Round 13 is in the books with teams continuing to take well-earned rests with the bye.
While two sides sat out, we still had eight games of footy across five days as rivals faced off, Thursday night footy returned and Melbourne took the cake on King’s Birthday.
Here’s what we learned from the weekend.
Come on down, Melbourne
That’s the performance we’ve all been waiting for from Melbourne.
Rated as perhaps the competition’s best list, something was missing in the Demons’ first 12 weeks despite them sitting 8-4 heading into King’s Birthday.
With no real results of significance in the last 12 months, Melbourne’s four-point win over Collingwood will give Simon Goodwin and his troops the confidence that they’re a genuine contender again.
In finals-like conditions, the Demons proved there is a way to stop the high-flying Magpies and they’ll be confident of backing up that performance should the sides meet in a final later in the year.
We’ve learned in recent years it’s all about timing your run, are Melbourne about to begin their charge to September?
Richmond can still make the eight
While they looked dead and buried just a few weeks ago, Richmond have found something under Andrew McQualter to keep their finals hopes alive.
The big guns in Tim Taranto, Shai Bolton, Toby Nankervis, Jayden Short and Dustin Martin are all building in form and you can see the belief growing.
Even though they have a 5-1-7 record following their win over Fremantle on Saturday night, the Tigers are just six points out of the eight as the draw begins to open up for them.
In the current form that they’re in, Richmond are every chance of going 7-3 in their last 10 games which could be enough to sneak in and play in September.
The Tigers play all of West Coast, Hawthorn and North Melbourne on the run home and if they win all of those, they may only need to go 4-3 in their other fixtures with winnable games against St Kilda twice, Sydney at home and the Western Bulldogs to come.
It’d be an incredible effort from here, but the heart is still well and truly beating at Punt Road.
The Western Bulldogs look like they’re going to blow another golden top-four opportunity
The Western Bulldogs have failed to leap into the echelon of the competition’s elite just as the perfect opportunity presented itself.
With a three-game stretch set to define their season at the start of Round 11 with Gold Coast (away), Geelong and Port Adelaide awaiting them, many hoped the Bulldogs would rise above their adversaries and prove they’re a contender.
Clearly though, they’re not, with the loss to the Power on Friday night their third-consecutive defeat.
While the Dogs have a strong list and should win more games than they lose on the run home, they again look destined to finish somewhere between fifth and eighth.
Incredibly, the Dogs haven’t finished in the top four since 2010, and that’s all while winning a premiership in 2016, making a Grand Final in 2021 and generally being considered a flag threat under Luke Beveridge since just about the start of his reign.
It must be so frustrating for Bulldogs fans given the obvious talent at their disposal and the hopes of becoming a powerhouse at the start of each season.
Unless things change quickly, it just looks like 2023 will be another one of those good but not great campaigns.
North Melbourne’s midfield is going to be scary in a couple of years
They might have lost 11 straight games, but positive signs are starting to show at Arden Street.
The jewel in the crown is becoming the side’s midfield with top-five picks George Wardlaw and Harry Sheezel beginning to flourish on-ball.
Just as Wardlaw and SHeezel are showing their wares, the often-forgotten pick No. 3 from the 2020 draft Will Phillips is also showing why he was so highly rated as a youngster.
Add in the likes of Luke Davies-Uniacke and Jy Simpkin who might just be the best of the lot and still have plenty of footy ahead of them, and you’re looking at perhaps the competition’s most exciting midfield unit projecting five years down the line.
While it’ll take some time to get there, you get the feeling it’ll all be worth it if these young guns keep tracking in this upward fashion.
Despite winning a final at the venue in 2022, Brisbane’s MCG hoodoo still exists
We all thought Brisbane may have extinguished their fears of playing at the MCG when they beat Melbourne in last year’s semi-final, but Saturday’s loss to a developing Hawthorn side proves the venue still haunts the Lions.
That loss to the Hawks marked their 13th loss from their last 14 trips to the venue and they’ve only won the one game at the ground since becoming a top-four team in 2019, that victory against the Dees.
No one has any doubts that the Lions are one of the best teams in it, but to win it all they’re going to have to do it on the biggest stage at the ground that has caused them so much trouble.
They’d want to find something at the MCG in the second half of the season or this curse will continue to hover over the club’s players and fans if they make it to the last Saturday in September.
Nic Martin is bolting into the All-Australian side
Essendon’s Nic Martin could be set for a maiden All-Australian berth in just his second season of AFL footy.
While the silky wingman was already highly rated at The Hangar for playing his role brilliantly in 2022 and the start of 2023, his game has gone to a new level in the last month.
His 30-disposal performance against Carlton on Sunday came on the back of most likely being in the votes in all of his previous three games as he now averages 22 touches, six score involvements and five marks a game this season.
If selectors go with wingmen in 2023, Martin could be etching his name into one of those slots with Collingwood’s Josh Daicos looking likely for the other side of the ground.
It’s been a remarkable rise for the Subiaco product that was playing in the WAFL just two years ago.