The Real Rankings Rd.14 - Bumper Double Issue! | Thebigtip

Hi everyone, sorry about last week’s lack of instalment, special bumper two week issue coming up this week.

ROUND(S) WRAP

Round thirteen and fourteen provided some impressive games and some blowouts (predictably) but surely none were better than the epic see-sawing match between the Bombers and Hawks to kick-start the split round. Back and forth all night with Essendon challenging the hawks in the final quarter, it was down to two brilliant goals from Buddy to get the Hawks over the line.

The following evening the Dockers made it another four points away from Subiaco with a spirited nine point win against Carlton at Etihad, while Richmond surprised everyone by winning their second game in a row over the Lions, bringing them now equal with the Eagles in wins.

North propelled themselves further towards final contention with a gritty win over Port while the West Coast Eagles were good in the first half against the bulldogs before falling asleep completely, resulting in an easy ten goal win for the doggies.

The second half of the split round got off to an exciting start with St Kilda and Geelong due to do battle, although both teams were severely undermanned. Up until quarter time, it had been a cracking contest before Geelong ran away from the Saints in the second term once the conditions dried up. Then, amazingly, Geelong scored three points in the second half, conceding six goals to go down by 24 points and the Saints joined them on ten wins and three losses, equal top of the ladder.

The following evening saw Collingwood comfortably account for Sydney, with the Swans making too many crucial errors which prevented them from being able to get back into the game before they ended up going down by four goals. On the final match of the split round, Adelaide thrashed a hapless Melbourne, proving once more that AAMI Stadium is not a happy hunting ground for them.

Round fourteen began on a Thursday night (God knows why) as Brisbane challenged Carlton early only to be mercilessly destroyed after quarter time, going down by a whopping fifty-five points. The following evening, the Hawks and Dogs played an absolute classic as the Hawks got the chocolates with a thrilling three point win in a pulsating clash at the G.

Fremantle did it way too easily against Port, although the Power tried hard in parts, ultimately, they were no match for the Dockers. But with the game well and truly over, Barlow, Freo’s good new story of the year broke his leg in a sickening collision with teammate Palmer in what is sure to prove a massive blow for the Dockers.

The Saturday night saw two shellackings, as Essendon travelled to Adelaide and came home with an 84 point drubbing, while Collingwood cleaned up West Coast on the back of a blistering nine goal third term by 83 points at Etihad.

The Sunday saw both last year’s Grand Finalists get over the line by 35 points with neither team really getting out of first gear, both content to cruise along; these matches bookended a wonderful contest at the G where Richmond came from behind at three quarter time to overhaul the Swans by four points in an absolute thriller.

PERFORMERS THIS WEEK (and last):

St Kilda won the previous week, in fact posted a record for Real Rankings with 142 points in their big win over the Cats, comfortably ahead of Fremantle on 128 and the Bulldogs on 120. St Kilda also took out the First Half category, This week category and Last ten category (thanks mainly to beating the top team and best in form tea in the competition). The winner of gameplay was Western bulldogs with a comprehensive effort against the Eagles netting them a massive 75 points.

Hawthorn won the round fourteen highest score altogether with 117 points in their monstering of Essendon, finishing just ahead of Adelaide on 116 and Fremantle on 106 (it was the fourth time this year Fremantle had scored over 100 points – ahead of Geelong on 3 while Collingwood and St Kilda are the only other two teams to score over a hundred points more than once.)  First Half was won by Richmond scoring 17 points while This Week was won by Hawthorn scoring 15 points for defeating the fifth placed Bulldogs.

Gameplay was unsurprisingly won by Adelaide who tore Essendon to shreds, while Last Ten was won once again by Geelong, their score of 56 marginally ahead of Hawthorn’s 52.

Onto the Performance ladder and Real Rankings for Round Thirteen and Fourteen:

1 – GEELONG - 961
FIRST HALF: 120
THIS WEEK: 118
GAMEPLAY: 511
LAST TEN: 212
2 WEEKS AGO: 1ST – NO CHANGE LAST WEEK
LAST WEEK:  1st – NO CHANGE FROM LAST WEEK

Geelong bounced back from a dismal performance against St Kilda to beat North Melbourne without much fuss. Clearly on top of the ladder with healthy percentage and plenty of players to come back, the Cats have to be happy with where they are placed at the moment.