Something of a strange situation for so late in the year, with only Hawthorn, North and West Coast totally gone. Obviously, while it's hard to construct a scenario where Fremantle makes it, I think there's still a mathematical possibility of them scraping into the eight and I suspect that at least some of their fans are still hanging on to that hope. Although that hope probably depends on Richmond beating the eighth placed Western Bulldogs tonight.

And on that game, it should be noted that Brett Rosebury will break the record tonight for the most AFL games umpired. Which is quite an achievement, and even though I can be a touch critical of umpires at times, generally I think they do a pretty good job of umpiring a game that's notoriously difficult to officiate. So, well done him. I also suspect that he might be a little bit glad, that his milestone didn't fall in a game where Stevic is also officiating and Luke Darcy is commentating. Otherwise, Darcy would've spent much of Rosebury's night, stating over and over again, that Stevic is "the best in the business". And if anyone doesn't think Darcy could be so obtuse, then I refer them to a recent game, in which both Daisy Pearce and Dale Thomas were in the commentary team. Because of that, one of their fellow commentators announced that to avoid confusion, they would be referring to Thomas as Dale. It then took Darcy about ten seconds to start calling him Daisy. And like a dripping tap, he kept it up all night.

Anyway, Saturday starts with Essendon hosting West Coast. Just for the laughs, it'd be nice if West Coast could make it two wins in a row. Of course, long odds, but can you imagine the state of the Essendon crowd?

Next up, Gold Coast will try to keep the finals hopes alive against Adelaide. Unfortunately, they'll be without their inspirational skipper, Touk Miller, who's been suspended for making contact with the groin of Dayne Zorko. I haven't seen the incident, but I feel that there's two main options. Either it was totally accidental, or Zorko did something to deserve it.

The twilight game is Hawthorn and Collingwood. Pass.

Of more interest is Geelong hosting Port. If Port manage to get up, and at the same time, we beat GWS, then it would do our finals hopes a world of good. So, go the Power!

Sunday starts with North and Melbourne in Hobart. It seems that Clarkson is returning to the coach's box for this game. If North win, then it'll probably see the start of another episode of Clarko is the messiah. So, go the Demons. And while I'm sure that there's good reasons not to release the salary details of coaches, I would be interested to know who got paid more for coaching North this year: Clarkson or Ratten?

Next up I'm hoping for a St Kilda win over Carlton. I mean, earlier in the season, rabid Carlton fans had written their season off and were vengefully turning on players, staff and management. Now that they're all optimistic again, I'd really like to see that optimism cruelly dashed.

Finally Fremantle hosts Brisbane. Don't really care who wins, but it might be a good game.