• Has this thrown elbow just cost Gary Ablett the Brownlow?
• Six things we learned from round 10
• Fantasy round review: A Cloke-sized headache
• Around the state leagues: Prolific Roo bangs on the door

RESILIENCE.

It is a quality that the good teams, the really good teams, have in abundance. And in the two big games on Saturday, they were major reasons why Collingwood and then Port Adelaide, got the points.

First, the Pies. By half-time at the MCG they trailed West Coast by 14 points. It would have been 20 had Elliott Yeo taken a mark close to goal just seconds before the half-time siren.

Both Collingwood's two key defenders – Nathan Brown (shoulder) and Jack Frost (concussion) – were off the ground and unable to return. Key forwards Travis Cloke and Jesse White were non-factors. Even by three-quarter time, West Coast still led by a goal, with six more scoring shots and were miles ahead in key indicators such as inside 50s (54-33) and uncontested possessions (206-144).

But it was the Pies who were much more resilient when it counted. Scott Pendlebury had 11 possessions in the final term, Dayne Beams nine and Steele Sidebottom and Dane Swan each had eight. That quartet are all big-time players and they were magnificent when it counted, particularly when Cloke and White, with six touches each, contributed next to nothing.

There is so much of the season still to be played out and this is not to say that Collingwood will win the flag, but it was the sort of result that points to a side that has the make up to play deep into the finals because of all the intangible elements it contained.

WATCH: Magpies, Eagles fight out an MCG classic



Port was similarly gritty in the top of the table clash against Hawthorn on Saturday night. The Power seemed to have the match in hand, until late in the third term when the Hawks rattled on four unanswered goals (having not kicked back to back goals before then) to get within seven points at the final change.

Having the reigning premiers coming at you would unnerve most teams, but not the Power. Rather than retreat, Port opened the last quarter with more of their trademark running and hardness and two goals inside the opening five minutes to Hamish Hartlett sealed a famous and deserved win.

Port loves a scrap and has now seen off Geelong, Fremantle and Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval. Home finals now appear virtually certain for the Power, and a game many people would already be relishing the prospect of is a return engagement at the 'Portress' against a fuller-strength Hawthorn. The Hawks were as good as you could hope for in defeat the other night considering their outs.

WATCH: Port Adelaide v Hawthorn - match highlights



Giants in a ton of trouble

If the Magpies and the Power are resilient types, then right now you would have to say that Greater Western Sydney is not.

Count the ways in which Saturday afternoon's 113-point loss to Richmond was a disaster:

1. It was the Giants' first game in Sydney for seven weeks
2. The Tigers were supposedly on their knees
3. The Giants had reportedly set themselves for this one, recalling big names including Shane Mumford, Jeremy Cameron and Adam Treloar
4. Cameron played in the backline

There was no getting away from how awful a performance this was from the Giants, though the obscurity that comes with being the second team in Sydney sadly might allow them to do so. Perhaps the Giants should be force-fed a steady diet of Melbourne football media this week as a reminder of how unacceptable a performance that was.

And it doesn't get any easier this week. The Giants play Hawthorn. Away. After the Hawks have lost two straight. And with Jarryd Roughead licking his chops after suspension. The G-Men have conceded 11 goals in consecutive weeks to Josh Kennedy and Jack Riewoldt. At this rate, put Roughead or Jack Gunston down for a bag and the take the odds on the Giants copping a third straight defeat of more than 100 points.

WATCH: Riewoldt finds 11 ways to repay Richmond



Nowhere to hide under Friday night lights

The beauty of Friday night football is the exposure. The downside of Friday night football is the scrutiny and the Saturday morning quarterbacking it inspires.

And so it was on Friday night for North Melbourne's Majak Daw. Matthew Lloyd said on 3AW of Daw after his nine-possession return against the Cats, "If Majak Daw hasn't improved by the end of next year, he'll be in trouble I would have thought."

Social media, as is its wont, was less than kind, with opinions ranging from immediate delisting to the preaching of patience.

The case for Daw is that he has played just 10 games at AFL level and that game against the Western Bulldogs where he dominated remains vivid in our minds. The case against him is that this is the year the Kangas are supposed to have claims on a finals berth, perhaps even top six and that carrying Daw while he learns the game is a luxury they can't really afford.

"He's playing like a rookie," said coach Brad Scott after the game, which makes it sound like a return to the VFL might be on the cards. The Kangaroos face a massive trip to Perth to play West Coast on Sunday night, and Scott has plenty to ponder.

QUESTION TIME

Is Gary Ablett in trouble?
His errant elbow of Bulldogs tagger Liam Picken will be the most scrutinised since Chris Judd's on Matthew Pavlich in 2010. Judd was cleared back then, amid howls of protest, but in the case of Ablett we need to see where the elbow landed. Channel Seven's vision was inconclusive, but the key might be the behind-the-goal vision AFL Media provides the clubs each week, but which is also available to the AFL. If he landed Picken flush then the Match Review Panel could have a major say in whether Ablett wins his third Brownlow. Apart from umpire contact in 2010 when still with Geelong, Ablett is a cleanskin when it comes to the MRP.

Why aren't mouthguards mandatory?
That's a very good question. Perhaps Elliott Yeo could tell us why.

'Press Red for Ed'. Novelty or a portent of the future?
We all had our fun on Saturday, watching Eddie McGuire's face turn a deeper shade of puce as West Coast threatened to beat Collingwood. But the Magpie president is no fool. He knows that big overseas sport, particularly in the US, where sporting clubs sell their own TV and radio rights. Forget the carry-on, what's to stop the Pies, Bombers, Hawks, Crows, Eagles or other big clubs from buying time on radio stations and paying for their own match broadcasts that they stream online at the same time? The word is that the next media rights agreements – TV, radio and online - will be shaped differently, so perhaps team-specific radio broadcasts, which are already prevalent in the VFL, might become part of the mix.



AB: Absolutely. This is the AFL, where you do pay for sheep stations and when a Collingwood premiership captain is barking orders, Fasolo should listen. Considering how tight and tough this game was, Maxwell was entitled to deliver the blast he did and Fasolo is a good player. He would have listened and learned.

Ashley Browne: What's taking place in the classic 'negotiation by media' with Fyfe's management happy to drop hints that they're not entirely satisfied with the offer on the table from the Dockers. He's a WA boy and he ain't going anywhere. This deal will get done. Freo will yield a bit, his management will budge and he'll sign.



AB: It looks increasingly like the top seven is set and that there is one finals spot up for grabs. Essendon is in the mix for that, but must beat Richmond in the Dreamtime game at the MCG on Saturday night. But Mark Thompson needs to flick the switch from earlier in the year and sort Jake Carlisle out. And Port can go all the way. See above and below.



AB: Given the events of the week, it was far from an afternoon at the trout farm for Riewoldt. This was his Grand Final. He had some atoning to do and he deserves credit for turning things around in just seven days. The bigger issue is the Giants' backline, which badly needs reinforcements with Phil Davis unable to get out on the park.



AB: That win over Collingwood provided us with a glimpse of the Port Adelaide blueprint for 2014 – run over the top of teams. The MCG is important for non-Victorian teams. West Coast once again failed on Saturday to break its MCG duck against teams other than Melbourne, which stretches back to 2008. Port only gets one game at the home of football and it will be a belter – a Sunday twilight game in round 19 against Collingwood.



AB: Alastair Clarkson mentioned a few times post-game on Saturday night that the Hawks "lacked some polish" and there were times during the game when Port also lacked some spark and made errors. The TV shots of a cranky Ken Hinkley in the Port coach's box made that perfectly clear. But teams can always do things better; that's why they spend hours each Monday reviewing games with the finest detail.



AB: There is a dearth of talent at the bottom of most teams' lists and its not like when the AFL expanded from 16 to 18 teams in 2011 and 2012 that it found another 80 great players to be absorbed into the competition. What we have most years now is one team in which the bottom falls out. Injuries kill it early and it doesn't have the depth to compensate. This year it is the Brisbane Lions. In years past it has been teams such as Melbourne, Richmond, Port Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs that have had to cop their whack. But as Port has shown, things can change rapidly.

Twitter: @afl_hashbrowne