Geelong Cats v Adelaide Crows
GEELONG—Geelong clinched the AFL minor premiership when they posted a 14th successive victory with a 33-point win over Adelaide at Skilled Stadium.
The Cats prevailed 15.13 (103) to 10.10 (70) in a performance featuring 12 different Geelong goalkickers led by Jimmy Bartel, Joel Selwood and Gary Ablett with two apiece.
With three games remaining before the finals, Geelong are four wins clear of a raft of teams vying for second and cannot be caught.
But Adelaide's defeat leaves them battling to keep their finals hopes alive as they remain among a group of sides sitting just outside the eight.
A blistering first quarter and skipper Cameron Mooney's inspired third term set up the win for the Cats.
Geelong kicked five goals to one in the opening term, the Crows having no answers as the Cats mastered the greasy conditions better and won everything out of the midfield.
The Crows fought back with the aid of a strong breeze in the second, and looked some chance of ending Geelong's winning streak as they closed to within nine points early in the third term.
But Adelaide missed two good chances in succession to Jason Porplyzia and Brett Burton to close the gap, and were punished when Mooney goaled from a set shot soon after to extend his side's lead.
Mooney then set up two more goals for Selwood and James Kelly to give the Cats an unassailable lead.
Midfielders Joel Corey and Bartel were the Cats' best with more than 30 possessions each, while Simon Goodwin was the best contributor for the Crows.
Porplyzia finished with three goals for Adelaide.
Geelong have now won 16 of their 19 games this season and have not lost a match since the last weekend of April.
Sydney Swans v St Kilda Saints
SYDNEY—Sydney have continued their customary late charge towards September, grinding out a 17-point AFL victory over St Kilda in front of 63,369 fans at Telstra Stadium.
In a dour struggle, Jarrad McVeigh emerged as an unlikely goal scorer, kicking a career-best three majors as Sydney snuck home 12.10 (82) to 9.11 (65).
After a traditionally slow start to the season, the Swans had won four of their past six games, but the victories were against Melbourne, Richmond, Carlton and Fremantle, who all currently sit outside the eight.
Their two losses in that stretch came against West Coast and Geelong so Sydney needed the scalp of a genuine finals contender for a confidence boost heading into September.
It was far from pretty but the Swans will care little and now find themselves one win outside the top four with an 11-8 record heading into next week's trip to Brisbane to face the Lions.
Barry Hall had a dog of a day, blanketed by St Kilda defender Max Hudghton, but McVeigh picked up the slack for the home side.
With the game in the balance midway through the final term, McVeigh juggled a mark and kicked truly to give the Swans an 11-point buffer, their biggest of the night in what had been an extremely tight contest throughout.
Sydney's veteran heads then ensured the home side grabbed the four points.
Lewis Roberts-Thomson (buttock) was a late withdrawal prior to the opening bounce after picking up a strain in training, denying him his first appearance of the season.
The 2005 premiership defender had served his penance in the reserves for eight weeks after overcoming a long-term foot problem, but was forced out of the side tonight.
Coupled with Leo Barry's failure to recover from a hamstring problem, the Swans were severely hampered in their hopes of quelling St Kilda spearheads Nick Riewoldt and Fraser Gehrig.
The latter wasted little time getting involved, kicking the game's first goal on the run after just 26 seconds and adding a second midway through the opening term.
Sydney took more time getting into gear, with McVeigh kicking their opening two goals as the visitors took an eight-point lead into the first break.
The Swans' ball use improved in the second term, with Adam Schneider, Nic Fosdike and Peter Everitt all kicking goals as the two sides went into halftime locked at 5.5 (35) apiece.
Nick Dal Santo got the scoring underway in the second half with a superb set shot from right on the 50m arc as St Kilda tried to grab the momentum.
It was the Swans who began to run harder, however, with Luke Ablett and Michael O'Loughlin kicking back-to-back goals as the lead continued to change hands.
The teams traded goals again before Nick Davis marked right on the three-quarter-time siren, kicking the goal to give Sydney a four-point lead heading into the last break.
Melbourne Demons v Western Bulldogs
MELBOURNE—An inspired Melbourne put a massive dent in the Western Bulldogs' dwindling finals chances with an upset 19.15 (129) to 12.15 (87) victory to celebrate Jeff White's 250th AFL match at Telstra Dome.
The Demons' surprise win was the second major upset of the round, after bottom-placed Richmond downed Collingwood at the MCG the previous night.
It was just the Demons' fourth win of the year, but second in six games under caretaker coach Mark Riley, who oversaw a victory over Carlton in his first game in charge, before guiding the team to four straight big losses.
For the Bulldogs, who started the round out of the top eight only on percentage, it was a terrible result, with the loss their third big defeat in four rounds, broken up only by last Friday night's draw against St Kilda.
It was made worse by the loss of veteran key defender Chris Grant with a suspected knee injury 10 minutes into the match.
That came after skipper Brad Johnson was a late pre-game withdrawal with a hamstring injury, robbing the Bulldogs of class and experience at both ends of the ground, with both losses sorely felt.
Melbourne looked the better team from the start, kicking three of the first four goals, two of them coming to makeshift tall forward Ben Holland, who finished the night with four majors in a fine performance.
Hard-working midfielder Nathan Jones had a strong first quarter to help his side get on top, but it was not until late in the second quarter that the Demons took control of the match.
After leading by five points 10 minutes into the second quarter, they broke the game open by kicking the final four goals of the first half, including two in time-on to Aaron Davey.
Up by 28 points at the long break, they buried any chance of a Bulldogs revival by piling on six consecutive goals in an 18-minute stretch from early in the third term to push their lead out to 59 points.
Classy midfielders Travis Johnstone and Brad Green were instrumental in the game-breaking surge, while milestone man White was a solid contributor in the ruck.
Holland was a constant danger up forward, helping to stretch the Bulldogs' defence, particularly once Grant, his initial opponent, was out of action.
Russell Robertson kicked three goals, chiming in with two goals during the third-quarter surge, the second a clever snap which rolled through from a tight angle, after Holland set it up by working desperately to keep the ball in Melbourne's forward zone.
Bulldogs midfielders Daniel Cross, Adam Cooney, Matthew Boyd and Scott West worked hard, but the 'Dogs generally failed to make the most of their chances when they went forward.
Half-forward Shaun Higgins booted five goals and Robert Murphy worked hard to provide a target and kicked three, but the Bulldogs had few other avenues to goal and missed plenty of gettable shots.
North Melbourne Kangaroos v West Coast Eagles
MELBOURNE—Kangaroos coach Dean Laidley labelled it one of the best games he had seen and a valuable lesson for his side, but it was West Coast that showed a touch of class when needed to gain a pivotal victory.
The Eagles' 17.17 (119) to 15.12 (102) win over the valiant 'Roos at Telstra Dome helped them climb into the AFL top four, while the Kangaroos slipped from second at the start of the round to fifth.
But the Kangaroos will have lost no admirers, as they continually surged at the Eagles despite trailing almost throughout the match.
They trailed by 23 points early in the last quarter, before kicking two goals to move within 11 points 11 minutes into the term.
But minutes later, Shannon Grant failed to make the distance with a 45m set shot and then Drew Petrie missed a 30m set shot, costing them the chance to apply further pressure.
At the other end, ruckman Dean Cox rolled through a clever left-foot snap after picking up the crumbs from a marking contest, before David Wirrpanda took a brilliant one-handed mark in the forward pocket and goaled to seal the match.
"The coach more than anyone hurts to see them not get reward for their effort, because you know the Eagles, they're a fantastic football side and that's why they are like they are," Laidley said.
"(The Eagles) go down and Cox kicks them out of his backside and you see that and you think we probably can't physically do any more.
"We need to kick those goals (we missed) and that's probably an understatement."
The Eagles had earlier kicked four of the last five goals of the third term, three of them from free kicks, to lead by 16 points at the last change.
The last goal of the third quarter by Daniel Kerr was crucial, after he was initially penalised for holding the ball, but then had the decision reversed when Kangaroos defender Michael Firrito pushed him over.
Kerr and Cox both had outstanding matches, with Kerr constantly racking up possessions, while Cox combined fine tapwork with hard running to provide a target around the ground.
The Eagles were also well served by Ben Cousins, who regularly dug the ball out of midfield packs, while young midfielders Matt Priddis and Matt Rosa were also solid contributors.
Importantly, that allowed skipper Chris Judd to spend most of the day on the forward line, as the Eagles continue to nurse him through a lingering groin injury.
West Coast coach John Worsfold said his team's attitude and effort were very good, but there were still some finer points that needed work.
"I was still disappointed with a lot of aspects of the way we played the game today," Worsfold said.
"The players are aware of it, they're keen to keep working hard to get things happening for us."
He said to beat a team of the Kangaroos' quality in an important match was pleasing.
"But for us the work is ahead of us still, because today's win just means we're where we'd like to be with three rounds to go, " he said.
Laidley said his team would benefit from playing in such high-stakes games.
"Today was probably one of the best games of footy I've seen, I thought it was terrific ... we want to play in these games because we'll get better," he said.
Laidley said senior players such as Brent Harvey, Adam Simpson and Grant had less influence than normal, but importantly many of the team's younger players, such as Eddie Sansbury, Andrew Swallow and Scott McMahon stood up well.
The Eagles have some concerns, with Andrew Embley injuring his hamstring, Mark Le Cras sustaining a minor hip injury and forward Quinten Lynch reported for crashing into the Kangaroos' Jesse Smith with his knees after Smith took a mark.