The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from round 24
Darcy Parish is being portrayed as the poster boy for everything that stinks at Essendon, and that’s unfair, writes Mark Robinson. There are real issues – problems that run much deeper.
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The home-and-away season came to a dramatic close, now a brand new season begins.
And there are some huge questions over the finalists, and the teams that are now planning for 2024.
Chief football writer Mark Robinson names his likes and dislikes from round 24.
LIKES
1. When the tough get going
There’s some competition, but that one might be Melbourne’s best win of the season. If not best, then their most admirable. Down by 17 points midway through the third quarter, and with injuries, and without momentum, the Demons could’ve easily rolled over. But that’s not their DNA. Sydney threw the kitchen sink at them and they didn’t yield. As a fan, you’d be mighty proud. In fact, the Demons thrived in the face of challenge, led by Christian Petracca and Jack Viney. The pair had 18 disposals, nine contested, and five score involvements in the final quarter and Melbourne kicked 4.3 to 0.2, three of them coming off the boot of Bayley Fritsch. He had an injury scare but returned. Jake Melksham had an injury and did not. The Melksham injury is a tragic blow for him and it may require yet another rethink of the forward line set-up. Tom McDonald had five goals, nine marks, 17 disposals and Brodie Grundy three goals, 18 hitouts and 33 disposals in the VFL, but neither of those two is a like for like. Whoever comes in for Melksham has to live up to the club ethos, which is to be hard in the contest and pressure. And it’s those two reasons why Melbourne is the No.1 seed ahead of what looms to be another terrific finals series because to beat Melbourne, you’re going to have to out-tough them.
2. Giant slaying
The coach of the year is anyone’s guess because there’s so many contenders. Is it about keeping a team at the top of the ladder (McRae, Goodwin and Fagan), rescuing a team after living down expectation (Voss and Longmire), bouncing (Hinkley) or is it picking up a team after starting 1-3 in his first year and steering them to a home final (Kingsley)? The unfortunate problem with the Giants is that not many people care, yet from a pure football sense, Kingsley’s performance has been remarkable. It wouldn’t surprise if Kingsley is the winner. The Giants defence is terribly underrated. Without Sam Taylor on Sunday, they still managed to keep the high-scoring Blues to 73 points, and Jack Buckley kept Curnow to three goals. Harry Himmelberg was also huge on Harry McKay. It’s going to be a bruiser, the Giants-Saints final.
3. All-Australian hint
On the Fox Footy advert promoting the All-Australian team selection, selector Nathan Buckley is captured talking about one player’s “highest’’ standard compared to the high standard the player has produced this year. It’s difficult not to think Buckley is talking about Dustin Martin. Because Martin hasn’t reached his maximum this season, he’s marked incredibly hard when, if any other player had Martin’s numbers, he’d be talked about as a certainty for All-Australian selection. Champion Data’s Daniel Hoyne has already put Martin’s AA credentials on the agenda. “Sometimes the superstars get compared to themselves as opposed to getting compared to the competition,” Hoyne told Pure Footy. And Martin further pushed his case on Sunday. He had 33 disposals, 12 score involvements and seven inside-50s, and was perhaps only bested on the day by Port’s dynamic duo Zak Butters and Connor Rozee. Those two will certainly be in the All-Australian team and so, too, should Martin. We’ll soon find out if Buckley won the argument.
4. Marcus the great
The players will award the Leigh Matthews Trophy for the MVP on Wednesday night and Bulldog Marcus Bontempelli has to be the raging favourite to win it. Bontempelli on the TAB market is now the $2.25 favourite for the Brownlow Medal, having overtaken Collingwood’s Nick Daicos ($2.75). The other candidates are Zak Butters and Christian Petracca and maybe Toby Greene, but they haven’t had the season, which is really about impact, like Bontempelli has. Daicos won’t have polled a vote in the Brownlow since round 21 when he was injured. In round 21 against Richmond, Bontempelli had 32 and kicked three goals and has to get three votes. He probably didn’t poll in round 22. In round 23 he was huge, having 32 and 12 clearances, and although the Dogs lost to the Eagles, Bont was the best performing player on the ground. On Saturday night, he had 31 and 10 tackles, and will vie for votes with Adam Treloar and Tom Liberatore, and Isaac Smith’s 36 disposals can’t be ignored either. Bontempelli may have picked up between seven and nine votes in the past month, which makes Brownlow night all the more exciting. As for the Robert Rose Most Courageous Player Award, which will also be announced on Wednesday night, surely Melbourne’s Jack Viney is due. It’s amazing that Viney, who has had his best season, hasn’t won the award previously.
5. The point of difference
The tall forward quartet at the Bulldogs won the game on Saturday, with Lobb, English, Ugle-Hagan and Naughton all taking marks and kicking goals in the fourth quarter. It was the output which promised so much at the start of the season, but has failed to deliver consistently. Lobb has become the player the Bulldogs hoped he would be. He’s confident and he’s dangerous, and Naughton is always threatening. The other player is Ugle-Hagan. Of all the commentary and predictions given this year, the constant suggestion the Dogs have one of the best lists in the competition and that Ugle-Hagan is a star and “at the top of his game’’ is just so far-fetched. He’s 21 and playing key forward. He won’t be at his best until he’s 25. Presently, he’s played 45 games and kicked 60.53 goals. After 45 games, Charlie Curnow kicked 57.34, Tom Hawkins 61.34, Joe Daniher 65.50 and Jack Riewoldt 57.36. Ugle-Hagan is a young player with tremendous promise, but let’s not mark him too high too early.
6. Tarryn Thomas
There’s speculation he could be up for a trade, but that’s ridiculous thinking. He’s 23, he’s paid his penalties for his off-field foolishness, and is playing the best footy of his stop-start career. He’s now in a sphere where he knows his capabilities and those capabilities allow him to rip apart a game. On Saturday, he had team highs in contested possession (15), clearances (10), Tackles (nine), inside-50s (seven) and nine tackles, and he had 10 score involvements, which was the second-most behind the imposing Nick Larkey. He’s a story himself because he monstered a couple of decent backmen, namely Sam Collins. Thomas can be an A-grader and beside LDU, Wardlaw, Simpkin, Bailey Scott on a wing, Sheezel, maybe Phillips, and whoever arrives in the upcoming draft, the Kangas are building a midfield engine.
7. Late-season find
Hayden Young’s redeployment from half-back to midfield has given the late-flying Dockers some impetus in the past month. He’s been a huge asset as a kind-of run-with player. It’s not hardcore Finn Maginness, it’s like an apprenticeship for the 22-year-old. From round 20, he’s gone Patrick Dangerfield, Lachie Neale, Tim Kelly, Jason Horne-Francis and on Saturday at the MCG, he had James Worpel as his opponent. Young had 22 disposals, five clearances and seven tackles. Worpel had 23 disposals, 19 of them on the outside which is different for him, and four clearances. The Dockers had to find more midfielders to support Serong and Brayshaw, and Young has shown he is more than capable. He’s tracking the same as Hawk Will Day, a rangy tall who also made the transition from half-back to the middle.
DISLIKES
1. Harry’s in a hole
Harry McKay wasn’t alone if having minimal input on Sunday, for the cast of Carlton smalls also failed to impact. The Blues’ stoppage game was amiss, their small forwards were MIA and McKay and Curnow didn’t give much of a yelp. McKay’s second game back saw him have 16 touches and five marks and he didn’t have a shot at goal. He looked lost up forward and better late when further up the ground, but he needs to find greater touch and feel over the next fortnight. He is a concern ahead of the final against Sydney. OK, motivation was a factor because the Blues couldn’t move from fifth spot and the Giants hunted all day, but that’s making excuses. The Blues were beaten at clearances without Patrick Cripps’ muscle (38-42) and were bashed on turnover, with the Giants scoring 48 points to Carlton’s 19 points off turnover. It was a lackluster second half from the Blues and it felt like that once the Giants blew it open, the Blues put the cue in the rack. They’ll need to be better to beat Sydney. And they will be because motivation will be somewhat higher.
2. Failure in the F50
Sydney had 51 inside-50s and kicked seven goals, raising doubts that a forward line of Amartey, McDonald and McLean can get it done when the defensive attitude ramps up in big games. Isaac Heeney didn’t help, either. He kicked 0.2 and another out of bounds, and dropped an easy chest mark in the final quarter 20m from goal. The Swans were in the game until Melbourne increased its intensity, and while that wasn’t the fault of the forward group, it certainly didn’t capitalise on earlier dominance from the Swans midfield. Amartey, McDonald and Co. were up against the best defence in the competition, so it’s not all doom and gloom. But can those two in particular dominate a final? Not sure about that. Amartey had seven touches and was goalless, McLean had 10 and one and McDonald had 13 and kicked 1.3. The Swans have been the highest scoring team in the comp over the past six weeks, and fifth-best for scoring once inside 50. Sunday’s effort may be an aberration. Well, they hope it is. Because a repeat of the same will mean a hasty exit is looming.
3. What happens with Francis Evans?
The former Victorian Ammos forward can’t do much more other than kick goals for Port Adelaide, but that doesn’t always save him. He kicked four goals against Adelaide in round 20, only to be dropped, and then elevated back into the senior team in round 21 when Port had a couple of late outs. He was dropped again after round 22, and only got a game this week when Todd Marshall was ruled out with injury. On Sunday, he kicked three goals – he had three of Port’s 10 goals at one stage – and one of his goals was a freaky and opportunistic snap when the ball was in the air. Evans has tricks, but Port might not have enough room for those tricks. Rioli, Powell-Pepper, Finlayson, Marshall, Byrne-Jones and Horne-Francis are in, leaving McEntee and Evans for the seventh spot. Port loves McEntee’s pressure, meaning Francis looks like getting dumped again. Maybe he could be the sub against Brisbane. An unlucky sub.
4. Darcy Parish bashing
Among all the problems at Essendon, Darcy Parish asking for six years and the club offering him five years is not the pressing issue at the Bombers. Parish is being portrayed as the poster boy for everything that stinks at Essendon, and that’s unfair. This year, he averaged 31 disposals, eight clearances and 470m gained. Melbourne’s Clayton Oliver averages 31 disposals, seven clearances and 447m gained. Richmond’s Jacob Hopper, who was given a seven-year deal, averages 22 disposals, four clearances and 322m gained. Parish can butcher the ball, but his numbers stack up against Oliver very well. If Parish wants out, he wants out, and the Bombers will get a first-round comp pick if that happens. And that’s OK, too. But the expectation is he stays and if it’s six years, then so be it. No, Essendon’s issues run far deeper. Like, will Stringer ever get fit? And Shiel? What’s happened to Perkins? Does Cox have the dog hungry attitude to be a good AFL player? Is Zach Reid a bust? How do the Bombers get more talent on the flanks? Where can they find a key forward and key back? Is the game style finals-like and combative? How can they develop more leaders? They are the issues. The Parish contract stand-off and subsequent commentary camouflages the real problems.
5. Brad Hill
An All-Australian candidate, Hill didn’t enjoy the heat at the Gabba on Saturday. Early in the final quarter, he followed one mistake with a second mistake and it gave the Lions a goal. Coming out of half-back, he shanked a kick to the wing which was marked unopposed by Darcy Wilmot. Wilmot gave it to Zorko who kicked it back into the forward line, where Ah Chee out-marked Hill one-on-one. The Ah Chee kick was then marked by Daniher in the square. Errors happen all the time, and most don’t result in goals. But these two errors did. The turnover was one of seven Hill committed on the day, the second-most at the club behind young forward Mitch Owens.
6. Can’t get it in, you can’t score
St Kilda’s 38 inside-50s were the fewest they have had in a game this season. It was a final-like scrap at the Gabba on Saturday. There were numbers at stoppages, there was emphasis on defence and contest, which was expected, but good teams still managed to threaten. That’s always the potential concern with the Saints: can they score enough in big games? It hasn’t been an issue in the past month. From rounds 19-23, they averaged 54 entries, which was ranked seventh in the competition. Against the much-heralded Lions, who now have a home qualifying final and loom as a grand finalist, the Saints were lucky to be in the contest for so long. They lost contest (-13) and territory (-16 clearances) and they struggled to move the ball when they won it, which meant their forwards (-23 inside-50s) couldn’t get a decent look. That profile has to change for their first final. There’s no denying St Kilda’s effort and never-surrender attitude, and running the inaccurate Lions to two goals at home is a positive, but they have to find more goals. King (knee) will help when he returns, but only if the ball gets to him.
7. Popular doesn’t mean great
Players being chaired from the ground is a wonderful appreciation of players’ contribution, but guards of honour from the opposition team should be reserved for the game’s greats. Jack Riewoldt and Trent Cotchin yes, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti no. It was a nice gesture from Collingwood on Friday night, but it was an odd over-the-top appreciation for a player who retired previously and who finished with 133 career games. It doesn’t match up. “Walla’’ was a popular figure, but guards of honour from opposition teams can’t be a popularity contest. If it was, almost every player would get the full pageantry. On Saturday night, Issac Smith received a guard of honour from the Bulldogs players, which again was much deserved. He played 280 games and won four flags at Hawthorn and Geelong. He was both popular and worthy.
8. Same prizemoney
Something is amiss when the men’s and women’s finalists are awarded the same prize money. The AFL last week trumpeted that AFLW prizemoney for the players will almost double, with $1.1 million dollars to be split between the top eight teams for the upcoming season. AFLM prizemoney in 2022 was $1.1 million, split between the top four teams, and it will remain the same in 2023. That’s not right. One competition attracts millions of fans and the other only thousands to each game. One season is over 24 rounds, the other is over 10 rounds. In a nutshell, if the women get $1.1 million, the men should receive $20 million. And how is it divided up among the players? That’s the AFL’s equivalent of KFC’s of secret and herbs spices.
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Originally published as The Tackle: Mark Robinson’s likes and dislikes from round 24
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