The Tackle: Mark Robinson names his likes and dislikes from week two of finals

Wise heads are confused as to why the Demons have targeted Brodie Grundy, all while having a glaring positional failure in another area, writes Mark Robinson.

Jordan De Goey of the Magpies.

The best players go to another level in finals, and Jordan De Goey is putting himself in that elite category with a super September.

He’s not the only Collingwood player in career-best form heading into a preliminary final, while the Lions deserve praise and Melbourne and Fremantle have some tough questions to answer starting in the trade period.

Chief football writer Mark Robinson names his likes and dislikes from a huge week two of finals.

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Collingwood v Fremantle

LIKES

1. Pay up, Pies

In the space of two weeks, Jordan De Goey the footballer has elevated himself to levels reserved for the best players in the game. There’s no denying that after he was rated Collingwood’s best player against Geelong and again on Saturday night against Fremantle. Finals football makes reputations and De Goey’s standing on-field has never been higher. Off-field, it’s a work in progress and it has to be said the Pies are thrilled with his behaviour after Bali. With a contract basically put back on the table, De Goey holds all the cards. If he was worth $800,000 two week back, he’s now worth $900,000, and could probably ask for an extra year, too. His trick is he creates scores with his disposals. Against the Dockers, he had 12 score involvements. The next best was seven, by teammate Brody Mihocek. The debate for so long was where to play De Goey: midfield or deep forward? That debate is over. His split over the past two weeks is roughly 95 per cent midfield and 5 per cent forward, and with it has come a defensive work ethic. He laid nine tackles against the Cats and four against the Dockers, and added to that is eight and six clearances, respectively. He looks like a player who has found his entire game and for that, he can expect to have Callum Mills sidle up to him at the start of this week’s preliminary final. And that contest could decide the result.

Jordan De Goey shrugs off Jordan Clark. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

2, So, who is Collingwood’s MVP?

The obvious selection is De Goey, but the answer really is Darcy Moore. He is a goliath in defence, an attacking and aggressive defender in the mould of Richmond’s Alex Rance. He runs at contests, wins the ball and keeps running, and when he does that, all of Collingwood starts to run. People of a certain age will recognise that Moore possesses the dash of his dad, dual Brownlow medallist Peter, although the old man was a ruckman-forward and not a defender. Similar to De Goey, Moore is at the top of his game. Last week, he kept Tom Hawkins to one goal and on Saturday night, he was opposed to Griffin Logue, which might’ve been an attempted negating role from the Dockers forward. Still, Moore had 15 disposals and eight intercepts and seven spoils. He will get Buddy Franklin this week. The pair were opposed in round 22, when Franklin kicked just the one goal. The likely defensive match-ups for Collingwood will be Howe-Reid, Moore-Franklin, Murphy-McDonald, Maynard-Heeney and Quaynor-Papley.

Darcy Moore was immense in defence against the Dockers. Picture: Michael Klein

DISLIKES

1. Overpaid big men

It’s a funny world when Jack Riewoldt and Tom Hawkins – two of the greatest forwards this century – will supposedly earn about $300,000 next year and Rory Lobb – one of the most spasmodic forwards this century – is looking at a multi-year contract worth about $500,000 with the Bulldogs. And talking of spasmodic, Melbourne’s Luke Jackson is in that boat, too, and for much more money. Lobb had a frightful night against Collingwood. It wasn’t all his doing because Fremantle’s ball movement was stagnant for three quarters and Lobb seemingly had two and three opponents against him in the aerial contests. It was one of four games this year when he didn’t kick a goal. He took three contested marks for four marks in total, and his 12 disposals returned four shots at goal for 0.2. His opponent Jeremy Howe was among Collingwood’s best players. Lobb wasn’t the reason the Dockers lost – no, that was because they were overwhelmed by the occasion and by Collingwood’s pressure – but I’m guilty of expecting more for the key forward/ruckmen. Especially if they are asking for good coin.

2. Dockers strangled

Not sure it says more about Fremantle’s inability to move the ball or Collingwood’s ability to stop Fremantle moving the ball, but this was a strangulation for three quarters. The Dockers had 79 back-half chains, which are plays starting behind the centre square, which was their most in a game this year. The problem was they returned just five scores. That’s five scores from 79 attempts. The Pies’ grid or zone, or determination not to give Fremantle space, was probably more evident being at the ground than watching it on TV. Time and again, Fremantle went short with the ball or across the ground, only to make errors or eventually dump a kick under pressure into the forward line, where the Pies had the outnumber. In that respect, Craig McRae outcoached Justin Longmuir because Longmuir couldn’t change the flow of the game. In the end, the margin was 20 points, but it was the most dominant 20-point win in living memory.

Rory Lobb is headed to the Western Bulldogs. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Luke Jackson is set to become a Docker. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Melbourne v Brisbane Lions

LIKES

1. Holding the Fort

Oscar McInerney will return, so will Joe Daniher, so this week’s selection meeting at the Lions will hang on a) the Berry case, b) does Fullarton go for Daniher? and c) does Darcy Fort keep his spot? Fort would be unlucky to miss after a sterling performance against Max Gawn on Friday night. Their contest started woefully for Fort. Gawn had seven hitouts to advantage and eight disposals in the first quarter. But after quarter-time, Fort had more disposals than Gawn, more tackles, more clearances, and he kicked a ripping goal in the third quarter. Who would ever have thought that Tom Hickey would beat Gawn and Jackson in the first final, and that Fort would break even with Gawn and Jackson after quarter-time in the second final? Gawn was injured – he just had to be because he is a big-time player who was labouring. Jackson, meanwhile, shapes to be one of the most overpaid players in the game when he leaves for the Dockers. The Dockers surely have second thoughts on the financial terms because about $800,000 over seven years is a lot of money for potential.

2. Daniel Rich

It was the perfect game from the veteran half-back, and you have to wonder how he was able to be so dominant when everyone in football knows the Lions will give him the ball and put to use his thumping left foot. On Friday night, he had 25 kicks and 719m gained at an average of 28 metres per kick. He took Christian Petracca when Petracca played forward, and the stats head to head were 12-8 to Rich. Rich has been a great defender since early in his career, and at 32 and having played 267 games, he should have his eyes set on 300 games.

Daniel Rich was allowed to play at his damaging best. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

DISLIKES

1. Do they really need Brodie Grundy?

Wise heads are scratching their heads at why the Demons have targeted Grundy, when their most glaring positional failure is in their key forward ranks. It’s easier to write it than it is to make it happen, but the Demons need forwards and not a ruckman. And it’s the role of the list management team to find one. They’re out there. Gold Coast secured Levi Casboult and he kicked 35 goals and gave the Suns a target. The Suns also traded for Mabior Chol and he kicked 44 goals. It’s clear Sam Weidemann is not getting the opportunities and Ben Brown would be testing patience, and that Jacob Van Rooyen is the next taxi in the ranks. But the kid will need help.

Darcy Fort was fantastic against Max Gawn. Picture: Michael Klein

2. So, what went wrong?

It’s too easy to say Melbourne was sore because sore doesn’t explain the second half of the season, when the Demons went 6-8 and were bounced straight out of the finals. Coach Simon Goodwin and the footy department have some soul-searching to do. Like, why did their pressure ranking drop from No.3 last year to No.16 this year? Why were they ranked third for clearances for the first 10 rounds of the season only to fall to 13th? These type of numbers will bookmark Melbourne’s profile, and it’s difficult from afar to ascertain why it happened when the coaching hierarchy didn’t know how to fix it themselves. The Demons last year were able to grind teams and then explode. This year, especially late, teams did that to them. The Lions went into the game with a plan and belief, which was, if they stayed with Melbourne until halftime, they could overrun them in the second half. It’s exactly what happened. So, there’s structural and strategy issues and some personal concerns. Christian Petracca needs to better control his kicking. In the final series, he went at 27 per cent in week one and 39 per cent on Friday night. The league average is 67 per cent. He’s poor in front of goals, too. Of the top 50 players for having shots at goal this season, he went at 28 per cent accuracy, which was the worst percentage of the top 50. The next worst was Sam Powell-Pepper at 39 per cent. If Petracca wants to remain a top-10 player in the competition, he needs to be better than that.

Originally published as The Tackle: Mark Robinson names his likes and dislikes from week two of finals