IN TERMS of drama and impact, nothing will ever beat the final round of the home and away season in 1987.
Hawthorn champion Jason Dunstall's last-minute goal at Kardinia Park knocked Geelong out of the finals and paved the way for Melbourne to make it for the first time in 23 years by beating Footscray at the Whitten Oval.
Meanwhile at Waverley, Carlton kept the Hawks from claiming top spot – and the precious week's break that came with it – courtesy of Stephen Kernahan's goal after the siren.
But the weekend of footy just gone comes awfully close. Hawthorn's fabulous win over Adelaide on Thursday night at Adelaide Oval (17th beating first for the second straight week) might have stood up all weekend.
Yet the events that followed over the next 72 hours had already consigned it to the "ancient history" basket by Sunday night.
We'll get to the Hawks a bit later. Let's start instead with the really close ones. This was the first round since round 23, 2013 to have two one-point results. Add the West-Coast Melbourne and Geelong-Fremantle games and you have four games decided by less than one kick – giving us a weekend of drama and excitement not seen for, well, 30 years.
Win in the west gets Dee faithful dreaming
Saturday night marked Melbourne's first win over West Coast since 2009 and the first by the Demons over West Coast in Perth since 2002.
They had no business winning the game, really. Jack Watts, Jesse Hogan and Nathan Jones were watching on TV on the other side of the country while a fourth star, Jack Viney was running around with a crook shoulder.
Yet the toughness and the versatility for which they've become renowned in 2017 came to the fore. Viney was magnificent after spending part of the third term off the ground and Clayton Oliver (despite an awful theatrical flop to the ground right on half-time) relished the hard contest.
And then there was the career-best five-goal haul to Tom McDonald. Usually a defender, the absences of Max Gawn, Hogan and Watts have required him to play everywhere but in defence, and he has emerged as one of the better swingmen in the competition.
And that goal to put the Demons ahead just before the death was superb. A bit lucky, but superb nonetheless.
Social media was abuzz afterwards as to whether the Demons are premiership material. Footy history suggests this group might need to experience some finals footy heartbreak first, but with the best ruckman in the competition and the right blend of speed, hardness, scoring power and flexibility, Melbourne's premiership window is open. In this new era of AFL parity, why not this year?
