A weird weekend in the AFL only highlights the field to September is big, but the grand dream is just for a few teams
THERE are now six also-rans — and 12 would-be finalists — as the AFL enters the home stretch. But there is no sign the upcoming ‘super draft’ is tempting clubs to tank.
WOW, one word has disappeared from the late-season football jargon: Tanking.
Even in a year with a “super draft” on the AFL calendar in late November, the weekend’s results highlight even the meek — such as Gold Coast — crave premiership points more than prime positions in the draft order.
There is the Carlton problem — but that is not tanking. The Blues are a tragic football soap opera that has more pressing questions, particularly around coach Brendon Bolton, than whether the AFL Commission will grant Carlton a priority draft pick.
At a time when the AFL is battered by concerns with the “look of the game”, the results from Round 18 do ease concern of also-ran clubs — such as the Suns — ignoring immediate goals to focus on what could be in November’s draft. Remarkably, two would-be finalists — Geelong and Adelaide — won dramatic games, but dropped in the rankings.
The Cats went from eighth to ninth despite Zach Tuohy’s after-the-siren goal completing the extraordinary fightback against Melbourne at Kardinia Park on Saturday night.
At the same time, Adelaide — with its interchange bench resembling a hospital emergency ward — held on for a five-point win against Brisbane to fall from 11th to 12th. And the most reassuring moment — for the integrity of the competition — was the image of Lions coach Chris Fagan taking exception to a late free kick that iced the game for the Crows … denying Brisbane the chance to rise from 17th to 16th.
There are now 12 teams left in the shuffle to September with five home-and-away rounds to play. But the race to the last Saturday in September appears to have just two genuine pacesetters — AFL premiers Richmond and West Coast, two teams that will savour home-field advantage in September’s top-eight finals.
And there are two wildcards — the fast-building Greater Western Sydney and the remarkable Collingwood that will not fall for the count despite an increasing injury list.
Geelong premiership coach Chris Scott’s notion that this even competition has the hallmarks of delivering a repeat of 2016 — when the Western Bulldogs put together a remarkable September to end a flag drought from seventh — is not on.
Seriously, which of Sydney, Port Adelaide, Melbourne, Geelong, North Melbourne, Hawthorn, Essendon and Adelaide can re-create such a moment this September when none of these teams is approaching August with an ominous tone?
At least no club is tanking.
And as AFL football chief Steve Hocking leaves his file on rule changes with league supremo Gillon McLachlan, there is another cry from the wilderness for the game to avoid radical change. This time it is former St Kilda champion Nathan Burke delivering the thought of the day, saying: “Note to the learned members of the competition committee (that meets this week): Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
“Remove all the dud rules (there’s at least eight) before you add even one more rule.”
michelangelo.rucci@news.com.au
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