Mid-season report: Magpies set to miss finals for a fourth year
Collingwood have stayed competitive in 2017, their greatest losing margin just 23 points, but the bottom line remains a win-loss record of 5-7 and top eight chances fading fast.
Rohan Connolly, a senior football writer for The Age and radio broadcaster with sports radio station 1116 SEN, has been covering the game since 1983. A multi-AFL Media Association award-winner known for his passion and love of the game, he analyses the AFL for the newspaper and contributes a blog and weekly video, "Footy Fix", for The Age's football website, Real Footy.
Collingwood have stayed competitive in 2017, their greatest losing margin just 23 points, but the bottom line remains a win-loss record of 5-7 and top eight chances fading fast.
Blues bloom, Dayne Beams inspires, Crows and Sloane play tag, and form is temporary - but quality permanent.
The pieces of the Essendon jigsaw puzzle are starting to come together. And so is the way they play their football.
Coach John Worsfold is optimistic form against Port Adelaide will be closer to the norm for Essendon.
Some games meander along for much of their duration in search of an obvious narrative. The storyline for this one, in contrast, was written after 15 minutes.
In the tightest of AFL seasons, 2017 could be one year where the fixture proves pivotal to which teams make the finals and who misses out.
Dream on WA. Victoria would be in a league of their own in a new state-of-origin clash.
Nearly 20 years on from when it last played, how would a hypothetical Allies state-of-origin team shape up now? Pretty decently.
Brain fades, Thursday night games, how Martin frees up Cotchin and proves the spotlight of media speculation doesn't hurt some players.
In the tightest of AFL seasons, factors like injuries, luck, even umpiring, are making a difference. But none as profoundly as where the games are played.
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