Sam Landsberger’s likes and dislikes from round seven of the 2022 AFL season
Just over a week ago, Jayden Short attended the first centre bounce of his 120-game career. After his monster against the Eagles, he’s being touted as Trent Cotchin’s replacement.
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The seduction of established stars has long encouraged AFL clubs to part with draft picks — high, low and sometimes multiple.
But is it time for teams to think twice?
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Sam Landsberger looks at West Coast’s struggles, why the Dons’ wished they had their time back and the Tiger who gave opponents Short shrift in his new role.
All Sammy’s likes and dislikes as he runs an early eye over the good — and bad — from round seven.
DISLIKES
1. Saints’ cash grab comes at a cost
Selling games must infuriate football departments even if it’s commercially smart, particularly coming out of a pandemic. Melbourne missed out on $800,000 from the NT government when Covid cost it last year’s Alice Springs fixture. But St Kilda missed out on four premiership points from a home match in Cairns.
The Saints are 0-2 at Cazaly’s Stadium. Last year they were also overrun, that time by 17th-placed Adelaide. The members must be miffed. Similar story for the Western Bulldogs, too, who were strangled by Adelaide in Ballarat last week. Would the Saints and Dogs have banked those wins at Marvel Stadium? What if it costs them a spot in September – how would that affect the bottom line?
The Saturday night fixture was bizarre. Why play in Cairns in April? And at night? While we’re at it, why routinely cannibalise the Saturday night TV product by starting two matches at the same time? Can’t imagine Channel 7 would be happy about the tropical conditions, either.
Clubs in Gold Coast hubs dunked Sherrins in soapy water and lubricated them with a mixture of baby oil and water before training on the Gold Coast in 2020. That was to mimic the dew for slippery night matches and it would’ve made sense to play this one in August and in the afternoon.
The combined score was 9.31. St Kilda’s last 16 scores generated 1.15. Outside of the frantic finish as Connor Rozee and Robbie Gray sunk the Saints it was a poor spectacle. So was Port’s itinerary, which detoured via Sydney for a night. The AFL chartered planes around the country last year – almost turning around a Demons’ flight mid-air – yet wouldn’t let the Power fly direct on Jetstar because of its Virgin sponsorship deal. Please.
2. Overpaying in October
Look at where the AFL’s best 10 players – according to the coaches’ votes – were drafted: Andrew Brayshaw (pick No.2), Patrick Cripps (No.13), Callum Mills (No.3), Clayton Oliver (No.4), Christian Petracca (No.2), Jack Higgins (No.17), Darcy Parish (No.5), Bailey Smith (No.7), Jordan De Goey (No.5) and Lachie Neale, the outlier at No.58. Nine first-rounders, six in the top 10. Should clubs think twice before offloading precious picks? West Coast, sitting 18th, coughed up four for Tim Kelly, who had nine turnovers on Friday night. Essendon, sitting 16th, sacrificed three first-rounders in trades for Dylan Shiel and Devon Smith, who will play VFL against Footscray on Sunday and, like Kelly, are chewing up millions of dollars in cap space. Mind you, the Bombers secured Smith, Adam Saad and Jake Stringer in that off-season and also jagged Jye Caldwell with a second-rounder received back with Shiel. When Saad left for Carlton another first-rounder came through the door, so the net result for them was far better than the Eagles with Kelly.
3. Calls for Cameron’s end premature
Leon Cameron is a fighter. He’s shown that most years. He’s had to. At 0-3 last year Cameron was the talking point. After a heavy loss to Sydney in 2020 the old keys-to-the Ferrari line was rolled out. Every time he’s fought back. The Giants have won finals in five of the past six years and have had the hardest fixture so far this season. Before yesterday they were coming off losses against arguably three top-four teams – Fremantle, Melbourne and St Kilda.
The Giants are 2-5, but all five teams they have lost to sit in the top eight. Maybe it’s not that bad. Maybe the disrespect for Cameron has been out of whack. Football director Jimmy Bartel denied Cameron had been frozen out and on Saturday at Adelaide Oval his leaders – Josh Kelly (41 disposals), Toby Greene (four goals) and Stephen Coniglio (three goals) – froze what had been a red-hot Adelaide. Meanwhile some of the kids – Tom Green, Sam Taylor and Isaac Cumming – are beauties, developing rapidly under the current regime. Two weeks ago Cameron said judge us on the next month. They’ve pushed the Saints, pumped the Crows and now have winnable games against Geelong, Carlton and West Coast. Maybe we should do what Leon asked before declaring the divorce
4. Will the cup run away with a spoon?
In March they were the WAFL Eagles. In April they became the Awful Eagles.
By August they might be wooden spoon West Coast, which would repeat the four-year fall from champs to chumps in 2006-10. The Covid excuses have expired. This club has lost eight out of its past nine matches at home, a stretch that started with a 55-point drubbing against the Western Bulldogs last June. Subiaco was once known as the house of pain, but playing West Coast anywhere is now percentage plaza. Richmond’s grew by 19.1 on Friday night, Port Adelaide’s by 18.8 last week and Sydney’s by 14.4 the week before. The Tigers scored 21.8 (134) from turnovers, the second most ever recorded. Six of those goals came from giving the ball back in defensive 50m. Nathan Buckley said that was “unheard of” and it wasn’t as if Richmond’s pressure was at 2017 levels. Garry Lyon said they were dispirited and Luke Hodge noted there was more finger pointing than moving … and that was early in the second quarter. The Eagles have been outscored 30.22 (202) to 5.8 (38) in their past three first halves.
They don’t have a player younger than 21 in the line-up and Jack Darling will soon blow out 30 birthday candles, joining Jamie Cripps, Luke Shuey, Jack Redden, Josh Kennedy and Shannon Hurn in the twilight years. They play Essendon on Friday night in round 15, albeit not on Channel 7 due to a double header. After that they should float away from prime time for the rest of the season.
5. What does that mean for Simmo?
Funny game, football. If Dom Sheed missed that famous set-shot in the 2018 grand final then Buckley is probably still coaching Collingwood and Adam Simpson’s future would be squarely in the spotlight. But Simpson has credits that only a premiership cup can buy.
Belatedly, the Eagles are entering full-blown rebuild mode and both the club and Simpson must decide if he is the man to navigate another 60 games of pain. If not then the 300-game North Melbourne champion who hails from Eltham will be heavily sounded out.
LIKES
1. Sam Mitchell’s coaching masterclass
Finn Maginness followed wingman Ed Langdon everywhere but on Instagram as Hawthorn got closer than any other team since last year’s finals started. The winger had been in All-Australian form, averaging 25.7 disposals, but Langdon just nine (three uncontested) on Saturday. The copycat nature of the AFL means Langdon is probably in for more of the same.
He never stopped running, and won a free kick for chasing Jarman Impey down in the third quarter, but the tag worked. Langdon clocked 15.7km and Maginness 16.2km when no other player reached 15km. It was a big tick for Sam Mitchell who is already proving a shrewd coach.
2. Wobbly to wow
In the first quarter, Tom Stewart nailed Andrew Brayshaw with a bruising tackle in the centre and Tyson Stengle mowed down a sleepy Brandon Walker in attack. When Stengle got a 50m penalty, nobody bothered to stand the mark. Alex Pearce wasn’t alone wobbling turnovers out of the backline as Geelong zipped to an 18-0 lead, having pounded Fremantle by 69 points in Perth late last year. Had Fremantle turned up? Yes, it had. Boy, what a turnaround from there, and Walker’s sprinting chase to deny Gryan Miers a goal was symbolic of the rise in resilience. David Mundy (seven clearances) turns 37 this year but looked like a 25-year-old at the final centre bounce. Mundy wouldn’t let go of the Sherrin until he knew Sam Switowski could clear the ball and capture the four points.
3. Long and Short of it
Jack Riewoldt joked that Jayden Short thought he was champion Carlton centreman Craig Bradley after attending the first centre bounce of his 120-game career last week. On Friday night the halfback rocket launcher attended 23 more, slipping into Trent Cotchin’s shoes like Cinderella. Boy, did he make Short work of it as he collected 31 disposals, five clearances and 792m gained. Does that make him Ian Stewart this week? Short was physically immature when he arrived at Punt Rd but always kicked the footy with depth. He kicked on, winning a best-and-fairest in the 2020 premiership team after the heartbreak of losing his father, and at 26 might yet kick into another gear as a defensive midfielder. It’s no surprise he spent 2 ½ years living with workaholic Kane Lambert, who in February feared he might not play this year and in April was back in the AFL side. Dustin Martin will play against Collingwood next week and the Tigers reckon they rediscovered their mojo – fast, brave ball movement – in a training drill last week. But one selection question is tough to answer – is Robbie Tarrant in the best team? They looked pretty settled with Noah Balta joining Dylan Grimes and Nick Vlastuin behind the ball on Friday night.
4. Wharfie time?
Collingwood’s charge to the 2018 grand final was built from the backline, and Justin Longmuir was its backline coach. Now Longmuir has Fremantle’s defence running as tight as piano wire. Geelong entered Saturday ranked No.1 for shots at goal, marks inside 50m and No.2 for inside 50s and scores per inside 50m. But the home side’s nine scores at the final change against frugal Fremantle was its fewest at Kardinia Park since 1964. The lack of respect for the 6-1 Dockers from the public and the bookies – they were $4 to beat the Cats – has been astounding. ‘Who had they played?’ the doubters cried. As Champion Data wiz Daniel Hoyne said on Pure Footy: “It’s not who you play, it’s how you play”. And, as Cats coach Chris Scott said on Wednesday: “They’re playing top-four football as far as we can see”. Melbourne defends by kicking long down the line whereas Fremantle switches and then explodes with speed. They’re different models but they are the best two models, and they meet at the MCG in four weeks. By then Sean Darcy, Matthew Taberner and probably dual Brownlow Medallist Nat Fyfe will be back. It might just be wharfie time.
4. Crippa the rippa
Won’t know until September, but suspect Patrick Cripps has polled at least two Brownlow votes in every match he’s completed. He’s probably gone 3, 3, 2, hamstring tweak, 3 and 3. That would be 14 votes after seven rounds. Not bad for a bloke who was supposedly banged-up and had watched the game evolve beyond him. Carlton’s captain could be on his way to becoming just the club’s third player to take home Charlie in 58 years. Even the bookies had him $51 in pre-season. Cripps became the quickest player to 1000 clearances on Saturday night, claiming 10 against North Melbourne to go with 35 disposals. This year he is a goalkicker and a ball carrier. He’s a different beast. He’s a better beast, and you suspect he loves having Michael Voss as his coach.
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Originally published as Sam Landsberger’s likes and dislikes from round seven of the 2022 AFL season
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