Matthew Wright

It took until the third quarter for the Fremantle Dockers to break the shackles after a pedestrian start to take down bottom of the ladder dwellers the Carlton Blues. Carlton were struck a blow when their premier ruckman Matthew Kreuzer was omitted, possibly for the rest of the season, with an elevated heart rate when training the day before the match in Perth. After having lost five of the last six matches in the West, Carlton were going to need all the help they could get.

Jamie Kloeden reporting for AFANA from AAMI Stadium, Australia

When we talk about the 2013 AFL season, the two teams that squared off against each other at AAMI Stadium in Round 17 could not have more contrasting tales. Geelong traveled to Adelaide having dropped just two games all year and looking destined to continue on for the rest of the season entrenched in the Top Two. In contrast Adelaide had seen its season go from bad to worse. After a successful 2012 that almost resulted in a Grand Final berth the Crows now faced the real prospect on missing out on Finals' action altogether.

Things did not quite go to plan as the Crows dominated the general play in the first quarter and only some inaccurate kicking in front of goals stopped them from having a sizable lead at quarter time.

 Jamie Kloeden reporting for AFANA

With their season well and truly on the line, the Adelaide Crows traveled north to tackle the Gold Coast Suns knowing that a loss would pretty much rule them out of Finals contention. On the flip side, the young Suns have shown great signs this year and are certainly no easy beats with five wins already on the season.

Early action saw the home side jump out of the blocks and register the first three scoring shots of the game including the first goal through superstar captain Gary Ablett. Brodie Smith, known his his long kicks out of defense, managed to use his right foot as an offensive weapon as he kicked a long goal to get the first for the Crows. It was a long 14 minutes before the next goal but it was worth the wait. Ablett once again was the man of the moment as he stole the ball out of a pack, ran away from goals then circled around and kicked truly from outside 50 meters. He was starting to show exactly why he is once again the favorite for this year's Brownlow Medal and still widely regarded as the best player in the League. Gold Coast added one more goal before quarter time through a great snap from Daniel Gorringe as they once again looked like a team very much at home at AFL level.

by Lisa Albergo reporting for AFANA from AFANA

Mick Malthouse (Carlton) will participate in his 850th official match as a coach and a player, comprising 174 games as a player for St Kilda and Richmond and 675 games as a coach for Footscray, West Coast, Collingwood and Carlton. He is just the third man in the game's history to reach the mark. Ahead of him is Jock McHale (878 games comprising 261 games as a player and playing coach and a further 617 games as non-playing coach).

by Lisa Albergo reporting for AFANA from Chicago

In Round 11, GWS Coach Kevin Sheedy will coach against Carlton Mick Malthouse for the 47th time, a VFL/AFL record. They last coached against each other in Round 16, 2007 and Sheedy has 27 wins to Malthouse’s 19. The two have coached a combined total of 1339 games with Malthouse recording 391 wins and Sheedy 388. The Round 11 game will be the first time they have coached against each other at Etihad Stadium.

In the same sound, Nick Riewoldt (StK) will captain the Saints for the 150th time since 2005, becoming the second man in club history after Danny Frawley (177 games as captain 1987-95) to reach this mark.

by Lisa Albergo reporting for AFANA from Chicago

Brent Harvey (NM) will be the 13th player in VFL/AFL history to reach 350 games in Round 10. The leaders are Michael Tuck (426 games, HAW), Kevin Bartlett (403 games, RICH), Robert Harvey (383, StK), Simon Madden (378, ESS), Craig Bradley 375, CARL), Dustin Fletcher (371, ESS), Bernie Quinlan (366, Footscray and Fitzroy), Brad Johnson (364, WB), John Blakey (359, Fitzroy and NM), Bruce Doull (356, CARL), Paul Roos (356, Fitzroy and Sydney), and Doug Hawkins (350, Footscray and Fitzroy).

by Lisa Albergo reporting for AFANA from Chicago

The Selwood brothers will play a combined total of 503 games in Round Nine, putting them in tenth place on the League's all time list of combined games by brothers and ahead of the Shaw brothers. The breakdown is 182 games for Adam (WCE), 75 games for Troy (delisted by Brisbane), 142 games for Joel (GEEL) and 99 games for Scott (WCE).