The Odd Couple - “Bone and Rooch” - look at the big topics in the AFL this week
OUR Odd Couple - Chris McDermott and Michelangelo Rucci - are searching for the Crows, Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley’s whiteboard and where the big money is going in the AFL.
- What are the magic numbers for AFL finals?
- It was a matter of principle, says Walker
- Crows mission improbable: Frawley
- Trade HQ: Freo will offer brothers millions
OUR Odd Couple - Chris McDermott and Michelangelo Rucci - are searching for the Crows, Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley’s whiteboard and where the big money is going in the AFL.
1. WHAT do you want to see the Crows deliver on the MCG in Friday’s grand final rematch with Richmond?
BONE: A statement that they are a force to be reckoned with in 2018. That they are a credible and worthy challenger that has learned from the errors of the past and is capable of making amends this season.
ROOCH: More than a quarter of football, as is remembered from the last Crows-Richmond encounter at the MCG; no disappearing act as is noted from the third-quarter disaster with Hawthorn in the last trip to the MCG; and more of the high-scoring, manic football delivered in the last term against West Coast at Adelaide Oval on Saturday. For all that, the Tigers still look too good to stop before their 17th consecutive win on the MCG. But then an Adelaide premiership seemed a formality too last year.
2. HAVE the Crows players wrestled back control of their football club?
BONE: Can we revisit this question in four weeks? History shows us there have been countless teams that win against the odds, but sustaining that level of performance and commitment to the cause is not easy at all. Only the best can do it. And we are about to learn if the Crows of 2018 are in that category - or not. But let’s leave that for a month’s time.
ROOCH: Christopher, the question might not be about what is happening on the field - but off. And don’t come back with the supplementary question of whether the lunatics have taken over the asylum. The players’ win on exiling Collective Mind from West Lakes might just be proof that the Crows player base is determined to prove it does indeed have its sanity.
3. DOES Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley have the luxury in the next month to look at his on-field options?
ROOCH: Most fascinating quote from former St Kilda coach Stan Alves, who has closed his story in senior Australian football after 50 years, as he reflected on the promising but unfulfilled 1997 season that ended with grand final defeat to Adelaide. Alves says: “I still wake up in the middle of the night. My biggest mistake wasn’t made on grand final day; it was made during the year because I didn’t develop some of the lesser lights for when we got injuries.”
BONE: No. But he must if winning the premiership this year is possible. Right now, after round 15 it’s Richmond and daylight in the race to the flag. There are challengers, but there is no other contender. The game is screaming out for someone to put their hand up to announce they’re in this contest. Someone? Anyone? Hello, is there anyone there?
4. WHICH team in the top-eight today is most vulnerable of missing the finals?
BONE: GWS. As good as the Giants’ midfield is, I’ve jumped ship and don’t believe GWS is a serious contender this year. Not with Toby Greene missing so much footy. Not with Jeremy Cameron out for the next month. No Tom Scully. No Brett Deledio. Rory Lobb? I’m off them!
ROOCH: Developing greater concerns about the Demons, Christopher. Melbourne has eight wins - five short of a certain finals berth - and enormous challenges after playing Fremantle this weekend. Simon Goodwin’s group starts a pre-final series with matches against the Western Bulldogs, Geelong, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Sydney, West Coast and the Giants. And that Melbourne defence seems so vulnerable without Jake Lever. Are we allowed to mention Jake Lever?
5. HOW would it be today as an AFL free agent now that so many prime targets have signed new deals at their current clubs?
BONE: Did I hear someone say, “Show me the money!”. In reality, they’ve been saying that for 30 years.Yes, the players are paid well - very well that should read - but they said that in the old days of the SANFL player retention scheme. You could buy a house back then in the late 1980s for $150,000 and get change. That house today is worth $1 million. Swings and roundabouts, they call it.
ROOCH: Yes, but stop avoiding the question Christopher. Adelaide vice-captain Rory Sloane’s manager would be rubbing his hands - more so with the All-Australian making a successful return from a foot injury that was supposed to require him to seek a miracle at Lourdes. Now he can buy many houses considering Sloane and Gold Coast forward Tom Lynch will be the most sought-after free agents.
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