It helps to have a shiny new stadium.
In terms of attendance, at any rate.
The West Coast Eagles established a new record, becoming the first club in AFL/AFL history to have seven consecutive home ground games of over 50,000 spectators in a single season.
The official attendance given was 51,409, leaving us to wonder how many of those 1,409 beyond 50,000 were there with comped tickets, or if any of the spectators were indeed crash-test dummies dressed up in Eagles’ guernseys.
All those supporters, however, amounted to naught, as the Eagles were beaten by the Essendon Bombers, who will finish play in the Toyota 2018 AFL Premiership competition with at the minimum, for impressive scalps in their bag, having beating both South Australian sides and the Geelong Cats prior to beating the Eagles 80 – 52 in Round 14 play.
If the Bombers could have only figured out ways past the likes of Fremantle, Western Bulldogs and worst of all, the Carlton Blues, the picture would look far rosier than the current 12th position supplies.
The big match of the weekend was the one between the Melbourne Demons and the Port Adelaide Power, as the Power proved that the South Australian balance of Power has shifted to them and away from the Crows.
Port beat the Demons by 10 points at the Adelaide Oval, perhaps proving that they are genuine flag threats in 2018.
The run home for Port looks to be a walk home, for the next three weeks, at any rate, as they have the Blues, the Saints and the Dockers in the next three rounds. A Round 21 game with the West Coast Eagles seems to be the only thing on the fixture that can prevent the Power from a top four finish, but the Collingwood Magpies may have a say in that scenario, but of the two, the Pies have the far more difficult immediate future.
