AFL 2024: Sydney's Dominant Victory in the Harbour City Derby

Ladder leaders Sydney took the honours in the 28th Derby of the Harbour City with a deserved 28-point victory over their arch, crosstown, rivals GWS at Engie Stadium.

The Swans adapted quicker and better to the wet and slippery conditions with a ten-goal burst through the middle of the encounter, setting them well on their way.

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It’s now thirteen-one for John Longmire’s squad, their best win-loss record at this season stage since 1918, who have been head and shoulders above the rest.

Midfielder Errol Gulden (pictured below) (41 disposals, 10 marks, 973 metres gained, and a goal) picked up his third consecutive Brett Kirk Medal for a best-on-ground display.

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Speaking in the rooms to Swans TV, the 21-year-old said, “It’s pretty cool to have Kirky here and that medal. Obviously, it is named after him, and to win it a few times now, it is pretty special.”

He went on, “We put a lot of emphasis on our start this week; obviously, we have started slow the last month. They’re a really strong side, and we knew that they would get a run on us at some point with the way they play and a high-momentum game. But it was a really strong team performance, adapted to the conditions well, I thought, and a good win against a tough opposition.”

“We have been really big on celebrating the little things this year, who we are as players and then bringing our strengths to the game. I thought, again tonight, we all brought our strengths, we all played our role, and for the majority, were really strong in our roles and execution.”

AFL 2024: Carlton thrashed the Cats

Carlton flexed their muscles and made an emphatic statement that they are the real deal this year, in terms of flag contenders, after thumping Geelong by 63 points.

They were awesome, led for the whole evening and, with a very strong finish, recorded their biggest winning margin over the Cats since 1987.

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This contest saw the hyped-up battle of the De Koning brothers, who played on each other for large periods, with elder Tom (pictured above, left) getting one over on his younger sibling Sam (pictured above, right).

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Speaking on the ground to Channel 7 after the siren, TDK said, “I wasn’t expecting him to be in the ruck; it was a pleasant surprise, and I just loved the battle against him.”

His mum and dad were in the crowd, and he replied, “They would have been going wild up there. We had the whole family up there and got 15 tickets this week. So they would have loved the whole game, and good to get the win this time.”

Asked about his current form, he responded “I know my role back to front now, I’ve got the trust of my team mates and I have the upmost trust in them to get their roles done, so that helps me a lot and I am really enjoying my footy at the moment.”

AFL 2024: Lions roar in South Australia

Eric Hipwood continued his fine form in front of the big sticks by booting another five majors as Brisbane travelled interstate and thrashed a disappointing Port Adelaide.

The result lifts last year’s Grand Finalists, who put up over a hundred on the scoreboard for a third consecutive game, into the eight for the first time this season.

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Co-captain Harris Andrews (pictured above) debuted in 2015 and made club history by becoming the first player from any of the four Northern Academies to play 200 AFL games.

In the presser, delighted coach Chris Fagan (pictured below) said, “Against Port, you have to win the contest and territory battle, and we were able to do that today. The ball sort of lived in our half, and we were able to score well off forward half turnovers. Our boys around the ball did a good job facilitating that.”

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He continued, “We have been in good form for about the last seven weeks, I reckon – won five, had a draw, and Hawthorn got us; it was an equal shots game.”

“We have just gone back to the ‘one game at a time’ mantra, and gradually, our form has been built. The Bulldogs game, a couple of weeks ago, and today have been fairly complete performances in every facet of the game.”

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“It is exciting to see that because we have got a lot of young players playing, too, so we are taking some steps in the right direction, and hopefully, we can keep building.”

AFL 2024: ‘The Package’ kicks a bag

Jake ‘The Package’ Stringer (pictured below) booted five goals as Essendon moved up to third place but was pushed by a much improved and plucky West Coast outfit.

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Although they led for most of the evening, the Bombers were never really able to shake off and pull away from the visitors until the closing stages of the contest.

Despite the defeat, Eagles coach Adam Simpson hailed his side’s effort as their “best away performance of the year” and saw some encouraging signs.

AFL 2024: Demons edge Kangas in tense finish

An unconvincing Melbourne breathed a huge sigh of relief at the final siren after grimly hanging on and getting over the line against a fast-finishing North.

It has been a difficult couple of weeks for them, compounded by the news that star midfielder Christian Petracca will be out for the rest of the season with multiple injuries. It looked like it might get even worse for coach Simon Goodwin (pictured below).

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He watched his team go completely pointless in the final term while the Kangas scored the last five goals of the encounter to get within a kick in the final minutes.

Although they ultimately came out on the wrong side of the ledger, the bottom-placed side has shown real growth in these last three weeks, which will hearten their fans.

Closing out the round, over in the west, Fremantle responded to last week’s horror show with a much better display that helped see off the challenge of Gold Coast.

Coach Justin Longmuir (pictured below) had put the heat on his senior players by claiming that “guys were worried more about how many possessions they got than how they competed in the contest, how they pressured the opposition and how they defended”.

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However, he would have been delighted with their response as the Dockers managed a pressure factor of 195 across the game, a big metric in the outcome.

For the Suns, it is yet another road defeat, which raises further questions and is proving to be a real Achilles heel in their quest for a first-ever finals appearance.