Odd Couple — Michelangelo Rucci and Chris McDermott look at the big issues in AFL football

ALL the big issues in the AFL are consuming our Odd Couple, Chris ‘Bone’ McDermott and Michelangelo ‘Rooch’ Rucci.

SOME teams just have something on their rivals. But surely it will not take another Mitch McGovern rise to the heavens to save the Crows on Friday night against Collingwood?

BONE: NO, it won’t need that Rooch. The Pies’ 24-point win against poor old Carlton was just a win Collingwood — and Eddie and Nathan — had to have rather than a sign of things to come.

The Magpies will not get away with that small forward line against the Crows. It is not a Richmond premiership-winning system with multiple scoring options. Collingwood needs Darcy Moore fully fit and back in the 22, but they also need Alex Fasolo, Jordan De Goey, Jamie Elliott, Daniel Wells and perhaps Mick McGuane, Murray Weidemann, Len Thompson, Max and Wayne Richardson. Oh yeah, and let’s see if Peter Daicos can make a guest appearance.

ROOCH: CAN’T fit in Gordon Coventry to that roll call of Collingwood goalkicking greats, Christopher? Collingwood has not beaten the Crows since 2014 when Adelaide ended a six-game losing sequence to the Magpies.

Strange things can happen in football, but not in this game.

The Odd Couple is not expecting a late finish at Adelaide Oval on Friday night with Mitch McGovern rising above the rain clouds to pull down a mark to save the game for the Crows. Picture: Michael Willson (Getty Images)

THERE are still two Port Adelaides — one good, one very bad. Which one shows up this week?

BONE: TOO harsh. Way too harsh. The Power won. It won ugly against Brisbane, but Port Adelaide won. Last year, it would not have been a devastating loss, so I saw a positive not a negative.

The Power is 3-0 and has beaten Sydney at the SCG, remembering the Swans beat West Coast in Perth in round one and the Giants in the Sydney derby last week. Pump the brakes, it’s still early.

ROOCH: HAD coffee with Ken Hinkley did you, Christopher? That is his script this week — work the positives. There is still much to clean up with the Port Adelaide game — it is a work in progress, as expected with such dramatic change to the player list in the off-season.

There will need to be more good than bad in Sunday’s test with Essendon at Etihad Stadium. Otherwise the “positives” will be seen as “spin”.

SCORE review ... oh dear! Surely it should not take so long — and lead to errors.

BONE: IT has not made the game better. Not sure it has in the NRL either. I am nearly at the stage where the AFL should consider scrapping it until a better model can be found.

ROOCH: IT is not the technology Christopher. It is the people using it.

The AFL might just need to get a specialist team for score review and put them in a bunker at AFL House to ensure there are experts handling the multiple vision on offer — and with a better understanding of what they are looking at.

Cam Guthrie will be out for an estimated two months after ankle surgery. picture: Glenn Ferguson

CHRIS Scott’s dream midfield has not put Geelong in the top four ... and Gary Ablett is injured again. Have the Cats misjudged their needs at list management?

ROOCH: BEST Tweet after the loss to Hawthorn on Easter Monday was from the long-established Melbourne scribe Greg Baum asking which of the grand midfielders would Geelong trade for a key defender. List management is a tricky business, isn’t it Christopher?

But Malcolm Blight had the best line this week: “Forwards win Coleman Medals. Midfielders win Brownlow Medals. But do not underestimate the importance of defenders in winning premiership medals.”

BONE: REALLY like Chris Scott, I do. Especially when he’s grumpy or got a point he wants to get across. There is not much better in football than Scott and Alistair Clarkson going toe to toe. Now that is a flashback to the good old days.

As for Geelong on the field, they’re done. Gary Ablett will miss for some time along with Cam Guthrie and Nakia Cockatoo. Lachie Henderson is already missing, so is Mitch Duncan, Rhys Stanley, Zac Smith and Harry Taylor. The problem is more than just Ablett.

UMPIRES were “trigger happy” with deliberate out-of-bounds calls at the weekend. Or were they?

BONE: NOW it’s not in my nature to bag the umpires ... Hang on, yes it is.

I just don’t understand how they can get this one so wrong. Deliberate out of bounds should be deliberate, not possibly deliberate, not maybe deliberate — but clearly deliberate. If it’s not 100 per cent deliberate, don’t pay it. And please Mr Umpire, don’t guess.

The thought behind this deliberate rule is the right. But, as usual, the implementation by the men in white is too inconsistent. And I’m not convinced a big crowd does not sway the odd decision either.

ROOCH: COUNSELLING never worked did it Christopher? What an over-reaction. If a player is not skilful enough to keep the ball in play, he should be penalised — deliberate or not.

What other sport sets up a 50-50 after one team fails to keep the ball in play? And it might be time to penalise defenders with goals against if they rush the ball over the goal line. That should create some fun.