Lopsided Matches Abundant in Finals Week One

Finals week one was full of excitement as it marks the return of the AFL Finals. Top seeded Sydney narrowly beat out GWS while Geelong obliterated Port Adelaide in the two qualifying finals. Meanwhile in the elimination finals, Carlton and Western saw their seasons draw to a close.   

Qualifying Finals Follow Drastically Different Scripts 

The first qualifying final of the weekend featured second ranked Port Adelaide taking on the third ranked Geelong Cats at the Adelaide Oval.  
 
The first quarter was tight as the two sides traded blows. Geelong quickly went up 13-0 before a Port Adelaide goal brought it to 13-6.  
 
Geelong then dominated play through the middle of the quarter and had a 17-point lead at one point. Port Adelaide bounced back at the end of the quarter with a pair of goals and two behinds to make the score 25-22 Geelong.  
 
Less than 10 minutes into the second, Port Adelaide took their first lead of the game thanks to a Jed McEntee goal. From that point on it was all Geelong. They quickly put through a pair of goals to retake the lead and by the half’s end, had worked their way to a 20-point lead.  
 
The second half is when it got really ugly. Port Adelaide managed just 11 points in the whole second half while Geelong pressed the gas and scored 75 in the half. This meant the final score was 138-54 in what was an absolutely shocking display.  
 
The other qualifying final, featuring the top-seeded Sydney Swans and fourth ranked GWS Giants, was a much tighter battle and was really a tail of two halves.  
 
In the first half, the underdog Giants took the match to the Swans. They ferociously pursued the ball and were crisp on attack en route to a 17-10 lead at the end of the opening quarter.  
 
This margin only grew in the second as it seemed there was another blowout brewing when Aaron Cadman stretched the lead to 28 with five minutes left in the half. Sydney would score a goal and a behind before halftime to bring the score to 50-29.  
 
The Swans mounted a quick comeback in the third and got within eight before GWS again pulled away. Down 69-48 heading into the final frame, it took an impressive effort from the Swans to snatch the victory.  
 
Still trailing at the 28-minute mark, they put through a goal to tie it up before Joel Amartey played the hero in the 31st minute giving them the 88-82 win.  

Elimination Finals Turn into Blowouts  

The first of two elimination finals featured the sixth ranked Western Bulldogs and the seventh ranked Hawthorn Hawks.  
 
Similarly, to Sydney, Hawthorn used an impressive second half performance to stay alive. After the first quarter, the Bulldogs led 25-13. A back-and-forth second quarter eventually ended with Hawthorn kicking a late goal and leading 45-34.  
 
They quickly ran away with the match in the second half stretching the lead to 77-41 by the end of the third quarter. The fourth quarter was a hard-fought battle but Western couldn’t find enough energy to significantly cut into the lead as the match ended with Hawthorn winning 99-62.  
 
The weekend’s final matchup between fifth ranked Brisbane and eight ranked Carlton unfortunately didn’t provide all that much excitement for fans.  
 
The match was all Brisbane all the way. Carlton scored zero points in the opening frame. On the other hand, Brisbane put through 35 in one of the strangest first quarters you’ll ever see.  
 
By the end of the first half the match was all but over with the score at 61-13 for the Lions. Carlton played well in the second half but it was much too little too late as they never really threatened Brisbane and the match ultimately ended 99-71.

With week one of the AFL finals now over, the field has been cut down to six as Carlton and Western saw their seasons end. There were blowouts and a very tight battle as the remaining squads all have their sights set on the Grand Final.