After the weekend.

Wow what a weekend of footy. As we are getting down to the pointy end of the season, things are starting to take shape in the top (and bottom) eight.

Friday night saw Hawthorn host Adelaide at the MCG. And after a fast start from Hawthorn, you thought that maybe there was some bite left in the Hawks and that finals could be a possibility. But the second quarter from the crows saw them come right back and from then on control the game, even though there was a late surge from the Hawks the Crows still ran away winners by 27 points.

On Saturday afternoon at the G saw Richmond host Collingwood. Weeeeelllllll. Didn't they bring back the biff! Make no mistake these two sides HATE eachother! There was a lot of feeling and yes, a good old fashioned Barney to top it off! I don't know about you but I reckon that the umpires and the AFL have tried to stamp out this because it's bad for the game, you know what I think HELL NO! Let em go for it! But if they injure someone then they have to wear the concequences! It does create an entertainment value that I like, but after a while you do have to go back to playing football and basically Richmond forgot how to play footy and Collingwood did and they won by 93 points.
Over at Subiaco West Coast hosted North Melbourne. Some weeks ago this would have been set up for a great game but the way that West Coast have been playing over the past couple of weeks you would have thought that they would control this game. At the start North showed some spirit and you thought maybe just maybe they could get a much valuable win. But it wasn't to be, West Coast told hold of the home ground advantage, winning by 38 points.

To Saturday Night. Up at the Gabba saw Brisbane host Western Bulldogs. On paper this was evenly matched and could go in any direction really. The Dogs came out firing after last weeks embarrassing loss to West Coast in Melbourne and controlled the game all the way through, even a late charge couldn't win them the game and they won by 18 points. Perhaps the disappointing factor is that there was a lady in the crowd that threw beer at Brad Johnson after the game, that was a Lions supporter obviously. The lady has since appologised and says she is remorseful of what happened and has written to the Dogs and to Brad Johnson saying that it was a spur of the moment thing, a mind lapse. At least some people are remorseful.
To ANZ Stadium. And Sydney hosted Geelong. This was a good game all round really. Geelong did play well but Sydney has found some form which could hold em well in 2010. After Geelong started well, Sydney came back. It really was the tone of the night. The Cats would get out to lead, the swans would come back before Geelong held them off by 5 points. Even 250 games celebrated by one of the best players I have seen Adam Goodes couldn't get them over the line, he was mightly disappointed. All I have to say is Well Done Adam on 250 Awesome games!!!

To Sunday. This was a good day for footy. The quality of footy was there. At the MCG Melbourne hosted Fremantle on a cold wet day in Melbourne. At first the game was relatively close, which is what I really expected. But then Melbourne came out and played some beautiful football (yes I did say Melbourne and Beautiful) and they ran away with the win by 63 points. I know I was shocked! That would give the Demons much needed confidence for the rest of the year and into next regardless if they win the two remaining games or not.
To AAMI Stadium and Port Adelaide hosted Carlton. A couple of questions for me I thought of before this game occured. One. Was there going to be a bit of feeling that came out of this game? Answer is yes! Which Port Adelaide team was going to show up? And was the comments by Chad and co going to backfire? The Answer to all these questions is yes and bad. The bad Port came out to play and Carlton took full advantage of that and went on to win by 54 points. Carlton have turned a corner with their football big time with massive improvements all around this year and regardless of what happens they can be proud of the year they've had.
Ok and last but not least the game of the round by far! Essendon hosted St Kilda at Etihad Stadium. What a game! The Saints started off well and you thought that they were going to have a good day. Then Essendon dominated getting out to a 42 point lead in the third quarter. But St Kilda have proven that they play Etihad Stadium well and being a smaller ground, they came back and got within a goal with a couple of minutes to go. From there it was an arm wrestle and when Nick Reiwoldt marked 40 metres out on a 45 degree angle Bomber supporters had their hearts in their mouths, but he missed and the Bombers won by 2 points. Great win for Essendon! But are they counting the costs with some of their stars getting injured? Is this the loss that St Kilda needed? That question will be answered in time.

Well what a round of footy! Round 21 will be here shortly. I will have more later.
Catch ya!