Round 15 taught us plenty about the AFL.
With the bye rounds still ongoing six teams sat out, but we still had plenty of interesting action.
The round had statement performances, individual brilliance, blowouts and more!
With that in mind, here’s what we learned from the weekend’s footy.
Things are going to get really ugly at Port Adelaide
While Port Adelaide are still inside the eight, it’d be genuine panic stations at Alberton following their 79-point defeat to Brisbane at home on Saturday afternoon.
It was the worst performance put forward by the Power in some time even though they’ve now lost three consecutive games.
In those three games, the Power have gone down to a trio of Preliminary Finalists from last year in Carlton, GWS and Brisbane – and it just shows that the Power are a rung below the AFL’s best teams.
While you could accept going down to these quality outfits, losing in such fashion could cause genuine carnage.
Is it the end for Ken Hinkley? The coach has been at the club for longer than a decade and is yet to make a Grand Final, and it’s certainly not coming this year with how the Power are currently tracking.
Perhaps this is the loss that gives the Power a bit of a fresh start going forward.
Whichever way things happen, it feels like this loss will be remembered as a moment of significant change going forward.
Brisbane is well and truly on the charge
After starting the year horridly, last year’s runners-up Brisbane have finally steadied the ship at 7-7.
While they’re probably too far back to finish inside the top four, there’s no doubt that the Lions are currently playing like a side in that bracket and they’re going to cause some serious carnage in September at this rate.
With Melbourne at the Gabba, Adelaide at the Gabba and West Coast away in their next three, the Lions should really be 10-7 after Round 18 with a seriously healthy percentage (they’re only behind Sydney at the moment in that aspect).
It’s been a remarkable turnaround by coach Chris Fagan and the club’s leaders.
We all know they have one of the best lists in the competition and now the output is matching that talent and some.
Watch out for this side.
Carlton is a contender and they proved Geelong isn’t on Friday
Carlton’s 63-point win over Geelong on Friday night was an absolute statement to the competition.
With four wins on the trot now, Carlton are beginning to well and truly etch their name in stone as the second seed and they proved a class above compared to the Cats on Friday.
The move to play Tom De Koning as a lone ruck has appeared to unlock them in terms of ball movement, while the midfield is firing on all cylinders around him.
Just as that win proved our thoughts about Carlton, it did the same for Geelong who after starting 7-0 have now won just one of their last seven games.
While the draw opens up for them a little bit across much of the rest of the season and they should play finals, they’re just not going to contend with the best sides due to a serious lack of midfield grunt.
Unless things change significantly, don’t consider them a genuine premiership contender in 2024.
Lock Errol Gulden in for a second-straight All-Australian blazer
The best wingman in the league Errol Gulden won his third-consecutive Brett Kirk Medal in Saturday’s win over GWS on Saturday.
The impeccable user collected 41 disposals as well as a massive 973 metres gained as he helped set up Sydney’s high-powered offence all night.
He’s putting some distance on the next group of wingmen that include the likes of Josh Daicos and Massimo D’Ambrosio.
With the AFL changing their tact to pick genuine wingmen in the All-Australian team last campaign, there’s no doubt that Gulden has just about locked himself into one of those slots even with nine games remaining.
What a player.
A lack of pre-season has well and truly caught up to Clayton Oliver
While the Demons won by three points on Saturday against North Melbourne, they wouldn’t have left the MCG feeling all that great about themselves.
One reason why is because of the form of Clayton Oliver, who has been really poor across the last month of footy.
The star midfielder was completely tagged out of the game by Will Phillips on Saturday and genuinely didn’t impact whatsoever from his 14 disposals – his equal-lowest tally since his debut season in 2016.
We all know about the torrid off-season Oliver endured last summer, and perhaps that’s catching up to him as his impact wanes week after week.
It appears Melbourne is going nowhere without him near his best.
Does he need a freshen-up or break where he can get some serious training into his legs to help him get back to that level in the back half of the season?
It’s a genuine thought Melbourne will have to be weighing up.