Winter is done, spring has sprung. The AFL season has finally found a wave of momentum. Port Adelaide leaned into their emotion, Collingwood and GWS Giants hung on in thrillers, Fremantle sealed their return to the finals. A neatly scheduled four days of football filled with tension ended as Brisbane reaffirmed their premiership credentials.
The home-and-away season has reached a crescendo, and there is still one more game to play. Gold Coast have been building toward this moment – to be the centre of attention in a cut-throat clash – for 15 years. They only need to defeat Essendon to leap over Western Bulldogs and snatch a club-first finals berth. But with the Bombers hit hard by injury and on a 12-match losing streak, the curiosity is not so much around whether the Suns will seize up for a third week in a row, as whether they will win by enough to finish in seventh or eighth spot.
