The chaos was sprinkled all through the weekend.
The Pies, a crew that misplaced a coach and president the yr, have been convincing 45-point winners over an Eagles crew that may’t journey in 2021.
The Seventeenth-placed Hawks have been belted round the media in latest occasions and labored over a top-four contender in the Lions. They did it with coronary heart, grit and daring. The 12-point Hawthorn win in Tasmania prompted Brisbane’s head coach Chris Fagan to say this:
“Any side can beat any other team on any given day.”
Over in Perth the Dockers, who want to declare the eighth spot and a finals berth, shocked everybody after they held on for a gutsy four-point win in opposition to the Tigers, an ailing champion that has misplaced its method however have been additionally hoping to inch additional in direction of the high eight. Dockers coach Justin Longmuir praised his crew for his or her consistency.
“We did the right things at the right time a lot of the time,” he mentioned.
With three weeks to go earlier than finals, you’d anticipate the high eight groups to be settled in their method and mindset, in nearly a medical style the place they know what they need to do in the twilight of the common season. But with lockdowns and COVID-19 wreaking havoc with scheduling, plus lower-placed groups treating every week with nothing to lose, it’s made us all cease and surprise what the hell is occurring and, will the unpredictability final?
To soccer followers, the outcomes from Round 21 may appear off, however the Bulldogs, Cats and Demons nonetheless lead the competitors. The huge statement from the weekend is that Brisbane has sunk to sixth after flirting with a top-four spot for many of the season. The Swans, recent off a traditional shootout win at the MCG in opposition to the Bombers, are actually in fifth forward of the Lions, making their case for a top-four spot together with Port Adelaide, who’re truly fourth.
The Lions are 1-3 in the final month. What appears to have labored for giant elements of the yr has stalled. Their sole win got here in opposition to an insipid Gold Coast Suns crew, which isn’t saying a lot. Fagan noticed his troops have been lacking depth and strain in opposition to the Hawks. No doubt he’ll begin to have considerations about whether or not or not the Lions’ finest soccer will have the ability to get up in finals if they will’t repair it.
(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
The Eagles proceed to disappoint on the street and at house too. They have gone 2-4 in the final six weeks. They don’t appear to be successful a sport away from house and at Optus they appear like a 50-50 probability — removed from the dominant crew that had a worry issue in Perth. Confidence is down. They’re lacking Luke Shuey, Willie Rioli, Liam Ryan, Jack Redden and Tom Barrass. But most groups at the moment of yr are lacking a chunk. West Coast are a crew that may’t be trusted, and but, they’re at a middling 10-9 sitting in the seventh spot.
Even although the Dockers beat reigning premiership crew Richmond by lower than a objective, their type has been shaky at finest. In the final seven weeks, they’ve gone 4-3. It should be famous that every one their wins have been in opposition to non-finals groups and they couldn’t compete in opposition to Cats (misplaced by 69) and or the Swans (misplaced by 40). To play finals, groups like the Dockers must beat contenders. Fremantle are nonetheless but to show they will.
As the yr has rolled on by way of the pandemic, Richmond’s wheels have fallen off in a remarkably sluggish method. They’ve solely been capable of handle one win in opposition to the Lions over the previous seven weeks. Losses have piled up in opposition to low-end, middling and out-of-form groups: the Suns, Saints, Pies, Dockers and Eagles.
The 38-point loss to Geelong was a assertion that the Tigers are very a lot off the tempo to be a contender. The accidents have damage: no Dusty, Noah Balta, Nathan Broad, Dion Prestia, Ivan Soldo or Nick Vlastuin. We’re witnessing a champion being slowly unravelled.
(Photo by Russell Freeman/AFL Photos by way of Getty Images)
This could possibly be a yr that a new crew takes a chance. The Demons could possibly be that crew. But they’ve proven intervals the place they’ve misplaced type in a hurry. Perhaps Geelong, who’ve been a fixed on the subject of enjoying finals over the final decade, will lastly make it work. They appear to be the actual deal to go one step additional with their new recruits.
And the Bulldogs seem to be an apparent alternative to say the flag, however it might take a courageous particular person to lock that in from right here.
We’re at the finish of the yr the place fatigue is actual. Now, there’s the added stress of travelling to different states to keep away from lockdown and COVID-19. Injuries are nonetheless occurring. Teams will probably be compelled to delve deep into their lists to cowl for all of this, which is able to impression connection and cohesion.
Among all this are groups hanging on to hope to play finals. It will probably be the constant groups, the ones that may simply get the job executed – at house and on the street – which is able to decide who will get to play finals.
This will probably be a season outlined by who’s least affected by the distractions of the pandemic. Those that may put their head down and grind away will get rewarded. Those that don’t will discover solace in the low season the place gamers can see households and relaxation their drained our bodies.
After the Tigers’ loss to the Dockers, Richmond’s head coach Damien Hardwick lamented that 2021 has been a “really weird year.”
The clock is ticking for some groups and there’s nonetheless hope for these peering into finals. The season is dwindling. But with so many golf equipment shedding video games they need to be successful from the weekend, the premiership coach summed it up finest with: “It’s going to be one hell of a finish.”
