And then there were 11. One of the closest premiership races in recent memory is set to come down to the wire — with effectively 11 teams still in the mix to play finals. It crucially comes a season where the sides that finish in the bottom half in the top eight might have a genuine path to silverware.
That’s largely due to several contender sliding — and others below them getting hot — in a crazy campaign filled with twists and turns. “Who would’ve thought five weeks ago Sydney could be vulnerable in top spot and Carlton could be vulnerable to miss the eight?,” Saints legend Leigh Montagna posed on Fox Footy’s . “They were the one and two seeds, we all thought they were the best two teams in it.
” So how do the remaining challengers stack up? The ladder leads have dropped five of their past six games — including their last three — with a 112-point mauling at the hands of Port Adelaide the Swans’ heaviest defeat under John Longmire. And so now not only is Sydney vulnerable of dropping top spot on the ladder, but a top four spot altogether ahead of a showdown with revitalised Colingwood fighting to keep tis flag defence alive on Friday night. Kangaroos legend David King believes selfishness has played a part in Sydney’s “alarming” slump, suggesting there’s a sense of complacency about its first half of the season.
“There is absolutely no reason (for their decline) outside of these guys being fully satisfied with what they’ve done up until a.