Australian Football

Round 23

Premiership Season 2016 - Round 23 Review

Total Crowd 299,409 (Avg 33,268)

After three months and 198 matches, it's time to say goodbye to 10 of the AFL clubs, as they begin the process of reviewing 2016, working out what went wrong, what went right and where they go from here in their efforts towards returning to finals action. For some clubs, perhaps St Kilda and Melbourne, that time may be not too far away. For others, such as the Brisbane Lions, there could be several more years of pain and growth before that goal is achievable.

For the other eight teams, the real stuff begins now, with last Friday night's match throwing a cat amongst the pigeons, Adelaide's loss to West Coast leaving it unexpectedly outside the top four, which is now made up of Sydney, Geelong, Hawthorn and GWS. 

Friday night's match at Adelaide Oval saw the second-placed Crows hosting the sixth-placed Eagles. Given Adelaide's form and that it had beaten the Eagles quite comfortably at Subiaco back in June, the Crows were expected to comfortably account for West Coast but it was the opposite which proved true. The Eagles started strongly and withstood all the Crows could throw at them, winning by 29 points, a margin that probably should have been much greater, such was West Coast's dominance. 

Saturday's match saw Geelong, still with a chance of finishing at the head of the ladder and taking out the minor premiership, hosting Melbourne at Kardinia Park. As the game unfolded, the Cats looked every bit a side that could win the flag, while the Melbourne looked as though it had 'checked out' mentally. As a result, Geelong recorded a resounding 111-point win boosting its percentage to 143 and give itself every chance at finishing on top. 

Unfortunately for the Cats that chance disappeared very quickly a couple of hours later when Sydney followed their own example and put Richmond to the sword. The Swans made the Tigers look like proverbial witches hats for three quarters to incredibly lead 22 goals to two at the last change before Richmond showed some semblance of fight in the final term to kick five goals to three. Nevertheless, Sydney's final winning margin was a huge 113 points, and the Swans edged Geelong out of top place. 

In Saturday afternoon's other match, Essendon won its second match in three weeks, defeating a disappointing Carlton by four goals to give itself a chance of avoiding the wooden spoon, The Dons led from go to whoa to score a third victory for the season, and will look forward to better things when their suspended players all return in 2017. Despite the loss, the Blues have made progress under Brendon Bolton in 2016, and can also look forward to better times ahead. 

Saturday night saw one important match and one unimportant match played, in terms of deciding finals fate. At Docklands, North Melbourne hosted GWS, the Giants knowing that a win would give it a place in the top four. The Kangaroos started well to lead at quarter time but GWS gradually got on top, drawing away in the second half to win by 37 points, claiming the double chance. The loss will see North head into the finals on the back of four losses in a row, hardly an ideal preparation. 

Saturday night's other match pitted Gold Coast against Port Adelaide at Carrara. With both sides out of finals contention, this was a match played purely for bragging rights, and it was the Power that won them, defeating the Suns by 23 points in what was Jay Schulz's last match for the club, the key forward being told he will not be offered a contract in 2017. 

At the beginning of the day, Sunday's three matches all had the potential of deciding final ladder positions. At Docklands, St Kilda had the opportunity of condemning the Brisbane Lions to a wooden spoon and, for much of the match looked like doing so. But the Lions rallied to a degree in the final term, and the six goals they kicked to St Kilda's eight were enough to keep their percentage higher than Essendon's and avoid finishing last. 

The penultimate game of the home and away season wasn't just the best of the round, it was one of the finest of the season. In a game that had just about everything, Hawthorn and Collingwood went blow for blow at the MCG in a high-scoring affair that looked like going one way and then the other throughout the afternoon. In the end the Hawks found away - as they almost seem to do - winning by a single point, their fifth win of under a goal this year, to claim a place in the top four by the narrowest of margins. 

The MCG result effectively turned the Fremantle v Western Bulldogs match into dead rubber, the other match results condemning the Dogs to an away Elimination Final against West Coast at Subiaco. The news must have had an effect on the Bulldogs' morale, as they put in a lacklustre performance to go down to Fremantle by 20 points, a result which gave retiring Docker legend Matthew Pavlich a fitting send off. 

After all sides have a week off, the finals will get underway on Thursday week when the Dogs return to Subiaco to take on West Coast in a cut-throat Elimination Final, a match which will see the Eagles start as red-hot favourites. 24 hours later, a Friday night blockbuster at the MCG will pit second-placed Geelong against third-placed Hawthorn. The Cats have the better form but it would be a brave person to suggest the reigning premiers couldn't win this match. 

On Saturday afternoon history will be made when GWS competes in its first final as they take on crosstown rival Sydney at Stadium Australia. The Swans will start favourites but the Giants' best football will see them in with a chance. As with the Geelong-Hawthorn encounter, the loser of this match will live to fight another day, while the winner will earn a week off. 

The final match of week one will see two round-23 losers face off. The Adelaide Crows, coming off an unexpected defeat at the hands of the Eagles, will host North Melbourne, which has lost four games in a row. Only the most fanatical and optimistic Kangaroo fan will give North a chance in that match. 

Leading goalkickers after round 23

80 - Josh Kennedy, WCo (5)
74 - Lance Franklin, Syd (7)
66 - Tom Lynch, GCo (1), Eddie Betts, Adel (1)
60 - Josh Jenkins, Adel (1)
52 - Tom Hawkins, Geel (6)
49 - Jeremy Cameron, GWS (1)
48 - Jack Riewoldt, Rich (1), Jack Gunston, Haw (1)
44 - Tim Membrey, StK (2), Cyril Rioli, Haw (3)

R-23, Ladder