Naitanui injured in Eagles win, Swans and Dockers both triumph
The Eagles beat the Magpies at the MCG but lost star ruckman Nic Naitanui to a possible season-ending knee injury, while the Swans and Dockers were victorious.
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Eagles score big win over Magpies but lose Naitanui
West Coast has overcome the loss of star ruckman Nic Naitanui to score an outstanding 35-point win over Collingwood at the MCG.
The 15.12 (102) to 9.13 (67) win on Sunday is the first time the Eagles have beaten the Magpies at the venue since 1995.
There has been plenty of talk about West Coast's poor form at the MCG and it is a massive boost for its confidence.
The Eagles are level on points with ladder leaders Richmond, took second spot from the Magpies and also snapped the home side's seven-match winning streak.
Starting with the disastrous 2015 grand final loss to Hawthorn, the Eagles had only won two of eight matches at the MCG.
And those wins were against lowly Carlton.
Eagles forwards Josh Kennedy, Jack Darling and Mark LeCras all made successful returns from injury and midfielder Andrew Gaff continued his hot form.
External Link: @AFL tweets: Nic Naitanui has suffered a knee injury and will not return today.
But the fear is that Naitanui will need another season-ending knee reconstruction, this time on his "good" right knee.
He flew back on Sunday night with the team and scans on Monday in Perth are expected to confirm the bad news.
Eagles coach Adam Simpson could not hide his disappointment, saying he had not told the team at half-time that Naitanui had potentially suffered another anterior cruciate ligament injury.
"They're (Naitanui's teammates) all over the shop, I've been terrible," Simpson said.
"I didn't handle it well. It (the win) is bittersweet. The way we handled it after the game, we're human.
"To show your emotions, there's nothing wrong with that."
External Link: Collingwood v West Coast summary
West Coast's MCG horrors looked set to continue when Collingwood kicked three goals in the first 10 minutes and raced to a 20-point lead.
Defender Jeremy McGovern was outstanding for the Eagles early with a succession of intercept marks and spoils that restricted the damage.
The Eagles kicked the next three goals to put the game on a level pegging and only trailed by 10 points at the first change.
West Coast took the lead at the start of the second term, but then suffered a massive blow when Naitanui was forced out of the game.
Naitanui hurt his right knee in a marking contest with Brodie Grundy at 17 minutes and went straight to the rooms.
External Link: Collingwood v West Coast stats
But back-up ruckman Scott Lycett was massive, squaring his contests with Grundy.
Collingwood led by a point at the main break and it should have been more, given they had 15 scoring shots to nine.
But the Eagles kicked 8.1 in the first half to keep pace with the Magpies.
It was West Coast's turn to spray their shots in the third term, kicking a wasteful 4.7.
Collingwood could only manage 2.1 and the Eagles had a game-high lead of 22 points at three-quarter time.
Darling kicked two goals in the last quarter to help seal the win.
Along with Kennedy and Willie Rioli, Darling finished with three goals, while Mark Hutchings shut down Steele Sidebottom.
Swans get home against Kangaroos in thriller
Kenya-born Aliir Aliir kicked his first AFL goal with less than two minutes on the clock, as Sydney downed North Melbourne by six points in an epic clash at Docklands on Sunday.
Having spent most of the day in defence engaged in an entertaining duel with Majak Daw – the first AFL player of Sudanese descent – Aliir snuck forward to slot the winner as the Swans triumphed 16.8 (104) to 15.8 (98).
There were 10 lead changes in a match where the margin never exceeded 13 points at any stage.
External Link: North Melbourne v Sydney summary
Rookie sensation Ben Ronke kicked five goals for the Swans and Lance Franklin bagged three, in the process becoming just the ninth player in VFL/AFL history to reach the 900-goal mark.
North Melbourne was brilliantly led by skipper Jack Ziebell with five goals, while Daw and Coleman Medal pacesetter Ben Brown slotted four apiece.
The win for the Swans was made even more meritorious as they lost skipper Josh Kennedy to back spasms early in the second quarter.
North Melbourne forward Kayne Turner was concussed in the opening few minutes and took no further part in the match.
The Kangaroos led by 12 points at the first break but Sydney wrested control in the second term, outscoring the home team by five goals to one to claim a 13-point half-time lead.
External Link: North Melbourne v Sydney stats
The seesawing nature of the match continued in the third quarter, with North Melbourne booting six goals to claim an 11-point advantage at the final break.
Franklin kicked back-to-back goals early in the opening term to put the Swans 12 points up, only for the Kangaroos to respond with three majors on the trot from Brown, Daw and Ziebell.
But it was the Swans who had the last laugh, with Ronke and Aliir booting the final two goals of the game as they improved their win-loss record to 11-5.
The Kangaroos have another big challenge on Saturday against Collingwood while the Swans will start as short-priced favourites in their round 17 home clash against Gold Coast.
Power duo injured in shock loss to Dockers
Paddy Ryder and Robbie Gray were struck down by injuries, as Port Adelaide's premiership hopes took a blow in its nine-point loss to Fremantle in Perth on Sunday.
Ryder injured his hip flexor during the second quarter of the shock 8.11 (59) to 7.8 (50) defeat and played no further part in the match.
Gray was stretchered off early in the third quarter with concussion after being slung into the turf by a dangerous Ryan Nyhuis tackle.
Nyhuis is almost certain to be suspended after pinning Gray's arms in the tackle, leaving the Power forward with no way to protect himself.
Power players remonstrated angrily with Nyhuis while medical staff attended to Gray, who was lying motionless on the ground.
The potential loss of Ryder and Gray for next week would be a huge blow for the Power, who face off against a resurgent GWS at Adelaide Oval.
External Link: Fremantle v Port Adelaide summary
Port Adelaide would have risen to equal first with a win over Fremantle.
Instead, the Power are fifth with an 11-5 record after their five-game winning run was brought to a crashing halt.
Port Adelaide won the clearance count 20-4 in the first term, but led by just nine points at quarter-time.
Remarkably, Fremantle did not even need to kick a goal in the second term to end its run of 11 consecutive losing quarters.
Fremantle registered 0.7 (7) to Port's 0.0 (0) in a term featuring a glut of comical mistakes.
Tom Sheridan missed a set shot from 15 metres, while ruckman Sean Darcy missed two set shots.
External Link: Fremantle v Port Adelaide stats
The Dockers won the inside 50 count 20-4 for the term, but had little to show for their efforts.
Their fortunes in front of goal, however, finally turned in the third quarter, with goals to Brennan Cox, Cameron Sutcliffe, Ethan Hughes, and Scott Jones edging them out to a 10-point lead at the final change.
With only two fit men on the bench, the Power were not able to launch a legitimate fight-back, with the 33,190 crowd cheering Fremantle on to its seventh win of the season.
Fremantle ended the match with a 58-39 advantage in the inside 50 count.
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External Link: AFL 2018 ladder
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