The Moment on Monday: As Adelaide fans look for any glimmer of hope, they must be asking just where is Wayne Milera?
Why, after four seasons, it’s time for Adelaide to make a call on where to play Wayne Milera. Plus game notes, Mr 1 Per Center, rankings and more in this week’s Moment on Monday column.
- Why the Power and Crows now need a finals miracle
- Live ladder: Tigers in four, Bulldogs in eight
- ‘Totally unacceptable’: Smith lashes terrible Crows
- Worst loss since 2007 final? Don’t overreact, says Ken
- Crows and Power now neck-and-neck in finals race
Wayne Milera is four years and 59 games into his AFL career at Adelaide and the Crows still don’t know where to play him, and it’s time to make the call.
The first-round draft pick from 2015 — who some believe could finish his career as one of the club’s greatest ever players — looks lost and while his statistical drop-off in the last month of the season can be explained by a young player trying to find consistency, he hasn’t been allowed to settle by the coaching staff this season.
It’s not exactly make or break in terms of his career but Adelaide simply must find a spot for him next year and it should be in the midfield which looks one-dimensionsal, reactive and ultimately ineffective against the top sides.
Coach Don Pyke teased supporters with the idea of playing Milera, who is excellent in heavy traffic and a beautiful kick, in the midfield as he did with Brodie Smith in looking for a spark mid-season, but they have also been sent forward and finally against Collingwood on the weekend back into defence again.
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That might be where Milera plays his best football with his line-breaking play off halfback but if the Crows aren’t willing to use him — he only had one kick in the first quarter on Saturday and 12 disposals for the entire game — then it’s a waste.
He also doesn’t look comfortable defending a dangerous forward.
Three minutes into the second quarter on Saturday, Chris Mayne was kicking out of Collingwood’s defensive 50m towards the wing as Milera jogged alongside Travis Varcoe.
The ball went boundary side, Varcoe went to it, Milera stayed still and Varcoe hit the pack at full pace, took possession and had a bounce before delivering the footy inside 50m.
Milera turns 22 next month and has had some good games this season. He kicked three goals as a forward against West Coast in Round 10, had 22 disposals and five clearances as a wingman against Melbourne and laid 10 tackles as a defender against Geelong in Round 3.
But his past month has been very quiet — 19 disposals in the loss to Essendon, 13 in the loss to Carlton, 20 in the win over St Kilda, 14 in the loss to West Coast and 12 in the loss to Collingwood, the last three games predominantly as a defender.
According to Champion Data, Milera’s game-time breakdown this season is as follows:
Defence: 36.5%
Wing: 15.6%
Midfield: 18.9%
Forward: 29%
“It’s a bit of consistency which is not unusual for a younger player,” Pyke said on Saturday night.
“We’ve probably tried to settle him down a little bit playing more at halfback (in recent weeks), where as previously he was a bit half-forward, a bit on-ball.
“We’ve looked at Wayne in a number of areas and we probably now need to say ‘what’s going to be Wayne’s position going forward and where do we think he can play?’
“And obviously with the games to come but then into the off-season get him what we think he is going to be for us — whether that’s a genuine mid or a halfback, so we’ll keep assessing that.”
So for now the jury is still out.
“That’s a conversation around what does the mix and blend look like going forward?” Pyke said.
Earlier this month Milera was Adelaide’s sole representative in the AFLPA’s 40-man 22-and-under squad — as a defender.
On Saturday night Adelaide only had three others who were younger — Darcy Fogarty and Chayce Jones who are both 19 and Lachlan Murphy who is 20.
While Murphy has played every game this year, Fogarty and Jones have only played nine between them but should be regulars next season.
“They’re going to be the future of the footy club so it’s good to get games into those guys and see them do some things which suggest they’re going to be good long-term players,” Pyke said.
Milera has been a regular for the best part of the last three seasons but now is the time for him to go from regular player to regular star and it should be in the middle of the ground which is crying out for some help.
GAME NOTES
POWER V KANGAROOS
THE signs weren’t good from the opening bounce when Hamish Hartlett led Jack Ziebell to the ball as it went towards the boundary line. Hartlett appeared to want the ball to go out, Ziebell wanted to keep it in and he pushed the vice-captain out of the way and took off for North’s first attacking foray.
IT WAS hardly the defence’s fault given the amount and quality of ball that was coming in, but did the Power get its match-ups right from the start? Tom Clurey on Ben Brown made sense but Nick Larkey kicked three goals on Justin Westhoff in the first quarter while Tom Jonas was on Cameron Zurhaar and trying to mind everyone else at the same time.
THE lack of accountability from Port Adelaide’s midfield was staggering. Shaun Higgins — North Melbourne’s most dangerous ball-user — was allowed to run through the middle of the ground unmarked to have seven uncontested possessions in the first term. Higgins also marked in front of Robbie Gray 50m out and was allowed to play on, wheel around and lace out Larkey for his third goal of the quarter.
PORT looked most exposed when they turned the ball over at half-forward and North Melbourne was impossible to stop on the slingshot. Travis Boak’s kick on the wing missed Zak Butters and the Roos rebounded with purpose.
TODD Goldstein gave the Port rucks a lesson in tap-work but more so in workrate. His willingness to run and spread at both ends of the ground was what made him so dangerous.
WHERE was a) the intensity and b) the help from and for Ryan Burton when he was one out against Zurhaar on the wing. The ball was on the ground, Zurhaar went lower and harder, won possession and had Shaun Atley cruising past while Burton didn’t have a teammate in sight.
CROWS V MAGPIES
IF EDDIE Betts isn’t comfortable taking a set shot from 40m out directly in front then how much life is there really left in those legs? Betts is a confidence player and had the chance to kick Adelaide’s first goal of the game inside three minutes on Saturday but handballed to Brodie Smith who had to kick under pressure and missed. Betts didn’t register his 600th goal until the third quarter and it was his only one for the day.
IS THAT sayonara for Sauce? Sam Jacobs waved to the Adelaide crowd possibly for the last time on Saturday night. Believed to be attracting interest from GWS, Jacobs will probably be playing elsewhere next season. The Crows’ two-ruck experiment with Jacobs and Reilly O’Brien didn’t work against Brodie Grundy and while it’s only a small sample size there wasn’t much to suggest it can work long-term.
WHAT will Pyke do at selection this week? Bryce Gibbs (12 touches), David Mackay and Richard Douglas (both 15) could be on the brink. Douglas and Mackay are both 31 and out of contract this season but neither have told Pyke that this will be their last game by choice this week. “There’s no one who’s raised a flag that they’re planning on retiring so it’s hard to speculate on whether that will be the case,” Pyke said post-match.
IT GOT so bad for Adelaide that late in the game Scott Pendlebury offered the ball to Matt Crouch appearing to ask whether he wanted to touch it before giving it to his Magpies teammate who had won a free kick.
DANIEL Talia was Adelaide’s best. On a tough day for defenders he kept Jordan Roughead goalless from 11 disposals. Talia himself had 18 and 11 marks. The Adelaide defender has had a stellar season. Champion Data show him conceding the following goals this year:
v Jarryd Roughead 0; v Peter Wright 0; v Josh Bruce 0; v Tom McDonald 0; v Charlie Dixon 0; v Ben King 0; v Cale Hooker 0; v Levi Casboult 0; v Josh Bruce 0; v Lance Franklin 3; v Josh Kennedy 3; v Ben Brown 4.
ONE of the positives was Darcy Fogarty’s three goals which made it eight in two weeks he’s been back in the senior side. He does everything you want in a big forward, hits the pack hard, has a presence, a long kick and a creative short pass and his bump on Levi Greenwood in the second term was excellent.
MR ONE PER CENTER
WHO are the unsung heroes of SA footy? The players who have an impact on their team without hitting the stats sheet? Champion Data records one per centers by tallying spoils, knock-ons, shepherds and smothers every game. Here’s the leaderboard at Port Adelaide and Adelaide after Round 22:
156: Daniel Talia (Adel)
144: Tom Clurey (Port)
133: Tom Jonas (Port)
107: Dougal Howard (Port)
98: Jake Kelly (Adel)
89: Alex Keath (Adel)
87: Kyle Hartigan (Adel)
81: Justin Westhoff (Port)
75: Scott Lycett (Port)
66: Dan Houston (Port)
SUPERCOACH TOP 10
Top 10 SuperCoach scores from Adelaide and Port Adelaide in Round 22:
1. Paul Seedsman (Crows) 140
2. Travis Boak (Power) 111
3. Brodie Smith (Crows) 108
4. Dan Houston (Power) 105
5. Paddy Ryder (Power) 86
6. Daniel Talia (Crows) 85
7. Brad Crouch (Crows) 85
8. Darcy Fogarty (Crows) 78
9. Justin Westhoff (Power) 72
10. Tom Clurey (Power) 72
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
I can’t remember a more disappointing day since Port Adelaide lost the 2007 premiership, that’s how bad this performance was, when you consider the context of the season they were in eighth spot and just had to turn up and they got pantsed like that.
— Kane Cornes labels it the Power’s worst day in 12 years.
TIPS
An early look at Round 23 tipping:
COLLINGWOOD to beat Essendon, SYDNEY over St Kilda in Buddy’s 300th, NORTH MELBOURNE to put the Demons out of their misery, GEELONG over Carlton, GWS over Gold Coast, WEST COAST over Hawthorn at home, the BULLDOGS to beat Adelaide in Ballarat, RICHMOND over Brisbane and PORT ADELAIDE to beat Fremantle.
Last week: 4 Running total: 117.
POWER RANKINGS
1. BRISBANE (16-5)
Top of the rankings for a reason and they did the job against Geelong albeit by just one point. How good to see Lincoln McCarthy starring on the big stage.
2. RICHMOND (15-6)
Up to second on the rankings after toppling the reigning premier to keep top-four hopes alive. Dylan Grimes huge in that last play after appearing to seriously hurt his ankle moments earlier.
3. GEELONG (15-6)
Won’t be too disappointed about the Lions loss but they will be well aware that there is another legitimate contender on the scene.
4. WEST COAST (15-6)
Lost no admirers but threw away a healthy lead against Richmond which they will learn from.
5. COLLINGWOOD (14-7)
Adam Treloar, Jamie Elliott and Scott Pendlebury got my votes but I loved Taylor Adams and Levi Greenwood’s games as well. Complete team performance.
6. WESTERN BULLDOGS (11-10)
Massive performance. Yes, GWS are beaten up, but the Dogs played like a team that had something to play for, unlike a lot of others this round.
7. GWS (12-9)
The Giants are stumbling towards the finish line. Finals are secure and they are desperate for some reinforcements on the injury front.
8. ESSENDON (12-9)
Gutsy win in Perth after last week’s shambolic performance against the Bulldogs. They’re in the finals, now to end that 15-year drought.
9. HAWTHORN (10-11)
Never in doubt against Gold Coast and keeps their finals hopes alive. Will Roughead get another game against West Coast this weekend?
10. PORT ADELAIDE (10-11)
Disposal differential -207, uncontested possession differential -165, contested possession differential -51, clearance differential -21, inside 50 differential -22. Ben Brown might have kicked 10 goals on Port’s defence but its midfield needs to be given a rocket.
11. ADELAIDE (10-11)
Playing like a team that has checked out mentally. That will be the last we see of the two ruck combination between Jacobs and O’Brien as well. The bigger question this week is which one gets dropped for the Doggies game?
12. ST KILDA (9-12)
Did enough right and Rowan Marshall racked up big numbers again but couldn’t quite hold the Blues off.
13. NORTH MELBOURNE (9-12)
How a team goes from one goal last week to 22 the next is anyone’s guess but how good to see Ben Brown in full flight.
14. CARLTON (7-14)
Looked like a let down after David Teague got the job full time but courageous Blues (who thought we’d be saying that) found a way to win.
15. FREMANTLE (9-12)
What a great moment Aaron Sandilands putting Hayden Ballantyne on his shoulders as they farewelled the Dockers faithful.
16. SYDNEY (7-14)
Loved James Bell’s goal celebration and hopefully we see Buddy in his 300th this weekend.
17. MELBOURNE (5-16)
Thankfully the Aussies in the Ashes and Boomers in the basketball were playing at the same time so we didn’t have to watch that rubbish on Friday night.
18. GOLD COAST (3-18)
One last game against the Giants to salvage something from a tough season and to snap a 17-game losing streak.