Anderson seals Suns’ thrilling win over Tigers to stay in finals race

Gold Coast’s Noah Anderson has kicked the winning goal after the final siren to seal a remarkable comeback win for the Suns over Richmond in Carrara.

In Saturday’s other matches, Fremantle registered a 41-point win over St Kilda, Port Adelaide hammered GWS by 55 points, while Collingwood fought back to beat bottom-placed North Melbourne by seven points.

Down by 40 points early in the third quarter, and 28 at the final turn, Anderson’s ice-cold finish secured a 14.10 (94) to 13.14 (92) victory that keeps the Suns’ hopes of a finals berth alive.

Ex-Tiger Mabior Chol scored with a minute to play to get the Suns within a goal and it was Anderson who got the ball as the clock wound down after a smart pass from Sam Day.

The win moves the Suns within four points of the eighth-placed Tigers, who were their own worst enemy in the final quarter as they butchered several golden opportunities to ice the match.

Maurice Rioli and Jake Aarts were both guilty, while Jason Castagna somehow managed to get his shot on goal smothered by Suns defender Charlie Ballard despite having had the freedom of the 50-metre arc.

Chol finished with three goals for the Suns, with Anderson and Ben Ainsworth kicking two each.

Richmond, playing without injured superstar Dustin Martin, lost key forward Tom Lynch early due to a hamstring strain.

Shai Bolton stepped into the void with a three-goal, 29 disposal performance that included eight clearances. Jack Riewoldt also kicked three goals.

Noah Cumberland, the medical substitute in place of Lynch, finished with two goals but was also guilty of missing some regulation shots as the Tigers were made to rue their profligacy.

Trailling by 34 points after an underwhelming first half, Gold Coast responded with a better effort in the third term, with goals to Ainsworth and Touk Miller sparking some hope of a fightback.

Chol booted his second to make it three in a row and cut the margin to 20 points.

A free kick against Jack Bowes presented Aarts with a chance to score and he stopped the rot with a good finish for the Tigers.

A mix-up between Bowes and Sam Collins in a marking contest allowed Bolton to find Riewoldt, whose finish ensured the Tigers were 28 clear at the final turn.

The Suns started the fourth quarter with goals to David Swallow and Anderson, before Riewoldt kicked a wonderful finish with the outside of his right foot from the pocket to again halt the home team’s momentum.

Goals to Day and Matt Rowell either side of Castagna’s miss with the goal at his mercy cut the margin to 11 points with less than four minutes to play.

Ainsworth had the chance to cut the margin to under a kick with two and a half minutes to play but sprayed his set shot to the right.

Chol made up for that miss, soccering through his third from close range when the ball fell to him in the goal square to cut the margin to four points with a minute to play.

That proved vital as the Suns scrambled the ball inside 50, Day marking tight on the boundary before finding Anderson with a clever pass to allow the third-year player to become the hero.

Dockers stay close to AFL summit

Nat Fyfe’s important second-half contribution helped lift Fremantle to its win over St Kilda, keeping the Dockers in touch with the ladder leaders.

The Dockers prevailed 17.9 (111) to 10.10 (70) at Docklands and now boast a 12-4 win-loss record.

They are level with Geelong and Melbourne, but sit third on the ladder with an inferior percentage.

The Brisbane Lions can join the trio on a dozen wins with victory over Essendon on Sunday.

Fremantle was clearly second best in the first half against St Kilda as the home side’s midfield dominated proceedings early.

But the Dockers hung in and trailed by just eight points at the main break before flipping the contest on its head with the first six goals of the second half.

Dual Brownlow medallist Fyfe started forward and had just five disposals to half-time but was moved into the centre square to help spark a turnaround at the source.

He finished with 21 disposals and three goals, with Andrew Brayshaw (36 disposals), Jordan Clark (30), Will Brodie (29, six clearances) and Caleb Serong (25, four) also influential.

The Dockers spread the scoring load with Michael Frederick (three), Bailey Banfield, Rory Lobb, Sean Darcy, Lachie Schultz and Brodie (two each) all booting multiple goals.

Banfield was a late inclusion for key defender Alex Pearce, who pulled out with a tight calf muscle.

St Kilda could have moved into the top eight with a win but was left to rue a missed opportunity despite the best efforts of Zak Jones (27 disposals, six clearances), Brad Crouch (30, seven), Jack Steele (28, four) and Brad Hill (28, four).

Dan Bulter, Max King and Tim Membrey kicked two goals each.

Power thump Giants

A sparkling four-goal haul from Connor Rozee assisted Port Adelaide in thumping GWS to keep its finals flame flickering.

The Power are just one win shy of the top eight after their 12.12 (84) to 3.11 (29) victory at Adelaide Oval.

The Giants’ loss was compounded by another serious hamstring injury to former captain Phil Davis, who turns 32 next month and falls off-contract at season’s end.

Davis — in just his third match back since spending three months on the sidelines because of a left hamstring injury — was barely able to put weight on his right leg after being hurt in the third quarter.

The stalwart’s injury came as the Giants crashed to a heavy defeat that does caretaker coach Mark McVeigh no favours in his bid to win the top job next season.

His Giants were never in the hunt after an eye-catching three-goal opening half from Rozee, who finished with 24 disposals and 11 score involvements.

Rozee’s teammates Sam Powell-Pepper (25 disposals, one goal), Jeremy Finlayson (22 disposals, nine inside 50s) and Zak Butters (26 disposals) were instrumental, while Todd Marshall and Kane Farrell both kicked two goals.

The Power — after losing five consecutive match to open their season — are 12th on the ladder and among three clubs sitting one win shy of eighth place.

The Giants slumped to their biggest loss in McVeigh’s seven matches in charge since Leon Cameron departed as head coach.

Magpies edge gallant Kangaroos

Coach David Noble looks safe for another week after North Melbourne nearly pulled off a stunning upset win over Collingwood.

The Magpies kicked 5.5 to two behinds in the last quarter at the MCG for their seventh straight victory, triumphing 13.10 (88) to 12.9 (81).

Speculation was rife in pre-match radio shows that this would be Noble’s last appearance as Kangaroos coach.

The Kangaroos were a vastly different team compared to last week’s 112-point mauling from Geelong and this was their highest score of the season.

While it was also their 14th straight loss as they head to the wooden spoon, it was their best effort this year.

Kangaroos midfielder Luke Davies-Uniacke was best afield with 33 possessions and key forward Nick Larkey kicked five goals.

Magpies midfielder Taylor Adams went off late in the last quarter with a head knock.

The Kangaroos started brilliantly, dominating the centre clearances and taking an early two-goal lead.

After Ben McKay’s move forward last week against Geelong failed, he started as usual in defence.

Scores were level at the first change and Kangaroos captain Jack Ziebell — back from a nasty facial fracture — sparked his team with the opening goal of the second quarter.

The Kangaroos kicked four goals to one for a 20-point lead and put Collingwood firmly on the back foot.

That lead was extended to a match-high 28 points in the third term before the Magpies inevitably hit back with two goals, but the Kangaroos steadied to lead by 26 at three-quarter time.

The Magpies then stormed home as Jeremy Howe and Scott Pendlebury took big marks in defence.

AAP/ABC