A bona fide thriller between the Swans and the Hawks, the WA teams keep rolling along with regulation victories, GWS wins its sixth game of the year (and 15th in history) and the Bulldogs suddenly drop to 11th with three losses on the bounce.
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Our crack (pot) panel returns to run the rule over round eight.
The panel:
Simon White (WAtoday chief puppet hater); Brendan Foster (WAtoday's resident grumpy old man); Paul Entwistle (rant merchant extraordinaire); David Prestipino (WAtoday wine writer, footy tragic); Andrew Williams (Radio 6PR Drive producer, TV critic).
Whitey:
1. You could run the final seconds of the Hawks-Swans game 100 times over and I reckon Cyril Rioli takes that handball cleanly 99 times.
2. At some point of the season, I'm just going to have to accept the fact the Giants are good and start tipping them.
3. Has any team ever had three consecutive consensus No. 1 draft picks and a Brownlow medallist on its list and stunk it up as badly as Carlton is right now?
Fossie:
1. If you believe the Monday experts, Dockers star Nat Fyfe has already won the Brownlow. But if Eagles plodder Matt Priddis keeps picking up 30-plus possessions, he could be wearing his second Charlie come the end of the season.
2. Suns coach Rodney Eade and Blues coach Mick Malthouse are sounding more and more like the two grumpy old puppets, (Statler and Waldorf) from The Muppet Show. There is a slight resemblance as well.
3. The much-maligned man bun has had its first win. GWS forward Cam McCarthy had a day out with 4 goals.
Vent-wistle:
1. There really is no question over whether West Coast will play finals football this year. The only question is how high up the ladder a Tontine-soft soft draw will put the Eagles. Is top four unrealistic ? No. Undeserving? Probably.
2. If Carlton had shown the level of loyalty to Brett Ratten that it is showing to Mick Malthouse the Blues would probably not be in this position. It is time to pull the trigger on Mick if not for the sake of the club but for the sake of the fans.
3. Out of begrudging respect to the filthy South Australian side of Port Adelaide I need to ask "What the hell has happened to the once fearsome Power midfield?" Since Michael Voss took control it has had all the ferocity a puppy chasing a butterfly.
Presto:
1. GWS is the real deal: three on the trot for the first time and generating genuine fear. Finals seem likely now, the Giants could do anything..
2. The Dees were the big winners this weekend, through four quarters of effort and intent, led by captain Nathan Jones in the final quarter (and sans Dawes, Trengove, Salem et al)…
3. Speaking of four quarters, Fremantle didn't take the foot off the pedal for the first time this year and truly shook the be-Jesus out of everyone with a nonchalant mauling of North Melbourne. Dockers fans must be wishing it was September already so they too could hop on a flying Roo.
Drew:
1. Port Adelaide singing "Never Tear Us Apart" before every game is starting to feel a bit sarcastic.
2. I think Luke Breust just dropped off the top of everyone's "who would you have kicking for your life" list.
3. There are two things I am sure of this year - Fremantle is really good and Carlton is really bad - and everyone else's formline is impossible to predict. (I'm looking at you, Richmond).
