Where to now for Melbourne and Port Adelaide?
Shattered: Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley and Melbourne skipper Max Gawn ponder their teams’ finals exit. Picture: ESPN The single key statistic for me in what happens now to Melbourne and Port Adelaide isn’t so much related to either team’s AFL semi-final loss but in how dramatically the finals landscape has changed. Under the current final eight system, we’ve now had 24 seasons of qualifying finals and semi-finals. Between 2000 and 2013, no fewer than 26 of 28 qualifying final losers rebounded...