• Nine things we learned from round 20
• Forecast the final eight with the 2014 ladder predictor
• Fantasy round review: Cometh the final, cometh the captain
• Around the state leagues: Young Hawk in mix to replace Roughead

WHO ELSE noticed the glint in Ross Lyon's eye at the end of the wonderful Geelong-Fremantle match on Saturday night?

First there was the cheeky smile as he waited for David Mundy to take the post-siren shot that only just drifted wide. Then there was the post-match media conference that might well have taken place at the local pub, given the banter and the two-way conversations.

On the surface, it wasn't a great night for the Dockers, with the two-point defeat leaving them two games adrift of second place (and the accompanying double chance and home-ground advantage), in addition to another calf injury to Luke McPharlin and further injury concerns over Nat Fyfe and Hayden Ballantyne.

Watch the last two minutes from Saturday night's Geelong-Freo thriller
But dig deeper and it wasn't a disastrous outing. The longer the game went, the better the Dockers looked and by the last term, the trademark helter-skelter Freo pressure was back approaching the same sort of levels as this time last year. They kicked four goals to one in the final term and restricted nine Geelong players to two possessions or fewer.

Now, Lyon may have been keeping a stiff upper lip to hide what he was really feeling. The road to the premiership will be considerably tougher if they have to win at least two and perhaps three finals outside Western Australia. He needs McPharlin to anchor his backline. Fyfe is in the best five players in the competition (and perhaps among the toughest too) and in brilliant touch.

But Michael Barlow's 33 possessions, the continued emergence of Hayden Crozier, the commendable first game of Max Duffy (with a name like that he should be an old-timer manning the door) and even the news from home that Michael Walters is ready to face Hawthorn next week gave Lyon plenty to contemplate on the long flight home. He looks like a man up for a fight.

And what of the Cats? For three quarters they looked excellent with usual suspects Harry Taylor, Corey Enright and Joel Selwood leading the way. But the last quarter was a concern again, as it was against Greater Western Sydney a fortnight ago. Another five minutes and they would surely have been beaten, such was the flourish with which the Dockers came at them.

It prompted coach Chris Scott's unusual decision to address his players on the ground immediately after the final siren. The Cats need to run games out better, but with key players back in the side and approaching match fitness, they are in this premiership race up to their ears. There was ample evidence of this on Saturday night, at least through three quarters.

WATCH: Showreel - Crowley v Stevie J

Both byes are worth keeping

There was some great football played over the weekend. If you haven’t already, be sure to watch the final quarter of the Essendon-Richmond and Geelong-Fremantle matches.

The stakes were massive in both, which added to the desperation, but the second bye has also been a major factor in the standard of football.

This column ran into Luke Hodge late last week and the Hawthorn skipper remarked at how fresh he was feeling given we are into the second week of August. Just two weeks off their second bye, the Hawks were able to select every fit and available player for the clash against Melbourne on Saturday, whereas in previous year at this time of the year, one or two older players may have come down with a bout of 'general soreness' ahead of a game that was always going to be won by plenty.

The AFL has already stated there will only be one bye next year because of the delayed start to the season. But fingers crossed, we'll be back to two from 2016 onwards. The price for that will be a few rounds with only six games and parts of the weekend when there isn't much footy to watch.

But if it means pulsating late-season footy and fresher players come the finals, then a handful of below-par rounds earlier in the year will be a price worth paying.

Are you serious, Sando?

The focus in Adelaide should be a tremendous win over the Brisbane Lions that gets the Crows firmly back in the finals frame. Yet the takeaway from coach Brenton Sanderson is that there should be no daytime footy at the Gabba. Spare me. In a league that is too homogenised as it is, clubs are entitled to grab on to whatever flimsy bits of home ground advantage they have. Adelaide's is its rabid home crowd, celebrated by the club as the '19th Man'. The Lions don't have that going for them, but they do have the weather, so let them play a few late season games in the middle of the day, for which opposition sides need to prepare accordingly.

WATCH: Crows power on despite injury blows
Sanderson asking for a ban on day games in Brisbane is like asking crowds at Adelaide Oval to hush while the opposition is kicking for goal. As if that's going to happen. It should also be noted that in the NFL, a league Sanderson is known to follow closely, teams from the frozen north relish the chance to peel off the layers and play late season road games in the relative warmth of Florida and Southern California. Sanderson is a good coach and a smart man. Hopefully he was just playing for the easy headlines in the Monday 'Advertiser'.

QUESTION TIME

Is Port Adelaide cooked?
For the top four, yes. There was no doubting the effort on Saturday night against the Swans but they lacked the polish. It was even noted as far away as Toronto by former tennis player, ESPN commentator and member of Port Adelaide royalty, Darren Cahill.Port just couldn't string more than a couple of goals together at any stage. The greater the pressure – and there was plenty of it – the better the Swans played and the more the Power struggled to finish off their work. Their scoreline of 7.16 was a poor result, with Justin Westhoff and Jay Schultz kicking just one goal between them.

Port needs to consolidate now and earn a home elimination final. But an off-season consideration for Ken Hinkley will be whether the "fittest team in March" approach is the right way to go. When was the last time the Melbourne Cup was won by the horse that led when the field turns for home?

Should Chris Judd have a farewell game?
More to the point, will Chris Judd let us give him a farewell game? Be it this year or next year, and who really knows what the great man is thinking, it is to be hoped that the famously private Judd signals his intentions so that we can go to the footy knowing we will be watching him for the last time.

Lenny Hayes' last home game for the Saints against the Dogs on Sunday drew 30,095 to Etihad Stadium, when at this stage of the season, there would have otherwise been lucky to be 20,000 there. Judd is not as widely beloved as Hayes, which is a bit sad given the brilliance of his football, but there are enough football neutrals who would take the chance to watch him one last time if we knew it was to be the last time. Again, without knowing his intentions, the round 23 MCG clash with Essendon, on a Saturday afternoon, would be a fine way for him to bow out. Perhaps we had better get along to the game just in case, to say we were there.

WATCH: Showreel - There's plenty in Juddy's tank
So who makes the finals?
There are so many ifs, buts and maybes as you work the Ladder Predictor over and over again. What makes it so intriguing and exciting is that the two teams in the best form of late – West Coast and Richmond – are coming from the furthest back. The Tigers need to conquer Adelaide and the Sydney Swans on the road – which is doubtful – but the Eagles are the ones. Their run and pace has finally kicked in, their ruck division is working and the forwards are in sync. Jack Darling has found real form and Josh Kennedy is a gun, which we've always known. Jeremy McGovern stepping in so seamlessly for the retired Darren Glass has been a real bonus.

Gold Coast is just about shot and Collingwood now has real concerns and wouldn't want to be pinning hopes on beating the Hawks in round 23 to get in, having lost six straight against them. So after playing around with the ladder predictor, there are two massive games this weekend – Essendon-West Coast and Adelaide-Richmond. The winner of those two will probably each get in.

Ships passing in the night at Etihad?
Might have been. As Lenny Hayes played his last home game for the Saints, Jake Stringer demonstrated once again that he might, with the emphasis on might, be one day spoken of in similarly exalted tones by the Western Bulldogs faithful. Two weeks ago he kicked five goals, while against the Saints he added another four. Two of them came early and took much of the steam out of the St Kilda crowd, which as noted, turned up in large numbers for the occasion. What I liked about the Dogs is how cool and clinical they were on Sunday. They respected the occasion, but then went about their business. It also helps when Adam Cooney rolls back the clock like he did. Get this off-season right at the trade table and it is all blue sky for the Dogs.

WATCH: Showreel - Cooney back in touch against Saints
Brian Lake. Yes or no?
The Hawks usually like to give Lake a week in the VFL after a sustained spell on the sidelines. The same with Brad Sewell, who on his comeback from a hamstring injury returned to football on Sunday in the more austere surrounds of Frankston Park rather than the MCG the day before.

But Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson may not have a choice this week. Jarryd Roughead could miss the trip to Fremantle through suspension and with Jack Gunston still injured, one of swingmen Ryan Schoenmakers or Matt Spangher will need to bolster the forward line.

That means that Lake will likely be brought straight back in. He owes his club something after his brain-fade against North Melbourne cost him a month on the sidelines.

From all reports, the Hawks have been flogging Lake on the training track, trying to replicate match conditions and intensity as best as they can. It all points to an immediate recall for Lake. Three weeks out from the finals, it is time for last year's Norm Smith medallist to play.



Ashley Browne: Not so much under-rated as forgotten. He was the hard-luck story of the Sydney Swans' 2012 premiership campaign, missing the Grand Final because of a hamstring injury. There will be no particular joy from the wider football fraternity if the Swans do win the flag this year, given the COLA situation, but McGlynn and Gary Rohan would be the exceptions. A midfielder who can hit the scoreboard, McGlynn has been wonderful for the Swans this year.

AB: The question posed on Twitter on Saturday afternoon was which of the expansion clubs was having the bigger stinker. The second half by the Giants was awful, prompting coach Leon Cameron to call it his club's worst defeat of the year, but the Suns, with so much to play for, were worse. The endeavour was average but the execution was horrible – poor decision-making and missed targets – given how much Gold Coast had to play for. With two home games to come, the Suns cannot entirely be discounted from September calculations, but on exposed form, there are more deserving finalists.