Round 23: In 2 minutes or less

Without delay lets review another huge round...

First of all at Marvel Stadium Sydney have pretty much locked in a minor premiership despite a blip and Essendon are Essendone; as their finals hopes are officially done and dusted. Heeney was big for the swans again as they take on Adelaide next week at home. Meanwhile Essendon fans are in even more anger after Dyson Heppell was denied a farewell game at the last home game of the season. Moving into Saturday and after a week of media turmoil and many bin-fires, Melbourne record a thumping 54 point win against a Gold Coast side who seemingly did not show up after half time. Jack Viney was everywhere for Melbourne and the 3 tall forwards put on 10 goals between them. Moving on to a huge final shaping clash as the Dockers fall out of the 8 after a loss to the Giants who have now locked in a top 4 spot. Jesse Hogan kicked 6 goals against his former side to put the Coleman medal race to bed. Andrew Brayshaw's 41 disposals was not enough for the dockers who now must win against Port Adelaide and rely on other results to go their way. The Grand Final rematch did not disappoint as we saw the clutch kings Collingwood take a 1 point win over the Lions; who once again dropped a 3 quarter time lead for the second week in a row. This has seen the Lions likely to miss out on a top 4 spot now and Collingwood have a very minor chance of making finals, but a lot has to go right. We move in Showdown 56 as the 2 south Australian teams went at it with Port Adelaide coming up with the goods. This clash had everything in it as expected, with Josh Rachele continuing on from his media statement earlier in the week and angering the loyal port supporters. Dan Houston is in very hot water for a bump on Izak Rankine, who left the ground on a stretcher. The latest news on both players will be in the Midweek News Wrap on Wednesday. And to the last game on a super Saturday of football the saints, who were down by 33 at half time came back against the cats in the second half to win the game. Ross Lyon's men have taken another big scalp which will help with encouragement for next season as they look to make finals in 2025. Meanwhile the cats spot in the top 4 is not locked in with teams coming hard for it in the final round. Onto Sunday now and we saw two 60+ point thrashings with little to talk about with North getting trounced by the finals contender Bulldogs and Richmond getting beaten by another finals contender in Hawthorn. Sam Darcy was huge for the doggies with 7 goals to solidify his improvement as a player this season. In troubling news for the Hawks Will Day may be out for weeks after coming from the ground with an injury which is a big blow for the team should be miss an extended time. And to the last game of the round, Carlton, with a massive injury list that many of their key names are on, absolutely smashed a west coast side which seemed helpless. Patrick Cripps was huge as the blues silenced doubters and gave themselves a spot in the top 8, just needing to win against the Saints next weeks to lock in finals, although this is no certainty. The finals race is heating up with a huge final round next week which will not only decide which of the 9 teams left in it (Collingwood has a very very tiny chance so they do not count) but also the positions that these teams will start in and the match-ups come finals time which is just around the corner...

That's it for this round in just 2 minutes, but do not worry as there is lots more content coming your way this week. The Midweek wrap already looks jam-packed with the latest tribunal, finals race, Dan Houston, Shai Bolton, Christian Petracca and league-wide news. That is coming your way Wednesday. On Friday morning your Round Preview will be up and ready. Thanks for your readership and considering subscribing to The Sporting Maniac with the link below to be a part of something that is growing bigger and bigger by the week...

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