AFL Ladder 2014: Tracking Table Results and Final Scores for Round 12
At the halfway stage of the home-and-away rounds of the 2014 AFL, it's Port Adelaide who lead the way at the top of the ladder, two wins clear of second-place Hawthorn.
The Power won nine out of 10 games heading into Round 12 and face the prospect of lowly St Kilda this weekend at the Adelaide Oval, where they have yet to lose.
Whatever happens in Round 12, Port Adelaide will remain top of the pile when the weekend’s action comes to its climax, but there are still several scores to settle in the chasing pack.
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Let’s take a look at the weekend’s fixtures and see how the ladder is shaping up:
| June 6 | Geelong Cats vs. Carlton | 16.11 (107) - 15.12 (102) |
| June 7 | Hawthorn vs. West Coast Eagles | 19.9 (123) - 12.7 (79) |
| June 7 | Port Adelaide vs. St Kilda | 19.15 (129) - 9.5 (59) |
| June 7 | Western Bulldogs vs. Brisbane Lions | 9.12 (66) - 11.15 (81) |
| June 7 | GWS Giants vs. Essendon | 13.9 (87) - 14.11 (95) |
| June 8 | Gold Coast Suns vs. Sydney Swans | 10.14 (74) - 17.7 (109) |
| June 8 | Fremantle vs. Adelaide Crows | 12.18 (90) - 7.8 (50) |
| June 8 | North Melbourne vs. Richmond | 17.14 (116) - 13.10 (88) |
| June 9 | Melbourne vs. Collingwood |
| Port Adelaide | 10 | 1 | 0 | 149.3 | 40 |
| Hawthorn | 8 | 3 | 0 | 148.4 | 32 |
| Sydney Swans | 8 | 3 | 0 | 140.1 | 32 |
| Geelong Cats | 8 | 3 | 0 | 101.7 | 32 |
| Freemantle | 7 | 4 | 0 | 125.5 | 28 |
| Collingwood | 7 | 3 | 0 | 118.6 | 28 |
| North Melbourne | 7 | 4 | 0 | 112.8 | 28 |
| Gold Coast Suns | 7 | 4 | 0 | 103.1 | 28 |
| Essendon | 6 | 5 | 0 | 106.6 | 24 |
| Adelaide Crows | 5 | 6 | 0 | 101 | 20 |
| West Coast Eagles | 4 | 7 | 0 | 110.5 | 16 |
| Carlton | 4 | 7 | 0 | 88.1 | 16 |
| Richmond | 3 | 8 | 0 | 94.4 | 12 |
| Western Bulldogs | 3 | 8 | 0 | 82.7 | 12 |
| Melbourne | 3 | 7 | 0 | 78.7 | 12 |
| Brisbane Lions | 3 | 8 | 0 | 62.9 | 12 |
| St. Kilda | 3 | 8 | 0 | 62.1 | 12 |
| GWS Giants | 2 | 9 | 0 | 71.3 | 8 |
July 8 Recap
Sydney Swans dominated Gold Coast Suns on Sunday, making it seven straight wins for the visitors who keep pace with the teams at the top of the standings.
Suns' official Twitter account had the final result, the 109-74 score a testament to Sydney's offensive dominance:
A young Suns squad did everything they could to turn this into a close contest, but the visitors did an excellent job shutting things down defensively, taking away several great scoring opportunities.
Lance Franklin kicked three goals for the winners but could be facing punishment for an incident with Clay Cameron in the second quarter, the only negative Swans can take away from this match.
Swans' close marking and high pressure on their inexperienced opponents was impressive, and coach Guy McKenna told the media this loss would be an excellent learning opportunity for his squad, via AFL.com's Michael Whitling:
"Credit to Sydney, they just apply that blowtorch pressure.
That was what made us succumb. There were certainly gettable goals, and some non-pressured errors too.
That's the biggest area we need to work on.
The way some of our boys train and put that amount of pressure on, as good as they are, you can't manufacture that until you go out and play sides like Sydney.
"
Suns won the clearance-battle 41-38 and held the same number of scoring shots as Sydney did, but a rough first quarter had the team on the back-foot immediately, and they never recovered.
Fremantle Dockers faced some early adversity with the loss Michael Johnson, but Adelaide Crows couldn't take any advantage in their 90-50 loss.
The Dockers' Twitter account was ecstatic with the result:
Crows went into half-time with a two-point lead and looked ready to use their powerful forward line to control the rest of the match, but Fremantle's runners took over proceedings in the second half, leading to a comfortable win for the hosts.
Aaron Sandilands came up with a huge performance, with 20 possessions and 38 hit-outs to dominate in the ruck.
Crows' physical play left Dockers reeling early, and the loss of Johnson to injury in the second quarter looked like it could be the final straw. Goalkicking was shaky at best in the first half, as Adelaide's aggressive tactics seemed to be getting to the players.
Zac Dawson's huge 50-metre kick swung momentum in Crows' favour, however, and his mark from 47m out opened the floodgates.
North Melbourne Kangaroos used a similar game plan to defeat Richmond Tigers, a strong second half giving the hosts a 116-88 win.
Dustin Martin's superhuman effort in the first half had given the visitors a 35-point lead, taking advantage of a Kangaroos forward line that couldn't get a touch in. But the hosts came out of the dressing room looking like a different team, and eight unanswered goals signaled the end for Richmond's hopes of pulling an upset.
Drew Petrie led the charge with three goals in that stretch of eight unanswered, while Brent Harvey's efforts in support of the forward line made sure a comeback wasn't in the books.
The Roos have been very up-and-down this season, and perhaps Sunday's come-from-behind win can help North Melbourne find some momentum to carry into the rest of the season. Sitting at 7-4, the Roos have the talent to make a run at the table, but consistency has been holding them back so far.
July 7 Recap
Hawthorn Hawks romped to a comprehensive victory over West Coast Eagles in the first game of the day to keep their pressure up on the Power at the top of the ladder.
Jarryd Roughead was the star of the show for the Hawks, kicking eight goals on the way to their 123-79 victory, while Luke Lowden enjoyed a debut to remember.
Prior to the match, Lowden spoke to Hawthorn’s official website where he revealed his overwhelming excitement at the prospect of making his first appearance:
“It’s really, really exciting, I’m just trying to contain it at the moment because there’s still a couple of days to go until the game but I’m pretty pumped”
The Ruckman kicked three goals and performed admirably in the victory before taking to Twitter to reveal his joy:
Port Adelaide then continued their fantastic start to the season with a comprehensive victory over St. Kilda Saints, making it 10 out of 11 so far and eight on the spin.
The 129-59 triumph was every bit as convincing as the scoreline suggests, with the league leaders scoring 19 goals to St. Kilda’s nine.
The Power are looking invincible at the moment, and based on Saturday’s evidence they’re good value for their position at the top of the ladder.
However, they’ll face a stern test in Sydney Swans next weekend in Round 13, as coach Ken Hinkley revealed via the club’s Twitter account:
The Swans sit in fourth on the AFL ladder, but with the squad that they have and given the fact that they’ve won their last six matches in a row, per Sydney Swans’ website, it’ll be all to play for in Sydney.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Essendon Bombers got the better of Greater Western Sydney Giants by 81-66, while Brisbane Lions enjoyed a close-fought 95-87 victory over Western Bulldogs to move off the bottom of the ladder.
With four fixtures remaining of Round 12 and some crunch matches going ahead, expect even more AFL fireworks this weekend.
Round 12
Collingwood will be expecting victory against Melbourne on Monday, as they have consistently been the victors over the Demons in recent years.
The two sides' respective ladder positions also indicate a win for the Magpies, but Melbourne have picked up a couple of wins recently and could be dangerous this weekend.
The West Coast Eagles face a tough task against Hawthorn, but it looks like a must-win game against the Hawks to avoid losing touch with the top eight after six losses already this year.
Ladder positions could all change after Round 12, except for at the very top where Port Adelaide are guaranteed to maintain their spot no matter what the results are this weekend.
However, they will be eager to keep their two-win cushion and leave everyone else playing catch-up with a win in Adelaide this weekend.
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