Friday Fallout: Don't let the Crows' ladder position fool you

Friday

Adelaide vs Fremantle

Ignore Adelaide’s ladder position, they are still elite!

Despite starting the season with only one victory from four games, after failing to complete a dramatic comeback against Fremantle, the Crows proved that they are still one of the heavyweights of the competition.

Adelaide let Fremantle get out to a 34-point lead during the third quarter but exploded after that to turn the Easter Friday clash into a nailbiter. The Crows ended up losing by a mere two points, but in the final moments of the game, Ben Keays, Finnbar Maley and James Borlase all missed scorable shots at goal for the Crows.

Each of Adelaide’s losses this year have come by under eight points, and they have all been against elite competition.

Don’t let the Crows 1-3 record fool you, the 2025 minor premiers are definitely still flag contenders this season.

Connor Scanlon

Is Carlton's loss to North a fatal Voss blow?

Death, taxes, and Carlton losing a match after leading at halftime.

Good Friday proved anything but for Carlton, who have now suffered their third loss in four games with North Melbourne winning by 10 points at Marvel Stadium.

Once again, the Blues had the lead at quarter time and half time, although by a slim margin compared to last week's loss to the Demons.

However, this time they managed to extend their lead in the third quarter to 22 points.

But despite that lead, the Blues were overrun by the Kangaroos, who kicked 7.3 in the final quarter to Carlton's 2.1.

Francis Evans did have a chance to take the lead with just over two minutes, but pushed it through for a behind.

When asked by Stephen Quartermain post-game as to whether this was a 'choke', former West Coast coach Adam Simpson believed it was.

"You're gonna have to say yes, I mean, they conceded all that score," he said on AFL Nation.

"I just thought they got beaten at their own game. I thought they got beaten around the ball in the contest, and clearances were 15 to 10 in the last quarter.

"What I did see pretty clearly is a bit of panic, you know, with a surge kick, and it was a handball, or a kick that just got smothered, and just the inevitable sort of was happening, wasn't it?

"So, a bit of mental demons that would have been running through their head no doubt after one, (Jacob) Weitering going down and two, just the momentum shift around the contest."

Clearly, the attention now turns to under fire coach Michael Voss who has sat on the bench and watched his side collapse on multiple occasions already this season.

It's a recurring nightmare he cannot escape, so much so you can't help but feel for him.

With clashes against Adelaide, Collingwood and Fremantle next up, the question now is how much more patience does Carlton have with Voss?

Nicholas Quinlan

Thursday

Brisbane vs Collingwood

The Brisbane Lions put the rest of the competition on notice after demolishing Collingwood by 54 points on Thursday night.

The ravenous Lions feasted on a depleted Magpies side on Easter Thursday at the Gabba, proving that they are intent on making it a three-peat of premierships.

But it must be noted that without superstar Nick Daicos, who was a late withdrawal with a corked calf, as well as captain and key defensive figure Darcy Moore and composed veteran Scott Pendlebury, the Pies are just a fairly average team.

They were lucky the Lions couldn’t finish a set shot otherwise it might have ballooned out to 70-plus points.

It was a Lions onslaught - they had 34 scoring shots to 15, 64 inside 50s to 45, 42 clearances to 24, 131 contested possessions to 92, 150 marks to 71, they kicked 72 points from stoppage which is the most the Pies have conceded from stoppage since 2019… the list goes on.

Chris Fagan’s back-to-back side weirdly looked stronger last night even without Hugh McCluggage and Harris Andrews. They had Keidean Coleman back in form, prized recruit Oscar Allen kicked three goals in his best Lions showing, Bruce Reville was excellent on the wing, Ty Gallop did the job as a defender, and Sam Draper took some nice grabs.

The usual suspects all played well - Lachie Neale, Will Ashcroft, Dayne Zorko, Zac Bailey, Josh Dunkley… the list goes on.

Beware the hungry Lion.

You could usually pin a Collingwood team based on its defensive system. That would normally keep them in games - which it did at stages - but overall it was a night to forget for Craig McRae’s Pies.

They badly need Daicos, Moore and Pendles back. And it gets no easier with Freo in Gather Round.

Andrew Slevison