What a cracker … Fremantle v Geelong
Of the two matches on Anzac Day, prevailing wisdom held that there would be one close encounter and one blow-out. That’s exactly how it turned out, but it caught everyone by surprise when Fremantle pushed the Cats to one point and Collingwood-Essendon was the landslide.

Urged on by a parochial home crowd, Fremantle bolted to a shock 39-point lead in the second quarter before Geelong put on a devastating blitz to trail by two points at half-time. Unfazed, Fremantle pulled away once more to lead by 25 points at the final change only to be reeled in once again.

Even then they had the chanced to win it, but Matthew Pavlich’s set shot in the dying seconds ricocheted off the post to deny the Fremantle Dockers a famous – and many would argue deserved – victory. 

Player of the Round … Aaron Sandilands
Paul Medhurst laid a strong early claim with his six-goal, Anzac Medal-winning performance for the Pies, but you just can’t ignore a performance like the one Aaron Sandilands turned in against Geelong.

At his size (211 cm) he’s expected to get his hands on the ball first a lot, but 42 hitouts! That’s a mammoth figure in anyone’s language and he backed it up in other areas of his game with numbers worthy of a small onballer.

When the final siren sounded to break purple hearts across the country, the lion-hearted ruckman, who has drawn criticism for not doing enough around the ground, had a personal tally of 24 possessions (with 10 clearances), six marks, two tackles and a goal. 

I’m confused
Celebrating a draw has become quite the trend in recent weeks. Last week it was Nathan Brown going bananas at the sound of the final siren, only to reach for his mouth in disbelief upon the realisation that scores were actually tied.

Seven days later, same ground, and this time we had a double act. North Melbourne pair Brent Harvey and Brady Rawlings were all hugs at full time against the Sydney Swans.

Only problem was the scores were level … again. It seems bizarre that players can be so caught up in the game to not actually know the score. Would have been funny had Boomer and his mate gained possession in that final minute, thinking they were in front, and opted to run down the clock by chipping the ball back and forward to one another. Not sure if the coach would have found it amusing.

And while we’re on the draw …Can we all agree that the recent debate about extra-time isn’t needed?
The coaches involved in recent draws aren’t lobbying for added time and we aren’t hearing any players screaming out for it. A few in the media have raised the issue in light of last week’s draw, but why even consider taking away a unique part of our great game?

Both teams get premierships points – which as Paul Roos said can be as good as a win come the end of the season – and a draw always ends with a thrilling finale, with one side normally pushing into attack in the pursuit of a score.

And it’s not like we have draws coming out of our ears. What, there’s maybe two a year?

One for the vault … Cyril’s gem
Cyril Rioli, the little man in brown and gold, kicked arguably the goal of the round half-way through the third term on Sunday, and it turned out to be pretty important.

On a day when the Hawks were struggling to find the target, they were due to have a little luck. Well, Cyril had that, combined with a chunk of brilliance. Yes, the ball bounced his way a couple of times and all that but this first-year ripper knew exactly what he was doing.

That silky left foot found the mark again in the final term as Rioli helped the Hawks to a perfect 6-0 record.

How’s stat … Cameron Ling – the Cats’ red-headed, four-leafed clover
We’re not sure whether the Cats have taken to lining up to rub Cameron Ling’s head before each match, but there’s no doubt the master tagger brings the side good luck whenever he’s on the park. When Geelong snuck home by one point against Fremantle on Friday, Ling set a new VFL/AFL record by playing in his 25th consecutive winning team.

The only time the reigning premiers have lost in their last 26 outings – against Port Adelaide in round 21 last year – Ling was watching from the stands with a hamstring injury. (However Jimmy Bartel and Joel Selwood were also missing that day, so watch your back Lingy or that record might not be yours for long!)

He's a keeper … Garrick Ibbotson
Fremantle has brought Ibbotson along carefully since he was selected 26th overall in the 2005 NAB AFL Draft and that patient approach was validated to a large extent by the blinder the 20-year-old played in just his fourth AFL game.

Against opposition as classy as the Cats no less, the pacy midfielder had 27 disposals with an efficiency rating of 93 per cent to be one of the key factors in the near-upset. He also kicked a goal and took six marks to show the purple faithful he was worth the wait.   

On the long road back
A couple of weeks ago, Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams said the Power was the best team ever to be 0-4. Choco might well be proved to be correct.

Everyone knew Port Adelaide wasn’t playing too badly, but a lack of wins was a big concern at Alberton.

Now while the 2008 season is still only young, the Power look to be on their way back. Last year’s runners-up are suddenly 2-4 and appear in with a big chance to further improve their record when they travel to Telstra Dome to face the injury-hit Bombers this week.

Chad Cornes’ finger injury will hurt Choco’s men but he shouldn’t be missing too long, so things are definitely looking up for Port Adelaide.

There’s always next week for … St Kilda
But it really needs to start happening soon, next week against Richmond preferably, for the three-and-three Saints.

St Kilda coach Ross Lyon must be pining for the days when he was trying to keep a lid on things in the face of overwhelmingly positive publicity following a NAB Cup win and two wins to start of the home-and-away season.

It turns out he was right though; the Saints do have a lot of work to do before they can be considered a legitimate premiership threat. The contrast between the grinning team holding aloft the pre-season cup and Max Hudghton very publicly chewing out teammate Matt Maguire during Saturday’s loss to Port Adelaide is stark.

With just one win in the last month, serious questions are being asked of the club previously considered to be the obvious challenger to Geelong’s crown.

After a tough start to the season, the Tigers are hitting some form and will provide a stern test, but St Kilda simply must prevail if the club is serious about making a tilt at the top four this year.

And here we go …
Strap yourselves in folks, this is where it gets interesting.

After a somewhat predictable few days – we think most tipsters would have delivered profitable results in round six – this week’s round should tell us a tale.

The ladder is starting to take shape and we think we’re starting to get a decent form line as to who’s legit and who’s, well, perhaps going to be making up the numbers in 2008. But every one of the eight fixtured matches this week holds significant interest and will likely paint a clearer picture just where every AFL club sits in the bigger scheme.

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.