Scott Spits

Adelaide made massive strides, from 15th last year to minor premiers this year. But their next step up will be the most difficult, and they’ll need to make some hard calls to make it.

Brisbane have defied another dose of the Gabba wobbles to edge past Hawthorn and lock in third place in their premiership defence. But there was late controversy when Hawthorn were penalised for insufficient intent. Earlier on Sunday, Freo sealed a finals spot in a horror loss for Western Bulldogs.

The club apologised to all those impacted by events on Anzac Day when a Welcome to Country before the club’s clash against South Sydney Rabbitohs was cancelled at the last minute.  

St Kilda pulled off a memorable comeback victory achieved by reeling in the biggest deficit at three-quarter-time in VFL/AFL history - 46 points. Here are the key moments from a thrilling final term.

Essendon was all in at the mid-season draft in May, using all of their four selections to pick up Archie May, Lachlan Blakiston, Oskar Smartt and Liam McMahon. All four have now played senior AFL footy.

The Demons snapped a five-game losing streak with a hard fought win, but the contest was marred by the incident that sparked Tom Sparrow’s teammates to fly the flag for him.

Novak Djokovic overcame an uncharacteristically unsteady start to avoid what would have been his earliest exit at Wimbledon since 2016, coming through for a four-set victory over Alex de Minaur.

Nate Caddy will happily accept the goal of the year award if it comes his way. In exciting news for suffering Essendon fans, one of the AFL’s hottest properties sees his long-term future in the red and black.

Top-team Collingwood handled last-placed West Coast Eagles but not before some nervous moments until Scott Pendlebury and Nick Daicos led the Magpies to a win in the second half.

Burgeoning superstar Sam Darcy kicked three goals on return from his knee injury to help lift the free-scoring Western Bulldogs to a comprehensive 72-point win over St Kilda.