Adelaide beats Collingwood at packed Adelaide Oval, Hawthorn beats Melbourne at MCG, GWS downs Gold Coast, Carlton beats Port Adelaide

Phew. A lot of footy today across the men’s and women’s competitions, and that final game in Adelaide was the best of the bunch. By my count there are 13 more home and away games left in this AFL season (don’t forget the rogue Suns-Dons one…), and still so very much to decide in them.

Thank goodness for the blog then. It will return tomorrow as we do it all again and see out round 23. Thanks for your company tonight, see you next time!

Adelaide has ended its Collingwood hoodoo with a nerve-jangling three-point triumph to keep its grip on top spot.

The Crows trailed by 25 points at quarter-time but prevailed 9.5 (59) to 8.8 (56) at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night for their first win against the Pies since 2016.

Adelaide will finish first entering the finals if they defeat 17th-placed North Melbourne next Saturday.

Collingwood, with five losses from its past six games, is fourth and in a logjam jostling for positions ahead of its Friday night fixture against Melbourne.

The Crows had lost their past 10 games against Collingwood, preceded by a 2017 draw.

But with victory before a sold-out crowd of 54,283 — the second-largest attendance at an AFL game at the oval — Adelaide equalled their club-best returns of 17 wins and five losses in 2005 and 2012.

The Crows were jumped by a fast-starting Collingwood, who produced a first-term blitz to create a 25-point quarter-time lead, 5.3 to 1.2.

But Adelaide flipped the script in the second term, with ex-captain Taylor Walker kicking two of five unanswered goals for the hosts.

A late strike from Izak Rankine gave Adelaide a five-point edge at halftime, 6.3 to 5.4.

The third quarter, amid rain, was tight as neither team managed a goal until Adelaide’s Isaac Cumming scored in the 27th minute.

But Pie forward Jamie Elliott replied, threading a set shot from an acute angle, to reduce Adelaide’s advantage to two points at three-quarter time, 7.6 to 6.8.

Another scoring stalemate ensued in a tense finale, and a goalless 17-minute stretch was broken when Crow James Peatling snapped accurately, but Magpie Jack Crisp responded six minutes later to reduce the margin to three points.

Key Crow Riley Thilthorpe then took a superb contested mark and converted.

Again the Pies responded, with a long bomb from Nick Daicos leaving the visitors three points down, but Adelaide grimly held on for victory.

Ex-Crow skipper Walker and Darcy Fogarty kicked two goals each, while defenders Josh Worrell (27 disposals), Mark Keane (23) and captain Jordan Dawson (23) were influential.

Collingwood’s Nick Daicos was superb with a game-high 29 possessions and a goal.

Veteran Scott Pendlebury (24 touches) was prominent, especially early, Darcy Cameron (23 disposals) ruled the rucks, and forwards Elliott and Tim Membrey booted two majors apiece.

AAP

An Olivia Purcell masterclass has propelled Melbourne to a dominant 48-point AFLW win over the Western Bulldogs.

Purcell finished with a monster haul of one goal, 33 disposals and seven clearances to help the Demons steamroll the hosts 9.8 (62) to 1.8 (14) and retain the Hampson-Hardeman Cup.

But the Demons didn’t come out of their fourth straight win over the Bulldogs unscathed, with ruck-forward Tayla Harris suffering an eye injury.

Harris showed glimpses of her All-Australian best in her first game back from a shoulder injury, before being forced out in the second quarter.

After pulling off a trademark speccy just moments earlier, Harris copped an arm to her face in a marking contest with Bulldogs counterpart Alice Edmond.

The 28-year-old had only played one game last year, requiring surgery after hurting her left shoulder.

Melbourne, semi-finalists the previous year, missed the top eight in her absence.

Tyla Hanks was just as busy on Saturday with 29 disposals, and kicked two goals to match Kate Hore and Eden Zanker.

The Western Bulldogs had their own returning star, with former skipper Ellie Blackburn collecting 17 touches through managed minutes.

Blackburn was limited to three games last season before hurting her foot.

AAP

A very strange game of footy all up. All Collingwood in the first, all Adelaide in the second, total stalemate for a quarter and a half and then bedlam for the final 10 minutes.

So many what-ifs in those final plays too. One for Pies fans to stew over and Crows fans to rewatch over and over again.

Where do you begin summing up that finish? That Adelaide backline is titanic. The Crows coughed up 71(!) inside 50s and created only 37, and yet it is Adelaide who is celebrating tonight with a top-two spot and home qualifying final confirmed.

Collingwood had the hot start and finished fast too, but the inability to turn entries into goals continues to cripple the Magpies. Right to those final, desperate seconds the Pies had chances to create chances, but the league’s best defence stood tall time and again.

This is the first time Adelaide has beaten Collingwood since 2016. The Crows are a win over North next week away from the minor premiership. They are backed by a frenzied home crowd and are fuelled by the sort of belief that can not be faked.

Collingwood, remarkably, is still not guaranteed a spot in the finals. It would take something pretty nuts to deny them, what with Melbourne awaiting next week, but still. The possibility is greater than zero, and that’s enough.

Finals came early in Adelaide tonight. What a game.

This record crowd has exploded! The Crows! They have done it again!

Last chance Collingwood…

It is absolutely frantic out there. It’s coming down to moments, and there’s a big one in every play.

Can the Pies manufacture one last chance?

He’s got some nerve! He had no right to be calling for that hand off from Schultz, who had marked 40 from goal and looked like he was preparing for a shot.

Daicos streamed past, received the handball and unloaded off a couple of steps. Of course he kicked it, he’s Nick Daicos. Three points again!

The stickiest mitts in the league might have just had the final say! An incredible contested mark in the pocket from Thilthorpe, and a lovely snapped set shot.

Nine points! 4:43 on the clock, Pies not out of it but it has an Adelaide feel right now.

Just when it felt like the tide had decisively turned, Collingwood finds its first goal of the last quarter in the nick of time.

Crisp took a strong mark just inside 50, and beat the fingertips on the goal line by about an inch. The margins are that fine, and the margin is back to three points. What a game.

Yep, it’s a record. The Crows fans are up and about in 2025, and they’re being treated to a thriller here.

Adelaide’s first inside 50 for an age brings about a crucial Adelaide goal.

The boundary throw in in the forwar pocket fell a long way short, so much so that neither of the rucks got anywhere near it. The ball bounced off Cameron’s leg into Peatling, who gathered and snapped off a step. The lead is beyond a goal now and this massive crowd is well and truly involved.

Collingwood literally have twice as many inside 50s as Adelaide in this one, but somehow Mark Keane and the Crows’ backs are holding on.

Keane’s smother to deny Mihocek there was incredible. We’ve had no score in this last quarter, 11:20 left on the clock. What an insane second half.

It’s not raining at the moment but still slippery at ground level, making for imperfect footy. Territory will be at a premium, even though Collingwood has dominated those numbers tonight for little reward.

First goal in the last will be a big one. Hold on to your hats.

Just a ferociously tense game of footy. Quality wasn’t always there in that third quarter, and certainly both teams played with a certain shade of fear, but it was still very watchable.

A goal apiece in the end, both kicked very late in the piece. There are two points in it and the stakes remain as high as they were when we kicked this whole thing off.

I reckon it’s going to open up a bit in this last quarter and both teams will have to take some risks. Impossible to tip right now.

What a brilliant set shot from the pocket from Jamie Elliott. What a brilliant kick inside 50 from Steele Sidebottom to find him.

Those two moments of sheer class deliver Collingwood a critical goal with one second left on the clock in the quarter. It’s back to two points, all to play for.

The game is finally, FINALLY broken open by a shanked kick from Dan Curtin. He accidentally picked off a perfect kick into the corridor which opened the whole field up for Adelaide.

Cumming tapped it forward to Keays, who very obviously threw the ball back to Cumming on his way in to goal. Ump didn’t spot it, Crows have a crucial goal late in the third quarter.

Down to 9:32 left in the term, and we’ve just seen off the heaviest period of rain of the night. That only made this game even more contested, and space even harder to come by.

Riley Thilthorpe just missed a very good chance, but apart from that the ball has spent most of its time in Collingwood’s attacking end. The inside 50 count is heavily stacked in favour of the Pies, but the scoreboard is not.