Round 17

For the first time this year, our tipster of the week was Lara with 7. Lara won this competition in 2008 and is now only 4 off the lead. But she wasn’t on her own this week. Ray also got 7, continuing his good form of late. Next best with 6 this week were Fran, Grace, Peter, Sally, Steph and me. And because Fran got 6, with Gaynor, Tony and Helen getting 5, Fran has edged back into the lead on her own. With seven weeks of tipping left, the winner could come from just about anyone currently in the top half of the ladder.

The Crows did what they needed to do and bounced back with a good win over West Coast. Next week they face Gold Coast at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night, which will be an interesting one with Gold Coast having lost their last six. And it’s good to see Port have two wins in a row. They’ve had a bit of bad luck this year with so many narrow losses. Carlton’s run of wins under interim coach Josh Fraser is now 7 but next week they play Hawthorn at the MCG on Saturday night, with Hawthorn coming off a loss. Can Carlton make it 8 in a row? We’ll see (but I won’t be watching because it’s on at the same time as Crows v Gold Coast).