It was a week of upsets across the AFL, one that has changed the shape of the season for some of the league's most fancied clubs.
Welcome to the AFL Round-Up, where we digest the week that was.
Blues fans put through it again
It's hard work watching Carlton at the moment. And that's just for those of us with no emotional stake — it's hard to begrudge those Blues who light up the talkback radio lines to vent their spleens.
That game on Friday night was absolute torture, saved only by the exhilarating final terms of Sydney's Nick Blakey and Chad Warner. If not for those two leading the Swans over the line, the captains may well have decided to shake hands on a 0-0 draw and pretend the whole thing never happened.
Carlton are in significant strife now, and that alone is a sad indictment. There is too much quality in this side — yes, there is quality in this side — for scoring to be such hard work.
Four times this season, Carlton have failed to kick 60 points. For reference, West Coast has failed to reach that mark five times, Hawthorn four and North Melbourne three.
It's also three weeks in a row the Blues have been completely shut down offensively, all the while boasting the two most recent Coleman Medal winners in their forward 50. Only a total breakdown of structure, tactics and confidence can explain such a meagre return from some capable tools.
Is it salvageable? A glance over west to Fremantle suggests that rapid attacking improvement is possible mid-season, and when so many of the problems seem to come down to incessant boneheaded decisions going inside 50, you would think Michael Voss and his team should be able to conjure some sort of remedy.
Because despite it all, the Blues still aren't entirely out of it. There are vulnerable teams in the top eight, and that round one draw could end up looking very valuable should the season go down to the wire.
But they're miles off such thoughts at the moment. For now, the Carlton focus should be working out how to kick the ball to a teammate inside the forward 50. Miraculous runs at finals can come after that.
Believe in the Hawks
If there's one hill we've chosen to die on here at the Round-Up, it is a completely unshakable belief in what Sam Mitchell is doing at Hawthorn.
It hasn't always been an easy position to hold. There have been times over the last 18 months when the Hawks have taken sizeable backwards steps on field, and the list management strategies in place are risky at best.
But what has been clear all along is an identity. Even in the defeats, the Mitchell method has generally been obvious to see, and now that it has started leading to some victories the path forward has never been clearer.
The Hawks are an incredibly watchable side. There is very little time for pause or reflection in their game, it's just one bold decision after another, come what may.
The young players entrusted with the keys to the Hawks' future are coming of age. Jai Newcombe, Will Day, Conor Nash, and even the next tier below like Cam Mackenzie and Josh Weddle — all play front-foot football, with a pinch of Mitchell himself visible in their games.
And then there is the skipper, who clearly watched Darcy Moore last week and decided it looked like fun. James Sicily was simply outstanding, and has been for most of the season.
Throw the returning and still improving Mitch Lewis in at the other end, and there's a spine. For all their flaws, if you can't see the wider plan Mitchell has for these building blocks then you're not looking hard enough.
We're not talking an imminent return to finals. We're not even talking about a sudden rise above the bottom three or four on the ladder. But something special is building there. Come back to us in five years.
Silly Saturday
The Saturday afternoon of round 11 might be one we reflect heavily upon come the end of the home and away season. While the Hawks were doing their thing, a couple of other surprise results could well be pivotal in the final wash.
First up at the MCG, where Fremantle outfought and outgunned Melbourne on their own patch for the second year running. Generally considered one of the three flag favourites this year, the Demons are stuttering and hardly looking like top four bankers at the moment.
So far their most substantial win of the season might have come in round one against the Bulldogs. Since then the Demons have lost to Brisbane, Essendon, Port Adelaide and Fremantle — they are yet to raise their game to the level of better opposition.
As for the Dockers, that sluggish start to the season has been pushed so far to the side it now almost feels like a different team. This is the Freo we expected, we hoped for, we believed was in there.
Then we headed to Geelong, where the Cats again looked a shadow of the side that ran rampant on the MCG on the last Saturday of September, 2022.
That largely can be put down to the fact a third of that grand final team wasn't playing in this game, and those absentees were heavily concentrated in the midfield. As a result GWS took control of the clearances, and Geelong failed to ever have a real foothold in the game.
The Cats have a game against the Bulldogs next week to try to get back into the top eight before their bye. It would take a brave pundit to suggest Geelong will be enjoying an early September holiday, but it's fair to say this is not a situation they foresaw three months ago.
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Around the grounds
After a rare off game last week, Adelaide gave a swift reminder of how serious they are in 2023. When they start cooking, especially at home in front of that crowd, there might only be one team in the league that can cope with them.
Big win for Gold Coast. They finally managed to clinch a close one, keeping them right in the guts of the chasing pack, while Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson have both hit new heights in Touk Miller's absence.
The most pessimistic Essendon fans would have spent the week preparing for an unlikely slip up against the league's worst team to undo the good work of last week. No such luck, the Bombers were completely professional and tightened their grip on that top eight spot.
What a week for Richmond. While they took the fight to Port, Damien Hardwick was cuddled up on his couch with a sneaky AM beer. He wouldn't have minded what he saw from the Tiges, but as usual this year it wasn't quite enough.
Was a tremendous shame to see Steele Sidebottom go down injured early in his 300th, but he's never been one to go searching for the limelight. He is one for the big occasion though — perhaps the best of the 300 came in that famous 2018 prelim.
In the clubhouse
Here we take stock of who is leading the race for the season's individual awards.
The needle wasn't moved in the race for the Rising Star this week, we still have Harry Sheezel narrowly ahead. But it did officially represent the arrival of Bailey Humphrey into The Conversation.
The young Sun has been steadily building since cracking the senior team, and now looks like he'll be in it for many years to come.
Bit of a sleepy week for big marks, but we'll give the nod to Rowan Marshall for this one in defence. Harry Himmelberg (vs Hawthorn) remains the MOTY leader.
Absolute banner week for freakish goals though. Goal of the week could have gone to Pickett, Humphrey or Rachele, but we've gone for Izak Rankine in a tough field.
Paul Curtis's goal last week is still our goal of the year leader.
