An interesting quandry, from the opposite ends of the ladder... What happens next -- an Adelaide loss, or an Essendon victory? The Crows are the AFL's juggernaut at the moment, steamrolling all foes in their path as they've ascended to the top of the ladder. Well coached by Neil Craig, with players playing at the top of their game, and focused on a Premiership goal. In fact, any among the group of Andrew McLeod, Mark Riccutio, or Simon Goodwin could feature prominently as potential Brownlow Medal winners. Meanwhile, bottom-of-the-ladder Essendon -- losers of 13 matches on the trot -- have been a bit underdone, as coach Kevin Sheedy has been forced to play some players who may not yet be able to play at AFL level, some veteran players may be past their prime, and not having guns like James Hird and Matthew Lloyd for long stretches of the season hasn't helped, either. Discuss...
And for the sake of argument, the teams' run-in for the remainder of the home-and-away rounds... ADELAIDE CROWS Hawthorn (home) North Melbourne (home) West Coast (away) Collingwood (home) Fremantle (home) Western Bulldogs (away, MCG) Port Adelaide (home) Melbourne (home) ESSENDON BOMBERS St. Kilda (home, MCG) Carlton (home, MCG) Brisbane (home, Telstra Dome) Sydney (away) Collingwood (home, MCG) Hawthorn (home, Telstra Dome) Richmond (away, MCG) Western Bulldogs (away, Telstra Dome)