Wreck-it Ralph: The 13 key takeouts from AFL practice matches
It was described as a “reality check”. From a supposedly deep and talent-laden onball brigade, this was not what Carlton fans wanted to see. Where does it leave the Blues?
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Try telling GWS or the Western Bulldogs that the weekend’s action was irrelevant.
The two clubs who did not play scratch matches against rivals leading into this weekend’s games were the big winners ahead of round 1.
The Dogs found a small forward to replace injured goalsneak Cody Weightman for the short-term, as well as the interceptor they desperately need, and successfully trialled one of footy’s riskiest experiments.
GWS finally looked like a modern side – with three star turns from early draft picks – while at Moorabbin, was there a worrying trend for one of footy’s most exciting free agents?
1. WHY RUCK SEQUEL COULD BE BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL
The Tap Brothers’ six goals were all the rage, but it is what the new duo does at the other end of the ground that will be so worrisome for rival sides.
As Steven May, Harrison Petty and Jake Lever dominated the Richmond forwards, Gawn was able to drop back as a quasi-centre half back to disrupt the Tigers’ forward forays.
Melbourne’s 2022 campaign saw them as one of footy’s most historically miserly defences – with the lowest score per inside 50 rate seen this century.
And watching live at Casey Fields, the way they set up the ground showed that focus is back, with the 50-point margin flattering Richmond.
Gawn still played 83 per cent of game time and Grundy 69 per cent.
Internally, the club’s belief that the Gawn-Grundy partnership would be better than the Gawn-Luke Jackson combo for at least the next three years looks like a wise prophecy.
2. THE YOUNG GUN SAINTS MUST KEEP
St Kilda, get the ball in Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera’s hands at every possible opportunity.
The Saints have slotted their silky ball user into defence this year and handed him the responsibility of kick-ins (he had six to Jack Sinclair’s seven).
Things just happen when he has the Sherrin.
Hopefully things can happen with his contract in coming weeks too, given he is a priority signing as the SA teams hover.
Surely he signs a two-year extension through to 2025 and makes a decision on his future after four years in the game – not at year’s end.
Hard to assess St Kilda’s progress on a blustery hot day against poor opposition, when both teams had 17 scoring shots, but it was great to see Hunter Clark back injury-free and winning touches at will.
3. TOUGH TIGERS NEED TO SHOW DISCIPLINE
There is a difference between playing on the line and giving away crap free kicks and 50m penalties.
Richmond has done too much of the latter recently and again handed Melbourne ground position with the kind of cheap 50m penalties that saw Noah Balta shoving his opponent after a mark out of sheer frustration.
In all, the Tigers gave away four 50m penalties – the equal most for the round – and three goals from free kicks as Trent Cotchin risked his round 1 participation with an forearm-drop into James Harmes.
Richmond’s key talls looked badly short of a gallop 12 days out from round 1.
Tom Lynch might have taken five contested marks in match sim last week but was trounced by good mate, and former Suns co-captain, Steven May and Jack Riewoldt had only five touches.
Ruck-forward Samson Ryan came on in the last term after playing VFL earlier in the day and had three shots at goal.
He has be a round 1 smoky for the Tigers.
4. NEW FACES EXCITE
Debuts will come thick and fast ahead of round 1 after rookies, top-10 picks and left-field selections franked their summers on the track.
Arthur Jones at the Dogs will surely replace the injured Cody Weightman, while Alwyn Davey Jr has done enough at the Bombers.
West Coast’s No.9 pick Reuben Ginbey looked clean and tough as a round 1 lock, while mark in the name of St Kilda’s Mattaes Phillipou in thick black texta.
Hawthorn’s ex-VFL recruit Fergus Greene will get another crack at AFL level at age 25 given he hits the scoreboard and finds separation, while Harry Sheezel is at home as a crumbing forward or repurposed by Al Clarkson as a running half back.
Ollie Hollands (Carlton, pick 11) and Cam Mackenzie (Hawthorn, pick 7) looked advertised as quality selections set to debut next week for their sides.
How good will the Rising Star race be given Finn Callaghan and Sam Darcy are still eligible from last year in a market where No.1 overall pick Will Ashcroft will star the $2 favourite with Callaghan the next-best at $8 and plenty of value to be had.
5. THE SUNS NEED MORE GRUNT
Gold Coast stunk it up against GWS on Saturday in a 45-point loss in another sign of their reliance on the absent Touk Miller.
Sam Flanders continued his excellent summer (30 touches) but the one who oozes X factor is Alex Davies, a powerful 191cm mid who adds a different dimension to this midfield.
The Suns are persisting with Jack Lukosius as a forward, and his stats showed a goal and two direct goal assists.
But, by Leigh Matthews’ litmus test of the bloke in the back row believing you are having a crack as if your life depended on it, he needs to get more involved and more desperate.
The forward line has enough talent – the returning Ben King, Mabior Chol, Joel Jeffreys, Levi Casboult – that his spot is surely not safe for the entire season.
6. WHAT TO MAKE OF THE BLUES
Torn between wanting to entirely discount Carlton’s loss to Sydney without Patrick Cripps, Harry McKay, Mitch McGovern and Sam Walsh and being concerned by what Ash Hansen called a “reality check” and “audit”.
The positives were new wingmen Ollie Hollands and Blake Acres.
The negatives were a midfield belting from a supposedly deep and talent-laden onball brigade.
Sydney didn’t have an established ruckman but still won the clearances by nine and inside 50s by 11.
In the first 35 minutes, as the Blues were down seven goals, they lost clearances 17-9, gave up 20 points to zero from clearances and gave up 22 inside 50s to 11.
Happy to say it one more time – Carlton should have held onto Liam Jones even if they were able to add Harry Lemmey (pick 47) to their list with the compo pick they acquired for his departure.
7. THE NEW COMBO SET TO TURN HEADS
We are going to need a nickname for the Finn Callaghan-Aaron Cadman combination very soon.
No.1 overall pick Cadman kicked four goals in the Giants reserves game and will debut early while 2021’s No.3 overall pick Finn Callaghan will explode this year after an injury-plagued debut season.
The GWS left-footer was selected with the pick acquired from Collingwood when they traded that selection in anticipation of Nick Daicos’ arrival.
He has poise and class and hits the scoreboard (two goals from his 22 possessions).
Champion Data stats showed how quickly Adam Kingsley has changed this game plan _ one kick to every handball instead of the AFL average of 1.4 kicks to one handball as they attack by forward-handball chains.
GWS managed 56 inside 50s and will be excited to watch as advertised, with Lachie Ash in particular benefiting from a return to the half back position he made his own in his draft year.
8. TICK FOR NEW AFL CHANGE
The introduction of four umpires passed the perfect officiating test – we barely noticed the change.
There were 23 free kicks per team across the nine games, fractionally up from the 20 per team across a usual AFL season.
The league has promised a greater focus on holding closer to goal, and there will certainly be teething issues early in the season.
But those difficulties weren’t apparent across the weekend.
9. FAST FOOTY TO CONTINUE
It is only nine games of football but the early signs in a copycat league are that teams will continue to play the attractive, attacking football we saw in 2022.
Teams averaged 84 points a game (up one point from last year’s home-and-away season), went through the corridor at 29 per cent (up from 28 per cent), moved the ball from defensive 50 to inside 50 at 27 per cent of the time (up from 24 per cent), and averaged 54 inside 50s (up from 52).
They will put in place more defensive strategies as they hit round 1 and some of those figures will jump around.
But teams wanted to move the ball fast to test defensive methodologies last year and, this year, the tactical stragglers including GWS will jump on board in a win for the game.
10. IS DARCY IN RIGHT SPOT?
Born-again Western Bulldog Liam Jones played on his man all day and still had 13 intercept possessions and eight intercept marks.
Keep up that form and he is an unlikely All-Australian who allows Sam Darcy to play forward all year.
But rivals will drag Jones out of the action and he will be needed as a close-checking tall on the likes of Tom Hawkins, Joe Daniher and Charlie Curnow.
Darcy again did some ridiculous things in attack (2.1 and a goal assist, a skyscraper mark) in a four-pronged lineup of talls that saw Aaron Naughton kick four goals and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan help himself to three.
But Champion Data stats show every premiership side in the last decade has an elite interceptor, from Jeremy McGovern to Tom Stewart to Alex Rance to Brian Lake.
Could Darcy be that player while Jones locks down an opponent?
Luke Beveridge has a season to experiment, and Darcy has a dozen years ahead of him to show he will be every bit as impactful as 2021 draft class Rising Star Nick Daicos.
11. DISCARDED DEE SHINES
Every time you worry about the repercussions of a genuine mid-season draft, you are reminded that it would give opportunities to the likes of Oskar Baker.
He locked in a round 1 spot for the Bulldogs playing wing after being traded following a fruitless 2022 campaign for the Demons playing 20 VFL games in the same role.
In an AFL ecosystem with so many sliding doors moments. who knows what would have happened had he arrived at the Dogs mid-year.
But as leading player manager Robbie D’Orazio said last week, we should do everything we can in the AFL’s football economy to create and sustain jobs and a mid-season trade period is just one more lever to achieve that goal.
12. DONS RECRUIT ONE TO WATCH
Essendon lacks star power, which isn’t helped by injuries to top 10 picks Zach Reid, Nik Cox and Elijah Tsatas as pick 9 Archie Perkins makes methodical progress as a goal-a-game mid forward.
Hopefully they can make strides and join the value picks – Sam Durham, Nick Martin, Massimo D’Ambrosio, Peter Wright, Sam Draper – taken with canny trades, mid-season selections or later picks.
One to watch was the role handed to Will Setterfield, who started in the centre square alongside Zach Merrett and Dylan Shiel.
It means Darcy Parish was only part of the midfield rotation rather than a mainstay, and while Setterfield had 25 disposals and 119 ranking points, Parish was uncharacteristically quiet.
He amassed only 10 possessions from 69 per cent game time – even if he eventually was at 11 centre bounces to Setterfield’s eight.
Parish is in a contract year as a free agent but the Dons clearly want Setterfield’s big frame in the action.
Just one to watch from a very small sample size.
13. OHHH ERROL
A decade ago a young Swan drafted to the club under a special list allowance began making waves as he racked up insane possession counts as he bounced between the AFL and reserves sides.
But while father-son Tom Mitchell has never truly hurt rivals with his disposal, academy kid Errol Gulden will never be accused of squandering his touches.
He had 188 ranking points from his 45 touches as well as three goals and three goals assists.
What a perfect blend from his 30 kicks and 15 handballs for the No.32 pick in the 2020 national draft as Braeden Campbell (17 touches, 15 kicks) and Logan McDonald (10 marks) also put in a strong showing as top 5 picks from that year’s draft class.
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Originally published as Wreck-it Ralph: The 13 key takeouts from AFL practice matches
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