Three-quarters of the Canadian weekend is complete, with the Calgary/Toronto game still coming tomorrow night. (There were no games on Saturday or Sunday for some unknown reason - if anyone knows, we'd love to find out!) Edmonton wiped Ottawa out 46-17; Winnipeg somehow held on to upset Montreal 25-23, and the BC Lions came from way behind to defeat Saskatchewan 35-32 in overtime, sending the RoughRiders to a surprising 0-3 start to the season.
Meanwhile, down under, they had another wild and exciting weekend of footy, starting with a GREAT game Thursday night where Port Adelaide managed to hold off a fast charging Collingwood team 66-63. Unfortunately, the Friday night game was as bad as the previous game was good - even the umpiring. Nevertheless, Richmond outscored Carlton by five goals and now sits sixth on the ladder, tied in record to Collingwood.
Saturday's games were a wild and varied bunch...Essendon found a heart, a bit of courage and maybe even some occasional brains as they found a way to upend Melbourne 69-60 in a muddled affair. Gold Coast led Western the entire game, with newly-returned Gary Ablett at the point...until The Bulldogs simply ran over the Suns in the fourth, scoring TEN goals to pass them and win by 22 points. And while Following Football took Geelong in the coin flip game, it was North Melbourne who came out of the blocks firing to win easily, 120-79. Finally, the most emotional game of the round (following Phil Walsh's death) was Adelaide at the West Coast Eagles, won by West Coast. But it was the love and sympathetic vibe that overwhelmed the Crows, especially after the match.
Sunday, the action started with the GWS Giants proving that they still belong among the elite AFL teams with a dominant win over the hot St. Kilda team 84-49. Sydney managed the four points over Brisbane, but the Lions actually led late in the third before the Swans put them away, and in the game of the weekend, the Hawthorn Hawks, defending champions twice running, put on their best show of the season by annihilating the 12-1 Fremantle Dockers by 72 points! While still sitting fourth on the ladder, it's hard not to see the Hawks as the current flag favorite after that demolition. They get to prove it with games in the next few rounds against the two other teams in front of them, Sydney and West Coast, which would move them into second (most likely) with two victories there.
Our current projections, however, actually match the current standings pretty well - Freo's run home is easy enough (and that 12-1 start gave them enough cushion) for them to have the inside lane and a big lead for that #1 seed, which would let them play in Western Australia up until the final...but since the final's in Melbourne (at the MCG, which happens to be Hawthorn's home!), that's become a scary proposition all of a sudden! We have Sydney, West Coast, and Hawthorn as too close to call for the 2, 3, and 4 spots, but it probably isn't a big deal except if West Coast gets the 2nd slot and the #3 team has to travel there to play. #5-8 in some order are projected to be the four teams there right now: Richmond, Western, Collingwood, and GWS (believe it or not), with North Melbourne and Adelaide coming up JUST short. It may actually TAKE thirteen wins to make finals this year!
No comments:
Post a Comment