Was watching. Never confident that the Eagles would win, and so it proved. The last 10 minutes difference was that they made key defensive marks inside their 50, and on the flip side made key inside 50 marks attacking. Mark Keane had a good game too
And they still havenât.
Eagles 78 Crows 87 FT. Mark Keane took a couple of key defensive marks for the Crows in that last term.
That should assure the Crows of top spot on the ladder, even if they lose to Collingwood next week they have a percentage advantage on all the teams on 60 points.
Elsewhere: Brisbane opened the door to them missing the 8 entirely by letting the Sydney Swans gain revenge for last yearâs Grand Final at the Gabba.
Freo struggled over Port Adelaide 86-92 to overtake Brisbane and move into the top 4.
Freo play Brisbane in Perth next week. Brisbane really are in potential trouble as they have Hawthorn at the Gabba in the final game.
The Doggies stay in position to pounce on a slip up by one of the teams inside the 8 by beating coachless Melbourne 105-99.
Just watching the highlights on bounce here now, Callum Brown with 5 for the giants today to keep them in the 8
The Eagles just couldnât get out, they looked knackered. Once Rankine put the Crows ahead that was pretty much it.
Some real big games next week:
Freo v Brisbane
Adelaide v Collingwood
Gold Coast v GWS
All these will make a big difference in terms of finals positioning.
That was a good game,watched the highlights last night
Freo getting a serious reality check from the reigning Premiers the Brisbane Lions. They havenât helped themselves missing a load of scoreable shots.
Top 4 hopes gone and possible elimination at the hands of Footscray in the final game next week.
After Brisbane dished out a lesson to Freo in Perth yesterday we have two more seasoned teams dishing out lessons on the road to pretenders today.
GWS secured their finals spot with a thumping win away to the Gold Coast Suns and now Collingwood are emerging from their slump to take an 8-33 lead at quarter time at the Adelaide Oval against the ladder topping Crows.
Looks like the last spot in the finals is a straight battle between Footscray and Fremantle now and those two face off in the final regular season round next week.
Mark Keane does his best Conor Gormley impression and then follows it up in the next play with a great defensive mark. He is having an outstanding season.
Adelaide have conceded just 11 points in the last two and a half quarters of footy and lead 46-44 over Collingwood with 10:28 left in the biggest AFL crowd ever at the Adelaide Oval.
Adelaide win in a thrilling finish 59-56. Twice Adelaide pushed the lead out to nine points and twice Collingwood immediately responded to bring it back to three points but they couldnât nudge in front.
Thatâll secure the Minor Premiership for the Crows.
A lot riding on the Sydney-Geelong match tomorrow morning. The Cats have a golden chance to get a top 2 finish but the Swans who cannot reach the finals looked revitalised in beating Brisbane last week and will be keen to make another statement late in this season before they surely regroup and contend seriously again next season.
Collingwood could still make the top 4 by beating Melbourne next week and they should do that but thatâs now five defeats in their last six games. Best case finals scenario for them is sneaking back into third place and facing Geelong at the MCG and what would effectively be a neutral tie. They may have to go back to Adelaide in the first week of the finals however.
Itâs really difficult to predict whoâll win this Premiership. Of the nine teams still involved Iâd only give Freo and Gold Coast no chance of winning out though itâs also becoming increasingly difficult to envisage a Collingwood Premiership this year.
Adelaideâs star player Izak Rankine has got a four game suspension after using a homphobic slur during last Saturdayâs game against Collingwood.
He could have got a five game suspension but played the mental health card, namely that his mental health would have suffered if he got a five game ban. 
The length of this suspension now leaves Adelaide and Rankine in a hilarious pickle. For Rankine to be eligible for a Grand Final, they would have to lose their first game of the finals and play an extra game in the quarter-final round. That would also require an away preliminary final, lessening the chance of winning such a game.
Thereâs a very good chance that first game of the finals will be againstâŚCollingwood.
Expect TV cameras to focus on Rankineâs face in the crowd during that qualifying final the way cameras used to focus on Sergio Ramosâs face at the Bernabeu when heâd be suspended for a key Champions League tie.
The man, the national joke, the legend, Coach Ken Hinkley WINS his final game as coach of the Port Adelaide Magpies footy club, beating the Gold Coast Plastics 71-67.
âIâm a competitive bastard.â
Travis Boak who played in the 2007 Grand Final being acclaimed by the Adelaide Oval to the sound of David Bowieâs âHeroesâ at the end of his 387 game career.
The Port Adelaide Magpies are a PROPER footy club.
The Collingwood Magpies have secured top 4 status with that defeat for Gold Coast and their own 82-76 win over Melbourne this evening and barring a draw between Brisbane and Hawthorn theyâll be off to Adelaide for the Rankine rematch.
It would utterly hilarious if the Gold Coast Plastics lost to Damien Hardwickâs old club Essendon in the back match next Wednesday and missed out on their first ever finals appearance and the whole of footy hopes that happens.
Amazing win for Freo at the Telstra Dome in the winner take all and loser takes nothing clash against Footscray.
I didnât think they had it in them. The footy they played was utterly sublime. Might be the greatest win in the clubâs history.
Brisbane playing Hawthorn now. The winner of that will take third place and play Geelong at the MCG in the finals. The loser will take 7th and go to Perth to play Freo in an elimination final. Hawthorn will win this game because Brisbane for some bizarre reason have been superb away lately and absolute dogshit at home.
The Bulldogs still have the remote hope of making finals if Gold Coast fuck up at home to Essendon in the rearranged game on Wednesday, but there are some womenâs teams who would beat Essendon.
Gold Coast predictably thrashed Essendon by 95 points in the rearranged final game of the regular season this morning and clinch their first ever finals appearance.
Finals matches are:
Adelaide v Collingwood Thursday September 4 (qualifying final so loser gets a second chance)
Geelong v Brisbane Friday September 5 (loser gets another go)
GWS v Hawthorn (elimination final) Saturday September 6
Fremantle v Gold (elimination final) Coast Saturday September 6
Hereâs the final ladder. See how I did below with my pre-season predictions. I got six of the final eight correct.
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The finals are underway. Adelaide 31 Collingwood 37 at half time at the Adelaide Oval.
Adelaide look predictable in attack without Izak Rankine and Collingwood are routinely grabbing intercept marks. Collingwood captain Darcy Moore having a God-like game in defence.
Adelaideâs territory dominance could tell in the second half however if theyâre a bit smarter with the ball.
10 minutes gone in Q3 and Collingwood are OBLITERATING Adelaide. 33-68.
Is there anything more offensive/hilarious in world sport than Collingwood going to the home ground of an interstate team and walking all over them and the Collingwood supporters silencing the home crowd and shouting COLL-ING-WOOOOD?
Possibly but not much.
Itâs a proper demonstration of BIRTHRIGHT.
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Jamie Elliott brushes aside Mark Keane in a one on one and slots a goal with 20 seconds left to put the seal on a 55-79 victory for the good old Collingwood.
A masterclass road performance and the Pies advance to a BOX OFFICE preliminary final at the MCG. The half time Ulster football style skirmish was a declaration of bullying and so it proved.
Izak Rankine who was serving game two of a four game suspension can now theoretically play in a Grand Final because Adelaide will have an extra game which will be next week at home to either Freo, Hawthorn or Gold Coast but youâd get good odds on them making it that far now. A crushing defeat for the ladder winners.
Collingwood are like Tipperary in AFL terms.
The whole thing just revolves around them.
Geelong 59 Brisbane 44 HT in the qualifying final between 2nd and 3rd in the ladder at the MCG.
But that doesnât tell much of the story. The umpires might as well be playing for Brisbane. Theyâve given three giveaway goals to Brisbane for essentially nothing.
With two minutes left in the half the score is Geelong 59 Brisbane 32 and the Cats are dominating. Oisin Mullin has even scored a goal. Ace forward Tyson Stengle has just taken a mark 40 metres out. Heâll probably score it to make the margin 33 points and youâre looking at the game possibly being done.
Suddenly the umpire takes the ball off Stengle for no apparent reason and the play moves 100 metres up the other end. Mark OâConnor has given Cam Rayner a nudge in the back off the ball three yards out from Geelong goalposts and Rayner has collapsed like a bag of spuds. Free kick to Rayner and a gimme goal. 59-38. Immediately Rayner scores that and Cam Guthrie comes in and pushes Rayner and again Rayner collapses like a sack of spuds. Another gimme goal.
So instead of 65-32, itâs 59-44.
This umpiring is real end of footy stuff.
That was unbelievably ridiculous. To give one free, nevermind 2 in a finals game is mind boggling. Grelong asserting their dominance in this thord quarter, serious pressure and tackling. Up by 25 now, so still a glimmer of hope for the lions, but unlikely
19 in it as I start typing this post. Geelong (GĂŠirelong led by 25 halway through Q3 in the preliminary final last year. But Brisbane donât have Big Joe Daniher this time.
And thatâs a big breakway goal for the Cats to make it 25 again with one minute exactly left of Q3.
And thatâs followed up with a mad half volley goal by Ollie Dempsey from less than a yard off a long high ball by Paddy Dangerfield. That should be the game.
90-59 at three quarter time.
Geelong making a big statement here. They had an easier draw than other teams and theyâre Geelong so theyâre always there so it has been hard to get a proper reliable read on them, but this is impressive.
I actually fancied Brisbane to win this on the basis that while Brisbane had had some awful results at home against teams they should be beating, theyâd mixed that with some brilliant away performances. Theyâve tonked Geelong, Collingwood, Hawthorn, Footscray, Sydney and Freo on the road this season. In fact Brisbane have won all seven games theyâve played in Victoria this season and that run extends to nine wins in a row in Victoria if you include the Grand Final and prelim from last year.
But that run looks to be coming to an end here.