Luke Breust

The West Coast Eagles traveled to Melbourne today, looking to take an MCG scalp ahead of their run home towards the finals. The Eagles came in heavy favorites on a gloomy and damp Saturday afternoon. They led by 20 points at half time and survived a comeback by Hawthorn to hit the lead again in the final minute and claim the four premiership points.

Inside the first minute the Eagles won the center clearance and goaled through Darling. Nic Naitanui was back for the Eagles and was leaping high early to give his team mates the first use of the ball.  He looked strong and in control early, his return could have been dubbed a full success already had his early snap for goal been on target.

The big three in Collingwood, Geelong and Greater Western Sydney all had wins over the weekend to strengthen their positions on the AFANA AFL Power Poll and put themselves in great shape as the season moves into round eight. The Magpies dominated Port Adelaide early in the Friday night game to cruise to victory, while Geelong was never threatened by a disappointing Essendon at the MCG on Sunday.

The match was between two teams that have had ordinary starts to the 2019 season.  For Melbourne, it seemed that if they did not win today, they could kiss their finals hopes goodbye.  After a lackluster first half, they turned around their fortunes in the third quarter, and managed to hold off the Hawks who pushed them to the last.

Finally after a week off, finals footy was underway in Melbourne. Hawthorn came hard at Richmond from the start of the match but eventually the Tigers won the pressure battle. Once they took hold they were able to get the ball inside 50 much more often and make the most of it even when the Hawks managed to bring the ball to ground. They broke the game open in the third quarter and cruised to victory in the final quarter and will now sit back and wait for their Preliminary Final opponent.

Richmond Tigers vs Hawthorn Hawks (MCG)

State of Play:

This game has all the makings of an absolute classic. On one hand you have Richmond, the reigning premier coming into the game riding a 21-game winning streak at the MCG. On the other you have Hawthorn, the form team of the competition boasting a massive total of 265 games of finals experience (the Tigers have just 114).

Outside it was cold and wintry (by Melbourne standards) but good conditions under the roof at Etihad on Saturday night shielded fans. Inside, it was the Hawks who nearly got the chill. Despite the indoor game, the crowd numbers were down on recent clashes between these two teams. 

Early it was Gunston who opened the scoring for the Hawks. The Saints worked hard around the contests to shut down Hawthorn's run and delivery into the forward link.  Burgoyne finally managed to eke out a second for the Hawks.  St Kilda had plenty of the ball, but not a lot of it in their forward 50.

And then there were eleven. After a cracking round nineteen that saw the Tigers hold off an injury hit but brilliant Collingwood, the Swans sink further into trouble with a loss to the Bombers and Carlton actually notch a win, there looks to be only eleven teams left in the race for the top eight. The Adelaide Crows all but dropped out of contention after being overrun by a revitalized Melbourne in the city of churches, while the Giants marched into top four contention with yet another win, this time over a plucky but inaccurate Saint Kilda.

Round eighteen gave us some sensational football with Geelong stealing the limelight. Twenty nine points down in the final quarter to a steadfast Melbourne, the Cats conjured some more Kardinia Park magic to steal a two-point win on a goal after the siren to Zach Tuohy. The Giants won a hard fought away game against a suddenly struggling Port Adelaide, setting themselves up for a top eight finish in the process. 

After another top notch round of footy, Richmond holds onto top spot on the AFANA Power Poll as a result of its 47 point win over the Adelaide Crows, damaging the Crows chances of returning to finals football in 2018. Collingwood had to fight hard to defeat a determined Essendon, while the Swans stumbled at home against a very impressive Geelong.

Port Adelaide kept in touch with the top two after a comfortable win over Saint Kilda, the Eagles returned to the winners list in the “battle of the decimated forward lines” as they held off the Giants in Perth, and the Hawks solidified their run at the finals with a second half blitz to defeat the Bulldogs. 

By Troy Thompson reporting for AFANA, from Etihad Stadium in Melbourne.

Billy Hartung had an early chance to get a goal against his old club, opening the scoring for North Melbourne but could only manage a behind. By the end of the quarter he would be glad to be in his new colors. The opening goal of the match came from Jarrad Waite after two Hawks defenders collided in the air Frawley and Mirra, leaving Waite to clean up and drill it home.