What a finish to the 2022 AFL Home and Away season.

Alf almost drowned, Ailsa was distraught. And a bunch of whiny teens thought that their problems at the Surf Club were more important than everything else in the world. Oh, there was some pretty decent footy, as well, and Gab Rossi, as always, was learning things.

Here are the ten things he learnt after Round 23.

1 – Brisbane won’t go deep into finals

Brisbane has been a good side for a few seasons now finishing in the Top 4 regularly but have fallen well short of achieving the ultimate success. Many are now beginning to suggest that coach Chris Fagan has taken them as far as they can go and may not have what it takes to take them all the way. Fagan took over the club when they were struggling and has done a marvellous job building them into a competitive unit, and one that’s particularly hard to beat at home.

On the eve of the finals, facing a Melbourne team that has had an indifferent second half of the season, the Lions would’ve fancied their chances against last year’s premiers, but the smacking they got was a true body blow in what was their worst performance for the year. They have a week off to regroup before taking on the in-form Tigers at home in week one of the finals. I think they’ll be pretty lucky to make it beyond that. If that were to happen, it would cast serious doubt on the Lions’ ability to play in September, and the temperature of the coach’s chair will rise a few degrees.

The Demons took the Lions apart sending a message to the rest of the teams playing finals. Prior to Friday night’s demolition, many were starting to question whether Melbourne were truly a threat for back-to-back premierships. It’s hard to gauge whether it was a case of how good Melbourne were, or how bad Brisbane were, but either way, it will be sure to bring confidence levels up for last year’s champions. You can expect to see Kysaiah Pickett feature prominently in the finals. He’s in hot form kicking another four goals. Oliver and Petracca might be stealing too many votes off each other for either of them to win the Brownlow, but they’ll be on the final page of the leaderboard one would imagine.

So, with that hefty win over the Lions and with the Swans having to work hard to shake off the Saints, the Demons get to take on Sydney in Melbourne in the qualifying final due their superior percentage. The Swans actually had the better of them earlier this year when they met in Melbourne, and the Demons are undefeated when playing on the road six times this year. With that in mind, will scoring a home final possibly backfire for the Dees?

2 – The Dockers are better off finishing 5th than 4th

Despite being granted a double-chance if you make the Top 4, in the case of Fremantle this season, if they were to finish 4th, they would’ve had a very tough assignment against Geelong in Week one. Sure, they may have had a home final in week two, but it would’ve been likely that they would still have a tough path to glory either way. Even though they beat Geelong in a tight contest early on in the season at GMHBA, I think it’s fair to say that the Geelong team from then is vastly different to the juggernaut running around now.

I think a home final, albeit an elimination final, is a welcome start for the Dockers. They get to take on the Western Bulldogs who they beat comfortably at Marvel in Round 21. You would imagine it would be a major upset if the Dockers were to lose, and winning a finals match always helps with confidence. Some might not agree, but in the case of Freo, I honestly think they are better off finishing 5th without the prospect of taking on the Cats.

Their win over the Giants wasn’t without trouble as they had a slow start and worked their way back into the game. A very pleasing thing was a solid day for Michael Walters who finished with three goals. He may hold the key to a bit of finals success for Longmuir’s boys.

Whispers abound that the Giants boys were not happy campers after the departure of Leon Cameron. The coaching style of interim coach Jarrad McVeigh was considered a little tough by some, and a day at the office was becoming unpleasant. Their big loss to the Swans in Round 20 was the low point, but the press conference in which McVeigh described his players as having checked out early for the year seemed to do the trick. They came out the following week and defeated the Bombers, and even though they lost their last two matches, they were considerably better than they had been in previous weeks. I’m not sure if it is enough to give McVeigh the front running for the coach’s gig moving forward, but prior to the last three weeks I would’ve thought he had no chance. Now I’m not so sure. GWS are still a better side than their 16th position finish. It was just one of those years in my humble opinion with a lot of injuries and a bit of turmoil. But now it comes down to who they bring in to mentor the players.

3 – Hopefully Clarko didn’t watch North’s game

With Gold Coast struggling in the latter part of the season, and with signs of improvement from the Kangaroos, many saw this as an opportunity for North Melbourne to avoid the embarrassment of back-to-back wooden spoons. However, the Suns controlled the game in the first half before blowing the Kangaroos away after half time and eventually won by a huge 67 points. It was a disappointing effort considering the big news of the signing of Alistair Clarkson during the week. Hopefully, he didn’t attend the game, because if he watched that game closely, he may be wondering if he has made the right choice. I know the man’s a genius, but he has some job ahead of him in order to make this team competitive.

Considering the Suns’ season was done, they clearly wanted the win a lot more and hit the scoreboard hard from their 72 inside 50s to just 45, and this was despite North having more possessions than their opponents. It will be interesting to see what the new coach will bring to the table, but I suspect the North Melbourne faithful will still require some patience. There is cause for optimism. All of a sudden, the North Melbourne Kangaroos are a destination club.

The Suns took some forward steps this season, but unfortunately, their ten wins and 12th position finish on the ladder is merely equal to the best in their club’s history when it looked certain this would be their best result ever. It was a disappointing end to their season winning just two of their final seven matches. Stuart Dew has definitely done enough to go on coaching into 2023, but failure to make finals next year might spell the end for his coaching tenure. I often wonder if he, and many other coaches for that matter, would’ve fared better if a club that was closer to success gave them a go. It’s quite sad to think that potentially good coaches are often victims of a poor list or even a poor culture. The buck often stops with the coach, but there are a lot more facets to a club that can dictate their fortunes. You only have to think for a moment how close Damien Hardwick was to getting the boot prior to the Tigers’ brilliant run. But then again, truly great coaches have a big say in building lists and a winning culture. Whatever the case, Stewart Dew has a do-or-die year ahead of him.

4 – The Cats had a practice match

This may seem very disrespectful, but if the Cats decided to forfeit their game against the Eagles, they still would’ve secured top spot on the ladder. I was wondering how many players would be rested and whether or not they would go hard in this game which ultimately meant very little with the potential for injury looming. Well, the Cats were merciless and blew away their undermanned and underperforming opposition to the tune of 85 points without really hitting top gear. Hawkins and Stengle booted four each in a dominant display. Tyson Stengle is just as damaging for the Cats as Pickett is for the Demons. It was a breakout season for the small forward with 46 goals and he may be in contention for All-Australian selection.

The Cats will now be facing the dangerous Magpies in front of what will no doubt be a sell-out crowd at the MCG in week one of the finals. Hopefully, the two week break now for Jeremy Cameron will be enough for him to get his body right. A forward line boasting Hawkins, Cameron and Stengle will most likely prove too much for Collingwood.

So, the West Coast Eagles have now had their worst season ever with just two wins. Sure, they didn’t win the wooden spoon, but their one wooden spoon which happened in 2010 came with four wins. We’ve already seen the retirement of star full-forward Josh Kennedy. Does Nic Naitanui play on? Shannon Hurn? And who are their young guns coming through? We know of their horror run with injury and COVID protocols this year, so that did play a huge part in just how low they finished. But there are still list concerns and players getting to the back end of their career. Adam Simpson probably only has one year to turn around the club’s fortunes. It won’t be easy.

5 – Essendon Football Club has destroyed Ben Rutten

There’s never a nice way to tell a coach his services are no longer required. And we all know how brutal the business can be for coaches of struggling clubs. However, not since the sacking of Brett Ratten at Carlton have we seen a messier and arguably more disrespectful sacking than that of Ben Rutten’s.

Don’t get me wrong. I actually think that he may have not been up to the job based on the team’s performance this year. I just don’t think it was handled well at all, a fact that was acknowledged by club president David Barham on Sunday. I’m sure that’s cold comfort to Ben who was clearly emotional after the 66-point hammering against the Tigers on Saturday night. In fact, Essendon lost their final two games of the year by a combined 150 points, so clearly something isn’t right, and the lack of success at the club for such a long period gave them no choice.

Their last-ditch bid for Clarko seemed laughable at best and was summarily dismissed by the man himself as being too late. Now I’m hearing that they’ve got Ken Hinkley in their sights. Wow! What next? James Hird? Hopefully Ben gets a nice juicy pay-out for having his contract terminated early and he gets a gig at another club assisting once more. And maybe some of the players on the Bombers list do a bit of soul-searching over summer and come back with some commitment and drive.

The Tigers have finished the season strongly enough to be considered a dark horse for the premiership by some. It may seem a long shot, but if they can get over the Lions at the Gabba in week one, you just never know. Tom Lynch sustained a groin-injury late in the game but the talk is that the week off may be all the recovery time required. He’s booted 13 goals in the past fortnight and is looking in fine form. Even though Bolton had a quiet game this week, he’s sure to feature in finals. The question now will be whether Dusty will make an appearance. If so, and with the team rolling on nicely having now won four in a row, maybe Richmond are not out of it. It would take some effort, but they did get closer to beating the Cats than any other side did during the second half of the season.

6 – Robbie Gray will be remembered as one of Port’s best ever

I’ve enjoyed watching Robbie Gray throughout his career. His skills were sublime and his goal sense amazing. It’s more than well-documented how incredible he has been in big moments with late goals or goals after the siren to snatch victory. If it happens once or twice, you think it’s good luck, but when it happens regularly, you know that the person involved possesses nerves of steel and has ice running through their veins.

He was cool in a crisis, and inspirational to his teammates. A great career spanning 271 games kicking 367 goals. He will be hard to replace. As for the Power, it was just one of those seasons where they didn’t play well for long enough. I expect them to come out hard next year and do all they can to ensure they don’t have a 0-5 start again. They were always pushing the proverbial uphill from that point. Still, 10 wins from their last 17 games is something to have some optimism about.

Adelaide will be bitterly disappointed in this game. I’m sure those living in Adelaide can appreciate the significance of the Showdown games. Even though both teams were not going to play finals, the crowd still came out and Crows fans would’ve felt let down by the one-sided nature of this encounter. Adelaide is a young team and showed some signs of improvement through the season, but this game may leave a bitter taste in their mouths as they really weren’t in the game at any stage after half time. Eleven goals to just three tells the story after the long break. One shining light has been the improvement of Darcy Fogarty. He’s found some consistency and is clutching pack marks. The future beyond Taylor Walker looks that little bit brighter. There’s still plenty of work to do in order to get the Crows up to playing finals.

7 – The Bulldogs have spent just four weeks in the eight

After playing off in the Grand Final last year, it would be fair to say that the Western Bulldogs have been a shadow of the team that reached those heights last year. In fact, they only spent four rounds inside the Top 8 and have never been higher than 8th on the ladder. This is courtesy of Carlton stumbling at the final hurdle for the last two weeks and gifting them a finals spot after the Blues were never outside the 8 until it counted. Fair play to the Dogs for getting there after only spending Rounds 11, 15, 19 and 23 in 8th spot. Their final two rounds against struggling sides where they just got over the line was enough to get them there, and now they’re in, you just never know. It might all click and they can find a way to get past the Dockers in Perth in the first week.

Their win over the Hawks in Tasmania was solid as it can be a tough assignment for visiting teams. Aaron Naughton booted three and looked good while Josh Dunkley was one of their best. The talk of him leaving the club is interesting. I would’ve thought they’d be fighting tooth and nail to retain Dunkley, but many think he’s on his way out.

Many have sung the Hawk’s praises this year after coach Sam Mitchell took the reins. There has definitely been times where they’ve looked good, but one gets the feeling they might only be treading water. Last season the Hawks finished 14th with 32 points, and this year they finished 13th with 32 points as well. So it’s debatable as to whether they’ve taken any real forward steps. It will be interesting to see what they put their energy into during the off-season. We know McEvoy has retired. Will there be others? And what are the deficiencies at Hawthorn? They seem to have a lot of good players all over the ground, but perhaps not enough great players. It almost seems an annual discussion around this time surrounding Tom Mitchell with people questioning his effectiveness despite getting high numbers week in and week out. Maybe he could be good trade bait, but I’m one of those people that think midfielders of his ability are only as good as the people you’re dishing it out to, so if they’re not guns, then perhaps he might not be so damaging.

I imagine Tom Mitchell at a club like Geelong would be a superstar.

8 – The Blues learnt nothing from their loss to Melbourne

Cue the jokes ladies and gentlemen. Yes, there’ll be many who will have sympathy for the plight of the Carlton Football Club, so starved of success for so long. It would be an interesting exercise to see if there was any other club in AFL/VFL history that spent the entire season in the Top 8 only to fall short after the final round. But I have no doubt the memes and jokes will adorn the various social media platforms. One that comes to mind will be one I saw which asks “Why can’t Carlton walk a dog? Because they can’t hold a lead!” So, you get the idea.

But here’s the rub. We saw last week against the Demons where the Blues had an eight-point lead with three minutes remaining. What followed was a series of mistakes and bad decisions which lead to Melbourne scoring the final two goals of the game. Once again, this week, with the game on the line and ball in hand we saw several poor decisions and poor execution.

The great Sam Docherty had a very good game, but I’m sure he’d love his time over again when, with around four minutes remaining, his kick inside 50 went on the full. Then with under a minute on the clock, Corey Durdin had the ball in hand around 70m out and the Blues were down by a point. Any target inside 50 resulting in any score would’ve meant finals for the Blues. Inexplicably, he put it down the throat of a Collingwood defender in the pocket all on his own with no Carlton player within ten metres.

And that right there is the difference between a club with belief such as Collingwood who seem to know what to do when a game is on the line versus a club that are still figuring out how to win the close ones. The Blues have been good at times, but until their leaders can learn to will their team across the line, and until the playing group figure out a way to play well for longer than a quarter and a half in games, they’ll just be mid-table.

Collingwood have that belief I was talking about. They’re not better than a lot of the sides they’ve beaten this year. Maybe on a par, or even just below the top sides, but they do not give up. They have belief that most sides don’t, and that’s why they’ve won so many close games. You have players like Jamie Elliott who has now kicked the winning goal in two games in recent weeks. In Sunday’s game, when running into goal from the pocket, he wasn’t thinking that he hoped he kicked it straight. When the heat is on, the Pies still execute well so he knew he was going to slot it, as was the case against the Bombers. You can coach that stuff, and that’s what McRae has been able to do. The Blues now sit out September and have nobody else but themselves to blame. Here’s hoping they come back hungry next year, but there are no guarantees.

9 – Hannebery ends his career on a high

It was rather fitting that Dan Hannebery called an end to his career meaning his last game would be against his former team in Sydney. We all know how much injury trouble Dan has had during his stint at St Kilda. He came across at a pretty hefty price and managed just 16 games in four seasons. In Sunday’s game against his old team, Hannebery had arguably his best game for the Saints amassing 30 possessions.

The 31-year-old must be thinking that maybe, based on that form, he might have another year in him, but that might all end when he wakes up in the morning in pain. It was also good to see Max King reverse his kicking woes from last week to finish with five straight goals in this match. I expect him to have a big year next year and, perhaps the Saints, not unlike the Blues, can learn to play well for longer periods than they did this year. Both clubs were 8-3 at the halfway mark and missed finals.

Sydney came into this game knowing that a big win was required to displace the Demons from the second spot. They also realised a loss would mean no double-chance. Sydney are not one of those teams who mind travelling. They already beat Melbourne at the MCG earlier this year so they’ll go into the game confident. Hopefully, Tom Papley will be right to play after a knock concussed the small forward. Apparently, due to the new concussion protocols in which players must rest for 12 days, that would mean Papley will miss if the game is scheduled for Thursday in week one of the finals. Whatever the case it will be a great game that most might favour the Dees, but despite their strong effort over the Lions, I think it will be very close. And let’s not forget that Melbourne are undefeated on the road and have lost all their games in Victoria. I know right???

10 – It looks like Geelong’s flag to lose

Early in the season, the Cats didn’t look to be a standout by any measure. After nine rounds they were 5-4 and lost a close one at Marvel to the Saints. They’d also lost to Sydney at the SCG in Round Two by 30, Hawthorn at the MCG in Round Five by 12, and Freo managed the rare feat of winning at GMHBA by three points in Round Seven. It’s fair to say they were going OK but hardly setting the world on fire.

Well, we all know what has been happening since. They’ve won 13 straight and are growing in confidence before our eyes. Their injury list is relatively small with Mitch Duncan set to return shortly and Cameron and Stanley both possibly available for the first final. Those are the only three currently not playing from the Cats’ best 22. Premiership teams have always been the ones with a healthy list come season’s end, and it’s actually possible they may have a full list available.

Melbourne’s list is also looking good, although I imagine they’d give their all to have Tom McDonald playing. Unlike Geelong, however, their form seems a little erratic. We all know how good their best is, but having won just six of their last twelve games does tell a story. It is finals time, so anything can happen.

The Swans are a danger as they also have a healthy list, and they’ve now won their last seven games after their shock loss to Essendon in Round 16. The Swans are definitely in the mix.

Collingwood’s list has been managed well, too. They seemed to have filled the hole left by Grundy quite well, and as much as they’d love Taylor Adams back out there, they just keep finding a way. Most of the sides playing finals don’t have extensive injury lists. It’s interesting to note that the biggest injury concerns for the year have all come from sides not in the finals. Some of it is just bad luck, but it seems some clubs in recent times have a knack of keeping their players on the park. Richmond in recent times comes to mind. Maybe medical staff within clubs can play a bigger role than we think.

Whatever the case, the Cats are in prime position to take out the flag this year. Plenty still has to go right for them, and the teams they’ll be playing will not be easy to cast aside. I am still one of those people that is acutely aware of Geelong’s poor finals record under Scott. Some around the club are saying this year has a different feel to other seasons at the Cattery. I’m inclined to agree from the outside looking in, but if they fall over, I won’t be visiting Geelong any time soon after…

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Tough day for a Blues man, and a comedian. True, Brisbane seem gone, but same could be said for them as you did for Freo, who really wants to finish 4th. Top 4 hasnt worked for Brissy recently, so better to try and do a Doggie, from 6th. Expectation is a curse, at least the Lions dont have any now.

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