THE BRISBANE Lions will enter round 21 looking to kill off Carlton’s finals chances for good and enhance their own, having temporarily occupied a position in the top eight over the weekend.

The Lions’ fighting 11-point win over the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night saw them leapfrog St Kilda into eighth spot, only for the Saints to snare it back by beating a toothless Fremantle by 43 points at Subiaco on Sunday evening.

Carlton, which travels to the Gabba for the penultimate round of the season, retains a faint sniff of September action despite losing by 51 points to the in-form North Melbourne on Sunday.

The Blues would have to win both of their remaining fixtures and rely on results going their way, after being overrun by a Kangaroos outfit that could realistically lay claim to the second-best form in the competition behind Geelong.

Carlton started quickly with consecutive goals to Brendan Fevola and led by six points at the first change, but the Roos soon assumed control and kicked 17 of the next 25 goals.

Leading the way again was Brent Harvey, whose Brownlow Medal price will likely shorten once more following a 30-possession, three-goal and best-on-ground display.

Skipper Chris Judd was Carlton’s best player, while Fevola edged within 10 goals the magical100-mark for the season with a bag of six majors.

Aside from North Melbourne, which replaced the Sydney Swans in the top-four, the weekend’s other big winner was Richmond. The Tigers just remain in the finals race thanks to an improbable 29-point win over Hawthorn.

Elsewhere, Collingwood was largely untroubled in defeating Port Adelaide by 31 points, Adelaide cruised to a 56-point win over Esssendon, Melbourne notched a third victory of the season by defeating West Coast by 34 points and Geelong registered a regulation (by its lofty standards) 39-point win against the Swans.

For performance of the week, it’s difficult to go past the two main Brownlow fancies – Harvey and Gary Ablett. Geelong’s Ablett complemented 32 possessions with three goals, while Nick Riewoldt deserves an honourable mention for his inspirational five goals in St Kilda’s triumph at Subiaco.

With two rounds to play, Geelong remains top, with Hawthorn second, the Bulldogs third and North Melbourne the new occupant of fourth.

Fifth-placed Adelaide is eyeing a double-chance, the Sydney Swans face a tough battle to regain a top-four spot and Collingwood, St Kilda, the Lions and Richmond are likely slugging it out for the remaining two finals berths.

Collingwood 16.10 (106) d Port Adelaide 10.15 (75)

Lowly Port Adelaide presented slight nuisance value, but not enough to prevent the seventh-placed Magpies making it two wins on the trot and taking another step closer to a finals appearance. Collingwood kicked seven goals to two after half-time and was led by Travis Cloke, who booted four majors.

Adelaide 19.15 (129) d Essendon 10.13 (79)

The Crows maintained their late charge at a top-four spot and a double chance with an overwhelming win over a disappointing Essendon. After losing five straight games between rounds 12 and 16, Adelaide has now won four on the trot and again had a good spread of goal-kickers – led by Nick Gill with five. Surprisingly, it was the Crows’ first ever win over Essendon in Melbourne.

Melbourne 11.13 (79) d West Coast 5.15 (45)

Champagne football it wasn’t, but Melbourne fans had a third win of the season to cheer about following the Demons’ 34-point victory over West Coast. The Eagles actually started the better of the two sides but Melbourne, led by youngster Cale Morton, kicked 10 of the game’s last 11 goals.

Geelong 20.13 (133) d Sydney Swans 14.10 (94)

Geelong remains on track to match Essendon’s one-loss season of 2000, in the wake of a commanding win over the Swans. Paul Roos’ side managed to be competitive with the Cats through various periods of the game, but Geelong’s superior capabilities were underlined by seven-goal bursts in the first and third quarters. Gary Ablett was best-on-ground in his second game back from a month out with an ankle injury.

Richmond 16.9 (105) d Hawthorn 10.16 (76)

Richmond pulled off what is likely the upset of the season, leading at every change in beating the second-placed Hawks by almost five goals. While the Tigers were accurate in front of the big sticks, Hawthorn’s continued battle to convert finally came back to haunt it – with Coleman Medal favourite Buddy Franklin amassing 20 possessions and 11 marks but kicking only 3.6.

North Melbourne 22.9 (141) d Carlton 14.6 (90)

The now fourth-placed North Melbourne has won six games in succession, while Carlton’s already stretched finals hopes hang by the finest of threads. The 10th-placed Blues travel to the Gabba this weekend needing wins from their two remaining games and for other results to fall their way. The Kangaroos, on the other hand, are flying and looking to hang on to a double chance – although their next assignment against Geelong is a truly testing one.

St Kilda 17.10 (112) d Fremantle 9.15 (69)

Fremantle initially looked likely to deliver the Lions a favour when it led the Saints by 16 points mid-way through the second quarter. However, that was as good as it got for the men in purple, who kicked 1.7 in the third term while St Kilda piled on 7.3 at the other end. Skipper Nick Riewoldt was pivotal to a result that returned his side to eighth spot, kicking five goals.

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.