West Coast's slashing win over Carlton at Etihad Stadium complicates matters a fair bit because the race for the top four doesn't seem as clear-cut as it would have if the Blues, as expected, had held serve at home.
The open fixture for round 24 - the games and the venues are released with the rest of the fixture the previous October but the dates and times are not - has been one of the smart moves by the AFL in recent years because it adds another reward for the team that finishes on top and makes sure the fixturing for the first week of the finals is that little bit fairer.
The key requirement when scheduling the final round of the season is to ensure that the team that finishes first is justly rewarded and gets a seven-day break heading into the opening final. Either Collingwood or Geelong will finish on top and it just so happens they play each other in the final round. So lock that match in for Friday night on the Seven Network.
No doubt that match will garner huge ratings and a massive crowd, but chances are it will be quite a vanilla affair. Both sides will surely rest players with even the slightest niggle and as for tactics, again, expect neither side to show their hand ahead of a more meaningful encounter sometime within the following month.
The next requirement for the AFL is to ensure that all likely finalists have a minimum of six days in their home city to prepare for a game the following week. So if one of the top sides is drawn to play outside their home state, they must be given enough time to return home the same evening. In order to ensure that more teams have an adequate break between their last game and the finals, the AFL schedules five games on the final Saturday, instead of the usual four. Fox Sports gets to enjoy a triple-header, with games starting at 1.10pm, 4.40pm, then 7.40pm. The two Sunday games - for the also-rans - are at 2.10pm and then at 4.40pm.
As we said, West Coast's win over the Blues on Sunday adds to the complication. The Eagles are now in fifth place, just half a game behind the Blues, but it is safe to assume that in addition to the Eagles, Blues, Cats and Magpies, Hawthorn (currently third) is the only other side with a genuine hope of gaining a top four berth at the end of the home and away season.
Back to round 24: Carlton will play St Kilda at the MCG, while the Eagles are to host Adelaide at Patersons Stadium. But the Hawks play away at Metricon Stadium against Gold Coast, so in order to get the Hawks back to Melbourne on the same day, that would have to be the 1.10pm game on the Saturday afternoon.
Assuming the game finishes just before 4pm, that would give the Hawks an hour and a half to get to Coolangatta Airport for the 5.35pm Virgin Blue flight back to Melbourne. In normal traffic, it is a 30-minute commute between Metricon Stadium and the airport, and if the Hawks make that flight, they'll be back home in time for a full preparation for a Friday or Saturday final the following week.
Ideally, the two Sunday games would involve sides that aren't in contention for the finals. But a look at the rest of the draw for round 24 shows that the remaining games all feature at least one team that as of now, is still in finals contention. Sydney will host the Brisbane Lions at the SCG, Port Adelaide is to play Melbourne at AAMI Stadium, the Western Bulldogs will meet Fremantle at Etihad Stadium, while North Melbourne and Richmond also meet at Etihad Stadium. Which in itself is another complication because the latter two matches will have to be played on separate days.
The AFL will make the announcement about the round 24 schedule some time in the next fortnight. But here is how this Front & Square thinks it might play out.
Friday Night
Collingwood v Geelong (MCG), 7.40pm (Seven)
Saturday
Gold Coast v Hawthorn (Metricon Stadium), 1.10pm (Fox Sports)
Western Bulldogs v Fremantle (Etihad Stadium) 2.10pm (Ten/OneHD)
West Coast v Adelaide (Patersons Stadium), 3.10pm (WST) (Fox Sports)
Carlton v St Kilda (MCG), 7.10pm (Ten/OneHD)
Sydney Swans v Brisbane Lions, 8.10pm (Fox Sports)
Sunday
Port Adelaide v Melbourne (AAMI Stadium), 2.40pm (CST) (Seven)
Richmond v North Melbourne, Etihad Stadium, 4.40pm (Fox Sports)
A schedule such as this would be fair for every likely finalist and would ensure they get the best preparation for the finals.
Geelong clinics set to continue
At one stage during Geelong's routine 52-point thrashing of Adelaide at (the-soon-to-be-no-longer-named) Skilled Stadium on Sunday afternoon, a noticeable hush fell over the ground as the Cats went about their business in their trademark dominating fashion.
Were the local fans awed, or perhaps bored? That was Geelong's 27th consecutive win at their home ground and the total winning margin of those 27 games is a whopping 1426 points, which comes to an average thrashing of 52.9 points.
With the exception of a two-point win over Adelaide in Round 18 of 2009, the closest game of those 27 was a 20-point win over Richmond in Round 2 of the same season. Geelong supporters don't venture to Skilled Stadium for a contest any more, they go to see an exhibition. It's the same reason people go to art galleries.
If Geelong supporters want to see their team challenged, then they ought to head to the MCG; the Cats have played 30 matches at the MCG since the start of 2008, with a total winning margin of 351 points at an average of 11.7 points. At Etihad Stadium, 13 Geelong matches since the start of 2008 have yielded a total winning margin of 529 points at an average of 40.7 points.
As we've noted before, the power clubs presently hail from Victoria and for sensible reasons of economics, they just don't get fixtured to play Geelong at Geelong any more. There's no reason to believe that the clinics at Kardinia Park won't be continuing for some time yet. To come this season are Melbourne (R 19), Gold Coast (20), and Sydney Swans (22).
CLUB BY CLUB
GEELONG: The busiest part of the 'football club' this week will be the medical room as a host of first-choice Cats (there were eight missing on Sunday) try to declare their fitness for the first game against Essendon since Mark Thompson departed Geelong to return to Windy Hill.
COLLINGWOOD: The Pies didn't even wait until the mid-week to start the mind games with the Hawks. Monday's papers were full of "how good the Hawks are" quotes from coach Mick Malthouse with ample support from skipper Nick Maxwell. If nothing else, it shows the Pies will be up for this one.
HAWTHORN: Second quarter against Essendon was the best of the season, but for how much longer can the Hawks sustain serious injuries? Cyril Rioli and Brad Sewell won't see any footy for at least a month. The Hawks are five out of six since season 2006 against the Magpies.
CARLTON: Hardness at the footy, a hallmark of the Blues throughout 2011, was missing on Sunday against the Eagles.
WEST COAST: Without doubt the club's best win for several years, perhaps even since the 2006 Grand Final. It was just the club's sixth win outside Western Australia since Chris Judd left the club at the end of 2007.
SYDNEY SWANS: Still yet to beat a top-four side, but the effort against Collingwood was full of merit. Worked feverishly to gain the lead in the final quarter, paused for breath momentarily only to hand the ascendancy to the Pies once more.
FREMANTLE: Needs to win at home for the rest of the season, no good thing given the opposition. Freo has five at home from its last nine - Gold Coast [R15], West Coast [18], Hawthorn [19], Carlton [21] and Collingwood [23]. Away wins, particularly with Aaron Sandilands on the sidelines for a while, will be hard to obtain (Sydney Swans [17], St Kilda [20], North Melbourne [22], Bulldogs [24]. Nice return to form from Matthew Pavlich.
MELBOURNE: The slippery, slidey rollercoaster was brought to a screeching halt at the MCG on Saturday. The Tigers looked good early, but Melbourne then kicked into gear for an impressive win. A finals berth is Melbourne's for the taking.
NORTH MELBOURNE: Four straight for the Kangaroos, with the highlight being nine contested marks to Drew Petrie. He and Todd Goldstein must soon come into All Australian discussion.
ESSENDON: Five losses on the trot and a horrendous injury list, is what sits atop James Hird's to-do list this week. This time last year he was taking tea at the Savoy Hotel and hob-nobbing with tennis royalty at Wimbledon.
RICHMOND: Looks great in the midfield and forward of the centre, but the backline needs plenty of attention. It will likely keep the Tigers out of the finals for at least another year.
WESTERN BULLDOGS: Massive game against Melbourne at Etihad on Friday night. It's another of these early elimination finals and if the Dogs lose, they'll be two and a half games out of the eight. Win and they're right in the picture.
ST KILDA: A bit like the Bulldogs, they just need to keep on winning. A win over North on Sunday at Etihad gets them back in the finals hunt. Lose and it's nearly curtains.
ADELAIDE: Channeling his inner Bill Murray, Crows coach Neil Craig fronts up week after week and delivers the same "we're going to be okay" message. Hard times for him and his footy club.
BRISBANE LIONS: Michael Voss is getting the effort, but not necessarily the rewards. The Lions could have been belted by Freo on what is their longest road trip of the year, but they handled themselves well.
PORT ADELAIDE: Went goal for goal early with North, but couldn't sustain it for more than a quarter and a half, a consistent story. What Port needs is an injection of really good youngsters, but that will be at least 18 months away.
GOLD COAST: If there is such a thing as a best loss for the year, then this might have been it. The Suns kept at it against the Bulldogs, never quite looking like the winners, but reasonably competitive throughout. Michael Rischitelli's wrong-way clanger came at a most inopportune time, when the game was still up for grabs.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
West Coast's Scott Selwood put the clamps on Carlton superstar Chris Judd, keeping him to just four kicks and 13 handballs. The Eagles were far better in the clinches than the Blues at Etihad on Sunday and Selwood played a massive part in that.
NEXT WEEK'S GAME NOT TO BE MISSED
All the Melbourne games have a bit riding on them. Bulldogs-Demons Friday night is huge, particularly for the Bulldogs, as is North-St Kilda on Sunday for the Saints. Richmond-Carlton at the MCG on Saturday afternoon might nearly be Richmond's last chance to hold on to a finals berth, while the Blues are suddenly vulnerable in the top four. And the Essendon-Geelong clash and the associated Mark Thompson hoo-hah will dominate the headlines.
But the biggest of them all is Sunday afternoon at the MCG where the Pies host the Hawks. It's the big test for the new Hawthorn short-kicking game plan, designed specifically to counter the Magpie press. The Hawks lose three more of their top-liners - Rioli, Sewell and the suspended Jordan Lewis - but Buddy is back and he has kicked 29 goals in his last five encounters with the Pies. Listening to him on SEN last Friday and you tell he was already up for it. Collingwood, meanwhile shook the rust off against Sydney and will be ready to play as well. Should be a cracker.
The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the AFL or the clubs.
You can follow Ashley Browne on Twitter at twitter.com/hashbrowne
