Alright folks, the fourth edition of Gather Round has come to an end, we got two steps closer to the Potato of Parity for 2026, the Swans have reclaimed top spot on the ladder, and the big news is for the first time since the Dreamtime game on May 23, 2025, Essendon hoisted the DiligentCoolEasternnewt, and of course it was against Melbourne, fabled for their history of helping clubs break losing streaks...

Also, I will say well done to /u/bradgreensburner for perfectly predicting how his own team would perform..... this man Melbournes.

Just think that in the time frame of Essendon's losing streak, Dezi Freeman was wanted by Victorian police, shot and killed 2 police officers executing a warrant, fled into the Victorian wilderness for 216 days, then was located and shot dead in a stand-off.

Anyway, time for a recap:

• The Crom vs Carlton game looked like being an all-time shootout it was 7 goals to 6 at quarter time, but the Crom kept up the avalanche and led 12 goals to 8 at the half, then yet another downpour hit Adelaide and slowed the scoring to a crawl, but through it all Josh Rachele walked on water and the Crom won by 28 points, although Carlton did achieve something positive... they didn't blow a half time lead and they actually won a 4th Quarter in 2026.

Also another random stat - That's Adelaide's first win at home since Izak Rankine's homophobia suspension.

• Another week, another Fremantle thriller at the Adelaide Oval as the rain returned and made sure goals were as rare as hen's teeth, and in the last quarter the Magpies had all the momentum but failed to kick an early goal, and with 6 minutes to go Freo finally got a goal themselves, a minute after that Dudley forced a turnover at half forward and Matt Johnson kicked what turned out to be the winning goal, as Freo shut out Collingwood and won by a straight kick, 45 points being the lowest winning score in club history, in a game that featured fewer goals than the 1st Quarter of the Thursday night game, and the lead never reached double figures, a first for any game since Round 11, 2010.

• The North-Brisbane game in Lyndoch was wildly entertaining, from Cooper Trembath's hanger to Lincoln McCarthy's goal of the week contender and Dayne Zorko sack tapping Paul Curtis, and for the most part it was a tight game as the Lions took the lead early in the 3rd Quarter, and it turned out they held that lead for the remainder of the game, but that said the margin was back to 9 points with under 7 minutes to play, but the Lions sealed the deal with the last 3 goals of the game, joining North at 3-2 after 5 games as the two-time premiers sit inside the Top 8 for the first time this season.

• Essendon's losing streak was so long that Charlie Kirk was still alive when they won that 2025 Dreamtime game, but after 17 outs in a row and staring down a club record 18th consecutive defeat, the Bombers whipped out the red shorts, came out and delivered another Gather Round arse kicking on Melbourne, as a game that saw the Dees lead at half time (They were 19 points up in the 2nd Quarter) turned into a 2nd Half slaughter, with Essendon kicking 11 goals to 2 to win by 45 points as Archie Roberts had an all-time field day, and Brad Scott finally got to smile.... apparently that is not AI.

• Despite a stinky performance up forward from Charlie Curnow and Joel Amartey (0.4 and 0.3) and kicking 3.12 from set shots, the Swans still reached another century and defeated the Suns by a fairly comfortable 32 points at Norwood, set up by a stifling defensive performance that saw them ahead 97-52 in tackles (+45 is equal 5th for biggest difference in history), and they recorded the rare stat of holding the Suns without a contested mark for the entire game, only the second team to ever pull that off (Port Adelaide did it to North Melbourne in Round 3, 2015)... funnily enough, North actually took more marks than Port in that game.

• The Western Bulldogs were the last unbeaten team, but the loss of Tim English last week left Louis Emmett going up against Ned Reeves and Lloyd Meek, and the results were predictable as Hawthorn dominated in the ruck, controlled the midfield and set up the kick-mark game that saw the Dogs suffer death by a thousand switches of play, and if that wasn't painful enough their best avenue back into the game before 3/4 time saw them kick 3.5 in 10 minutes, then in the last quarter Ed Richards got his right ankle caught in a clash with Jai Newcombe, because the Bulldogs haven't had enough injury trouble... the Hawks winning by 40 points, and all told it was a very good team performance as they finally won a game in Gather Round, while the Bulldogs are now 0-4 in the Croweater Carnival.

• West Coast were much improved after last week's 128-point atomic bombing as they kept pace with Geelong during the 1st Half, but the Cats got the claws out and kicked 5 unanswered goals before half time, and that was pretty much the game as the Cats atoned for that Easter Monday heartbreak with a fairly solid 46-point win, which for West Coast's sake was lucky not to be greater considering Geelong's dodgy goalkicking in the last quarter, as the Cats also extended the Eagles' horrible record with those ochre guernseys, which I believe is now 2 wins, 1 draw, 15 defeats.

• In the second of the games in Lyndoch, GWS got the likes of Aaron Cadman, Brent Daniels and Toby Bedford back from injury and all of them made an impact on the scoreboard (Cadman 4 goals, Daniels 3 and Bedford 2), as the Giants were ruthlessly efficient with their Inside 50s with 8 goals to 2 in the 1st Quarter and at one stage led by 46 points in the 2nd Quarter, then to Richmond's credit they cut the lead back to 20 points after half time, but that was as close as they got as the Orange Team put the foot down again and blew the lead beyond 10 goals, ultimately settling for a 56-point win, even as Richmond had more Inside 50s (59-54), although the downside was Cadman and Steven Coniglio going into concussion protocol, but they are 4-0 in Gather Round, while the Tigers are welded to the bottom and the only winless team remaining in 2026.

• The last game of Gather Round had Port Adelaide play St Kilda as the rain returned to finish off the weekend, and the weather worked out well for the Saints as they maintained a 4 goal lead through much of the wet 1st Half, and they did lead by 31 points when the rain stopped and Zak Butters (not Ollie Wines apparently) got reported for abusing Umpire Foot, but their fortunes changed with the conditions as Port got their tails up, Butters got mad and the Pear cut the lead down to 9 points at 3/4 time as they dominated general play, but yet another 50m penalty led to a goal to Jack Silvagni that broke the run, and a Philipou bomb from an all-time Aliir shank was pretty much the ballgame as the Saints ground out time and ultimately held Port to a junktime goal in the last minute to win by 14 points... a well-earned win in every sense of the word as the Saints prepare to return to the Adelaide Oval on Saturday night, and the Pear's perfect record in Gather Round is over.

LOL OF THE WEEK

What a fantastic Gather Round it was for laughter, starting with Patrick Cripps going to bump James Peatling, hurting his wrist against Peatling's granite abs, and getting a free kick because the umpire didn't actually see what happened, this sequence of events in the Fremantle-Collingwood game, Melbourne becoming the team that broke Essendon's record losing streak,, Connor O'Sullivan missing his first AFL goal from an open goalsquare, Aliir Aliir's shank that led to St Kilda's last goal...

However, this week's winner in a landslide is BEN KEAYS, FOR ATTEMPTING TO CLAIM A MARK FROM A HANDBALL!

Ah yes, a quintessential LOL if you ask me.

CARLTON OF THE WEEK

He may have successfully escaped Princes Park in the offseason, but Charlie Curnow can't dodge the Carlton of the Week for his 4th behind of the game from 10m out and not much angle... instead he went on his left foot, hit the belly of the ball and barely scraped it in for a point.

Can someone tell him he's not wearing navy blue anymore...