Boilovers galore a boon for AFL

If there were still any doubts as to how tight the AFL competition has become, they have now been put to bed following the astonishing second half of the split round.

The three results from the weekend have acted as validation for the AFL's socialist dream of equalisation, by way of the salary cap and the draft, and if anyone in Australia tipped three winners correctly over the weekend, serious questions have to be asked of their mental health.

Let's go back to Friday night when the second phase of round 12 began. Richmond, who had not won a game of football for 300 days, came up against a Melbourne outfit which had disposed of two top-four contenders in the previous two rounds - Adelaide and Collingwood.

The Demons looked as though their season was back on track after opening the year with nine consecutive losses and, with almost a full strength side at their disposal for the first time this season, experts predicted that Melbourne would cause some serious headaches for finals aspirants in the second half of the season, let alone the 16th-placed Tigers.

Yet Richmond, led by forgotten superstar Nathan Brown, came out firing in the first half and ended up handing the Demons their most embarrassing loss for the season.

If that surprise result wasn't enough, then the ante was about to be raised when Mick Malthouse's injury-depleted Magpies ventured up to Telstra Stadium to take on the Swans on Saturday night.

The Magpies were faced with the ominous task of containing Sydney's forward line, which boasted names such as Barry Hall, Michael O'Loughlin and Ryan O'Keefe, with James Clement, Simon Prestigiacomo and Harry O'Brien all absent from the backline.

When you add the fact that Collingwood also had a third of its side with 30 games experience or less, Sydney, which had beaten the now second-placed Hawks in its last outing, were overwhelming favourites.

Yet someone forgot to tell Malthouse and his gallant Magpies how dire their situation apparently was, as they went on to beat the Swans at their own game and eventually conjured up one of their most famous wins of the past decade.

If those two results were still not enough to shock the most hard-nosed of footy fans, then the match at Subiaco on Sunday evening would have almost everyone in a state of bewilderment.

The Saints travelled across the Nullarbor, with their season on the verge of collapse, to take on the second-placed Eagles.

The odds were well and truly stacked against St. Kilda, which lost its past four matches heading into the match, but the Saints, led by Robert Harvey in his 350th match, became just the second Victorian side in the past 60 matches at Subiaco to defeat West Coast.

This stunning trifecta of results confirmed that any team can now officially defeat any team on any given day in any given circumstance.

Credit must go to the AFL in this instance for introducing the salary cap and the draft all those years ago because we are now bearing the fruits as we sit in anticipation for what the second half of one of the most exciting and open seasons in recent memory has to offer.

One thing's for sure, by 7.30pm on Sunday, the phrase 'footy is a funny game' took on a whole new meaning.