Slowly but surely we are running out of superlatives for Geelong and St Kilda. At the halfway mark of the season, both sit on top of the AFL ladder undefeated and looking all but assured to be meeting in the AFL Grand Final.
Already they have resulted in the closing of a number of AFL betting markets. You can not bet on them finishing in the top 8 or even in the top 4. The AFL odds of them meeting in the AFL Grand Final are a very short 2.
With these two so dominant it is hard to get excited about any of the other teams. Are they just not treading water until the finals and then the Grand Final? Who can stop the Saints and Cats? What must happen to both of them for them not to be as incredibly strong as they are?
Western Bulldogs appear to be the best of the rest. They have had the most consistent AFL results of anyone else and two of their four losses were to Geelong and St Kilda. In somewhat of a karmic retribution, they had the honor of playing against Richmond for Terry Wallace’s last game in charge. The game was somewhat of a snapshot of the Tigers under Wallace’s watch – they started decently but then faded badly.
In other AFL results, Carlton held off a fast-finishing Lions while Adelaide won a high scoring shootout with Essendon. Sydney looked to be in the mix against Hawthorn until a brain-snap from Barry Hall snuffed out their hopes. He still has issues with how he is being umpired, but lashing out isn’t the right way to go about it.
Collingwood were simply too strong for Melbourne and will have enjoyed the win. In a sign of how strange the AFL ladder is this year, the Magpies were able to leap from ninth to fifth simply from that win. That is how it is this year; win two or three games in a row and you shoot up the ladder.
The AFL Fixture for Round 12 is a split round. There are five matches the first week followed by three in the second. The pick of the first week will be Carlton taking on St Kilda. It will also be interesting to see how Jade Rawlings does with his first game in charge of Richmond. They host the West Coast.
David Wiseman is a sports journalist, who writes about all team sports for Betfair Australia. As well as the afl season, he is particularly looking forward to following some horse racing.
