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The Tackle: Herald Sun chief football writer Mark Robinson nominates his likes and dislikes from Round 19

HERALD Sun chief football writer Mark Robinson nominates his likes and dislikes from Round 19, plus top Tweets. RECAP ROBBO’S CHAT.

Mark Robinson
6 min read
August 4, 2014 - 7:32AM
AFL Round 19: Richmond v GWS at MCG.Jake King has a beer?? with the cheers squad during the third quarter... Picture: Tim Carrafa
AFL Round 19: Richmond v GWS at MCG.Jake King has a beer?? with the cheers squad during the third quarter... Picture: Tim Carrafa

LIKES

1. Brisbane’s kids. That’s four weeks from the past five the young Lions have impressed the footy world. McStay. Bloody McStay. Where did he come from? Just his fifth game and his three goals means he’s first in line in the key forward post. Week by week the Lions are presenting good, young talent. Beams, Taylor, Close, Crisp and now McStay. Three years from now and the Lions are a certainty to play finals.

RECAP ROBBO’S LIVE CHAT BELOW

THE TACKLE I: BUCKS TOPS WITH ME

THE TACKLE II: NOTHING TIGERISH ABOUT CHEAP HITS

2. First quarters (I). Joel Selwood: 11 disposals (six contested) at 82 per cent efficiency, five marks, two clearances, two tackles, three inside 50s and a goal. Talk about making a stand against a rampant North Melbourne. He would finish with 29 touches, 12 marks, five tackles, five clearances and possibly two Brownlow Medal votes. Mitch Duncan gets the three this week. Might ask Champion Data to have a look at who performs in the first quarters, just for interest’s sake.

Dayne Beams dominated for the Pies. Picture: Wayne Ludbey
Dayne Beams dominated for the Pies. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

3. First quarters (II). Dayne Beams: 13 disposals (eight contested), six clearances, a goal and two inside 50s. Just might be the second-best quarter of the season behind Pearce Hanley’s 16-touch second-quarter effort for the Lions. He would finish with a “complete mids game”: 32 touches, 10 clearances, seven tackles and 18 contested possessions. Had a debate with another media type who didn’t rate Beams as elite. Yesterday strengthened my argument.

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4. Nathan Fyfe. The very best impose themselves on games like Fyfe did on Thursday night. For a time in the third quarter, thought Andrew Carrazzo was doing a reasonable job. It all changed in the fourth. Carrazzo left Fyfe, Fyfe went nuts, Blues made mistakes and Fyfe inspired the Dockers. Can’t wait for Brownlow Medal night. The indignation if Fyfe wins will have the AFL contemplating a change. Hope they don’t because forever and day, it’s been the fairest and best.

Ben McGlynn is having a career-best season for the Swans. Picture: Phil Hillyard
Ben McGlynn is having a career-best season for the Swans. Picture: Phil Hillyard

5. Ben McGlynn. Unsung hero in a side of unsung heroes. Could’ve gone with Grundy, Pyke in the ruck, or Malceski off a back flank early, but have settled on McGlynn. Old fashioned half-forward flanker who has turned himself into a wrecking ball midfielder. His numbers are phenomenal. Has more than 22 possessions in six of his past seven games. Has laid 48 tackles in the same time and kicked eight goals. His performances are lost surrounded by Kennedy, Jack, McVeigh, Parker and Bird.

6. Andrew Gaff. Been a long-time coming – it was his second 30-plus game for the season – and he delivered a wonderful game. Three goals was the clincher for me as best afield ahead of Kennedy and Hurn. Had 31 touches, eight inside 50s and helped mesmerise the Crows midfield. Now, can we get that going every second or third week?

King toasting to the Richmond faithful. Picture: Tim Carrafa
King toasting to the Richmond faithful. Picture: Tim Carrafa

7. Shagger. Amid the retirements of the superstars, a two-time premiership player as popular as any player at Geelong, ended his 11-year career. Shannon Byrnes suffered a fracture in is navicular bone and forced his hand. He played 117 games at Geelong and then Melbourne, although his Demons career wasn’t greatly memorable. Funny thing is, Byrnes was going to retire from the Cats when the Demons came calling with a two-year contract worth between $500,000 and $600,000. How could say no? Stevie J summed him up best on Twitter: “He definitely got the very best out of himself on and off the field!!”

8. Jake King. A beer in the Richmond cheer squad is the perfect way to say thanks and goodbye. Deadset, it wasn’t the greatest game, save for Brandon Ellis continuing his run for a podium finish at the Tigers’ Best and Fairest. The biggest roar was for Jake when he entered the animal enclosure.

Anthony Maslin and Rin Norris release balloons before the Fremantle-Carlton clash at Patersons Stadium. Picture: Daniel Wilkins
Anthony Maslin and Rin Norris release balloons before the Fremantle-Carlton clash at Patersons Stadium. Picture: Daniel Wilkins

9. Dockers tribute. There was no sadder moment this season than the recognition of the Maslin kids on Thursday night. Evie, Mo, and Otis died on MH17, and friends and family formed a guard of honour. Wonderful by Matthew Pavlich, too.

Honourable mentions: Hurley and Ryder, Luke Parker is AA, Mike Pyke, Juddy at his best, Kade Simpson’s courage, Bob Murphy tripping the light fantastic, Liam Shiels, Ward’s a gun, so is Treloar and don’t you like the look of Broomhead.

DISLIKES

1. Melbourne v Lions. Hated everything about it, except for the Lions kids taking another step forward. Hated the roof open, hated the mistakes, hated the low scores, hated Jordie McKenzie missing from 20m, hated the turnovers. Glad to hear Paul Roos and Justin Leppitsch rip into the game in their post-match pressers. To think, Melbourne pays its players the about the same amount as Hawthorn pays its players.

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2. Lindsay Thomas. Where do you start? The dive isn’t the major issue, although it certainly doesn’t help his reputation as a footballer. The bloke can play. Unfortunately, the bloke can also dive. Teammate Nathan Grima didn’t like it. ‘’When Lindsay stages for free kicks it probably takes away from how good he actually is,’’ he said on 3AW. Yes, it doesn’t look good, but it ain’t the end of the world. Coach Brad Scott perhaps would have a bigger issue with the fact Thomas gave up several goals because he wouldn’t dish to teammates in better positions. It happened in the second and third quarters when the game was in the balance.

3. Chad Wingard. We mark the stars hard, and so we will with The Chad. Where has he gone? Just three goals from his past six games after 26 from his first 11 games. Hasn’t cracked 20 disposals since Round 15. In that time, Port has won just the one game. The highlight reel is strong, but so is his poor from of late. Maybe he’s carrying an injury? Maybe he’s not. But clearly he isn’t involving himself in the play like he used to.

4. Eeny, Meenie, Miney, Moe ... Who is the most frustrating: North Melbourne or Adelaide? Thought the Kangas were solid on Saturday night, but were burnt by the Cats savaging their mistakes. The Crows played ordinary footy. They handballed too much, which killed ball movement and put teammates under pressure, and were unaccountable on Gaff, Shuey and Hurn. Scott Thompson and Patrick Dangerfield had it 59 times between them but went at 55 and 54 per cent efficiency.

Are the Crows pretenders or contenders? Picture: Sarah Reed
Are the Crows pretenders or contenders? Picture: Sarah Reed

5. St Kilda. List the Lions young guns every second week and outside of Billings, Newnes, Dunstan and Stanley – of late – it’s difficult to get excited about St Kilda’s future over the next three years. Hayes was magnificent against the Suns, but what about Fisher, Schneider and Montagna? How can they beat Fremantle and then offer that against Gold Coast? Patience is needed Saints fans. Lots of it.

6. Daniel Merrett. His late hit on Demon Cameron Pederson, which smashed his nose, was clumsy at best, reckless at worst and another holiday is a certainty. It wouldn’t surprise anyone if Merrett, who has carry over points, will miss the remainder of the season. If it was up the other end, he could’ve blamed the sun for disrupting his body movements. Because it was up the other end, Merrett is serious trouble. That forearm of his needs to see a counsellor in the off-season.

7. Saturday night frights. We simply can’t have a change in attitude from the umpires from one half to the next, which is exactly what happened at the North Melbourne-Geelong match. The slap by Brent Harvey, which gave a free kick to the Cats, was by-play. Worse happened in the second half and the umpires let it go. Coach Brad Scott did his best not to lose his cool.

Brent Harvey was a tad bemused by umpire Luke Farmer’s calls during the second term. Picture: Wayne Ludbey
Brent Harvey was a tad bemused by umpire Luke Farmer’s calls during the second term. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

8. Sam Docherty. The Blues have invested in the 20-year-old and he gets enough of the ball to suggest he will be a player. Thursday night, however, wasn’t his best football. Had 18 touches, but lacked poise and precision. Just little things, like a fumble or a missed handball, and his kick out of bounds at the end was critical. Far from the person to blame for the loss, however. Arguably, Levi Casboult has been the team’s most improved player, but if he marked two of the eight he dropped, the Blues probably would’ve won.

9. Essendon’s run. No Dempsey (13 touches), no damaging Stanton, no Jackson Merrett, no Winderlich, Ronnie as the sub off the bench equalled no Essendon. Dempsey was worse than Docherty in making mistakes, which is understandable for Docherty, but not acceptable for Dempsey.

BEST TWEETS

Originally published as The Tackle: Herald Sun chief football writer Mark Robinson nominates his likes and dislikes from Round 19

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