Hard fought wins to West Coast over Adelaide and Richmond over Carlton set up a tantalising top-four showdown between the Eagles and Tigers next Sunday, while the Saints have plenty to celebrate after a late win over Fremantle.
See how all the day's action unfolded.
Eagles made to sweat by spirited Crows
Richmond continues charge towards September against Carlton
Premiership hero Jack Graham has booted four goals to help Richmond to consolidate its spot in the AFL's top four with a 28-point win over old rivals Carlton.
Sunday's 11.7 (73) to 6.9 (45) wet-weather victory at the MCG cements the Tigers' status as the form team of the competition heading into the finals.
Since their mid-season bye, Damien Hardwick's men have won seven straight games and averaged more than 100 points per match.
Their latest triumph came despite the absence of superstar midfielder Dustin Martin, who was ruled out with unspecified "soreness".
The hard-fought nature of the win was underscored by the fact Carlton easily won the contested possession count and pulled to within three goals during the final term.
But, after losing last week to premier West Coast, the Blues again battled out of their weight division against a classier opponent.
Relishing the rain that fell from the opening bounce, the Tigers booted the first six goals and were poised to hold Carlton to a goalless first half until Matthew Kreuzer pounced on a rare turnover on the stroke of half-time.
The Blues fought their way back into the game in the third term, led by former skipper Marc Murphy who had 12 touches and a goal for the quarter.
But the Tigers drew first blood in the final term, courtesy of Jack Riewoldt's pack mark and goal, and had the answers for everything Carlton threw at them.
Having famously booted three goals as a first-year player in the 2017 grand final, Tigers hard nut Graham again stood tall on the big stage.
Each of his four majors came within an inspired 20-minute burst either side of quarter-time that opened up the scrappy contest.
The 20-year-old also laid 14 tackles, had 22 disposals and played an important role manning up on Carlton skipper Patrick Cripps at the stoppages.
Cripps (37 touches) still managed to find plenty of the ball, while Kreuzer controlled the ruck battle against Toby Nankervis in their respective returns from injury.
Richmond milestone man Shane Edwards was typically influential in his 250th AFL game, gathering 27 disposals and slotting a superb goal on the run.
The brilliant utility had 12 touches and three contested marks in the first quarter alone.
Saints snatch thrilling late win to break Freo hearts
St Kilda has dumped Fremantle out of the AFL finals race, Josh Bruce kicking the winner with less than a minute left to hand his side a thrilling three-point victory.
Play restarted with 39 seconds left on the clock, but Josh Battle ended the Dockers' frantic final forward thrust with an intercept mark deep inside his defensive 50 to seal Sunday's 10.12 (72) to 10.9 (69) win.
Fremantle looked to have done enough when Brandon Matera kicked the first goal of a tense last quarter. But Ross Lyon's men return to Perth out of the finals hunt in 12th with a 9-11 record.
Jack Steven and Dan Hannebery, playing together for St Kilda for the first time, added a level of class that would have had sacked coach Alan Richardson pondering what might have been if he had the pair at his disposal.
Steven inspired the Saints with three clutch goals, while Hannebery had 23 possessions and two goals, with Seb Ross (28 disposals) and Jack Billings (27) also important.
Fremantle skipper Nat Fyfe put on another masterclass, almost dragging his team across the line with 35 possessions, seven clearances and two goals, with Ed Langdon (28 disposals) and Bradley Hill (27) also influential.
Hannebery booted his first two goals as a Saint in quick succession to fire his new club to a game-high 18-point lead in the first quarter, before Michael Walters and Fyfe combined to make it a 12-point game at the first break.
Lyon was animated in the quarter-time huddle and the Dockers responded, Fyfe giving his side the lead for the first time 19 minutes into the second term with his second goal.
St Kilda led the see-sawing affair by a point at half-time, but Fremantle enjoyed a purple patch without making the home side pay.
The inaccurate Dockers held a seven-point lead entering the final term but would have gone behind had the Saints not wasted opportunities with the first four behinds of the quarter.
Matera booted the first goal of the term in the 19th minute, but the Saints kept coming with Steven's brilliant third goal setting up the grandstand finish.
St Kilda pulled off their ninth win of the season - the third in four games under caretaker Brett Ratten - with one player down on the bench for most of the contest after Nick Coffield dislocated a shoulder in the first quarter.
Rowan Marshall's left leg buckled under him in gruesome fashion in the opening term, but the young star ruckman escaped serious injury and returned to the field.
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