The numbers that matter
The big winners of Round 17
The AFL's accountants are probably the big winners to come out of last weekend after the league handed down more than 30 individual fines totalling more than $60,000 (less if all accepted with guilty pleas).
Three separate matches involved some on-field scraps, none bigger than up on the Gold Coast where no fewer than 17 players were sanctioned for various misconduct, led by Ben Long whose hit on Brayden Maynard will see him out for the next two weeks.
Maynard and Touk Miller both avoided suspensions for intentional umpire contact after they were fortunate enough to cop "other misconduct" charges, albeit both with heavy fines of $5,000 each.
As far as the actual footy was concerned, it was another big step forward for Josh Fraser's Carlton Blues as they held on a late and high-pressure charge from Richmond to step back into the wildcard zone and finish the weekend there.
Whilst defeating the Tigers is nothing to crow about, it was the nature of the performance that was most encouraging for the Blues.
Michael Voss' Carlton were guilty of far too many fourth-quarter fadeouts at the start of the season, particularly against Collingwood and North Melbourne when they did all the hard work in the third quarter.
For the third time in five weeks - against Geelong, Essendon and now Richmond - they were able to hold their nerve and maintain their execution to complete the job.
Now it'll be interesting to see if the possibility of a finals finish sees the pressure return, after Fraser's 'nothing to lose' attitude got them here.
The big losers of Round 17
Six weeks ago, Geelong Cats knocked off early season Premiership favourrites Sydney with 32 scoring shots and still looked as though there was a bit of room for improvement.
Chris Scott not only agrees that Geelong still have a lot of improving to do, he argued after Thursday night's loss to Brisbane that the Cats are still "going well enough to beat anyone, anywhere".
Scott blamed the draw for Geelong's run of four losses in five weeks, which is a strange mentality to have for a coach that claims he's managing a squad still capable of a Premiership given three of those defeats were all to clubs now above them on the ladder now that they have fallen from fourth to seventh.
In his defence, three of those losses were accompanied by single-digit margins, so if they can iron out an uncharacteristically high error and turnover rate that has crept into their game, they should be good enough to turn things around just in time.
At the very least, a three-game run home against Essendon, North Melbourne and Richmond could give them an ideal springboard to head into September in winning form.
Team of the Week
Here are the star performers of the week as determined by individual scores from the AFL.com official fantasy game. The league's most expensive man justified his price this weekend with a massive 46 disposals and seven marks.
Who kicked big bags this week?
After a very few quiet weeks for the leading goalkickers of the competition, there was a little bit of shuffling around this week and a few old fashioned 'big bags'.
Jake Stringer booted 7.2 in the Giants' surprise win over ladder leaders Fremantle.
Charlie Curnow moved to within one goal of the Coleman Medal with six against the Bulldogs - taking his tally against them to 13 this year - whilst there were five each for Kai Lohmann, Patrick Dangerfield, Jacob van Rooyen, Bayley Fritsch, and Mabior Chol.
Goal of the Week
Mark of the Week
The naughty boys
Suspensions:
Ben Long - Rough conduct - 2 matches
Major fines:
Touk Miller - Other misconduct - $5000 fine
Brayden Maynard - Other misconduct - $5000 fine
Jai Newcombe - Striking - $2000 or $3000 fine
Luke Davies-Uniacke - Rough conduct - $2000 or $3000 fine
Josh Lai - Rough conduct - $2000 or $3000 fine
Harrison Himmelberg - Striking - $1500 or $2500 fine
Minor fines:
Toby Greene - Other misconduct - $1000 or $1500 fine
Stephen Coniglio - Attempted trip - $1000 or $1500 fine
George Wardlaw - Umpire contact - $1000 or $1500 fine
The following players were also hit with $1000 fines for the three weekend melees: Connor Idun, Caleb Serong, Toby Greene, Patrick Voss, Mac Andrew, Touk Miller, Ben Long, Zeke Uwland, Jordan De Goey, Harry Perryman, Billy Frampton, Brayden Maynard, Nick Holman, Noah Anderson, Joel Jeffrey, Bailey Humphrey, Sam Collins, Will Powell, Billy Frampton, Jack Crisp, Beau McCreery, Jeremy Howe, Jasper Alger, Rhyan Mansell, Seth Campbell, Lachlan Cowan and Oliver Florent.
Next weekend's fixtures
Aaron Murphy has been with Flashscore since 2018 and, as the founding editor of the Australian newsdesk, has reported on-site at several major events in Melbourne including the Australian Open, State of Origin, A-League, NBL and international cricket. You can read his pieces here and contact him on X or LinkedIn.
