Australian Football

Round 19

Premiership Season 2017 - Round 19 Review

Total Crowd 274,030 (Avg 30,448)

We're only four weeks away from the home-and-away finish line, but there is no sign of the twists and turns of the 2017 abating, with upsets still abounding and few matches evoking absolute confidence in fans before they begin. Even within games there are twists and turns that almost defy belief, the Port Adelaide-St Kilda and Collingwood-Adelaide matches providing just two of this weekend's examples. At the end of it all, the Crows remained at the top of the ladder, but the events of the weekend by no means confirmed their premiership favouritism.

Hawthorn and Sydney kicked off the round with a Friday night thriller at the MCG. Prior to this match, the scintillating Swans had only lost one match since round six, to the Hawks themselves, and history was to repeat itself. Hawthorn led for the most of the night only to give up its advantage early in the final term. But the Hawks rallied late to eke out a six-point win, as it had at the SCG. The result saw Hawthorn remain a finals chance and leave the Swans own place in the top eight vulnerable.

Saturday's match at Bellerive Oval in Hobart produced another thriller, and yet another win by the Kangaroos over Melbourne. With the wind once again having a profound influence at the venue, the Demons looked likely winners when they hit the front early in the final term kicking with the advantage of a strong breeze. But North rose to the occasion, and played beautiful into-the-wind football to snatch a four-point win, the 17th in a row by the Roos over Melbourne.

Few expected the Fremantle Dockers to trouble GWS at the Sydney Showground but the visitors took it right up to the Giants for much of the game, to the point that they led by 15 points at the last change. The Giants then kicked four in a row to start the final term and looked to have the game won, but Fremantle came again with two quick goals getting it back within a goal before a last-minute goal to Josh Kelly seeing GWS home by 12 points, the Giants maintaining their hold on third place.

The close encounters continued at the Adelaide Oval, where Port Power hosted St Kilda on a soggy Saturday afternoon. Port led for most of the match, mostly because the Saints kept missing relatively easy shots at goal. But the Saints found the target in the final term, kicking 5.1 to take what looked to be a match-winning 10-point lead, before Port kicked two goals in the final minute, the second the result of a magnificent Paddy Ryder-Robbie Gray clearance combination, to snatch an amazing two-point win.

Saturday night provided what in 2017 has proved to be more the exception than the rule - two routine wins. The first of those came at Carrara, where the undermanned Suns, again missing their star Gary Ablett with a hamstring strain, took on Richmond. The Tigers trailed at quarter time but asserted their authority, comfortably winning the next three quarters to record a 33-point win, one which keeps them within the top four.

Meanwhile at Docklands Geelong gave the Blues a two-goal head start and then put them to the sword. With Tom Hawkins back to his best with a six-goal haul, the Cats were 19 points ahead at quarter time, and then went on with the job, winning by 65 points to maintain its hold on second place on the ladder.

The match of the round was played out at the same venue the next day. Indeed some described the shoot-out between the Western Bulldogs and Essendon as the match of the season. It was fast and furious throughout, with the Bombers taking an early lead but the Bulldogs hitting the front by quarter time. The Dogs maintained a narrow lead for most of the match from there, and then broke free with a late burst of four goals in three minutes to win by 30 points and stay in the finals race.

While the Dogs and Dons were playing out their epic contest, an amazing affair was unfolding not far away at the MCG. Collingwood conjured up its best form of the season to stun the top-of-the-ladder Crows, leading by as much as 50 points early in the third quarter. Adelaide then suddenly found its own form, narrowing the gap to just three points early in the last term.

The Pies then broke free again, leading late in the game by 22 points before a final Crows surge saw them back within a goal with seconds remaining. Enter Mitch McGovern, whose huge pack mark saw him kick a goal after the siren to snatch a draw for Adelaide, the third tied match of the season so far.

Round 19 came to an anticlimactic close with West Coast hosting an undermanned Brisbane at Subiaco. The Lions, missing Dayne Zorko through injury and Eric Hipwood (rested), were in touch at quarter time, trailing by just five points, but the Eagles broke away in the second quarter and eventually recorded a 68-point win the biggest of the round.

Adelaide still leads the way, a game clear of Geelong, with GWS and Richmond making up the top four. But the Giants' and Tigers' places in the top four are by no means safe, and even their top eight places are not fully secure just yet, with the ninth-placed Western Bulldogs only two games behind them. For all sides, the last four weeks of the season will be make to break.

Leading goalkickers after round 19

53 - Joe Daniher (Ess)
51 - Lance Franklin (Syd), Ben Brown (NM)
49 - Josh Kennedy (WCo)
43 - Taylor Walker (Adel), Tom Hawkins
42 - Jack Riewoldt (Rich), Jeremy Cameron (GWS)
41 - Eddie Betts (Adel), Robbie Gray (Port)

R-19, Ladder