Round 13 taught us plenty about the AFL.
While two teams sat out, fans were still treated to footy across five days with Collingwood and Melbourne wrapping things up with the Big Freeze at the ‘G on King’s Birthday Monday.
The round had huge upsets, thrashings, season-firsts and controversial calls.
With that in mind, here’s what we learned from the long weekend’s footy.
Hawthorn is now a genuine finals threat
Last week we said Round 13 was huge for Hawthorn, and didn’t they stand up.
Saturday’s tight win over GWS was a mature performance from a side getting better by the week and they have now won five of their last six.
Behind Sydney and Carlton, they might just be the most in-form team in the competition.
Now holding a 6-7 record with some real momentum behind them, this young side will more than likely find themselves at 8-7 come the end of Round 16 with their next two coming against Richmond and West Coast.
From there, they may just need to go 4-4 to play finals well ahead of schedule.
It’s an exciting time to be a Hawks fan.
Carlton is both second on the ladder and in the premiership race
With Sydney out in front and just about every other supposed contender falling over themselves, Carlton has emerged as a genuine premiership hopeful.
While they’re clearly off the Swans on current pace, Sunday’s win over Essendon – who entered the game in second – showed that the Blues are a level above all of the other top eight sides currently apart from the ladder-leaders.
Impressively, it wasn’t their stars that pulled them over the line either against the Dons with all of Sam Walsh, Patrick Cripps, Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay putting in quiet performances by their lofty standards.
If their depth can keep performing to that level, the Blues will be just about unbeatable if their stars can have their usual impact on top of it.
Michael Voss and his side can enjoy the bye now knowing they’ve positioned themselves brilliantly for a real assault on the flag in the second half of the season.
Tagging’s in vogue
Coaches are bringing back the tag in a big way.
Over the round, we saw Jarrod Berry nullify Marcus Bontempelli, Marcus Windhager go head-to-head against Touk Miller, Alex Cincotta go to Zach Merrett and Alex Neal-Bullen stick to Nick Daicos on King’s Birthday.
There’s no doubt that coaches are figuring out ways to stop the influence of the opposition’s best player, and three of those four tags proved crucial in wins.
The only team that didn’t win after employing a tag was Melbourne, and you could argue that their choice to push a half forward in Neal-Bullen up to a stoppage hurt them as the Magpies dominated off half-back with a spare available.
There’s no doubt we’ll keep seeing tagging jobs as they’re in vogue, but coaches still have to know when to change tactics if things are costing them in other areas of the ground.
Something’s got to give at Adelaide
Things went from bad to worse for Adelaide in Thursday’s loss against Richmond.
After showing such positive signs in 2023 where they should have played finals, the Crows are now a genuine bottom-four outfit as they sit 15th with a 4-8-1 record.
Season 2024 is officially over in terms of finals chances, so it’s time things must change at West Lakes.
Some believe that the club, including coach Matthew Nicks, is too nice.
Does he make some big selection calls? Does he throw the magnets around and introduce more youth on-ball?
Something’s got to give and the Crows simply must find something.
With Sydney, GWS and Brisbane at the Gabba in their next three games, it’s not going to get any better in the win-loss column.
They need to find some smaller wins from those games, and it’s time for them to try and find out some things about themselves that can aid them in 2025 and beyond.
It’s a big week for GWS
After starting the season as hot as a pistol, the Giants are genuinely on the verge of dropping out of the eight.
Saturday’s loss to Hawthorn means this side has now dropped four of their last five games.
They’re not even losing to the best sides either, with top eight challengers the Hawks, Bombers and Dogs among the sides to claim their scalp recently.
They play another one of those sides next Sunday – Port Adelaide in Canberra.
They need to prove to us that they’re the premiership threat that they looked like in the first eight weeks of the season.
Win there, and the ship steadies somewhat.
Lose, and everyone will be jumping off the GWS bandwagon in a hurry.