LATER this week, former Carlton skipper and now ABC special comments man Mark Maclure will be placed under the griller for his decision not to award Dustin Martin a vote in the ABC Footballer of the Year on Saturday.

Martin's stats sheet against Essendon made for great reading – 43 disposals (22 contested), 14 clearances, six centre clearances, eight stoppages, four rebound 50s and two goals.

It represents an excellent day's work and by most people's reckoning he was the clear best on ground. But not Maclure, who left him out of the votes because of his 51.2 per cent disposal efficiency, the second worst of any Tiger in the match.

Statistics can tell you part of the story of a match, but not everything. Hawthorn and contested possessions is ample proof of that.  

Surely he was carping because in a game whose most notable element was the blazing sunshine at the end of a miserable week of weather, Martin stood out as clearly the most damaging player on the ground.

Without him, the Tigers were in real danger of losing to the hapless Bombers who at present are big on pluck but short on ability.

And that's where Maclure – usually one of this column's preferred special comments people – had it all wrong.

When giving votes, rule No.1 is to look at those whose influence on the game was most profound. And on Saturday it was Dustin Martin.

He's also the reason most Richmond fans will keep coming to the footy for the rest of the year. The Hawks likely won't sit on him next Sunday so that's possibly more votes coming his way, and in round 20, he and Patrick Dangerfield will go head to head at the MCG, which will be worth a look.

Can he win the Brownlow? Our Brownlow predictor had him on 17 votes before Saturday, two behind Luke Parker, who might poll votes for his game against the Hawks, and one behind Patrick Dangerfield, who should earn three. We also have him level with Rory Sloane, who was prominent against Collingwood and a chance to poll more votes.

• Who's leading your club's count? Check out AFL.com.au's Brownlow predictor

Otherwise for the Tigers, it is about the kids and they are doing OK. Jason Castagna and Jayden Short were among the better players on Saturday and Oleg Markov kicked a lovely goal on the run in the second term.

And if it is a battle between Ben Griffiths and Ty Vickery for the second key forward role at Richmond, then Griffiths did himself no harm whatsoever with three goals, 18 possessions and 12 marks, five of which were contested.

That's the form that's needed through this period of 'mini-rejuvenation'.

Damien Hardwick hopes the 7-9 Tigers can get to 11-11 by season's end. It will be tough with four top-eight sides to come and Brett Deledio facing more time on the sidelines, but what Richmond fans want the most is to see their best kids exposed at the level and so far, they like what they see.

Hawks show their strength and smarts

Why Hawthorn is the best club on and off the ground was there for all to see at the SCG on Thursday night.

Let's start with the on-field, where the Hawks played a textbook final three-and-a-half minutes to claw back a seven-point deficit to beat the Sydney Swans by five points.

There was the coast-to-coast goal for Shaun Burgoyne to bring the margin back to a point, followed by the series of set plays that got the ball to Cyril Rioli for the match-winner.

And once the Swans got the clearance from the centre bounce that came next, the Hawks pretty much controlled the final 90 seconds to preserve an astonishing and important win.

But it was no accident. Alastair Clarkson's men have the smarts and the maturity to execute so clinically in the final few minutes. There was no panic when they needed two scores to win the game. And if you watch the behind-the-goals vision after the Rioli goal, the first instinct for Jack Gunston and Jon Ceglar after the ball goes through is to get to the other side of the centre square as extras behind the ball.

Clarkson barely needed to send the runner out to remind them to do so.

That Rioli was able to roost the winning goal speaks volumes for the excellence of the Hawks. This time two years ago his hamstring was a shredded mess. They managed to get him across the line for the 2014 Grand Final in a timed-to-perfection campaign Gai Waterhouse would have been proud of, but then changed everything again in the summer that followed to build endurance and durability into his lower legs once more.

The end result was a kick of more than 50m (the jury is out whether the painted arcs at the SCG really do measure 50 metres) that Rioli was able to convert. It is due to the mountain of work put in by the player and the club that he had the confidence and the strength to go for it.

Predicting round 23

That's Thursday night home-and-away football done and dusted and the AFL would be thrilled with the average audience of 978,000 over the three hours of the Swans-Hawks game across both the channels of Seven and Fox Footy.

Healthy ratings and good crowds have shown there is an appetite for Thursday night games featuring the better teams when they are staged over the school holidays.

Attention now turns to the final round of the season, with the AFL perhaps a fortnight away from announcing the schedule for the round.

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The odds of a Monday-night game to finish the season are shortening, particularly with the free weekend to follow for all eight finalists.

Adelaide-West Coast should have plenty to play for as the final game of the season – top two for the Crows and possibly top four or a home elimination final for the Eagles. The only issue for the AFL is it likes to have at least one Victorian-based club playing prime-time matches to ensure bumper TV ratings in Melbourne.

But this shapes as the exception.

North Melbourne appears to be in free fall but even so, should still be in finals contention by round 23. The home game against Greater Western Sydney at Etihad shapes as the Friday night game, with the combination of great drama if the Kangas lose, while the always-watchable Giants would be playing their first Friday night game.

If we were to take an uneducated guess at the round 23 fixture, here is how it would look.

Friday night
North Melbourne v Greater Western Sydney (Etihad Stadium)

Saturday
Geelong v Melbourne (Simonds Stadium – afternoon)
Sydney Swans v Richmond (SCG - twilight)
Hawthorn v Collingwood (MCG – night)
Gold Coast v Port Adelaide (Metricon Stadium - night)

Sunday
Essendon v Carlton (MCG – early)
Fremantle v Western Bulldogs (Domain Stadium – afternoon)
St Kilda v Brisbane Lions (twilight)

Monday night
Adelaide v West Coast (Adelaide Oval)

• Who impressed for your club in this weekend's state leagues?

Other observations

1. It was this time last year that Melbourne's Max Gawn found the sort of form that by the end of the season had many ranking him in the top three ruckmen in the competition. This year it is Collingwood's Brodie Grundy who is fast becoming elite. Collingwood lost for the first time in a month at Adelaide Oval on Saturday, but through no fault of Grundy, who with 32 hit-outs and 23 disposals, had a terrific evening. There seems to be a genuine air of enthusiasm around the Magpies based on their last month of footy and they were not disgraced in losing to the form team of the competition on Saturday night. The finals aren't really on the radar for the Pies any more but with North, West Coast, the Western Bulldogs and Hawthorn to come they're playing well enough to be real nuisance value.

2. If the Swans don't finish top two this year and give themselves the best chance of making the Grand Final, they'll only have themselves to blame after a series of catastrophic errors in the final few minutes of the Richmond, Bulldogs and now, Hawthorn games. But amid the disappointments, there is still a bit to like. Tom Papley's work inside 50 was a treat on Thursday night and the last quarter goal where he pushed off and turned Luke Hodge, of all people, was a treat. And Aliir Aliir clearly belongs at the level. Twice in six days he performed well in finals-like conditions. The Swans’ backline is evolving before our eyes, but he's a keeper.

3. We harped on the decline and fall of North Melbourne last week, so no need to keep piling it on. But with so much to play for, the opening quarter against Port Adelaide on Saturday was pitiful, even allowing for the controversial opening goal. There were reasons, excuses even, why the Kangas dropped five of their previous six before Saturday, but this time, playing on their home deck and with several big guns back, there were no excuses. It is hard to see them winning too many more unless they change a few things up.

4. Not sure Carlton-West Coast at the MCG will rank among the career highlights of Joe Biden's eight years as Vice President of the United States, unless perhaps he was able to enjoy a quiet beverage in the Bullring Bar at half-time. But he did see Carlton's faint finals hopes extinguished for good and West Coast chalk up an all-too-infrequent win at the MCG. It was hardly an inspiring performance from the Eagles and they fell into a hole towards the end, but they had a look at the MCG and will do so again in a fortnight against Collingwood. They'll want to play a bit better.

5. Way to finish, Sainters. The cool, clinical kill of the Demons in the final quarter on Sunday bodes well for St Kilda, even if the Saints ultimately fall a game or so short of the finals this year. Melbourne got to within five points early in the final quarter, before the Saints put the game away in a matter of minutes. They're the great entertainers, the Saints, with their hard running, their tackling and their multiple scoring options close to goal. Saturday night against the Dogs will be loads of fun and a bit like a tennis match with the ball shooting from end to end at frenetic pace.

6. Justin Leppitsch is coaching for his career on Sunday. Lose to Essendon at Etihad on Sunday afternoon (CrownBet already has the Bombers $1.60 favourite) and the Lions are likely to go 1-21 for the season. 'Leppa' is one of the good guys, to be sure, but that's not a record the Lions can take into next season without instituting all sorts of changes at the football club. 

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