• The run home: Are the Crows September-bound?
• Nine things we learned from round 15
• Forecast the final eight with the 2014 ladder predictor
• Fantasy round review: Veteran big guns remind coaches why they'll always be royals
• Around the state leagues: Waite injured, De Boer returns

THE PLAN for this week's column was to introduce somewhere around the middle a new running item called "This year's Grand Final will be between…"

But it took 45 minutes of activity on and off the field late on Sunday to add further twists to what is shaping as the most wide open premiership race in years. So we have raised this new item to the top.

On the field, Port Adelaide's loss to Adelaide knocked it from the top of the ladder for the first time since round eight, back to second. Port's loss elevated the Hawks to first; a source of excitement for the club's social media team that immediately sent an image of the ladder out on Twitter.

The lofty ladder position is a great achievement considering their injuries and their absentee coach, but did little to cheer the Hawk nation given that only 45 minutes before that came the shattering news that star forward Cyril Rioli hadn't pinged just the hamstring muscle but the tendon as well, meaning eight to 10 weeks on the sidelines. Do the maths and he won't play before the finals, perhaps not again until next season.

The Hawks still have to play six of the current top eight before the finals, plus the resurgent Adelaide, but without Rioli, do they have the brilliance, or the X-factor to successfully negotiate a number of difficult assignments that include the Crows and Fremantle on the road and return engagements against the Sydney Swans, Geelong and Collingwood?

The Swans have a softer draw than the Hawks, with just two likely finalists still to play, and could well overtake them by the end of August. So too could Fremantle, whose last eight matches feature just three (Geelong, Hawthorn and Port) teams in the top eight.

Our weekly run home column breaks down the race to September in greater detail than this but the events of late Sunday afternoon illustrate just how the finely-balanced the season is.

But we promised a prediction for the Grand Final and here it is: Sydney Swans v Fremantle. But this is an opinion business, meaning I reserve the right to change my mind … every week!

The greatest Motlop

With those two last quarter goals against Essendon on Friday night, one that will be a goal of the year contender, Geelong's Steven Motlop confirmed, at least to these eyes, that he is the best Motlop of them all.

WATCH: Geelong v Essendon - the last two minutes
Brother Shannon (64 games for North Melbourne and Melbourne) was a handy footballer and other brother Daniel (130 games for North and Port Adelaide) could be spectacular at times, but Steven is proving himself to be a match-winner and a super-important part of Geelong as the team settles in for the run home to the finals.

Cousin Marlon, by the way, played five games for Port Adelaide as well.

Once the Cats steadied at the start of the final quarter against the Bombers, they always appeared more likely to win the game. As teams like St Kilda, Collingwood, the Western Bulldogs and Hawthorn know all too well, the Cats always have the faith and ability to win the close ones. They do it better than anyone.

The usual suspects all played well for Geelong when things got tight on Friday night. But Motlop's work was special, particularly considering that he left the ground early in the final quarter with a knee injury that appeared, momentarily, as if it would sideline him for the rest of the match.

The Motlops have always had the brilliance, as Steven demonstrated on Friday night. But the newest member of the family might have the rest covered for toughness as well because his final quarter on the big stage was sublime.

Much has been made of whether Geelong is on the skids, but there will be no obituaries for the Cats coming from this column. They have too many good players, too much big-game experience and Motlop-esque magic to be discounted from premiership calculations, particularly with this year's race being the most wide-open for many years.

QUESTION TIME

Sunday night football: yay or nay?
The 40,936 crowd for the Collingwood-Carlton game at the MCG probably marked the death-knell for Sunday night football for the foreseeable future, which for the AFL, means the two remaining years of this TV rights deal and a reasonable chunk of whatever deal is signed next.

It was the smallest MCG crowd featuring these two clubs since 1921 and the fourth smallest in 65 games there between them overall.

LOWEST CARLTON-COLLINGWOOD CROWDS AT THE MCG
CROWDRESULTWHEN
51140Carl 20.10 (130) d Coll 5.12 (42)SF, 1931
48287Carl 19.15 (129) d CollR20, 2005
47813Carl 20.16 (136) d CollR15, 1987
47335Coll 9.10 (64) d Carl 6.10 (46)SF, 1919
46447Carl 23.19 (157) d Coll 11.16 (82)PF, 1932
42790Coll 9.7 (61) d Carl 6.11 (47)GF, 1910
40936Coll 13.13 (91) d Carl 11.10 (76)R15, 2014
39343Carl 11.12 (78) d Coll 6.9 (45) GFGF, 1915
37813Carl 9.11 (65) d Coll 7.10 (52) SFSF, 1921
14000Carl 11.10 (76) d Coll 4.6 (30)SF, 1905

Melbourne's foul, wintry weather no doubt contributed to the paltry figure but because this is 2014, the crowd number will only tell part of the story and we can expect a triumphant media release from Channel Seven this week, in which the TV ratings for the game will be spun into the stratosphere.

And given the Blues were able to keep things close until late, the TV figures should be healthy.

But the Sunday night experiment has been a fizzer. And it has been an experiment, with six matches overall – four in Victoria – inserted into the fixture by the AFL this year as a trial balloon ahead of next year's negotiations for the new media rights deal.

The Essendon-Carlton game at the MCG in round three attracted 62,730, but the round one season opener between Carlton and Port drew less than 25,000 to Etihad, while North Melbourne and Richmond the night before the Queen's Birthday long weekend was attended by a touch under 33,000 fans.

None of the figures are earth-shattering enough to suggest that there is an appetite for football in this timeslot, as the AFL has all but conceded.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire, who angrily called for his club to be compensated after Sunday night's game, said earlier on the weekend with absolute conviction that a more fan-friendly fixture, particularly in the Victorian heartland, was on the cards for 2015.

If new AFL boss Gillon McLachlan was under any illusions about what fan-friendly means, he only needs to cast his mind back a week, when more than 70,000 were at the MCG for a traditional 2.10pm Saturday clash between Hawthorn and Collingwood.

The AFL is currently surveying fans about all sorts of issues to do with the game, including fixturing. We fully expect a big 'yay' for Saturday afternoon games. Sunday nights? Not so much.

Is Tom Rockliff now the spiritual leader of the Brisbane Lions?
It would seem so. As Jonathan Brown drifts off into the Gabba sunset stubby in hand, the feisty Rockliff has moved quickly to fill his shoes. Jed Adcock may be the skipper of the Lions, but he is very much of the 'do as I do' school. Not Rockliff, who shoots from the hip before, during, and as was the case on Saturday night against North Melbourne, after games as well. His post-match verbal altercation with Boomer Harvey was unusual but did send a message that while Brown might be gone, there is some steel and bravado about this Brisbane side. All power to him, I say. And it's not like this was the first time Rockliff has acted in that manner. Before the season-opener against Hawthorn, he warned the Hawks that he would be coming after them and he gave Sam Mitchell a physical and verbal working-over all afternoon.



Ashley Browne: Slowly, but surely the AFL is bringing in the technology that will make for easier and more clear-cut goal-line reviews. But we haven't quite escaped the twilight zone just yet, with some venues more enabled for the technology than others, while we are also in the hands of the broadcasters, with their different camera angles and placements. In an era where 'integrity' is the AFL's buzzword, it is imperative that the same goal-line technology is made available at every AFL venue and as quickly as possible.



AB: Lots of questions from North Melbourne supporters, who continue to tear their hair out. Good enough to beat Fremantle and Sydney on the road, but not the Brisbane Lions. I'm not sure it's on the coach, nor is it the absence of any 'Shinboner Spirit' as some correspondents alluded to. The problems might be structural – too many extractors and not enough distributors. The absence of Daniel Wells has hurt the Kangas this year because they don't hurt sides with outside run in the manner of Port, the Swans and the Hawks. The forward line remains a problem and Drew Petrie aside, has been a revolving door all year. At this stage, the Kangaroos are deserving finalists, but they don't belong in the top four or perhaps even the top six. Still, the Hawks await at Etihad on Friday night and what the Kangas have shown this year is they are dangerous on the rebound.



AB: I'm sure the Bulldogs will at least ask the question of the AFL, but it might fall back on the words I learned on my first day of Year 11 Legal Studies – "caveat emptor" (buyer beware). Some form of compensation for the Bulldogs would create a whole raft of other issues and create an unwelcome precedent for the AFL. Compensation is one of a myriad of questions facing the AFL as this episode continues to evolve.





AB: Before Saturday I was tempted to nominate the Suns, but they were bullied all over Aurora Stadium by the Hawks. Port Adelaide qualifies as a young side that could win a flag in the next three years. The rate of improvement under Ken Hinkley has been remarkable.



AB: Interesting tweet this one. Not sure if you're a Swans supporter but the amount of "I can't believe how hard Buddy works" sentiment from Swans people this year is remarkable. It smacks of ignorance and perhaps even arrogance. People seem to forget that for all his flamboyance away from the game, Franklin was ultra-professional with his preparation and in games while he was at Hawthorn. If he needed to be don the cape and win the game for the team off his own boot that's what he would do. If he had to sacrifice his own game for the sake of the team, then he could do that as well, which was certainly the case last year. He was part of a great culture at the Hawks, every bit the equal of the so-called "Bloods culture" at the Swans, but rest assured, he worked just as hard in other years as he is in 2014.



AB: The umpires would say absolutely not. But I have always wondered whether subconsciously, they give the superstars the green light for things such as the quick handball under pressure that might otherwise be a throw, or the tackle that might otherwise be illegal because, well, they are the superstars capable of great acts of skill. Do serial offenders for things such as hands in the back or tackling without the ball get a fair shake from the umpires on the occasions when they don't infringe? The umpires swear black and blue they do. Players and officials sometimes think differently.

AB: There is nothing to be gained when coaches approach players from opposition teams on the ground. Never worked for Kevin Sheedy with Mitchell White, or for Mick Malthouse with Stephen Milne. There was opportunity for Scott to privately make his feelings known towards Rockliff, particularly when as a former Lions player himself there are numerous ways he can reach out to Rockliff. As noted earlier, there is a feistiness about Rockliff that is to be admired and it is not unlike the way Scott himself used to go about it.



AB: Luke Hodge in 2014: 12 games, 12 free kicks for, 12 against. Gary Ablett in 2014: 14 games, 21 free kicks for, 21 against. What do those figures tell you?