The numbers that matter
The big winners of Round 20
Collingwood Magpies have rediscovered how to score despite a swathe of injuries to forwards such as Jamie Elliott and Lachie Schultz and have re-established themselves as a genuine finals threat if not more.
Defeating Richmond, Carlton and Gold Coast during their now six-game winning streak is nothing of particular note, but as they say, you can only defeat the opposition in front of you.
The true test was to come when they visited Adelaide, in a rematch of their qualifying final success last year and four months after the Crows dished out Round 1 revenge at the MCG.
The Adelaide Oval can be hostile at the best of times, and despite the game eventually being overshadowed by what the home club described as unacceptable treatment of Collingwood's Isaac Quaynor, the Magpies showed impressive spirit and togetherness when they overcame the crowd and a half-time deficit with ten second-half goals to four.
Three weeks ago after their feisty win over the Gold Coast that saw Brayden Maynard spark a half-time melee, head coach Craig McRae declared that it was "time to get some momentum".
They're doing exactly that, closing out their next three matches in very impressive fashion to set themselves up for some fascinating contests with Geelong (home), Hawthorn (away) and Brisbane (home) that will truly test their finals credentials.
The big losers of Round 20
North Melbourne are heading in the other direction to the Magpies and don't appear set to be joining Collingwood in the Wildcard round after they fell four points behind both Carlton and St Kilda with their fourth consecutive defeat.
They were outclassed by Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and the Saints at Docklands following losses to Melbourne and Collingwood, two of their direct competitors for potential Wildcard positions.
The fourth year of Alastair Clarkson's long and slow rebuild has been by far the most positive and encouraging, with North Melbourne now boasting some of the competition's best midfielders (Sheezel and Davies-Uniacke), ruckmen (Xerri) and full forwards (Xerri), but they were consistently dominated around the contests by the Saints and struggled to halt their opposition's momentum.
"The last four games we've played against sides around us on the ladder, and we've been competitive without winning any of them," Clarkson said after the game.
"That probably tells you where we are at as a footy club. We're competitive, but with missed opportunities. We'll just get ourselves ready for the Hawks next week and roll up our sleeves and go again.
"There's not much more you can do other than staying positive and knowing the aspects of our game that really troubled St Kilda today."
Team of the Week
Who kicked a big bag this week?
Jack Gunston's big burst of third-quarter goals saw him become the 37th man in VFL/AFL history to record at least 600 career goals as he continues to produce career-best form in his 17th season at the elite level.
His 47 goals this year is already his sixth-best in a single campaign, and coming off the back of a career-best 73 in 2025, there's little wonder the 34-year-old last week signed a one-year extension to go around in 2027 as a 35-year-old.
Geelong's Shannon Neale and Freo spearhead Jye Amiss kicked five each, whilst there were four-goal hauls for Harrison Petty, Oliver Henry, Wanganeen-Milera and Coleman Medal leader Charlie Curnow.
Goal of the Week
What a week for the highlights reel in terms of goals! There were a few noteworthy nominees from Thursday night, including two brilliant goals from Collingwood's Dan McStay and another from Angus Anderson, but we just can't go past when a big man does a rover's job for them.
Mark of the Week
This was similarly difficult for the opposite reason: there wasn't a lot to choose from this weekend in terms of 'hangers'. We've gone for this grab from Charlie Cameron.
The naughty boys
Ty Gallop has been sent straight to the tribunal without an offer from the Match Review Officer Michael Christian for "serious misconduct" after his disgraceful treatment of Port Adelaide's Mitch Georgiades in which he slammed Georgiades' head into the ground.
Christian's referral of Gallop to the tribunal means he did not have to grade Gallop's action by the MRO matrix, which could have seen Gallop awarded just a one-match ban for a low impact, intentional conduct charge.
Meanwhile, Essendon's sixth umpire contact charge for 2026 means they could potentially face an additional fine to the $20,000 one handed down earlier in July for exceeding five separate offences.
The AFL made no secret of their mid-season crackdown on players colliding with umpires and also fined the Gold Coast Suns $20k in June for the same offence.
The Bombers are the first and only club to accumulate six such charges, so there's no precedent yet to indicate what kind of sanction they will face later this week.
Potential suspensions:
Ty Gallop (Lions) - Serious misconduct - Referred to tribunal
High-range fines:
Harley Reid (Eagles) - Striking - $2000 or $3000 fine
Low-range fines:
Sam Durham (Bombers) - Umpire contact - $1000 or $1500 fine
Cam McKenzie (Hawks) - Umpire contact - $1000 or $1500 fine
Hamish Davis (Eagles) - Umpire contact - $1000 or $1500 fine
Tom Papley (Swans) - Meleeing/wrestling - $1000 or $1500 fine
Jake Stringer (Giants) - Meleeing/wrestling - $1000 or $1500 fine
Hugh Boxshall (Saints) - Staging - $1000 or $1500 fine
Paul Curtis (Kangaroos) - Meleeing/wrestling - $1000 or $1500 fine
Hugo Garcia (Saints) - Meleeing/wrestling - $1000 or $1500 fine
Next weekend's fixtures
