The race for the finals officially heats up after one side stuns the ladder predictor

Mitch Dyer

Well, well, well, there’s inevitably one round in football that can shake things up more than most. With one side managing to topple the team above them, it leaves the race for the finals positions all that more interesting.

With four rounds of football remaining, there is no denying that Canterbury and Elsternwick will be featuring in the postseason. However, if we break things down mathematically, there are four sides fighting it out for those final two positions to join them.

Kicking things off for round 14, we saw the top of the table Canterbury Cobras take on La Trobe University away from home in yet another dominant display of team football.

The Cobras have been near unstoppable all season long, and although they suffered from some inaccuracy in front of goal, they did enough to run out 36-point winners against a valiant La Trobe.

La Trobe, although not being contenders for the finals, fought hard behind their season’s best player Iryoung Fan, managing to restrict the Cobras’ scoring enough to avoid a blowout. However, Cobras’ forward Tom Lowden’s bag of four goals has him sitting second for the league after missing multiple games throughout the season.

Next up was Wattle Park taking on Swinburne, with a much-needed percentage boost going the way of the Animals come the day’s end.

Being in a box seat for a finals spot as it stands, the Animals wasted not a moment to make their presence felt at St. James Park, with a 52-point first quarter enough to stamp their authority on the game.

Both Matt Hill and Nathan Bird managed to kick four goals for the Animals, with La Trobe relying on Simon Heathers’ bag of five goals to keep the scoreboard moving.

The next four weeks are going to be integral to the Animals, who have one of the tougher runs home to a finals spot, while Swinburne will look to add hopefully one more win to their season tally come the end of August.

Now, onto the big games of the round, starting with the nail-biter between Elsternwick and Hawthorn.

It was a game of momentum out at Holmes/Todd Oval, with the visiting Hawks getting out to a hot start early, managing to hold an 18-point margin heading into the halftime break.

With the likes of Will Meehan and Justin Raiti with their tails up for the Hawks, much of the work was left to Elsternwick standouts Spencer Hankin and Eli Holland-Dean to bring back the difference in an old-school shootout.

Still maintaining a lead into the final quarter, the Hawks looked to put Elsternwick to bed. However, a 6-goal to 5 final term for Elsternwick saw the side rise from the ashes in the dying stages to take a famous 7-point victory at home.

The win is a monumental step for a side looking to chase a premiership, while also giving the Hawks enough belief to mix it all the way until the end with one of the most in-form sides in the competition.

To round things out, we have the great upset of the week, with Richmond Central taking on Power House in a battle of the middle of the table but, more importantly, applying that pressure for the fourth and final spot in the finals series.

Playing at the famous Kevin Bartlett Oval, it was Richmond who wasted no time in flexing their dominance, getting out to a handy lead at the half.

In season 2023, we have seen Central start but fade, with the side looking to put a strong Power House outfit out of contention where possible, mitigating the work rate of Tommy Pitts and co.

The second half was close, with Central managing to maintain their lead from the first half to record their biggest win of 2023, now making this race for a finals position all the more interesting.

Realistically looking forward, the game of Wattle Park vs. Power House is the biggest of the round, with Power House just two games out of the four, while a win to Wattle Park could mathematically sew up a final four position, depending on the result of Elsternwick vs. Richmond.

There is plenty at stake for round 15 in Division 3!