The Tackle: Joel Selwood, Cyril Rioli, North Melbourne and Sydney among Robbo’s Round 5 likes and dislikes

THE TACKLE: THERE was plenty to like about the Hawks unheralded list of match winners yesterday — and then there was Cyril, MARK ROBINSON writes.

Joel Selwood was best on ground with 43 disposals in Geelong’s win over St Kilda. Picture: Getty Images

JOEL Selwood’s brilliance against St Kilda cannot be overlooked, but North Melbourne’s ability to again snatch defeat from victory can’t be ignored.

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Mark Robinson reveals his likes and dislikes for Round 5.

What were your highlights and lowlights?

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LIKES

1. GEELONG

TRIED so hard to keep it Selwood and Dangerfield-free, but what can you do? Darcy Lang probably played his best game for the Cats, Mitch Duncan and George Horlin-Smith were strong, Andrew Mackie was great and Aaron Black had 21 disposals and kicked two goals. Kangas fans will wonder why that didn’t happen more at North Melbourne.

But back to Selwood. He had 43 disposals — 30 in the second half — nine tackles and nine clearances. Even the GOAT was impressed. Leigh Matthews, as mentioned on Channel Seven, had 41 disposals on the same day, April 23, in 1973. The difference between Selwood and Lethal? Matthews kicked 11 goals that day.

Joel Selwood was best on ground with 43 disposals in Geelong’s win over St Kilda. Picture: Getty Images

 

2. CYRIL RIOLI

HAWTHORN broke its 2017 duck on an evening of craved success. Among a group of unlikely game-changers, there was Cyril. There was a lot to like about Tim O’Brien, Billy Hartung, Tom Mitchell, Will Langford and Blake Hardwick, who planted the Hawks flag in what was a huge game.

And they were led by Rioli. He had a huge impact and his desperation underpinned a far more desperate Hawthorn. Where has it been? Who knows, but the Hawks are no longer the easybeats they were just a week ago.

Cyril Rioli and Hawthorn answered the critics. Picture: Michael Klein

 

3. VERSATILITY

EVERY premiership team says it has to improve — and clearly one aspect the Western Bulldogs have focused on is their versatility. According to Champion Data, Luke Beveridge flips the magnets like a card shark on Mulberry St in New York, and right now the Bulldogs are the hardest team to identify a player with a single position (just like Hawthorn between 2013-15).

On Saturday Marcus Adams went forward in the first half, where he was outstanding, and then played back in the second half. Bob Murphy has also become more than a pinch-hit forward this season.

 

4. ROBBIE GRAY

FOR five years he has been a top 20 player, and with a return to where it all started — as a creative half-forward — Gray is in the argument for being a top 10 player. Port is playing Gray forward for 67 per cent of the game, compared to 31 per cent last year. As a result, he is averaging career-high stats for marks inside-50, ground-ball gets inside-50, goals and score assists.

It can only happen if Brad Ebert, Ollie Wines, Travis Boak, Jared Polec, Chad Wingard, Paddy Ryder and Karl Amon carry the majority of the load in the midfield. By the way, a young fella named Aidyn Johnson is one to watch.

Port star Robbie Gray is achieving career-high stats. Picture: AAP

 

5. MICHAEL JOHNSON

THREE weeks ago it was determined he should never play again under Ross Lyon. Since then, he has slowly improved and on Saturday night was close to best afield for Fremantle against North Melbourne. Johnson did what he does best: win the ball, set up at the back and be reliable. He finished with 26 disposals, 12 of which were contested, seven marks, six score involvements and one glorious goal at the end. Bet Johnson and full-back Joel Hamling both feature in coaches votes.

 

6. MATT CROUCH

LET’S talk about the Crows. When the observers were wondering who was going to take his footy to the next level, Matt Crouch was among the candidates, and he makes his debut in The Tackle. He had a super 2016 season and has taken a step up this year.

Against Gold Coast it was 33 touches and a game-high 17 contested disposals. He is rated elite for disposals, contested possessions and uncontested possessions and above average for clearances and pressure. The Crows are averaging 133.2 points per game — the fourth most points scored by any team in the opening five rounds of a season since 2000.

 

7. BOB MURPHY

THE time has come — and even Bob Murphy agrees. It’s time to focus on anything but Bob. It was a topsy-turvy game which finished with what we all wanted — smiles, singing and back slapping after the game. Losses on big milestone days are the pits. This wasn’t. A bloke tweeted on Sunday — “I’m bobbed out” — and Bob retweeted it before posting his own message, which said in part: “Thank you to the @brisbanelions. All class. That’s enough from me for a while ...”

Bob Murphy is chaired off by Matthew Boyd and Easton Wood. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

 

8. JEREMY CAMERON

IT’S as though Cameron has read all the copy about Jonathon Patton and Rory Lobb storming past him and has responded. The beauty is Cameron seems to have a more rounded game in terms of position. Last week he posted a career-high 21 possessions, this week it was a new career-high 24. Can see him becoming a Nick Riewoldt-type playing mid and forward, which he seemed to do against Sydney, and he finished with a game-high 10 score involvements.

 

9. MITCH ROBINSON

CARLTON had a fire sale and as time went on, all the talk was about Eddie Betts, Jeff Garlett and Jarrad Waite. One Carlton fan said at the time: “Why are we getting rid of Mitch Robinson when we need five Mitch Robinsons”.

The clear reference was the Blues weren’t tough enough. The Lions didn’t win on Saturday, but they had an almighty crack — led by Robinson, Dayne Zorko, Dayne Beams and Tom Rockliff. It’s not often a player at his second club becomes the heart and soul player, but I reckon Robinson is heading that way.

 

DISLIKES

1. WEST COAST

ONCE contenders and now pretenders. The Cats announced themselves, the Saints made noise for three quarters and flailed in the last, while West Coast continues to disappoint. Adam Simpson hates the Eagles being called flat-track bullies, but that’s what they are. They leave their state without the necessary intensity that is built to fever-pitch in front of 40,000-plus fans at home.

On Sunday, the bedraggled Hawks were too hard for them. Players such as Josh Hill, Sam Butler and Jack Redden were average, the midfielders were average and the Eagles were average. They don’t return to the MCG again this season unless they play finals. More flat-tracking until next time, hey Eagles?

 

2. NORTH MELBOURNE

THE Kangaroos have lost 22 matches under Brad Scott by less than 12 points since 2010, the third-most by any team behind Carlton and Port Adelaide. More frustrating is the Kangaroos have been in front for 53 per cent of game-time this season and Saturday night’s loss was the third this season by less than 10 points.

So, who is to blame? From what I’ve seen of the kids this year — Jy Simpkin, Trent Dumont, Ed Vickers-Willis, Kayne Turner, Taylor Garner and, this weekend, Mason Wood — it’s hardly the fault of the youth. No, the coach and the leaders have to accept responsibility. You can’t be unlucky so many times. In big moments, the leaders don’t stand up, which, in part, is a reflection of the coach.

Lindsay Thomas is out of form. Picture: Getty Images

 

3. THE DELIBERATE DEBACLE

CRAZY umpiring at Subiaco on Saturday night unquestionably had an effect on the result. In the third quarter, with North Melbourne 29 points up, a blatant deliberate kick out of bounds by Fremantle’s Garrick Ibbotson was not paid. Who knows what would have happened if North had won the kick. Another goal and the game over? We’ll never know.

Later in the quarter, Marley Williams was pinged for deliberate when he tried to curl a kick back into the field of play, only to see it bounce out. That, too, changed the game. The problem was one was paid and the other wasn’t and the match was reset after both decisions.

 

4. COSTLY ROOS MISTAKES

BUT, Kangas, don’t blame the umpires for the loss. Yes, the umpires were inconsistent and they made mistakes, but so did the North Melbourne players. In the final part of the last quarter, Williams turned it over, which led to a Tom Sheridan goal, Lachie Hansen put his forearm into the head of Brady Grey and conceded a free kick downfield and the Dockers kicked the goal, Garner missed a goal from 35m and Johnson got on his own to kick one late.

Who was on Nat Fyfe at the stoppages and who let Shane Kersten go at the death? The review won’t be good viewing, especially Hansen’s hit on Grey.

 

5. THOMAS AND SWALLOW

WHAT does Brad Scott do with Lindsay Thomas and Andrew Swallow? At 0-5 it’s not all doom and gloom because close losses are better than beltings, but the team has to change. Thomas is in a slump and thus his confidence is low, and he was diving for free kicks against the Dockers. Swallow has hit the wall and his position is under threat. Scott has to decide, as one of the older teams at the weekend, does he stay with the veterans or bring in more kids?

 

6. SYDNEY

WHAT about Sydney? The expectations on the Swans were greater than they were on North Melbourne, yet the excuses for them and the confidence in them are out of whack. They are 0-5, the same as North, and they are getting beaten at the contest, which has been their strength. Kieren Jack is their Andrew Swallow and John Longmire will have a call to make on him at some stage.

Luke Parker has dropped his standards and Dan Hannebery and Josh Kennedy aren’t getting their normal ball numbers. The Swans had their second-fewest disposals in a game (326) since the 2014 Grand Final.

Luke Parker and Sydney haven’t been performing to expectations. Picture: Phil Hillyard

 

7. CARLTON’S THIRD TERM

YES, it’s a learning experience, but Carlton coach Brendon Bolton can’t ignore some putrid football. The third quarter against Port Adelaide was one of the most one-sided quarters in recent memory. Port was +75 disposals, +22 contested possessions, +53 uncontested possessions, +22 inside 50s and scored 6.10 to 0.0.

Phone calls from the president, the chief executive and list manager on Saturday morning helped Bolton put the performance into perspective. Still, young bodies at Adelaide Oval is football suicide.

 

8. SANCTIMONIOUS PEOPLE

THE president of the free world spoke about grabbing women on the “pussy” and he still won office, yet a group of football fans are angrier with Heath Shaw than they were with Donald Trump because, in the heat of battle, he said the word “retard”. It’s far from ideal in a world where bullying exists, and he’s regretful, but to all those people wanting Shaw punished, let’s put a microphone and a camera in your workplace and turn them on when you’re angry.

 

9. RACISTS

RACISM can’t be tolerated. Members of the South Australian public having a go at Eddie Betts last week was disgraceful, but no more disgraceful than what happened at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

An imbecile stood up and screamed at an Asian trainer: “Go back to the f---ing Chinese takeaway, you d---head”. Really? He’ll say sorry, and the world will move on, but it shouldn’t be so easy. He should banned from AFL matches for the rest of the season. The other punishment is everyone now knows this man is a racist.

ROBBO’S TOP TWEETS

@lwrncwds: Rather than WC being labelled “flat track bullies” after today, maybe it should be Hawks. Where’s this form been?

@Rommas: Dislike - Another spineless West Coast performance interstate against a zero win team. My boys are officially pretenders,

@nickoreed: Dislike Saints fans booing Joel Selwood because he puts his head over the ball and their players can’t tackle correctly

@vizzini111: like the look of carltons draft class of ‘16 dislike harry Mckay still playing in the VFL

@NKG1992: I like Rory Atkins, he’s gone up another level when the media questioned our depth!

@matt_donald22: Likes - Jake Stringer. Had a tough year in 2016 but has knuckled down and worked really hard this year and getting back into some good form

@Footyfied: like Eric Hipwood from @brisbanelions.. superstar in making.

@MattTurfie: Like: Jy Simpkin, Taylor Garner, Mason Wood all showing good signs. Dislike: Andrew Swallow, Lindsay Thomas just about cooked

@chookie94: like: seb ross. goes unnoticed by most, but has taken a step up this year. other midfielders need to take notice

@rodneyheron: LIKE: Liam Picken throws himself at every contest, only Dog with no hangover. DISLIKE: Weagles aka The Griswold’s, don’t travel well

@michaelsleap: Like: Freo are dog hungry again. Dislike: Abysmal Friday night scheduling

@tomaitken33: Like Leon Cameron yes they’ve got elite talent but their structures and set up are very good. Dislike lopsided footy on Friday nights

@dingoderek: Likes: Another brave performance from Lions whilst playing 6 19 year olds. Dislikes:Myopic umpiring

@JimmyStaghouse: Like big boy mcevoy, tears one week, massive the next. Dislike the inconsistency of the umpiring week to week

@adamish1975: Dislike. West Coast for ruining it for everyone.

@champidiot: Dislike Swans crowd when they get behind; go quiet, lose interest totally and/or leave - lack passion

@BevanAbevan: Likes: Ollie Wines again, Dislike: AFL Record choosing not to list the @PAFC players who have given their lives in the services.

@MarchyTweets: Like Ollie wines. Dislike Victorian crowds and their racist jibes.

@bigdogrocket89: Maybe this time, don’t try and isolate racism to one state Robbo. Dislike: West Coast. Don’t like being called flat track bullies? Perform.

@21keno: Dislike that the only 2 games on Sunday overlapped. Terrible programming.

@mickobrien83: Like : Stef Martin- he’d be pushing Brodie Grundy for the All Australian ruck spot at this stage I would of thought...

@keegancarr30: Likes mark blicavs. plays 2nd ruck against hickey and Bruce then tags the oppositions best player out of the game after half time

@Wallagootwobily: Dislike umpires inventing new rules such as, you pushed him in the back with your knees, against Hawkins.

@joejohnstone6: Surely @joelselwood14 is the Monday hero, nobody even comes close, we love him

Originally published as The Tackle: Joel Selwood, Cyril Rioli, North Melbourne and Sydney among Robbo’s Round 5 likes and dislikes