This will be forever remembered as the weekend of Moorcroft’s Mark. Despite a lot of good footy being played, and several upset results, all anyone seemed to want to talk about was Slash’s soaring grab in the goalsquare against the Bulldogs. It was a sensational grab, but it shouldn’t obscure the fact that there were some important results across round 14.

Essendon set the tone with a strong victory over the Western Bulldogs on Friday night, gaining revenge for the one blip of season 2000. The Bulldogs are now in some trouble as they strive to hold onto a place in the final eight. The Dogs have the same win-loss ration as four teams which recorded valuable wins in this round: Sydney, Geelong, Adelaide and the Kangaroos.

The Swans won a thriller against Carlton, prevailing by 10 points at the SCG. The home team’s inaccuracy meant they needed 10 more scoring shots than the Blues in order to secure that margin. Geelong gave Collingwood a wake-up call at Colonial Stadium in a very committed display. The Roos inflicted another dispiriting defeat on Melbourne, and the Demons now surely have no hope of making the finals in 2001.

The other big result this round was the victory of Hawthorn over Richmond. The two top-four aspirants went into the match with contrasting preparations, Richmond on a four-game winning streak and Hawthorn having lost four of its past five. The Hawks gained some kudos with the win, but lost Nick Holland to another shoulder injury.