse Hogan (Melb)
33 - Jack Gunston (Haw)
31 - Luke Breust (Haw), , Tom Hawkins (Geel), Jack Darling (WCo)

R-15, Ladder