What they got right & wrong: The wins & woes from Round 16

There was plenty to take out of Round 16 with a full list of fixtures to choose from.

We take you through each of the nine matches and provide a positive or negative for each club stemming from that game.

See our assessments of each game below:

Brisbane v Melbourne

Lions overcame torrid term, butchered chances and calamitous errors

Brisbane managed to get up despite a shocking second quarter and a number of missed chances.

The Lions kicked 3.7 in the first quarter to lead by 14 points before conceding eight goals to the Demons own the second term. As a result they trailed by 23 points at half-time and it looked like it would be how far Melbourne.

But they ground their way back into the contest and found themselves within striking distance at the last break. The Lions scored seven of their 11 goals from their defensive half while keeping the Dees goalless in the final term.

Despite calamitous errors involving Eric Hipwood, Joe Daniher and Charlie Cameron in the final term, they got it done courtesy of a lovely Hugh McCluggage set shot from a tight angle after a kind free kick.

The Lions finished with 11.20, but thankfully this time the errant ways in front of goal that have plagued them in 2024 did not bite them again.

__Melbourne’s pressure, intensity and Pickett’s handful __

There was a clear plan to be physical and make it a fight, which Melbourne supporters wanted to see.

The Demons were colossal around the stoppage, winning contested possessions 154-130, centre clearances 14-7 and overall clearances 40-34, led by Jack Viney and a welcome return to form of Clayton Oliver.

Pressure and intensity - so prevalent in their recent success - were at the forefront on Friday night.

It resulted in 42 points (6.6) from stoppage to Brisbane’s 21 (albeit 2.9) which set them up for a potential victory. That aspect mixed with Kysaiah Pickett’s electric five-goal haul and you would have felt good as a Dees fan.

Pickett was dynamic in and around forward 50 and was oh so close to being the match-winner he has threatened to be.

However, the Dees did lose so there must be a negative. They played it too safe late and also missed some gilt-edged chances including ill-fated snaps from Ed Langdon and Bayley Fritsch.

Eventually they were overrun by a Lions side who were creating plenty of chances, succumbing in the dying stages after showing so much promise earlier in the night.

Andrew Slevison

Sydney v Fremantle

Is this loss Sydney needed to have?

Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating famously said that the economic downturn experienced in 1990 was the “recession that Australia had to have”.

Saturday’s upset loss to Fremantle is proof that the Swans still have plenty to work on ahead of September. The fact that Sydney has opened up a two-game buffer at the top of the ladder allows them to have the occasional off game.

However, John Longmire will want to address the problems quickly as Sydney were well off their best against the Dockers in front of a packed SCG crowd.

They almost managed to wrangle their way out of it, but Logan McDonald was unable to pull out the magic after the siren.

Nick Blakey's final quarter was excellent, while Sydney's slow start curse finally hurt them.

Has Fremantle uncovered the blueprint to stopping the Swans?

Opposition teams have been scratching their heads at how to stop the dynamic trio of Chad Warner, Errol Gulden and Isaac Heeney who are all having career-best seasons and will feature in Brownlow contention.

However, Fremantle demonstrated that with a whole team effort focused on pressure and stars willing to sacrifice possessions, it is possible to restrict the trio’s influence.

Caleb Serong and Andrew Brayshaw, who are automatic 30+ possession getters each week, only had 23 and 24 respectively but had 10 tackles between them. Nat Fyfe played a defensive role in the midfield which was crucial in the one-point win.

Warner, Gulden and Heeney ended the afternoon with 23, 21 and 20 touches respectively and none of them booted a goal for the match. Heeney's 20 touches were also the lowest he has had for the year.

Freo showed grit and determination to pull off a gutsy win which has them sitting third on the ladder.

Charles Goodsir

North Melbourne v Western Bulldogs

Roos backline holds up to stiff test

North Melbourne mightn’t have won, but their backline withstood the heat for the most part on Saturday afternoon.

The Dogs controlled the midfield battle for the majority of the match and turned that into 57 inside 50s, but only managed to take 10 marks in the forward arc and produce 77 points.

It speaks to how far this Kangaroos backline has come across the year, with the emergence of Kallan Dawson, Charlie Comben and Jackson Archer particularly impressive. Griffin Logue will slot back in at some stage as well.

When you consider the damage this Bulldogs forward line has done to North Melbourne in the past, it was a strong showing.

Dogs don’t maximise their opportunities

Despite causing 20 turnovers in their forward half, the Bulldogs only came away with four points from them.

Something that Luke Beveridge mentioned out of frustration in his post-match press conference, and fair enough given that could have put a significant gap between them and North Melbourne on the scoreboard.

By contrast, the Roos kicked 4.2 from their 15 forward-half turnovers, which ultimately kept them alive.

The Dogs got the four points and they’ll take it, but they certainly left some percentage on the table.

Nic Negrepontis

Gold Coast v Collingwood

Suns keep their home record perfect

Gold Coast’s 101-90 win over Collingwood at People First Stadium on Saturday night means their record at the venue in 2024 is 6-0.

While the Suns had taken care of the Tigers, Crows, Hawks, Eagles and Bombers at home this year, this was their first genuine scalp at the ground since knocking Brisbane off there in Round 20 of last season.

People First Stadium has become a genuine fortress for this side and while their last three games at the venue in 2024 come against three sides who finished top four on the ladder last campaign in Port Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne – there’s every chance they go in favourites for all of those games given how well they’re playing the ground.

That could take them to 11 wins and if they can just win a game or two away from home on the run home, that’s their finals berth ticked off.

The Daicos/De Goey connection is back

While Gold Coast have some of the competition’s best midfielders, they didn’t dominate in that area on Saturday as the Magpies won the clearance count 32-39.

Much of that was thanks to the efforts of Nick Daicos (two goals, 32 disposals, five clearances) and Jordan De Goey (two goals, 21 disposals, five clearances) as the duo combined out of the centre to almost drag their team over the line.

While Daicos and De Goey couldn’t quite pull their side to a win – with a fair few passengers alongside them playing in black and white – Collingwood would have been pretty chuffed to see their best midfield combination go to work immediately after rejoining given De Goey has only played twice since Round 7.

It was the duo that dragged them to a premiership in 2023 and they’ll need it firing if they’re to get close to back-to-back in 2024.

Collingwood’s key defence needs to come under the microscope

Collingwood’s key defence was found out in Saturday’s loss.

Darcy Moore simply didn’t have any kind of intercepting impact, which was disappointing given Billy Frampton was sent to the most dangerous tall in Ben King to allow him to do that.

Without Moore impacting, Frampton was torched by King pretty often in the first half as he kicked two goals.

The Pies did enough offensively to win, it was their defence that let them down.

While some of that was due to a lack of pressure up the ground, the Pies would want to work on their key defensive play and put some more heat on the ball-user coming inside 50.

It’s been a hallmark of their game and they must get back to it if they’re to genuinely challenge.

Lachlan Geleit

Adelaide v GWS Giants

Rankine builds midfield profile as Crows break GWS streak

The more time Izak Rankine spends in the midfield, the better he gets.

He was sublime on Saturday night, particularly in the first half when he amassed 21 disposals, five clearances, five score involvements and two goals.

The second quarter showing of 12 touches, two clearances and the two majors helped set up a seven-goal quarter to the Giants’ one. It gave the Crows a 33-point advantage at half-time.

Rankine is building a nice profile as a contested on-baller who possesses the ability to break away from contest while also capable of impacting on the scoreboard.

By getting up, it allowed Matthew Nicks’ Crows to end a four-game losing run to the Giants who had won the last three Adelaide Oval meetings.

Lack of contested work has Giants in a slump

What does Adam Kingsley do now?

The Giants appeared imperious earlier in the campaign when winning their first five and six of the first seven.

Since then they’ve won just two of eight and now find themselves on the outside of the eight and looking in.

Kingsley was unhappy with the way his side were around the contest, as evidenced by the fact they were beaten 36-44 at clearance and scored just 21 point from stoppage as opposed to Adelaide’s 54.

That outcome was crucial in a 16-point result.

What started as a promising season is now looking grim if they cannot snap out of this slump. But we’ve seen the Giants do that before…

Andrew Slevison

Geelong v Essendon

Tom Stewart on-ball move was a success

Chris Scott killed two birds with one stone by moving Tom Stewart on-ball, providing something different for his struggling defender and adding some much needed midfield depth to a struggling rotation.

Stewart had 23 disposals, eight marks, five tackles and four clearances in the win over the Bombers.

It remains a far cry from the impact he had in previous seasons, but with teams taking that off Geelong, it was savvy to redeploy him in the middle.

He paired nicely with Patrick Dangerfield, who looked closer to his brutal best against the Dons.

The question will be how the Cats line everybody up when Tanner Bruhn is healthy and they have another rotation to work through.

Jordan Ridley needs to be freed up

Jordan Ridley’s influence on games has dropped off since his outstanding return, largely because the Bombers insist on lining him up on opposition key forwards.

Ridley should be freed up to play on lesser opposition, allowing him to float in and take intercept marks and attack on rebound.

Ben McKay and Jayden Laverde should be the ones taking the big roles and if not, something has to change structurally.

Ridley had 15 disposals and only took the three marks against Geelong and that’s just not going to cut it against the best teams.

Nic Negrepontis

St Kilda v Port Adelaide

Horne-Francis and Zerk-Thatcher’s performances

Port Adelaide midfielder Jason Horne-Francis was the game-breaker for the Power in Saturday’s two-point win.

In a game where plenty struggled across the ground, Horne-Francis was a class above with one goal, 28 disposals, four clearances and nine score involvements.

While he was the Power’s best player, coach Ken Hinkley would have been thrilled with the performance of Brandon Zerk-Thatcher who kept Max King goalless.

Kane Cornes described his outing as the best he’s seen from him across his AFL career and the Power will hope his form continues after bringing him over from Essendon in the off-season to help plug a huge need in key defence.

Marshall thrives with another ruck in the team

While there wasn’t a heap of positives to take from the game from St Kilda, they’ll know that Rowan Marshall is still as effective when they go with two ruckmen.

With Tom Campbell joining him in the side as a back-up, Marshall was able to spend some more time forward and that paid off with three goals, four marks and 18 disposals.

Marshall has always had the capability of being a huge threat up forward and perhaps it could be a move that St Kilda go with to help open up the offensive side of their game.

St Kilda’s King problem is reaching boiling point

Max King didn’t make an impact on Saturday against Port Adelaide, going goalless while only taking three marks.

While the key forward has 19 goals from 12 games in 2024, he’s still been below his best with no bags of three or more goals and it’s caused some to ponder whether he should try and find a new home.

In 2022, King was on the trajectory of becoming a genuine top 10 player in the league, but now he doesn’t even look close to a top 10 player in his own position.

Whether it’s some ball movement up the ground or a change in role that’s needed, the Saints need to do something to start getting some more out of their prized asset.

The pressure isn’t off Ken, yet

While the Power got the win by two points and sit inside the eight with a 9-6 record, the pressure isn’t completely off Ken Hinkley’s back.

The win wasn’t convincing at all with skill errors plaguing the side, while the Saints are also ranked 15th with just five wins from 15 games.

They’re going to need to improve considerably from there for the pressure to release on the head coach and for the supporters to really begin supporting him again.

They get a pretty good chance to do that next Saturday against the Bulldogs at the Adelaide Oval.

Lachlan Geleit

Richmond v Carlton

Tigers came to play but lacked the quality needed

Richmond came prepared to take it up to Carlton at the MCG on Sunday.

From the outset they were in the faces of their Blues counterparts by playing a strong contested brand, while they were also sound defensively.

The Tigers matched the Blues around the contest, equalling them for clearances (41 apiece) and competing in contested possessions (125-131), but were generally chopped up on the outside.

Adem Yze’s side huffed and puffed, and were at times quite good, but they were no match for a much more seasoned and skilful outfit.

In the end, however, the Tigers were taking on a quality side that will no doubt do some damage in September.

They invited the Blues in during the third quarter and the took them up on that offer to kick seven goals, effectively putting an end to any potential upset the home team might have had in mind.

The defensive efforts of debutant Jacob Blight on Harry McKay and Ben Miller, who nullified Charlie Curnow, must be noted.

The Blues turned it on when required

Carlton has become a devastating side to play against in 2024.

The Blues had a contest on their hands when Richmond’s Noah Balta converted early in the third term to reduce the deficit to just six points.

Enter captain Patrick Cripps and his midfield sidekick Sam Walsh who were simply dominant for the remainder of that quarter. Cripps had 16 disposals, three clearances, two score involvements, three inside 50s and a goal. Walsh contributed 11 disposals, three clearances, a goal, four tackles and three score involvements.

It led to a seven-goal third term which rolled into a six-goal final quarter, resulting in a commanding 61-point win.

The Blues had been challenged, but they turned on the afterburners, opened the floodgates and powered over the top of their opponents as only good teams seem to do.

It was nice to see Orazio Fantasia (four goals) and Lachie Fogarty (three) combine for seven goals.

Do the Blues have legitimate premiership claims? It’s only July 1, so it’s a bit early to say just yet, but they’re certainly on the right track.

Andrew Slevison

West Coast v Hawthorn

The rising tide is lifting all the ships at Hawthorn

Hawthorn’s improving output as a team is helping some of their lesser lights to really begin to make a name for themselves at the top level.

In Sunday’s 33-94 win against West Coast, one of those names who really impressed was Connor Macdonald.

The 21-year-old helped himself to two goals, 21 disposals, 10 score involvements and nine marks in an impressive half-forward performance.

In fairness, Macdonald has been building to this type of performance for some time as he’s been impacting for the Hawks across most of the campaign, but there’s no doubt he’s flourishing most now given how well the side is working around him.

We often see young names perform roles really well amongst finals sides, and this is starting to happen at Hawthorn with the rest of the side firing on all cylinders.

With eight wins from their last 10 games, It’s an exciting time to be a Hawks fan.

West Coast’s mid-season rise is officially over

West Coast got a real sugar hit from Rounds 6 to 11 as they won three of six games and looked a far better side than one that was otherwise destined for a bottom-four finish.

With most of that resurgence coming on the back of Harley Reid’s real arrival to the competition, they’ll since slumped back to the mean, going down in their last five games.

In those games, they have an average losing margin of 42.6 points and Sunday’s 61-point loss will become a constant reality for the back half of the season for West Coast if this continues.

While it would have been nice for Eagles fans to see some light at the end of the tunnel, the reality is that they’re still a fair way off it and will need to take more punishment for the rest of 2024 before making a real leap.

Lachlan Geleit