By Marc McGowan
Cometh the moment, cometh the man.
There were variously high stakes on the line in the AFL’s final home-and-away round, and many of the leading lights and Brownlow Medal contenders used that stage to stamp their authority one last time.
Collingwood’s Nick Daicos (right) was a menace against Melbourne, finishing with 40 disposals.Credit: AFL Photos
From Nick Daicos’ video-game numbers on Friday night, to Jeremy Cameron’s nine goals, Lachie Neale’s 14th career 40-plus-disposal performance, Errol Gulden’s latest brilliant display, Marcus Bontempelli’s contest dominance, and Patrick Cripps’ heroics – it was a weekend for the superstars to shine.
Cripps was the only one of those six whose team failed to win, as Jack Higgins’ skied snap with 12 seconds left helped secure St Kilda a two-point win that almost cost Carlton a finals berth.
But it certainly would not have been Cripps’ fault after an extraordinary fortnight of heavy lifting without (for at least one of the games each) Coleman medallists Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay, plus the likes of Tom De Koning, Mitch McGovern, Zac Williams, Adam Cerra and Jack Martin.
Blues coach Michael Voss was suitably impressed.
“Leigh Matthews once said to me, [it is a luxury] if you get names on the magnet ... and you don’t have to worry about whether they’re prepared or not,” Voss said.
“They get themselves ready for the physical battle, they get themselves ready for the mental battle, and he [Cripps] does that every single week. How he’s grown his game across this year is that probably last year, teams that went to him and tagged him and put some attention to him could probably take a few things off him – they can’t do that any more.
“He’s developed his game, and it’s a more rounded game, then you put the leadership on top of that.”
The consensus top four in Brownlow betting markets is 2022 winner Cripps, Daicos, dual medallist Neale and Bontempelli, while Essendon skipper Zach Merrett – who gathered 37 disposals in defeat against the Lions – is also given a strong chance.
Fremantle’s Caleb Serong, Giant Tom Green and Gulden, who was equal fourth last year, are others to watch.
Neale won last year’s count on 31 votes, from Bontempelli (29) and Daicos (28), who missed the last three matches of the 2023 campaign with a hairline fracture in his right knee. Daicos would match Chris Judd if he can win the Brownlow Medal in his third season.
Last impressions count
Two of the more contrasting finishes to the season belonged to St Kilda and North Melbourne.
The Saints’ year threatened to derail after an 85-point hiding from Brisbane, but Ross Lyon’s men responded with three impressive wins over Richmond, Geelong and Carlton. They trailed the Cats by 33 points in the second quarter of the round 23 match, and fell behind the Blues before pinching victory from the jaws of defeat on Sunday.
Darcy Wilson enjoyed a promising debut season.Credit: Getty Images
In fact, St Kilda came out on top in six of their past eight contests – also defeating minor premiers Sydney, Essendon and West Coast – after losing by only two points to Port Adelaide.
The Saints pumped 15-plus matches this season into Darcy Wilson (19 years old), Mitch Owens (20), Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera (21), Marcus Windhager (21) and Anthony Caminiti (20).
Mattaes Phillipou (19) would have been in that group, too, if not for a hip injury, and amassed at least 20 disposals in each of his last four appearances for the season.
They also gave multiple senior opportunities to the likes of Hugo Garcia (19), Angus Hastie (18), Arie Schoenmaker (19), Lance Collard (19) and Angus McLennan (20). So St Kilda, who finished 12th with 11 wins, certainly invested in youth.
Meanwhile, the Roos were more competitive in the second half of the year, but struggled to outlast wooden-spooners Richmond, somehow lost in round 22 to West Coast, then copped successive hidings from the Western Bulldogs and Hawthorn to end the season.
The Hawks piled on 10 goals to one in a final-quarter massacre to embarrass North Melbourne by 124 points.
Coach Alastair Clarkson offered an excuse for his players, saying they ran into red-hot opposition and that it was hard when there was little to play for.
“It was nearly like the fizz fell out of our season when we lost that [Eagles] game,” Clarkson said, before insisting they were on the same trajectory as Hawthorn “but we’re just probably a couple of years behind”.
That must be hard for North fans to hear, given they already finished in the bottom two for five seasons in a row, and have won only 13 of their past 105 games. Not even the last 100 matches for historically bad Fitzroy and University were as bad as that.
There was a spike in the Kangaroos’ performance in 2024, but they must make significant strides next year.
Trace Freo’s fadeout back to Josh
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir summed up his side’s season perfectly when he called it a “massive opportunity lost”.
A knee injury against Essendon ended Josh Treacy’s season and had a huge impact on Fremantle.Credit: Getty Images
The Dockers should be playing in September, but will instead watch from the couch for the second year running despite being third on the ladder entering a round 21 clash at the MCG with Essendon.
That day, Fremantle led by 25 points early in the fourth quarter. The whirlwind half hour that followed destroyed the Dockers’ season, with the Bombers snatching a one-point triumph – their only win from the last seven rounds – and spearhead Josh Treacy suffering a knee injury that ended his year.
An 11-point loss to Geelong in Perth and a nine-point defeat to the Giants in Sydney followed, before Fremantle went down by 20 to Port Adelaide at home in the must-win last match of the season.
Treacy kicked 45 goals from 20 outings in a breakout year. His replacement, Patrick Voss, managed only four goals in his absence and barely had an influence outside of that.
Blues’ punt paying off
Ashton Moir was hot property at the end of his bottom-age under-18 season and entering his draft year in 2023.
There were even suggestions the South Australian prodigy could be a top-five selection, but a hip injury and form struggles while dealing with the crippling weight of expectation meant he tumbled on draft boards and some recruiters ruled out picking him at all.
Carlton’s Ashton Moir celebrates his goal.Credit: Getty Images
South Australian coach Tony Bamford compared Moir’s situation in a frank chat with this masthead to another of his players from a year earlier – Harry Lemmey.
Funnily enough, Lemmey and Moir are now teammates at Carlton, who saw through the wrinkles in each of their top-age seasons to select them. Lemmey (pick 47 in 2022) has shown promise as a key forward in the VFL, particularly in the second half of this year, while Moir took advantage of the club’s lengthy injury list to play his first two AFL games in the past fortnight.
The Blues chose Moir, an athletic 188-centimetre forward with silky skills, with the final pick of the first round last year, backing him in as the most talented player still up for grabs.
The teenager spent a good chunk of this season playing on a wing in the VFL, learning what was required at the top level, and his running capacity has apparently improved out of sight. He is a popular figure at Ikon Park and already has a reputation as a hard worker.
Coming on as the substitute for the final term on Sunday in a cliffhanger with finals repercussions, Moir made an instant impression.
He bounced up to take a free kick after wearing heavy contact, contested aerially seconds later in the same passage, separately had a clean pick-up and handball, then slotted a superb goal on his left boot on the run.
Carlton should regain a bunch of stars for their elimination final with Brisbane, so the ambidextrous Moir might lose his spot, but he has shown plenty enough to show he can be part of the club’s future.
Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.