AFL 2025, Round 23 Talking Points

Collingwood’s horror collapse at the pointy end of the season is about to force their fans into a bizarre scenario.

Plus the Adelaide admission that’ll make the Pies feel worse, Freo’s awful return to poor form and the question that rankled Ken Hinkley.

The big issues from Round 23 of the 2025 AFL season analysed in foxfooty.com.au’s Talking Points!

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Bevo goes into bat for father-son picks | 13:40

WHY PIES FANS MUST NOW CHEER FOR OLD ENEMY

Collingwood fans are set to throw their support behind an arch rival they would’ve never imagined barracking for with their premiership hopes on the line.

For Essendon’s final round clash with Gold Coast could well decide whether or not the Pies make the top four.

Collingwood’s flag hopes are dwindling after dropping five of their last six games to be suddenly clinging onto its spot in the top four by mere percentage after sitting on top of the ladder for the majority of the season.

Craig McRae’s side (123.1) is now only marginally ahead of the fifth-placed Hawks (122.7), who have a Round 24 showdown with Brisbane at the Gabba.

Meanwhile Gold Coast (121.2) has two games up its sleeve against Port Adelaide (Adelaide Oval) and Essendon (People First Stadium). And if the Suns win both and get a solid percentage booster against the injury-ravaged Bombers in the final game of the home and away season, Damien Hardwick’s men will likely overtake Collingwood in fourth place.

Collingwood has dropped five of its last six games (Photo by James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images) Source: Getty Images

“Ironically it is going to be Collingwood’s arch rival, Essendon, who will shape Collingwood’s ability to win the flag this season,” Saints great Leigh Montagna began on Fox Footy’s The First Crack.

“If all the results go as expected … the top four spot is going to come down to percentage between Gold Coast and Collingwood on that final game against Essendon.

“Gold Coast will know exactly what they need to win by to leapfrog Collingwood into fourth spot.

“That game we thought might be a dead rubber, there will be 114,000 Collingwood members watching that game rooting for Essendon to keep it competitive and tight.

“Of course, there’s still a bit to play out depending on the results of Collingwood’s margin against Melbourne and Gold Coast-Port Adelaide. But it will roughly be about a six or seven goal margin — if Gold Coast can defeat Essendon by that, they will leapfrog into fourth.”

Pies fans could find themselves supporting Essendon in Round 24 (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images) Source: Getty Images

The Bombers have dropped 11 games in a row including an average losing margin of 35 points since their mid-season bye to sink to the bottom four.

While as recently as last year Brisbane won the flag from outside the top four, Montagna can’t see Collingwood winning four-straight finals to salute, given the Pies’ recent slump.

“I think that is crucial because I can’t see a team winning it from outside the top four this year,” Montagna continued.

“Everyone talks about how even the competition is with the top eight. So it is going to be hard for Collingwood to win four games in a row in September, when they’ve struggled in recent times against the other contenders.

“They need the double chance to give themselves any hope. They can go back to the Adelaide Oval again where they almost caused an upset.

“The only twist will be if Hawthorn can beat Brisbane and cause an upset. Then it will be a three-way race for fourth spot on percentage between the Hawks, Collingwood and Gold Coast.

“If Essendon is competitive like they’ve been in recent weeks, maybe Collingwood hold onto fourth. But if they fall away as we sort of expect at that time of the year, Gold Coast get the double chance.”

The Suns-Bombers clash was rescheduled from Opening Round due to Cyclone Alfred in a move that “plays in Gold Coast’s favour,” as put by chief Herald Sun reporter Jay Clark.

'I think it's the non-free of the year!' | 00:28

“Because they’re going to see the bunny,” Clark said on The First Crack.

“They’ll be able to hunt down the bunny and the margin versus Essendon, who might already be thinking about their footy trip on that last Wednesday of the season.”

Montagna added: “And unfair for Collingwood. Well, it’s just like any other game, you can be the last game of the round. If they don’t finish in the top four, they’ve got no one else to blame but themselves.”

Dual premiership Kangaroo David King believes it’s a particularly critical period for the experienced Pies given they have the oldest list in the competition.

“So what’s missing with them? What’s the gap in the game in their game at the moment? If they’re not to win it this year, you’re going to have low confidence going into next year. Another year older with these guys, we talk about how their list is ageing,” King said on the program.

“I think this is a team that has to gather and go in these next five weeks. We’re all probably going to be doom and gloom on Collingwood, but they’ve got an opportunity. They’re still in the fight.

“But this is going to be their best chance for the next two to three years, there’s nothing surer than that.”

McRae still upbeat despite losing 5 in 6 | 08:12

MORE PIES PAIN AS CROW ADMITS TO ANOTHER UMP BLUNDER

Magpies fans will already be hurting after their side’s costly loss to Adelaide despite having 34 more inside 50s – the second-biggest ever recorded in a loss.

And a touchy non-call for time wasting on Riley Thilthorpe, who kicked the ball away from the umpire in the final minute of the game. also got tongues wagging.

Well you can add Isaac Cumming admitting Ben Keays threw him the ball to set up a crucial goal late in the third term to the black and white misery.

Keays assisted Cumming in the goalsquare with a swift sleight of hand to help finish off a Crows transition chain as the home side pushed ahead by eight points.

And Cumming conceded he thought the umpire would’ve immediately overturned the call in a play that gave Adelaide all momentum.

“Oh my days it was a throw!,” Cumming said on Channel Nine.

“When he threw it to me mid air, I was like: ‘Oh my god, that’s going to get called back’.

“But he disguised it well, ‘Keyser’.”

Crows defender Mark Keane also blatantly threw the ball in Saturday night’s clash as several tough calls went against the Pies.

It’s almost like all that good fortune Craig McRae’s side has had in recent years had regressed to the mean badly, including four losses to fellow contenders by a kick or less in 2025.

Conversely, Adelaide had copped probably the worst run of bad fortune in recent memory including a Keays shot at goal in 2023 being controversially called a point.

But the Crows’ luck is turning, with the club set to play finals for the first time and claim its first minor premiership since 2017.

Nicks jubilant after hoodoo is snapped | 12:48

‘HIGHLY OFFENSIVE’: QUESTION THAT ANGERED KEN… BUT WHAT SO MANY ARE THINKING

It was the brave post-match question that was always going to make Ken Hinkley bristle.

But it’s the one many pundits have been mulling for months.

The 8-14 Power, after Saturday’s heavy defeat to Carlton at Marvel Stadium, are now poised to record their worst ever season during Hinkley’s 13-year tenure.

In his 297th game in charge, Hinkley will coach the Power for one last time — and club champion Travis Boak will play his final match — next week when they host Gold Coast at Adelaide Oval.

“It’s been a long time coming, but I’m sort of glad it’s here now,” a bereft Hinkley told reporters post-game. “Because of the challenges this year has put upon us, we can actually celebrate Trav – and I hope that’s what it is.

“To be honest, I’m sick of the wait. It’s been a bit of a battle to get to the end – and we’ve got here now.

“I’m really proud of how we as a footy club – and Trav, myself and everyone involved with our footy club – have been able to keep our spirits up and energy up to get to the end of the season with lots of challenges.”

And then the question came.

After seemingly flagging eagerness to finish up, Hinkley was asked a hindsight question around his role in the Power succession plan with assistant Josh Carr.

He took umbrage at being asked if he would’ve stood down immediately if he had his time again.

“I find that highly offensive,” a prickly Hinkley said.

'You can't sugarcoat that' | 05:39

The question was reworded around the challenges Port Adelaide had faced this year. But Hinkley was still unenthused.

“For me, even that way the question is unfair because I committed and the club committed to seeing the season out right from the very start of the year,” he said.

“We’ve said all the way along we knew what was going on. Yeah the challenges that came don’t make any difference to our position of what we were trying to achieve this year.

“Rightly or wrongly, the ladder will certainly say we didn’t perform well enough, but internally I think we’ve put ourselves in a really good spot forward, we’ve been able to focus on some of the stuff and I’ve been able to focus on coaching the team week to week.

“I think it sets us up for a really positive 2026 and for Josh in his first year I think it gives him a great chance.”

Two Fox Footy pundits, however, hold a different view.

Minutes after Collingwood’s 91-point thrashing of the Power in Round 1, dual premiership Kangaroo David King flagged his major concerns with “the long, slow goodbye” for Hinkley, declaring on Fox Footy: “It’s so damaging to your football program. Who is in charge? Whose system has failed tonight?”

Twenty-two weeks later and the Power, according to King, have lived a full-season disaster.

“There’ll be no more relieved man next weekend than Ken Hinkley,” King told Super Saturday Live.”

Lynch & Brown's Top 5 Marks of 2025 | 02:07

Triple premiership Tiger Jack Riewoldt suggested the bigger pressing question for Port was not around giving Hinkley a farewell season, but rather whether the Power should’ve concocted a succession plan at all.

“Have they missed an opportunity for doing what Melbourne are going to do and actually get a bit of an external review from six candidates for their head coaching job?” Riewoldt asked on Fox Footy’s Super Saturday LIVE.

“We know Josh Carr is going straight in there, but how much does change with Josh Carr? It’s going to be a fascinating watch at the start of next season.

“The opportunities to get a new senior coach, they don’t come round very often. So it’s actually quite a good chance to look within your football club and go: ‘Maybe there’s a different way of doing things or maybe there’s someone better for our group going forward.’”

All of Port’s focus now goes onto Friday night where they’ll have the chance to put a dent in the Suns’ finals push by sending Hinkley and Boak out in style.

And then the Carr era begins.

SLOW FREO REVERT ‘BACK TO OLD HABITS’

It’s time for Fremantle to “burn the anchor”, according to AFL great Garry Lyon.

The Dockers were accused of reverting “back to bad habits” with their “stodgy” slow play in the loss to Brisbane that’s left their season on a knife’s edge.

It was in the third term that Freo were able to break the shackles and take the game on – but repeatedly their final kick inside let them down.

Luke Jackson blew a chance streaming inside, Shai Bolton missed a free Jye Amiss as Jaeger O’Meara butchered his snap and Andy Brayshaw lost the handle on the footy when Freo had a three-on-one on the 50m arc in wasted opportunities from the fast break.

“They look so good when they go quick from turnover,” premiership coach Adam Simpson said at the time.

“That’s where they’ve got to arrive at, at some stage (finishing off that break),” Garry Lyon added.

Dockers exposed? Lions cement finals | 02:06

Addressing O’Meara’s brutal miss when he had teammates out around him only 25m out from goal: “They made a meal of that. That was a goal that could be kicked in five different ways,” Lyon said.

“They’ve been untidy Fremantle. That many times on a fast break they haven’t been able to finish a play.

“They are going to go down the same way they’ve gone down in years gone by.”

And as they stared down a 31-point deficit heading into the final term, it was the old, slow Freo who emerged in the final term as they went long time and time again.

The Dockers entered Friday night 12th this season for ball movement but third for defending it, while the Lions came in third for ball movement — and the discrepancy was painfully evident at times for the Fremantle faithful.

“I’m not as glass (half) full,” Simpson said of the Dockers on Fox Footy.

“I think there’ll be questions on the system, and what they do with the ball.

“I think it’s such a small piece of the puzzle, but you always seem to revert to ball movement when you talk about Fremantle — which I think is borderline unfair — but it was obvious there at stages in the last quarter.

“They weren’t as brave … it’s probably both (decision-making and skill execution). Why didn’t they take it on a bit more? Why didn’t they bring in the handball-receives a bit more?

“Sometimes it’s just panic, sometimes it’s ‘we’ve done it this way before and won, so we’re going to keep doing it’.

“It’s like playing two rucks — that was criticised for so long until it started working, then he’s a genius.

“So, you live by the sword, you die by the sword, and unfortunately this week, I think it’s going to be a bit about that (ball movement).”

Longmuir: "I deal in facts" | 10:50

The anchor symbol had gone up on Fremantle’s bench late in the third term, with Simpson confirming “that normally means slow it down”.

But Lyon was adamant it was the wrong call for the Dockers, at a time they trailed by 26 points.

“The fast play and more aggressive ball movement is when they look best,” he said.

“They shouldn’t be spooked by going quick Fremantle – go and burn the anchor (sign). Burn that right now.

“Do you burn an anchor?” Simpson laughed. “You can lift the anchor, Garry!”

“Drop it at the bottom of the ocean!” Lyon added.

“Because they got through Brisbane three times. And it was just untidy at the bottom end.

“Burn the anchor sign (laughs).”

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