That may sound a little out there, but hear me out. How many times have five matches across four states each had a serious impact on the make-up of the eight? How many of those matches were thrillers, boasting twists and turns Hitchcock would be proud of? How many of these games delivered us some of rawest emotion seen in years?
The day’s results pivoted around the first game. With the Crows facing lowly St Kilda next week it was pretty much accepted an Adelaide win over North Melbourne would shut the door on the likes of Gold Coast, Richmond and West Coast making the eight.
But in a seesawing match that saw James Podsiadly give-up a shot at goal late in the final term when his free kick was over-turned for a push on Michael Firrito, it was North Melbourne that prevailed.
The result was massive for North as a side known for its flakiness did the job without two of its’ best players in the suspended Brent Harvey and Daniel Wells.
But for Adelaide, it continued a run of so near, yet so far for the team that rose to a preliminary final in 2012. Having narrowly missed September last year, the Crows were desperately hoping 2013 was a mere injury-affected blip and that a return to the finals would maintain the positive momentum generated by Brenton Sanderson’s arrival. But once again they’ve failed to put it together well enough for long enough and now their fate is out of their hands.
“We have to wait until next Sunday to see where we finish on the ladder,” declared Sanderson after the game. “We’ve missed a great opportunity to control where we went from here.”
As Adelaide faltered on Saturday afternoon another player in the finals race temporarily rose its head before being hammered down once again.
Having won just a single game since Gary Ablett suffered a season-ending shoulder injury, everyone assumed the out-of-form Suns wouldn’t give Essendon too many problems at Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
But with Cale Hooker concussed and Essendon’s midfield struggling for traction, the Suns found some of their early season-mojo as they turned a 24-point deficit midway through the third quarter into a six-point lead early in the last.
All of a sudden, the live ladder had Gold Coast in the eight, their hopes of a maiden finals appearance alive and Essendon were now looking vulnerable, potentially needing a final-round win over Carlton to make the eight.
But as he’s done all year, Mark Thompson produced the right move at the right time, with Michael Hurley’s shift to the forward line paying immediate dividends as his goal kickstarted the team once again.
Despite being banged up, Hurley and Brendon Goddard dragged the Bombers over the line to all-but secure a position in the finals, one achieved against the ongoing backdrop of the ASADA investigation.
Sure, it’s easy for opposition fans to say Essendon are simply getting what they deserved. But if we think of the players, it’s hard not to have some sympathy. Here are young men who’ve been allegedly exposed to unknown substances. They had finals footy taken off them last season and their future remains unknown as they wait on a court ruling on ASADA’s investigation. On top of that, they would have seen Cronulla players accept suspensions on Friday from ASADA in another distraction leading into this game.
But despite the adversity, Essendon’s win on Saturday all-but guaranteed them a spot in the eight, with two-time premiership coach Thompson left amazed at his side’s efforts. "I've never experienced anything like it, not so much pressure on young men,” he said. "It's easily understated how much pressure is on them. We just take it for granted now that we're allowed to do anything to them.
“We should be proud. I definitely am of the players. I think they’ve been an incredible group. I think they’ve been dealt a hand that’s been awful so for them to make it, yeah it has pretty much guaranteed, it’s fantastic for them. I’m glad they’ve got something out of it and that was the reason why we’re all here, for them, because they’ve been treated pretty badly.”
As Thompson delivered another of his now famously engaging press conferences, some thousand kilometres to the north, Collingwood were dealing with plenty of adversity of their own at Spotless Stadium in an unforgiving clash against the Giants.
Having been in the top four midway through the season, Collingwood’s season has steadily plummeted, with last week’s train wreck against Brisbane being among the worse nights suffered by a club in terms of injuries for many a year.
The injury issues had led to the likes of CEO Gary Pert all but resigning himself to the Magpies’ season being overand the club’s woes exacerbated leading into this game by the loss of 2013 top draft recruit Matt Scharenburg to an ACL injury in the VFL on Friday night.
By three-quarter-time the following day, the curse on the club looked to be gathering more steam as veterans Dane Swan and Clinton Young were benched with hamstring injuries while Brent Macaffer had been carried from the field, having suffered a second ruptured ACL.
It was enough to leave some of his team-mates – the ones who’d seen how hard Macaffer had worked to recover from an ACL injury in 2012 – struggling to hold back their emotions.
“When you go to the three-quarter time huddle and you can see some of his teammates in tears because they know what's happened and they know what he's been through ... that tells you something about the make-up of our playing group,” Nathan Buckley told reporters after the game.
"The supporters of the club should rest assured that you have got a young senior group and a young up-and-coming talented group that are absolutely committed to this footy club and doing whatever they can to make a success of it.”
But against all odds, Collingwood rose from the canvas, the Magpies delivering a gutsy eight-point victory over the Giants, a tiny bright spark in a bleak conclusion to the year.
The win was still enough to see Collingwood return to the eight but whether they stay there and play in a ninth straight finals campaign depends on them beating Hawthorn next Friday night. And on that score, the Magpies are in trouble.
Coming off a loss to Fremantle and a six-day break, the Hawks appeared flat themselves during the first half of Saturday night’s clash with Geelong as they posted a mere three goals. It was the Hawks lowest first-half tally for the season and the club’s lowest first-half tally against the Cats since 1980.
Luck also seemed to be going Geelong’s way as Jimmy Bartel earned a free kick and a goal for a dreadful dive, while the Hawks lacked run, penetration and desperation right across the ground.
Although both sides may have been keeping their powder dry a little – especially considering they will probably line up against each other in a qualifying final in a fortnight’s time – the Hawks wouldn’t want to be limping into September. After all, it was only three years ago that Collingwood’s premiership defence went off the rails thanks to some poor late results when the team was meant to be keeping its powder dry.
But having found themselves 33 points down, the Hawks rose another gear, reeling off 10 unanswered goals as they ominously flexed their muscles in a sign that their year of rolling with the punches is far from over.
For Geelong, though, the result continues to raise questions as to their premiership credentials. Chris Scott may have been determined to push the message this match was just practice for the finals ahead. He even went so far as to say it was ‘Mission Accomplished’, despite conceding 10 straight goals. But Geelong’s means of dealing with run-ons remains very suspect indeed.
And, while it didn’t feature anywhere near as much drama, over in Perth West Coast flexed some muscle of their own as they put Melbourne away by 66 points.
With all the day’s other results falling their way, the Eagles have climbed into ninth on the ladder and are right in the hunt for the finals due to their quality percentage.
If Richmond falter, if Collingwood falter and if Adelaide fail to beat St Kilda by some whopping great score, then the Eagles are set to swoop into September after all, defying an injury-hit list to do so.
And the fact they delivered such a big win in what may be Dean Cox’s last game for the club at Subiaco was just icing on the cake.
It all added up to one incredible day of thrills and spills, of emotion and sheer drama as the 2014 AFL season really hits its straps.
It may still come down to the same top four from last year fighting it out for the game’s biggest prize. In the end, the battle for eighth is probably meaningless in the grand scheme of things. But for one day he competition delivered the drama in spades.